You need to hang on and keep going regardless. The resistance will eventually yield and you will gain your breakthrough. But you will need to learn to endure and continue in spite of the mental and emotional storms.

Read more about weight loss & the mind.

There are many misconceptions related to fasting. it is very possible that when you decide to launch your water or juice dieting fasting effort, some of your friends or family members may try to talk you out of it.

Gather as much information as possible of what you are trying to accomplish and, by all means, share it with close relatives or friends.

Stay close to them as you go through the process, and do not hesitate to approach them for support - especially during the first nine to eleven days when hunger and withdrawal pains are at their peak.

But I suggest that you DO NOT trumpet your dieting fasting intentions to a large group of people. If you do so, you might have to endure endless opinions and criticisms that will only thwart your motivation and, even possibly, break your resolve.

Yet the benefits of fasting are yours for the taking if you are willing to undergo a little sacrifice.

I am not advocating that you flagellate yourself or any type of anorexia fasting. I am referring to dieting fasting as a discipline practiced responsibly.

Once you pass the seventh to tenth day, you will know what I mean. Peace and liberty beyond words.

For more on fasting misconceptions and what to expect during a long-term fast, visit our Fasting Fast Weight Loss Diet Misconceptions & Mystical Benefits.

Thought Patters & Belief Systems

Dieting Fasting and the mind goes beyond the negative thinking that emerges when one stops eating.

Abstaining from food also awakens whatever subconscious, self-defeating belief systems and patterns lie within you.

Many obese persons use food to cover up unpleasant emotions. Thus the phrase "comfort food." Binging and being overweight, in my opinion, has a lot to do with mental health as well as the physical.

It is comforting to eat. For me there was a rare type of emotional release in overeating, even if I knew it was killing me. If you relate, then you are in the right place.

If you do not totally relate, stick around. You may change your mind later. Dieting Fasting and the mind are a dynamic combination which is conducive to dynamic change ... physically, mentally and spiritually.

Not eating for a season can facilitate breakthrough in the demolition of limiting behaviors and thought patterns.

Faces of Evil

When I did my 40-day water fast, I was amidst was a very difficult period in my life.

I was physically sick from a liver condition, was almost 70 pounds overweight, and suffered from a lot of psychological and emotional problems.

Isolation and self-pity ruled my life. I knew little of enjoying life. I was bitter, angry and simply wanted to die.

So dieting fasting - abstaining for solid food for a season for weight loss and detoxification - sent my mind into a state of revolt almost immediately.

Around the second day of the fast, I started having vivid nightmares about demons and all kinds of weird things. At one point it felt as though I left my body and traveled around the world.

Seeing people and places where I had never been. Actually floating above them and observing them involved in various activities related to their daily lives.

The dieting fasting impact on my mind hit overdrive when, in my dream, persons would approach me with huge smiles and offer me all types of sugar-filled, fattening and greasy foods.

Pastries and donuts have always been my primary triggers.

I was asleep but my mind was wide awake. Being somehow conscious that I was fasting, I thanked the persons but declined their offer for these foods. Then, to my horror, their faces started to become deformed and evil.

Some of them, out of nowhere, started puncturing me with spikes which pierced my thighs and arms but did not hurt. They were enraged because I refused to eat what they offered.

To say the least, I woke up pretty shook up by this experience.

I believe this dieting fasting and the mind experience would not have happened unless I had stopped consuming solid food altogether for a season.

Mental Garbage

Why? Because food was my drug of choice. Because never had I refused my stomach or flesh anything it wanted. Gluttony and obesity were my lot.

Water fasting, in essence, was bringing the food addiction to the surface and forcing me to face the mental garbage that had kept me fat and defeated for almost 15 years.

I believe the nightmares were primarily comprised of my own subconscious belief systems which, for most of my life, encouraged binging and eating rather than feeling negative feelings, learning from them and becoming a better person.

I believe that by dieting fasting I have helped my mind dump the garbage and help me to "grow up."

