The first 10 day fast

Posting this way after the fact but spring cleaning time is here and it’s a good time to revisit, review our lives and get the momentum going again.   The spring is all about renewal and for me and going through this again makes me think about my journey so far.  

This post is about my experience with a 10 day fast and many things reported may be a bit graphic, that is to say, yukky and maybe TMI but I am transcribing from my journal...so please be warned.

Planned a 5 day fast before the Christmas holidays last year but ended up extending it to a 10 day fast.

Dec 11^th, 2013

GOALS:

Increased health and energy

Cleansing and detox

Help transition to vegan lifestyle

“Reprogram” palate and eliminate unhealthy food cravings

Increased clarity of mind and mental positivity

Improvement of anemia

Shrinking of uterine fibroids

Improvement or alleviation of menorrhagea

Pre- fast

Fruits and veg

Day 1

Not hungry. Not many cravings. Very tired and napped all day.  Energy picked up at night and did some reading and writing.  Also experiencing menstrual- like pains and some light bleeding. (Expecting my period in a couple of weeks).

Low energy. May be caused by anemia

Day 2

Menstrual pain all through the night and day.  Feeling really bad.  Stayed in bed for the most part.

Bowel movement around 1.30pm

Very small bowl movement later on at night

Day 3

I seem to be experiencing a full on, very untimely period.  Too late to call off the fast – stomach hurts too much to eat anyway.

More pain.  Extremely tired. Nauseous and vomiting yellowish water.  Can’t keep water down, every time I drink water, I throw up.  Not much hunger.  Loose bowels (probably from period).

Day 4

Still weak with moments of pain.  All this mental clarity through fasting that they talk about – NOTHING.  Just a mental fog and sleeping all the time.  Trying to spend more time sitting outside to get some fresh air but mainly feel like vegging out on the couch and distracting myself with TV.  Mind is very foggy and far away. 

Also found that chilled water goes down well, so now able to keep up with fluid intake.

Day 5

Period pains mostly gone.  Deep misery and fogginess subsiding.

Dry brushed.

Walked around and felt a little lightheaded.

A little more energy.

Haven’t noticed any weight-loss

Day 6

Supposed to end the fast today but just starting to feel human again.  Aside from a slight nausea, I’m doing much better.  Will go on a bit longer.

Last night, thought a lot about food.  It wasn’t a craving so much as just a series of fantasies.  It’s actually really cool not to eat.  Save so much time, money… pure simplicity. But I can also appreciate the joys of eating and how good it is to nurture and nourish the body with delicious, nutritional things.

Managed to walk a little more, do some gardening.  Felt quite lightheaded and dizzy, had to hold on to a tree.

Also experienced some serious hunger pangs – not “true hunger” but definitely, tummy is now speaking up.  Had food cravings for cheese.

Tomorrow is a full moon, thinking to fast one more day to make it a full week and to fast on the day of the full moon.

Day 7

Cramps in my toes at night.  Had some interrupted sleep – waking up out of breath. 

More energy today.  Went for a walk, still a little light headed.

More mental clarity and able to do some mental work – as opposed to watching TV.

Still on my “period” – slight bleeding and discomfort.  A few hunger pangs during the day but nothing unbearable.

Skin seems less sensitive.  I can dry brush without discomfort – usually skin gets swollen if I try such things.  No problems now.  The skin is soft and oily without hyper sensitivity.
Night: hunger pangs return.  Can’t sleep, just thinking about food – especially shiro, falafel and cheese.  Especially the shiro…have a compulsion to run out to an Ethiopian restaurant.  The only reason I can resist is because I am too physically weak anyway.  I wonder what nutrient is in chickpeas that my body is craving/lacking?

Day 8

Woke up without hunger or too much discomfort and feel that I should go on.  Why not try for a 10 day fast?  One of the goals in this fast is to break food addictions.  If I am still dreaming of pizza and lasagna which I don’t actually eat that much of anyway, then that’s the first thing I will run for post fast.  So will stick with the fast longer to see if those cravings will calm down.

During the day, had no hunger pangs or cramps in my stomach.  Feel out of breath when I exert myself.

Night- hunger pangs are back.  Big time.  Couldn’t sleep.  Lots of food fantasies.  Short spells of nausea at night.  A little bit of gas at night and early morning.

Toe cramps have ceased.

Day 9

No hunger during the day.  Took a long afternoon walk, apart from hollow feeling in the abdomen region and a slightly rapid heartbeat, I felt very good and invigorated.  Energy levels are OK.  Increasing moments of  bliss, well being and sharp mental clarity.

Still unable to sleep at night until really late.  Coughed up a bit of mucus. Dream recall is getting good.

