Rudolf Breuss’s 21-Day Long-term Fasting Method in Practice

The Breuss method of long-term fasting changed my thinking about what my body is capable of. What incredible transformation in such a small amount of time?

This is when I started paying attention to what I was doing to my body regarding my food consumption.

In these modern times of abundance, food is anything but nourishment for the body and soul.

It’s addiction, consolation, reward, and everything in between.

When you put a stop to its input in our bodies, you can see what our cells reject and discard during the fasting period.

I’ve written a substantial amount about fasting already, you can go to the website and read about how I got introduced to it, how I started for vanity’s sake, and why I persisted for its healing abilities.

In the last article, I described the process of the fasting method discovered and perfected by Dr. Rudolf Breus, and how not eating for 3-6 weeks isn’t that bad.

But that was the mechanics of it. Today, I’d like to share with you what it looks like in practice.

The average off-work-day fasting with the Breuss long-term fast method

So, what does an average day look like when you’re fasting using the Breuss method?

Morning is when all the preparation happens

First things first – it’s time to cook my tea.

There is a cup on my counter for each tea, so I know how to drink it (some need to be drunk warm, some throughout the day). The more diverse, the better.

Rudolf Breuss 21 day long-term fasting method in practice

I prepared each blend into its special container with the instructions when I purchased them (each is a little bit different to prepare).

Now all I have to do in the morning is boil the water and let them sit.

While I wait I weigh and peel the vegetables. Put them through the juicer and let it sit to settle any firmer particles that may have slipped through.

By now the teas should be ready, so I pour each one into its designated cup, ready to sip on it all through the day.

Lastly, I sieve the vegetable juice through a cloth and pour it into a bottle.

The juice is best stored in the fridge. This is what I’ll be drinking when I feel hungry.

Trust me, one sip of the juice and the hunger goes away instantly.

And that’s it. That’s all of the necessary food preparation for the days for the next 3-6 weeks depending on how long you decide to fast. It takes about 30 minutes to do.

The rest of the day

The less you think about not eating when on a Breuss long-term fasting method, the better. There are two scenarios that you can try and I did both.

The rest of the day depends on whether I go to work or not.

When I used the Breuss fasting method during the summer holidays I stayed home for 3 weeks.

During this time I listened to my body more than ever before.

If I was tired, I went to bed, if I felt energetic I went to the garden or enjoyed time in the fresh air.

This was also the time inspiration for my writing was pouring through me. I could hardly type fast enough to put the ideas on paper.

By midday, I’d come back in and cook some onion soup with all the spices but salt. I could have gone without it, drinking only the tea and the vegetable juice, but it was the highlight of the day with its welcome change in flavor.

Everyone I know who has used the Breuss fasting method was cold during the fasting period. It doesn’t matter if you are fasting in the summer or winter. I am prone to being cold most of the year so hot soup was heaven and a nice change to the juice and the tea.

My evening ritual

By now you must have picked up on my not liking the taste of the vegetable juice in the Breuss fasting method. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with my aversion to celery.

So I made sure that I drank the necessary amount in the first half of the day (the minimum amount of Breuss vegetable juice that needs to be drunk no matter the hunger is 0.125 liter or 0.3 pints).

So by evening, I (hopefully) had no juice left and the tea cups were empty and washed on the counter.

Now for the indulgence. Something that was allowed in the Breuss method.

The juicer was out again and this time 2 or 3 apples went through it. The taste of freshly juiced apples is divine. And a welcome change to the bland tea and horrible vegetable juice.

The average workday fasting with the Breuss long-term fast method

When fasting with the Breuss method and going to work, I didn’t have time to listen to my body.

I got up an hour earlier and did my fasting morning routine.

Then I threw myself into work and when I lifted my head from the computer half the day had gone by.

I would stay consistent in my morning routine with the preparations, but the tea drinking and the Breuss vegetable juice were not as easy to consume.

I brought them to work and sipped on them throughout the day but often I forgot, being consumed with work.

Not telling anyone that you are fasting

You see I didn’t like explaining what I was doing to my coworkers.

I told them the first time I fasted but that was it.

Why?

There were too many questions like:

  • why am I putting my body through this,
  • am I insane,
  • how can I trust this Breuss who’s been dead for decades
  • how can you go without coffee during the day
  • how can I manage that long without food,
  • Is there something wrong with me, and my favorite,
  • I would die if I couldn’t eat my croissant every morning.

When I finally convinced my immediate coworkers I didn’t need any food, that I felt great, and that I couldn’t drink alcohol during fasting, there would be someone new walking through the door, and I had to explain everything all over again.

I was the attraction. And I didn’t appreciate the attention.

I had to repeat the same story and answer the same questions to my customers when I took them to a business lunch or dinner.

So as you can see I’d rather face my fasting time in quiet.

