Spring-cleaning (my yearly fast)

I felt so great after my fast last year, that I've decided to make it a yearly thing. Yes, I know.. people seem to think they're going to starve if they skip one meal. But the truth is, most Americans could skip a dozen meals and be a better, healthier person for it.



So, I'm working on a little spring body-cleaning myself!

My last meal was last night, Wednesday, at dinner. I gave up coffee and alcohol since the weekend. And you learn something new everyday, don't you? Apparently, I was addicted to my daily coffee!.. because I had the worst caffeine headaches for a few days. Whew. Glad that's over. And I'm glad I didn't wait until my fast to give it up.. or my caffeine headaches mixed with the detoxing would've been so much worse. Yikes.


OBSERVATIONS

DAY ONE, Thursday: I'm hungry, but not starving. It's to be expected when you skip breakfast and lunch. I did drink a glass of unbelievably salty water. It's a natural laxative and will help me start anew. I'm filling up on carbonated water. You'd be surprised how much it helps with hunger! Honestly. And the hunger only lasts about 2 days, anyway. Then on to the good stuff!

My salty water helped clean out my digestive tract. But I'm also doing a saline enema a few times. Your intestines completely shut down when you don't eat (that's the idea).. so you want to get all the excess food out of there, so it doesn't sit and ferment. Enema #1 today.


DAY TWO, Friday: about 36+ hours in, I'm feeling fine. A little tired. But not hungry! If I can stomach it later I'll drink another glass of salt water.

I felt a little growling around my usual lunch time, 11. But it wasn't much. My stomach is just wondering where my regular Flying Burrito is. And I've gotta tell you.. I'm looking forward to how great it'll taste next week!

Afternoon on the second day and my stomach is really growling. I did finally have my second salt-water glass today. But I must be nearly on empty by now. So, I'll just keep drinking water. And adding a few granules of pink salt and squeeze of fresh lemon everyday.. gotta keep those electrolytes up. But otherwise, things are going unbelievably well. The last time I fasted I was very sick (colitis) so I felt bad all over, not just from fasting. But this time I'm healthy - and I want to keep it that way. Fasting when you're well is super easy, people. I promise!

48-hours down! Woohoo! Feeling great. Tyler's dinner sure did look and smell great. Though, smelling food has been making me feel like I ate as well. And the first few days are the hungriest. So.. we'll see what tomorrow brings. Also did enema #2 today.


DAY THREE, Saturday: Well, today didn't go as I planned. But it could've been much worse. Usually my cramps knock me down for the count but today was actually... tolerable. Weird. I only fasted for two days before this, so I don't know how it could've affected my cramps this much, but it did. And I'm elated!


DAY FOUR, Sunday: I woke up feeling great today! Not hungry. Not empty. Just great. What a feeling! We even went shopping today. Can you believe that? I didn't even splurge on all those foods you end up buying when you go to the store hungry. (Though, honestly, I had to stay away from the Rice Dream freezer section or I might've killed for one of their frozen, ready-to-eat treats.)

We stocked up on nutritional yeast, millet, whole grain bread for Tyler, organic oranges, apples, bananas and russet potatoes (I'm craving mashed potatoes!)... though, we are planning a romantic camping trip next week and did buy ingredients for smores. Oh yes, smores. It's a delicate treat that we have once every five years it seems. And it's about time! Dandies marshmallows (they're vegan, so they're just like cheap marshmallows but they don't contain animal skins), dark, organic chocolate and some graham crackers - it's a new brand, but I'm sure if the local health food store ONF carries it, it'll be good.

I think once I hit day 5, I'll feel like I'm over the hump. Isn't it surprising how talking about food, and shopping, and smelling my husband's meals.. is actually helping?

I feel great. I look great. I'm not even too tired.. even without food for 4 days. See.. anybody can do this. Well, anybody without children or, if you do have kids, if you have someone to care for the children for a week. But I went outside today, got some exercise (not too much) and back home relaxing again.

You have to take care of yourself first. Otherwise, how can you take care of another human being?


DAY FIVE, Monday: I woke up feeling absolutely fantastic today! Enjoying my water with a little salt and a little lemon for breakfast. But I don't think I drank enough. My stomach is finally growling a little. It's okay, though.. a little growing stomach never hurt anyone! So, off to get a large glass of plain, filtered water. It's time for enema #3, too.

Afternoon and feeling fine. Though I must admit I wanted to crack today.. not because I'm hungry, but because our food tastes soooo good! Have you tried these recipes? Then you know what I mean. I'm looking forward to raw sushi (also in the blog), pizza with daiya, veggie dogs this weekend, smores.. you name it! No, we actually don't normally eat veggie dogs and smores but we're going camping to celebrate our anniversary. Yay!


DAY SIX, Tuesday: Well, it's about 3 am and I'm awake. I noticed (and read about) how much less you sleep when you eat raw foods exclusively.. and I did notice that when we ate raw foods. But maybe you sleep even less when you fast? Ani Phyo's raw food cookbooks talk a lot about the benefits of raw foods, one being less sleep required because your body doesn't have to work so hard to digest all of your foods. And since I'm not digesting anything right now, it stands to reason that I wouldn't need much sleep, right?

Feeling great! Not hungry. And as of now, I have only 41 hours to go! Woohoo!

It's after noon and I figured I would be asleep by now. I'm not sleepy, though. Weird. I am, however, ecstatic to say that day 6 is nearing conclusion! A mere 8 hours left! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So, I've figured out the first two days are the hungriest. The third and fourth day are the weakest. But after that, you feel completely normal again. I still enjoy seeing what Tyler makes for dinner. And luckily, ahead of time, I made two of the you-can't-screw-this-up mac n cheese recipes.. one original, one Mexican-style. So, there's no excuse for him not eating right while I'm fasting!

And today I'm busy making a shopping list and packing list for camping. We don't have any chili or relish. And I want to spice up the dogs. Chili sounds fantastic right now!

So.. today is almost over.. and I did manage to make the beans for the chili tomorrow. And, believe it or not, I made a LOT of chocolate candy. (See next post.) I honestly don't know how I did it. I wanted to taste the chocolate.. because I'm a choco-holic. But I wasn't even hungry. This is so weird!


DAY SEVEN, Wednesday: What a fabulous morning. Yesterday was the best day I've had on the fast.. which makes me see how people can, when necessary, fast for 2-3 or even more weeks at a time. You really do feel better as time goes on. I feel great today, am enjoying my morning carbonated water.. and looking forward to mashed potatoes and soup tonight!

. . . .

I'm counting down the hours! In just two hours I'll start a homemade, from-scratch soup. Hmm hmm good.

. . . .

Nothing new to report. The fast ended quite easily with a very-cooked bowl of unbelievable soup (see next post.) Wow, I feel great! I have to admit, some days I really wanted to break the fast because I was just bored of not eating. Who knew that could even happen? I wasn't hungry most of the time.. I just missed the taste of our cooking!

So.. it's back to my normal eating. Though, I do plan to concentrate on more raw foods. I've been doing a lot of research and reading while fasting and have some up with some wonderful (hopefully!) bread-type recipes.

Here goes nothing!


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