Fasting Experience Day 4

Part of the reason I was so intrigued with the idea of personally fasting was because I was hearing such differing extremes of opinions from people before I started. I have heard people say that it was the worst thing I could do to my body and I heard people say that it was the best thing I could do for my body. The interesting thing was that the people who said it was the best were the only ones who had actually done a fast. It’s funny how personal experience and “what you hear” can be so different.

I wanted to share how my experience was going now that I am just over the half-way hump toward my 7 days of only drinking water.

Hunger: I was pleasantly surprised at how my hunger has been manifesting. While the ‘hunger’ that I am used to (that painful feeling in your stomach) during regular daily activities has actually been non-existent, the hunger I have been feeling is a much deeper one when it comes up. I have many cravings for nachos, strawberry milkshakes, mini donuts, chicken wings, Arby’s, and everything in between. Thankfully I have practice at simply observing these cravings as they come up, recognize them for what they are, and allow them to pass – they never last for more than a few minutes. They are all old cravings that I have been hanging onto – with each one the memory of how good I felt eating them comes up. When I have felt hunger, it doesn’t last very long, nor is it very difficult to get past. Smelling food has been the most difficult.

Brain: I feel like a bit of my brain power has reduced a bit. From what I read this will pass when my body switches over completely to Ketosis (using the stored fat as energy instead of the glucose you intake). Slight head rushes when I stand up, but overall still feeling pretty functional.

Energy: My energy levels have been up and down the past few days – I actually found them a lot easier to get through than I initially anticipated – no major hurtles – until last night. From last night until this morning at this writing my energy dropped significantly. Perhaps my body is slower at transitioning completely into Ketosis, maybe due to this being my first fast. I have still been able to do minor things during the day – light walks, house cleaning, etc.

Emotion: This has been the most interesting part of the experience so far. Beginning on Sunday with my juicing, every day I have broken down into tears at some point. I’m not sure why yet – perhaps some repression from the past or something about my present state – or a mix of both. In any case it has become clear to me that I have been burying emotions with food. I am always looking to feel full, to keep my belly stuffed – perhaps to mask some unfulfillment in my life. It’s hard to have emotions come up without any understanding of their source – the mind likes to ponder and analyze the source and it ends up being overwhelming due to the many possibilities. After eliminating my emotional food mask, it also became apparent to me how many other distractions in my life (movies, reading, music, internet, etc) have also been used as covers. I have been making an attempt at limiting my time spent on distractions to allow my emotional blockages to open and release. Hopefully more on this in the future.

So far I am pleased with where this is taking me and how it has progressed. I am excited to continue and to share more in my experience; hopefully others can get something out of it as well.

I realized my love for food is really a love of the feelings that food gives me. It is a temporary emotional comfort.

Much love,

Mat Rix