How to make your recovery days after fasting wonderful

You have successfully fasted, congratulations! You can be really proud of yourself! Now an exciting time awaits you: the build-up days. During these days, your body not only gets used to eating again, they are also a kind of extension of the fasting period - physically and mentally. Provided you don’t rush headlong back into your everyday life. Spoiler: Here you can find tips on how to avoid this.

The recovery days after fasting

These days lay the foundation for how long you can live off your fasting period. Are you one of those people who reflect during fasting and make plans on how to “move on afterwards”? It’s not about turning your life completely upside down. But some things slowly creep into everyday life and become routines that aren’t actually good for us. During fasting, you press a kind of reset button. You experience how you feel when everything else is not present: food, surroundings, work, people, digital consumption (Oh yay!). Instead, you surround yourself with peace, nature, books, walks and yourself. Your body and mind can take a deep breath and the ‘storage capacity’ freed up makes room for the big and small life questions that we like to push away from us in everyday life.

How do I want to eat? What makes me happy? Do I surround myself with it in everyday life? What do I do for my health? Who am I? What do I want for myself?

You won’t find the answers to this in a short week of fasting - that would be too good - but you can take this intrinsic motivation with you into your everyday life afterwards. I have put together 12 tips for you on how to organize the days after fasting. The first three days are crucial!

Nutrition & health

One of the most important building blocks in the recovery days after fasting is certainly nutrition. Your self-healing powers have been activated by fasting and your gut has been able to regenerate. The best prerequisites for small tweaks to your diet (e.g. less coffee, less animal products, more fiber) or even holistic dietary changes (e.g. vegan diet, clean eating).

Light diet & alkaline foods

The first three days after fasting are considered “build-up days” in the strictest sense, as the gastrointestinal tract is still sensitive during this time and cannot digest everything. So you should wait a little longer with fried eggs and avocado ;) Instead, you should include lots of steamed vegetables and sour fruit in your diet. Just like buckwheat and (natural) rice, they are easy to digest and alkalizing. You should avoid all fats (including good oils such as linseed oil or avocado) and pulses for the first two days. From the third day onwards, you can carefully start eating fats. From the fourth day onwards, the body is theoretically able to digest everything.

Buy natural food

The quality of your food is at least as important for your gut as its variety. Fasting has taken the strain off your body. Use this new start to eat more natural foods. Organic food is free from pesticides and generally contains more nutrients than conventional food. I think the combination of regional, seasonal and organic is best. Perhaps you would like to subscribe to an organic box or take a stroll through farmers markets and stores?

Food as a source of energy

The food you eat can give you energy or take it away. You probably know the feeling of being tired and sluggish after eating too much or too heavily. The body has to expend an incredible amount of energy on digestion, which you lack elsewhere. On the other hand, light and nutritious meals give you energy. Then you feel as light as a bird even after eating. I always find that the best feeling after fasting: this lightness. And you can maintain this feeling by intuitively choosing light foods that are good for you. This intuition was honed during the fasting period. Learn from it and listen to your gut!

Eat slowly and enjoy consciously

After fasting, it is important to eat meals slowly and chew consciously. This allows you to stay present while eating and enjoy it to the full. It is important that you stop when you are full. Listen very carefully to your stomach, because it has shrunk during fasting. This is why you will feel full even after eating small amounts.

Build up your gut microbiome

In the recovery days after fasting, it is crucial to rebuild the gut microbiome. During fasting, your gut can regenerate and get rid of bad bacteria. But the good ones are also reduced. And it is precisely these that need to be rebuilt after fasting - to “recolonize” the gut. You can do this with probiotic foods that contain live cultures. These include fermented vegetables such as kimchi or sauerkraut, but also sourdough, buttermilk or (water) kefir. Prebiotic foods such as asparagus, sugar beet, garlic, chicory, onions, Jerusalem artichokes and honey are also good for your intestinal flora. Fiber from wholegrain products, fruit and vegetables is also an important building block for a balanced microbiome. This not only contributes to healthy digestion, but also significantly strengthens the immune system, improves skin health and promotes mental health.

