7 Day Fasting and Yoga Retreat in Portimao, Portugal

Food Description

Juice fasting

If you opt for the juice fast, you will receive fresh fruit and vegetable juices and a vegetable soup three times a day at Vitalisé Portugal. These juices contain all the vitamins and minerals the body needs to function properly. Since your body does not need to regulate digestion during a fast, you have more energy left for other things.

Mild fasting

Mild fasting is a milder form of detox in which we serve different light meals. You will receive a healthy breakfast, a light lunch, a four-hour juice, and a soup of fresh vegetables in the evening. The nutritional program has been carefully put together by our naturopath. Alkaline foods such as nuts, seeds, fruits, or vegetables form the basis.

You can also choose to do a combination of juice and mild fast. For example, 3 days of juice fasting followed by 4 days of mild fasting. You do not have to decide this when booking, we can advise you on the spot. You can also switch to the other program at any time during the course.

The principles

Vitalisé programs, based on their many years of experience (more than 15 years!), are refined and adjusted every day to be even more efficient. Guests achieve the best results the fastest with these programs! They all rely on a few important principles:

Vegan

All programs are vegan. Vitalisé pays attention to the pH value of food because they want to deacidify the body. Since animal products are acidifying, they do not use them during the detox.

Low carbohydrate

When you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar (glucose) rises. When you eat too many carbohydrates, your cells are full of glucose and glucose can remain in your blood. Glucose in the blood clogs the veins and causes inflammation.

Almost all carbohydrates are stored as fat. Insulin is the hormone that carries glucose to fat cells. When you eat too many carbohydrates, the insulin in your blood rises. In high doses, insulin is toxic and causes cell damage, cancer and atherosclerosis, nerve damage, and limb pain.

In addition, a consistently high level of insulin causes the cells to stop responding to insulin. This is called insulin resistance and can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. Insulin resistance leads the body to believe that there is not enough glucose stored in the cells and sends the signal to use muscle mass to make glucose. Result? You lose muscle mass and gain weight.

Instead of feeling energized after eating, you feel tired and feel need more carbohydrates. Because you now also have fewer muscles, moving becomes hard and you end up in a vicious circle. A detox is an ideal way to switch your body from carbohydrate burning to fat burning (ketosis).

Low-acid foods

To give the body a chance to get rid of accumulated toxins. With low acidity, we think of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Acidic food includes meat, additives, and trans fats. Toxins cannot be removed immediately and are stored in the fat cell. This ensures that your body cannot properly use this fat cell for energy supply. You will then continue to work on carbohydrate burning, and not on fat burning. That is why it is important, by eating only pure, unprocessed food, to give the body a chance to detoxify and make the fat cells available again.

Vegan protein

Animal products are acidifying, and in addition, scientific research has shown that animal protein (methionine) accelerates aging! But you need proteins for many functions in the body. Also during the fast, protein will ensure that your body does not break down muscle mass, but uses fat mass. That’s why Vitalisé uses vegan protein, such as hemp seed and chia seed, during detox.

Healthy fats

In addition to olive oil, Vitalisé also uses coconut oil and MCT oil during the program because they can withstand higher temperatures, has an anti-inflammatory effect, are used quickly by the body, and are not stored in the fat cells. MCT oil is immediately converted into ketones, which immediately provide your body with energy. In this way, your body also enters fat burning (ketosis) faster.

Low in calories

Fasting is eating less, but why? Calorie restriction activates autophagy, a process by which the body breaks down and recycles old cells. It also lowers the production of IGF-1. A high IGF-1 is associated with faster aging and an increased risk of cancer. It is an old and logical system: through fasting, your body will release less energy for growth and sex and it will use the energy that is left for repair so that you are fit and strong again to be able to hunt again after the scarcity.

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

• Vegan