What I am trying to say is this: If a person does not stop lighting up cigarettes, he or she cannot stop smoking ... right?

Well, by the same token - for me - I had to stop eating "completely" for a season and allow my mind to "withdraw" when I refused to continue being controlled by false hunger incited by fear, insecurity, boredom and downright immaturity and lack of discipline.

Ouch! That hurt my pride. But, you know what? I was so desperate for change that I was willing to go to any length for victory over obesity and overeating.

The Dieting Fasting Mind Strategy

Now the process of "resisting" the mind while dieting fasting can be quite difficult and uncomfortable for the first eleven days.

So it is very important that you become aware that the challenge is not only physical from the intestinal detoxification.

The mind controls the body. So the fact that I was obese and trapped by overeating meant there was something wrong with my thinking. The eating was a mere symptom.

In short, the mind will do whatever it can to make you break the fast.

Why? Because, in essence, not yielding to the belief systems attached to binging and overeating mean a certain type of "death" which the mind has sworn to protect you from. That is pretty amazing, don't you think?

So, be ready and do not be surprised if you are suddenly bombarded with all types of thoughts and feelings in your dieting fasting program.

For example, when you feel hungry, the mind may tell you that you are not drinking enough juice, that you will never feel full, and that all of this effort will be a waste of time.

If you notice, however, that it is the mind giving you this mandate, you can change it into a more positive one.

You are armed with the knowledge that the mind is erroneously trying to "protect" you from something that will actually help you!

So what to do? Well, remember: One glass of juice will not give you the feeling of fullness provided by a full meal.

So the thought of hunger can often enlarge and turn into a real monster - particularly during days one through 11 of water fasting.

When you are juice fasting, the hunger pains are reduced substantially but do not totally disappear because you still are giving the body calories from the fruits and/or vegetables in your liquid fasting diet.

Affirmations

Yes, you should be aware that you will feel hungry.

Therefore, you must take responsibility for your thoughts when the mind bombards you with negativity related to your dieting fasting. I knew the correlation between fasting and the mind.

I realized my mind would play tricks on me to lead me to break the fast.

So I had to take the negative mandate my mind was giving me and start turning it into a positive one that would work in my favor.

There are no short cuts here, and neither are we advocating frothy positivism to deal with what can be very uncomfortable hunger pains during the first three to nine days.

But fasting and the mind must be addressed simultaneously to strengthen your resolve and carry you the distance in those difficult moments.

Here are some examples of positive statements I write down and repeat silently to myself while dieting fasting.

* I now feel totally satisfied and full with my juice (or water).

* Each moment I fast I become younger, healthier and full of life and vitality.

* I believe that I am now receiving optimum results through my fasting.

* I am now being cleansed with fasting of all physical and mental limitations.

* All excess weight and toxins are now washed away from my body during fasting.

* I am now reversing the clock and becoming younger and stronger with each passing moment of fasting.

* I can lose weight - I always eat healthily

* I can go without snacking - Every day I am slimmer

* Losing weight is easy - I enjoy eating healthy food

* I eat a healthy diet - People admire my slimmer look

* I love losing weight - I eat foods that are good for me

* I love my body -I respect my body - I look after my body

Understanding the mind's influence over the body will make you feel less foolish about this undertaking.

The reason I say this is because when dieting fasting the mind will also tell you that affirmations are worthless and that you are being silly. DO IT ANYWAYS.

Keep watch of your thoughts and do not let the mind take you down the negative path. Dieting Fasting will take you down the road of a life-changing transformation.

Do not allow your subconscious mind to sabotage your efforts. You deserve to succeed! And you are Worth it!

Obliteration of Negative Belief Systems

Recommendation for this page: Introspective study is very important while you are dieting fasting. It is a time when your flesh and mind are at their most vulnerable.

Life-long destructive thinking, belief and/or behavior patterns can therefore be more easily broken at a deeper, subconscious level.

I have struggled with ALL of these issues. Luckily, I have also been privileged to receive help from many wonderful personal coaches in past years.

Good Hardware For Your Efforts