Water Fasting

Happy New Year!  On the first day of 2013 I spent time reflecting on the many joys of 2012, what an amazing year with so many moments of laughter, accomplishment and love.  And looking ahead to 2013 already I have marked in my calendar many wondrous events and the year shines with hope and much joy.  I am so incredibly grateful for the many blessings in my life.  Thank you Lord for all you have given me.

Also on the January 1st I embarked on a new journey - water fasting.  I have been looking into it for some time, since it was first suggested to me by an Osteopath therapist.  More research, a nod of approval from my Homeopathy therapist and a consultation with an MD from France (whom I saw in Toronto, just in case you thought I had a trip to France worked in there) confirmed that this was something I felt would be good for me.

Two main reasons why I am water fasting, in my simple layman terms: 
1)  the ultimate in detoxing, cleaning out all my cells and resetting my system, rebooting my immune system and getting rid of all the nasty stuff I put into my body over the holidays (so much sugar, ugghh). 
2)  there is potential that by causing my body to reach deep into my tissues for energy supplies, I will be waking up and putting into action those deep seated fat cells that hang out in my abdomen, where my cancer grows, and kicking them into action may deter, halt and possibly reduce the cancer growth in them.

My program for Water Fasting:

(note, this is not a recommendation for others to follow, if you are thinking of a water fast please consult with your own qualified health care professionals).
*start with 3 days of liquids and soft foods to allow the digestive system to slow down.  I drank lots of teas, soups, pureed fruits and vegetables and yogurt.
*follow with 7 days of water only, drinking lots of distilled water only, nothing else.
*finish with 3 days of liquids and soft foods to get the digestive system up and running again, probiotics, yogurts, roquefort cheese, organic pureed fruits and vegetables and soups.

How it felt:

This is an incredibly interesting thing to do.  I would have never believed that going without eating, anything, for 6 days would be possible. I used to get stressed if I missed 2 meals in a row.  My healthcare professional friends assured me the human body was designed to go for times without food.  How right they are!  Observing how my body felt and reacted to the water fast was so interesting.

Day 1-3 on liquids and creams only - first of all I will admit that my holiday feasting had reached a peak and I was feeling quite ill from all the excess.  So the first day and a half of resting my digestive system was a welcome relief.  My body was thanking me.  By day 2 I was feeling so much better.  Sugar is definitely my bowels' enemy.  So this part of the program felt really good.  I made some delicious soup using homemade chicken broth, which was made from boiling one our our homegrown organic chicken carcasses leftover from Christmas dinner, with carrots, celery and onion, picking the good meat out of it, discarding the bones and icky bits (I can't stand those icky bits of chicken) and pureeing it all.  Then I steamed some broccoli and pureed that in as well.  Delicious soup.  

Here I need to mention that at the end of Day 3, which for me was New Year's Eve, there is a cleansing process that needs to be done.  Drinking a litre of salt water! icky.  It tasted terrible and brought back bad memeories of salt water and boats and wicked motion sickness.  But I drank it, rested and waited for my bowels to cleanse.  Strangely, when it was done, it felt like I had just given my insides a good rinsing out.  Through the night though I found myself waking up oh so thirsty...needing to drink a couple of glasses of water.

Day 4 - Jan 1st - first day of water only - I found warm/hot water much nicer to drink than cold.  I had hunger pains that day and the warm water seemed to soothe my stomach.  I think it is very much a case of mind of matter when it comes to not eating.  I was not really all that hungry, but my mind had to be decided very firmly that food was not passing by my lips.  There was a family New Year's day meal I sat through, watching the roast pork going past me, then the coffee and fruit salad...it did smell good!  But since I was an observer of the meal, not a partaker, I did begin to realize how much of our lives centers around food.  All the celebrating that day was based on food.  We do that an awful lot, use food to bring us together.
I got on the scale at the start of the day and was down 3 lbs since the morning of day 1, just for interests sake.  I think the salt water sucked all of the water out of my cells.  Today water was my friend.

Day 5 - more water - woke up in the morning with a headache and felt really groggy.  It took me about an hour, 2 mugs of hot water and a good warm shower to get me going.  But once I got myself started into a normal daily routine I found my body just kind of kicked into gear and seemed to decide it could move on without food or coffee.  I went to work and the day flowed quite normally.  That evening I was surprised at how tired I was.  At 7pm I knew I was not going to be up for long and by 8pm I was sound asleep.  It was one of the soundest sleeps I can remember. Oh, what a sleep...out like a log for 10 blissful hours.


Day 6 - again, water - woke up headache and groggy again.  And again, once I had a couple mugs of hot water, a hot shower and did chores I found myself moving along normally again.  The headache did linger for a couple of hours but I went to work and had a normal busy day.  I tested my PH this day and was shocked to see it was so acidic - it didn't even change the colour of the test strip - making me a 5.2.  I checked with my homeopathy friend and she said this was to be expected, as I was flushing out a lot of toxins and had not alkaline foods to counter balance it.  In the evening I felt achy over my kidneys and in the night I could swear my liver was aching.  Sleeping tonight was not as good, very wakeful and restless. 