Selfcare & natural cosmetics

Take enough time for yourself during the build-up days! I find this extremely important to don’t get caught up in all the to-do’s, commitments and expectations. By going at your own pace and doing good for yourself, you will also become more resilient to everyday stress and maintain the right focus for you even in hectic situations.

Switch to natural, gentle skin care

The skin is an excretory organ. This means that much of what the body wants to get rid of during fasting is removed via the skin. In the long term, fasting can improve the appearance of the skin, also with regard to skin diseases such as neurodermatitis or rosacea, which are largely linked to intestinal health. Until then, however, the “waste” must first be removed from the body. I usually notice this during fasting in the form of increased impurities. However, once these have subsided and I rebuild my gut microbiome accordingly after fasting, this also has a positive effect on my skin. To support it during this regeneration process, the recovery days after fasting are the perfect time to switch completely to natural, gentle skincare. And this starts with gentle cleansing. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “Oil Cleansing Method”? This involves cleansing your skin exclusively with natural oils instead of drying surfactants. All I’m saying is goodbye to tightness after cleansing!

Turn your home into a home spa

Imagine lighting beautiful candles, preparing an alkaline foot bath with essential oils, placing your feet in the warm water, reading your favorite book and forgetting about the time around you. Then massage your feet with stimulating body oil and put your feet in soft, warm socks to top it all off. It’s so easy to turn your home into a home spa during the recovery days after fasting! Dry brushing or ice baths (alternatively cold showers) also tone your skin and strengthen your immune system.

Connect with nature

I always fast away from my everyday life. Nature is just around the corner, I can breathe and feel it - the sea, the forest, the meadows. I need it because it gives me strength and grounds me. Back in Berlin, nature is the first thing I miss. Maybe you feel the same way? The great thing is that we can experience nature with all our senses. You don’t necessarily have to be out in nature to do this, you can also smell, taste and feel it while you’re at home - e.g. while eating, with natural cosmetics, aromatherapy or natural materials. This way, it remains a source of strength even in the big city!

Rituals & good habits

The time after fasting can tempt us to want to “change” too much at once. Small, daily rituals during the build-up days help us to replace the bad habits that have crept in with good ones and establish them. After all, they are what make us happier and healthier in the long term.

Meal planning & regular meals

During the build-up days, it is important to plan your meals and prepare them accordingly. Especially if you are returning to work after a week of fasting, you should make a master plan of what you want to cook and when. This is especially important for the first three days after fasting, until your body is able to digest everything again. This way you can ensure that you don’t get into unplanned situations and fall back into old, unhealthy patterns.

Daily journaling for gratitude & positive thinking

Keeping a diary during fasting is highly recommended. For example, I make a note of my feelings and thoughts. What am I grateful for? What great things am I experiencing? How do I feel physically and mentally? I also write down ideas and inspirations - recipes, impulses or things I want to work towards. I keep this up even after fasting, because journaling has been proven to promote positive self-perception, boost self-confidence and help me stay on the ball. I use the 6-minute diary for this.

Maintain mindfulness exercises

Try to maintain mindfulness elements that were good for you during the fast, e.g. meditation, yoga, breath work or walks in nature. For a habit to become established, we need to cultivate it for at least 60 days in a row - in other words, “practise” it. It’s not about the length, but about persistence. For example, just 15 minutes of meditation a day helps me to recharge my batteries and deal better with stress.

Digital detox in everyday life

I can imagine that you enjoyed the absence of social media, emails and digital consumption during the fast. I certainly always feel that way. Now, it’s completely unrealistic to give up your smartphone and laptop. And that’s not the goal either, because we work online and find inspiration and exchange there. But perhaps it’s time to consciously create digital time-outs? You can start doing this straight away during the recovery days after fasting. The easiest way to do this is to consciously avoid screen time after getting up and before going to bed.

I hope you’ve been able to take away some inspiration for your post-fasting recovery days. This time is really important because you are laying the foundations for a more balanced, happier and healthier life.