"Fast" Track To Health

I've been doing a 7 day fast.  This is a water fast - no food, period.  Not even supplements.  It's going so well now that my doctor & I have agreed it's a good idea to extend it to 14 days.

I'm doing this fast for health reasons.  The best quote I heard is: "Fasting resets the body to work the way it was created to."  There's heaps of studies on how fasting resets and normalises various levels in the body.  And people have been doing it for millenia.  Jesus fasted for 40 days.  Mahatma Gandhi fasted for 21.  Fasting isn't for everyone, from what I understand if you have a medical condition (ie, diabetes, etc) or are taking medications you definitely need to check with your healthcare practitioner.

Fasting for one or two days is REALLY different from an extended fast, especially if your body is loaded with toxins.  Because the first two or three days you really feel like crap. You get headaches, muscle aches, dizziness, cramps, nausea, and you want to eat.  But after the third day something amazing happens.  You're body actually switches to using your FAT exclusively for fuel.   You feel better. You think more clearly.  Your body starts repairing and regulating itself and inflammation disappears.  I dropped 8-9 kilos because inflammation went away.

I'm glad I have supervision because even after 3 days, you can still get weird aches and pains and muscle cramps.  And heartburn.  And hiccups.   And, um...belching.  So I've added mineral water, and need to get some epsom crystals to ensure I'm getting enough magnesium for the muscles.  Not sure if it will help the audible events.

It's also reminded me to pay attention to my thoughts. Especially the one that says "I'm REALLY hungry!".  I stop and think "am I?"  Then I realise, no, I'm not, it's just a mental desire.  I don't need it.  My body is just fine.  Apparently your body will tell you when it really needs food, and not by tummy rumblings or even discomfort - it becomes an intense craving.  Given the actual amount of fat on my body, I'm set for a while.  So, pay attention to your thoughts, and change them!

I also discovered why one person said to keep exercise to a minimum.  It was a gorgeous day yesterday, so I decided to take a gentle walk around the block, and stop halfway at the park.  My leg muscles burned!  It was like walking in a lead suit.  Later I was exhausted and dizzy.  My doctor informed me that it's because when you fast, you don't take in glucose to feed the muscles.

I was tempted to stop at the 7 day mark.  Simply because I enjoy food.  Then I thought, wow this is doing amazing things for my body, which is disadvantaged by years of ingesting toxins that are put in the food, and doesn't have a gallbladder so doesn't work as well as it should, and a whole host of toxins from stress and environment.  Do I really want to stop now or give my body the best advantage?  It's got its hard work side, so I don't really want to start over.

Fasting does starve all the bacteria in your gut.  The bad stuff (cool, heheheh) and the good stuff, which needs to be replenished.  It's part of the processing of resetting your body.  I've got my homemade fermented foods to reintroduce later.  Fyi the fermented foods and yoghurt, etc you buy in the average store is useless because they pasteurise it and kill the good bacteria.  You NEED bacteria in your gut, but the good kind, not the kind that makes you sick.

So, here I go into week 2.  Can't wait to see the results!

Good Friday Potato

It's Good Friday, so a lot of places are closed today. Plus Andrew was in too much pain to go anywhere fun anyway, so getting out of the house didn't happen.

These days, I don't do well being home for periods of time.  I don't know if it's ADD, ADHD, PMS or some other acronym, but I get bored easily (just ask my husband) but it's generally not the kind of boredom that says "hey, let's go work in the garden, or go for a walk, or play the guitar, or clean the house" or some other creative or useful endevour. It's the kind that leads to staring at the pantry & refrigerator shelves, watching stupid TV, lurking around FB and eventually writing a blog post. 

HAHAHAHA and you're reading it.

Last night & today have been House Potato days.  I suppose someone might say, don't be too hard on yourself, everyone needs down time.  But there's a different between down time, and digging the hole deeper time.   At least I think so.  Obviously being down on myself won't help, and at least if I'm typing this blog, I'm not raiding the kitchen.

But I actually have some bits of time I've actually enjoyed.  I started reading a new book, attempted to play on the freebie keyboard that Andrew cleaned up for me, mulled some wine (and drank it), read & watched some interesting stuff on the internet (and not just cute kitty antics either - althought the cat and the blimp was pretty funny), watched the space station go overhead in the cold outdoors and admired a gorgeous moon (last night), helped out a friend, and attempted to reconvince the neighbours cat that our yard is not a bad place despite my husband's best efforts to have loud noises and scary machines.

Not having kids or pets at the moment, I can't tell you what crazy or insane or cute things they are doing.   Hopefully yours are doing something to keep you entertained or at least interested (in a good way).

Enjoy your time off, and do some Epic Shit stuff this weekend.  Even if it's as simple as giving House Potato a hug of appreciation.