Day 7 - more water, day 4 of water only.  Today I woke up clear headed.  My heart pounds when I first get up and I feel like I need to give my body time to adjust.  A little wobbly in the legs and my co-ordination feels off but all in all, I feel pretty darn normal.  Who knew this could happen!  I get to work and find my energy level is high and my co-workers comment on how good my colour looks.  I have forgotten to mention one side effect that has been with me the whole time I have been on water only - I feel the cold.  So now, I wear tights under my jeans, a turtleneck and hoodie and sometimes a scarf.  It's hard to keep warm enough.  I don't feel the urge to eat often, but I am so aware of the smells of other peoples foods.  I have a heightened sense of smell I think, smelling the spices within their food.  It is only when I smell someones food that I wish I too was eating.  Otherwise, I am surprisingly content with my water.  Tonight I am tired but sleep is not happening.  My legs are very achy, and I am restless, unable to sleep since midnight.  I was thinking a lot about food so I got up for a hot drink of water.  I made my son dinner tonight and it seems that handling food makes me want it.  Note to self - avoid cooking this weekend.  Now I am past the midpoint in the fast.  Only 3 more days to go.  According to the experts, the first 4 days of water fasting focus on de-toxing.  Now, on day 5 -7 my body will switch over to going to those deep seated tissues for energy and this is the sweet spot.  So I am now in the most beneficial stage.  This is the encouragement I need to keep it up.

Day 8 - 5th day of water only.  After a rough night, not sleeping and having unpleasant dreams, I was pleased to discover no headache today.  I had an osteopath massage booked for 9am and fortunately for me the therapist is only 2 minutes away from my home.  Sometimes God makes things that are good for us really accessible.   I was looking forward to the massage and wow, did it feel good!  The therapist was very pleased with how easy it was to work with my tissues and fascia.  She worked with spine and back, ankles, abdomen, and cranial massage - 2 hours of it.  I left feeling wonderful, so relaxed and soft inside.  It's hard to explain but my body just felt comfortable.  Today I feel great, good energy and clarity of thought.  Nice feeling.

Day 9 - water day #6.  Better sleep last night, Osteopath therapist was right about the cranial massage helping with the dreams.   Waking up now needs a bit more time, I sit up and let myself settle with that, drink some water and give my body time.  Then I get up, get another drink of hot water and everything starts to feel ready to go.  I am avoiding driving now as it's recommended I not drive at this stage of the fast, as my reaction time will be slow.  So, my daughter drove us to church and then we did grocery shopping afterwards.  I think it's because the end is in sight but today I am better about handling food.  I was able to pick out groceries, put them away at home, even make some eggs and oatmeal for the family.  Still feeling quite normal with my day to day activities.  The change I did notice is that I am not good at carrying weight now.  I carried the compost across the yard and the bucket sure got heavy, and it winded me.  I was able however to do chores no problem.  Just not carry weight.

Day 10 - last day of water - woohoo - 7th day of water only.  Woke up this morning at 6am, bright and ready to go! wow, I think my body is really getting to like this.  I have some pains in my abdomen which the thearpist told me is the organs moving within the fascia, which is a good thing. The day was a regular work day and I felt quite good at work.  I am so looking forward to taste tomorrow, not so much the eating, but the tasting. In the evening I work at preparing my food for tomorrow and this was hard, to handle and cook the food without tasting it.

Day 11 - I woke up about 2am and told myself sternly that I was fasting til 5am so go back to sleep, no snacking yet.  I awoke again at 5:30, feeling clear headed and ready to get up.  It really amazes me how well I feel.  It's been 7 days of no food, not a drop, not a crumb and I am feeling so good.  But I am ready for taste!  I start with a lemon hot water, my usual morning drink and it's very good.  Then I have a yogurt made, it's plain goat yogurt with cinnamon and pear puree I made the night before.  So tasty, it's like my taste buds are 300%.  I thought I had made a small serving but I find I can't finish it all.   Then an herbal tea to go.  My therapist and instructions all cautioned me to be gentle restarting my digestive system.  3 days of soups, purees, organic and clean food to start back.  And probiotics.  Lunch is a butternut squash soup I made the night before (organic squash, apple, orange, coconut milk, onion, pureed in the blender) and I stirred in a bit of roquefort cheese which was recommended for my gut enzymes.  Dinner was leek cauliflower soup (that my sister kindly made for me, thanks sis) and half a banana.  Oh, so delicious.  My energy level today was high and I had an overall feeling of wellness. 

Here is a picture of me today, after 7 days of fasting, drinking water only.  My tummy has a slight unusual  concaveness to it but I am sure a few days of food and that will fill right out.  I did lose some weight, 13lbs overall, but didn't develop that scrawny look I have gotten after surgeries.  Folks around me all agreed I looked very healthy.  Much healthier than I felt after a couple weeks of Christmas cookies and overeating.  The challenge of the fast, both mentally and the physically I really enjoyed.  I consider it a 100% success.

Jan 8, 2013, completing 7 day fast