For whatever it’s worth my body seems to have a good constitution for fasting. It has been a decade or so since I last did a full-on fast, as opposed to cleanses that I like to do every year. I am on day three of a four day juice fast and feeling both good and bad as these things go.
Before I had children my lifestyle was much more conducive to this kind of behavior and it feels great to get back to the odd sensation of emptiness and energy. That energy sometimes wanes more that I would like—like towards the end of teaching a class where all of a sudden I feel completely depleted—but for the most part the vitality that accompanies fasting is pretty amazing.
You learn so much about your habits when fasting. The most profound for me is noticing how much I can eat when not at a meal. While making dinner for the family or just a snack for the kids it is ridiculously easy to eat a meals worth of food a morsel at a time.
About a month ago I read one of the gazillion health related articles that pass through my Facebook feed and it reported that a three day fast will reset the body’s immune system. Who am I to ignore such an opportunity?
This is a particularly good time for me to fast as I cut sugar out of my diet about a month ago (will the occasional exception of a lick of my kids ice cream cones) and in the week before I started the fast I was eating only one meal—either lunch or dinner—and nothing after 6pm.
In my fifties with two young children I have a lot of incentive to get my health in order. I have had hepatitis C for more than thirty years and while I think my liver is in decent shape I know that aging won’t go so well if I don’t pay it the respect it deserves.
The impetus for this latest explosion of self-care came when I was on my Chiropractors table last month talking about my love for ice cream (I could eat a pint a day with no problem). She shared with me the effects of ice cream on the liver, especially when it comes to my habit of eating the beloved stuff late at night soon before bed.
One of the more interesting aspects of fasting is the twofold nature of longing for food and wanting to fast forever. And also fantasizing about what my first meal will be.