The Doubleroo Fast

Fasting has been practiced by all religions since the beginning of time and the benefits of abstaining from food and/or drink have been noted in both religious and medical literature for millennia. There exist many different methods of fasting and I have tried a few of them. Much depends on what your goals are. Mine are detoxification and stopping smoking.

 Note that a fast is not a diet. There are many diets more effective than fasting for rapid weight loss. Just eating cabbage soup for a week works great.

 After a decade I have distilled my own fasting method from many influences. To start you will need the following.

1.Lemons or Limes  

2.Ginger  

3.Cayenne pepper

4.Honey  

5.Herbal teas. Here I have Scullcap and Budda's tears green tea

6.Roasted Dandelion. This beverage is not easy to get outside of Australia but is a core ingredient of my variation

7. Implements for making and drinking tea and ginger-lemonade.

Phase one is slightly unpleasant but necessary. You need to eliminate all the waste in your intestines. There are several methods like taking a pill or drinking salt-water or Senna tea. Tea works well but the stomach cramps can be unpleasant. Drinking lots of salt water or epsom salt water also works but drinking a litre of it requires suppression of the gagging instinct. The easiest method and the one recommended by my Chemist in Munich is to take an elimination pill like "Dulcolax".

My lemonade recipe differs from the original. I add ginger and prefer honey to maple syrup. Just combine lemon juice, ginger (grated or thinly sliced) honey, cayenne pepper and water. Drink whenever you feel thirsty. I start the day with a hot roasted dandelion root drink as my coffee substitute. The health benefits of this herb are hard to overstate. Blood cleansing is just one. During the day I like to drink green tea. Your taste buds will be receptive to very subtle differences so do shop for your tea carefully. Go to a specialty tea shop and buy the best. With all the money you are not spending on food and tobacco you can afford it. I bought "Budda's tears" yesterday. A small packet cost AUS$ 11.50! Taking the piss a bit but great tea :) 

The Scullcap I have for the evening. Scutellaria lateriflora is a Native American herb although references to it can be found in other cultures as well. It also has many reported benefits but the one that appeals to me most as an evening beverage is it's sedative properties. But just one word of caution. If you imbibe more than the recommended amount you can get quite high and we wouldn't want that :)

Finally there are two side-variations of the Doubleroo fast. The first is the "Naujac line". Here you add a glass of red wine every evening. This Variation was co-invented and trailed by Rike Wohlers-Armas and both of us survived the week with a broad "Medoc" grin.

The "Brunswick" method which I am testing now is to include a bottle of Ginger beer (alcoholic) a day. Results so far are positive.

Comments and feedback, positive or negative on this topic are encouraged :) I hope to hear from many of you soon.