Foodness & Fasting Day #5
So, Fasting Day #5 was a success, and it was both better and worse than the previous ones. So I’m not sure what I’m learning, but darnit, I’m learning something. ;)
I’d have to say that yesterday felt harder than the previous fasts. Not eating was wearying; constantly thinking about food, then putting the thoughts away and moving on, began to make me feel physically and emotionally drained after a while. Also (or the same thing put another way, perhaps), the boost of doing something new and different was mostly absent; several times I felt myself getting irritated with the whole thing and just wanting to drop it.
That said, I probably did better yesterday than I have yet. I didn’t cheat at all; I had nothing solid all day besides 5 Altoids and some honey in my tea. No gum, even, and no milk or soup either. I bought some juice this time (my juicer is buried in moving-stuff, but I hope to find it for next week), and all I had was water and juice and coffee. Unlike the other times, though, I even made an effort to cut down on the coffee this time, having only the bare minimum I needed to keep the evil caffeine-headache at bay. (That worked about to about 1.5 cups of half-caff and one cup of regular, spread throughout the day.) I had my protein drink late in the evening, mostly because I had bought it and it tastes good, but it took me three hours to drink the thing and I was unhappy with how full it made me feel. Not sure what to do about that next time, hmm.
I also did some more reading on fasting, and decided that I want to try a longer one, probably 10-14 days, maybe in the Spring. Some preparation seems like a good idea, and whether or not I can do it is going to depend somewhat on work; but it looks like a cool idea and something I’d definitely like to experience.
Unfortunately, for one of my classes this week, I also read a piece by Plutarch on "The Eating of Flesh". (You can read it here.) Ancient Greek stuff. The basis is that Plutarch has heard quite a few people questioning how the Pythagoreans ever came up with the idea to go vegetarian; and in answer, he writes this bit where he asks how people ever came up with the idea of eating meat in the first place. Plutarch is a seriously smart cookie and his observations are forthright and chilling, and they raised a lot of questions for me (especially compounded with the rest of this class, which is one of those really awesome ones that breaks your brain every week or so).
I’ve never really considered vegetarianism — very few people I know are one, and those tend to be unhealthy and/or whacko; and on top of that I have way high blood-iron so if I did cut meat out of my diet, I’d have to work really hard to stay healthy. But at the same time, I’m not one to back away from a potent argument. More study is in order, but even at this early stage I have to say I am considering it. Grr.
I also cut Coke out of my diet again — I fell off the bandwagon with that a few months back, but I can feel it giving me sugar-cravings now, so it’s time to kick it again. Thankfully I haven’t drank much of the stuff since I was a teenager, so it won’t be that difficult.
Also, echinacea tea tastes like grass, but licorice root is stronger stuff than you think, so don’t add too much unless you want to die of sweet! The tea hasn’t made a noticeable difference in my Infestation O’ Hives yet, but it’s only been a day.
Okay, I’ve run out of things to color. ;)
1 comment
I have not eaten anything with legs or wings since I was seventeen (i’m 28). I get protein from milk products and fish/seafood. Mercury in fish apparently is only activated when cooked. I like raw fish “cooked” in a lemon juice bath. Raw fish is as easy to eat and digest as, say, jello. Cooked fish feels much different, it is tougher. There are so many soy and whey products out there that I do not have problems finding protein. I can’t compare what it is like to eat meat because I don’t remember what eating meat is like.
A quick rule of thumb we use for long fasts is that for the first day you will be very hungry, but the next day not so hungry; you may not feel hungry again for a couple of weeks, but once you do feel deeply hungry, that means your system is depleted and you should eat.
I find I get hunger pangs in waves around the clock similar to the alert/drowsy pattern for naps. Both are probably associated with homeostasis and routine, and maybe even body temperature, but thats a guess.
Any fast will vaporize both body fat and muscle mass, and bone density. As tissue breaks down it will make your body toxic (what’s that called, kenosis?). Whenever my dad would fast, one of the first things to go was his cardiac muscle (checked in a clinic). I figure this contributed to his early death. My muscle also seems to go pretty quick in a catabolic state.
My first teacher would go forty days without solid food for Great Lent. He would only drink juices. Another elder thought drinking juice was for sissys, and he drank only water. He ended up in the hospital after only 20 days. Juice is high-glycemic, so you don’t want to guzzle it. Whenever I go on a strict fast, for some reason I need a lot more water than usual, I have no idea why. I get dehydrated quickly.
I hear that caffeine and exercise together help the body to release only triglycerides and hold on to other stored energy, including what the muscles store. All I can say is that caffeine and exercise make me very hungry when I am determined not to eat:)
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