More Lessons Learned From Fasting

The thought of my digestive system working 24/7 every day of my life makes me feel a little sorry for it. It never gets a break, never takes a vacation. Every day I just keep filling my belly with more food to digest, more work to do. For this reason I have periodically fasted to offer it a little rest.  Though I know some people fast for spiritual reasons, I am not that 'good'!  I have only fasted for health reasons. To tell the truth I've never felt that I could honestly fast for spiritual reasons - my motivations would likely gravitate toward weight loss and spoil my spiritual purity. Spiritual pureness aside, I have fasted on several occasions with the expectation of ridding my body of toxins and the hope of easing various sources of pain. During one such fast I discovered a relationship between my mind and my stomach.  It was a sort of epiphany - an unexpected self-revelation. After several days of only drinking a lemon juice blend, meant to detox my body, I had finally begun to come out of the 'detox fog' and feel the benefits of the cleanse. But I was still craving food -- voraciously!  My stomach was DEMANDING I feed it. Everything I'd read said that by this stage in my fast I should NOT be hungry but my stomach did NOT cooperate! It was like the kid in the supermarket screaming at his mother, "I WANT this and I want this NOW!"  My mind was like the parent calmly trying to comfort the child by reasoning, "I know you want this but I know what's best for you.. and right now you can't have it."  So the kid yells even louder, "You're not the boss of me! I want it NOW! GIVE IT TO ME!" …and the battle continues. During this time I understood that my body parts seemed to have survival instincts of their own. And they didn't hesitate to convey their needs to one another. My brain was able to reason that a fast was good - but my stomach was like the unruly child who cares only of itself! It was sure it would die if it went without food for another minute. It was determined to convince my brain of this fact and it even got my taste buds to join in the conspiracy!  Together they kicked and screamed and threw a fit crying that they NEEDED to be satisfied, immediately!  It actually made me more determined to see my fast through to the end and to show my 'child-stomach' who was boss! In the end my 'parent-brain' won the fight - barely. I have never done a fast that long since. I think three days is adequate time to give my digestive tract a lovely vacation and though my tummy balks somewhat it has become a little more cooperative!

To Detox or Not to Detox...found out I was following an Infamous Master Plan...

With the start of the New Year I decided to do a 3 day cleanse to 'detox' my body and give my digestive tract a break. I embarked on a three day fast following a plan (made famous by Hollywood stars) which I have done periodically over the years - something by the name of Master Cleanser.  While I dined on my fresh lemon juice and cayenne pepper concoction I kept waiting for my body to rebel against the toxins that were supposedly seeping out of every pore…it never happened. I expected to be fatigued and experience a steady, dull a headache because of the toxins leaving my body. The book promised I'd feel better soon, but oddly enough, I never felt bad!  I was HUNGRY but other than that, I felt fine. Then it dawned on me! Perhaps the negative side effects listed in the Master Cleanser are NOT actually caused by the toxins leaving one's body, but in fact, they are the beginning stages of ketosis and carb withdrawal!  In past years, when I'd followed the Master Cleanser, I'd had several days feeling like 'death warmed over' all the while assuming it was because my body was ridding itself of toxins. But this time I only felt hungry. That's when I decided to read up on detoxing cleanses. In my research I found that the original author of the famous Master Cleanser was convicted of murder by practicing medicine without a license! Yikes! Let me rename that the Infamous Master Cleanser! After reading several other articles I concluded that maybe I didn't actually need to detox my body. In fact, one statement pretty much summed up all I read about detoxing, when it said… very delicately: "That's what your F-ing liver is for..." Thought provoking!  Could my body's organs actually manage detoxing me without my drinking gallons of fresh squeezed lemon juice? Perhaps it could! Detox aside, I was pleased to learn that, by regularly reducing carbs, I didn't experience the negative effects carb withdrawals during my cleanse.