But with staying quiet new problems emerged. I didn’t have to answer the questions about why I was doing this, but I did have to come up with excuses for why I wasn’t eating.

My workplace was my extended family and we did everything together. Celebrate birthdays, morning coffee breaks with biscuits, in-office lunches… everything. So my excuses had to be believable.

My secret work fasting hacks

So the second time, I didn’t tell anybody I was fasting.

That presented me with a different problem. What to do with the teas and Breuss vegetable juice.

The Breuss juice was horrible tasting when it was cold. Warm it was undrinkable. Seriously. I’d rather go hungry.

We had a fridge in the office but so many small bottles would give me away.

My solution?

I went to the store and bought a small cooling bag (the kind you bring to the beach) and filled it up with frozen blocks and my bottles.

I kept it in a drawer, sipping on the Breuss vegetable juice and tea while working. Nobody suspected a thing.

Every time there was a birthday or some other kind of celebration, I came up with some of the excuses:

  • I didn’t feel well
  • I had ‘just eaten’ or
  • I had a client

The only people I had to tell were my customers I occasionally took to dinner but they all understood and never said a word to anybody in the office.

But in general, I avoided meeting clients in that period.

I also made it a point to dress in comfortable clothes for the last few weeks of fasting (when doing the full 42-day long-term Breuss fasting method) otherwise everybody would notice my new leaner body.

At the end of my fast, I made it a point to bake muffins and bring them to work, surprising my coworkers with breakfast, and celebrating their ignorance.

The amount of jaws that dropped was hilarious.

Then the compliments started pouring about my weight loss and how everybody noticed it but they just didn’t mention it…

Fasting days

I’m not going to lie. Everything is hyphened when you are fasting.

Everything.

When I say that there are good days and there are bad days, I mean GOOD days, and I mean BAD days.

The bad days

On the really bad days, I only wanted to stay in bed, sleep, and get the day behind me. If I wasn’t going to work that’s exactly what I did. I stayed in bed, slept, read my favorite book, or binge-watched TV until bedtime. I was good for nothing else.

Somehow the day came to a close.

It also helped, a lot, if I went walking on those days. Slow walks, I was barely moving but it did the trick. I felt better after and even though I didn’t feel like it this is something I didn’t miss.

When at work, I did the absolute minimum. Even my typing was slow. So if I could, I’d call in sick on those days. Luckily, there were maybe one or two really bad ones during the entire (full 42-day) fasting period.

The good days

The good days are, well hipper.

Those are the days that I looked forward to the most.

  • my energy levels were over the roof,
  • I felt like I could do anything,
  • my passion for writing doubled,
  • the day wasn’t long enough for everything I wanted to do
  • and my sex life was phenomenal.

On good days I made sure I did everything I possibly could, since I knew a bad day was surely to follow. Only I could never predict how bad it was going to be.

Fasting morning rituals

I’ve already told you about the ‘food’ preparation I did every morning. But before that, there was something I looked forward to most. Every day.

No matter if it was a terrible day, there was something that lifted my spirit every morning like clockwork.

The weighing test.

Before I started with my day I went into the bathroom and stepped onto the scale in my underwear. And every day my face would light up with a grin for good morning.

Every day my weight dropped.

In the first week, I would lose anywhere from 0.5kg (1.1 lb) to 1kg (2.2lb) per day. This wasn’t my body fat melting away. This was the excess fluids my body was storing from all the salt I was eating.

The second and third weeks were more subtle. The weight dropped from 0.2kg (0.4lb) to 0.5kg (1,1 lb) per day.

On the full 6-week fast it could happen that I even gained 0,1kg (0.4 lb) per day, but that was different. I didn’t care about weight loss during the full fasting period. That I did for my health.

Along with the daily morning ritual I also had a weekly ritual.

Every week I would measure myself and write down the measurements in a table.

Every week I would compare the results from the week before.

The differences were significant.

After 3 weeks my weight would drop anywhere from 9kg (19.8 lb) to 12kg (26.5 lb), depending on my starting weight and the measurements were even more impressive.

Just a head’s up. I’m 1,63m (5.3 ft) in height and usually weigh around 70 kg (154 lb). My husband lost 18kg (40 lb) in the same amount of time (the full 42-day long-term fast) since his starting weight was bigger.

This is why not eating for 3 weeks was worth it.

Every time.

The question: Is fasting worth it?

I hope this inspires you in your own health and weight loss journey. The path of long-term fasting isn’t easy but it is fast and effective.

No amount of exercise or dieting will bring such results in that short amount of time. And if you are thinking about solving your health issues this is my go-to approach.

At the end of the day, ask yourself:

What have you got to lose?

Time will pass either way, you may as well use it to your advantage. What are 3 weeks compared to a confident, healthy body to parade about the rest of the 49 weeks per year?

Until next time, be open to experimenting

Ann

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