Day 10

I’m looking forward to ending this because hunger has not completely ended, especially at night.  Feeling very serene, peaceful and happy.  No significant weight loss.  Was worried about that because I have a small frame.  Not skinny at all now…estimate I lost about 6 lbs (I didn’t weigh myself).  Still quite healthy looking just that my skin and eyes are bright and pale.  I could probably do another 10 days without looking emaciated but would need complete bed rest to keep body weight from falling drastically.

I took a 45 minute walk, it was a little taxing.  Also did a few sit ups.

Had no problems sleeping.  Coughed up some mucus.

Tongue is still white coated but I think this is good enough for a first effort.  Ending it tomorrow.

Day 11

YAY!!!  I feel really accomplished.  I don’t know how much healing has taken place  or if I have loosened food addictions – only time will tell.  I do feel an emotional release and healing.  Feeling more centered, serene and happy.  Also my train of thought is more positive and generally lighter.

POST FASTING NOTES

I did a week fast from Feb 3^rd – Feb 9^th because I noticed some changes – mainly better moods and increased well being, really positive feelings about myself.  Less pain during my periods. Lighter menstrual flow. The fibroid is still there but the menstrual pain has decreased.  I am unable to enjoy unhealthy foods as much and eat them less frequently and in less quantity.

Will transcribe the second fast later.

Be well everybody!  And even if I didn’t do this under medical supervision as the books suggested,  I remind you that fasting can be dangerous and probably best to follow those precautions.  Also in case you didn’t read the previous posts with a more detailed discussion on fasting: Fasting is not recommended in the case of cancer and malignant tumors.

Fasting for health?

Inspired by Dr Fuhrman’s book “Eat To Live”, I decided to read his other book, Fasting and Eating for Health.  I started to feel very excited about the therapeutic and regenerative possibilities with fasting.  I am familiar with fasting but mainly from the spiritual perspective but this book delved deeper into the health aspects of fasting. 

   

To summarize the practice of fasting for health:   The theory is, that after WATER fasting, consuming ZERO calories (no juices, green drinks etc), the body goes into true ketosis within 48 hours for women and 72 hours for men.  This means that after a day or two of utilizing muscle tissue to make glucose for fuel, the body senses what is happening and starts to conserve its lean muscle by going into protein sparing mode and using fats to fuel the body and ketones from these fats to fuel the brain.  After around 3 days of fasting, the body is in a process of autolyzing (eating itself) by breaking down “needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel plaque, and other nonessential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential tissues” in this way, diseased  tissue and toxic materials stored in our fat are released into the “circulation for elimination”. 

 Dr Fuhrman advocates pure water fasting over juice fasting and ketogenic diets like high protein diets because they allow fully for this deep cleansing and elimination and because “the human organism responds to the fasting state by attempting to maximally conserve its muscle and lean body tissue.  With severely restrictive diets, like juice fasts, the body does lose weight, but the brain and other organs do not subsist mainly on ketones.  Therefore, proportionately to weight lost, juice fasts and severely restrictive diets cause us to lost more lean tissue and less fatty tissue than do total (water) fasts. 

 When the reserves are exhausted, the body moves into starvation mode and starts to feed off the lean muscle or healthy tissue but before this stage, true hunger kicks in and the fast must be stopped.  According to Dr Fuhrman, it takes the average person 40-70 days to go through their body’s reserves.

A clean, pink tongue with no white coating and the return of sweet smelling breath are considered indicators of a complete cleanse but the fast must be stopped once true hunger sets in, even if the tongue is still coated and the cleansing or healing is not complete.  The return of true hunger would indicate either that there has been too much loss of lean muscle (especially in the case of very overweight people) or that reserves are close to exhausted. 

It is also important to ease out of the fast gently by gradually increasing foods over a period of days or weeks (depending on the length of the fast).  The appetite is ravenous once the fast is broken and uncontrolled eating will negate the benefits of fasting.  The post fast period is supposed to be the most difficult. It takes 4-6 weeks for the metabolism to get to normal.  Overeating with a slow metabolism can be a disaster.  The digestive system will be receptive and easily assimilate all nutrients from food.  This is the most ideal stage to introduce a low calorie, nutrient dense way of eating.

I have to add here that Dr Fuhrman recommends that long term fasting (over 3 days) be done under medical supervision. 

  

Pre-existing health conditions can make fasting dangerous for some individuals.

It is really important to do the research before considering such an extreme activity as there are some conditions in which fasting is contraindicated.

Another informative, if rather dated, resource on fasting is Herbert M Shelton’s “The Science and Fine Art of Fasting.”

  

This is something that I am considering quite seriously. Any fasters out there? What were your experiences? Has anyone actually healed a medical condition through fasting?