Fasting the slow way

Today is my fourth day of fasting and the middle of a second week of daily meditation. The fasting is part of what might be called a detox of sorts. Most of 2020 was spent in a haze of over eating and alcohol consumption during both a pandemic and a divorce. Combine that with a little internal bleeding and a 3 day hospital stay I decided I need to get off the train to Wrecksville and on to Healthville.

I'm 48 years old, which means my body doesn't work as well as it did when I was 28. On the other hand it works better in certain ways, such as putting on fat at the drop of a hat and saying 'yes' to that second round...or third...of beer. Not exactly the sort of improvements I was hoping for by this age. Yet, as my doctor says, "You're in good health for someone your age". I intend to keep it that way.

Smiling, but still in the Hospital

 This year is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with myself. Last year was "the valley". This year will be "the grassy knoll". I'm starting with a 7 day fast to allow my digestive system time to purge and recover just a little bit. I've done 7 day fasts before, and always dread it, but not for the reasons you might think. I dread it because it's so easy to stop eating altogether that it is very difficult to start up again. Yes, it is difficult to start eating again.

Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't stopped all caloric intake. I ingest many ounces of water each day to keep full. On the off chance that I get a little light headed I keep a bottle of Martinelli's apple juice in the fridge for a pick-me-up. I appreciate Martinelli's because it is like drinking candy that has been harvested from trees right here in the US. That means the bottles didn't travel across the ocean to get to me. The bottle is glass too, so I can reuse it for water, or spare nuts and bolts, or play in a jug band. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

My fridge

Oh, man. Where was I? Being light-headed, right. Those past few sentences seemed to ramble. Light-headedness is to be expected. I also take my medications daily. Each bottle has a warning: "take on a full stomach". Ha! To get around this conundrum I drink a glass of V8 before taking my medications and vitamins. It seems to help any discomfort the pills would cause otherwise. So far, so good.

During the first days I drank a few ounces of orange juice mixed with Metamucil to both fill me up a bit and also to get me going. For the record I've lost almost 8 lbs over the past four days. Bear in mind much of that is waste weight. Yup. I was full of... well, you know. Regardless, I'm feeling lighter and my head fog has gone away. And I'm not bleeding from my rectum as the bottle of Metamucil said I might. Fun!

Well, that's all I can say. I have a few more days of fasting left, but I'm considering calling it early because I want to go hunting this Saturday. I'll need my energy to carry everything through the woods and setup the blind, etc.. If I do that on an empty stomach I'm sure to get ill. Decisions decisions. Since I'm doing this for my health I lean toward breaking early so I don't get sick. We'll see....

Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: I stopped on the 5th day because I wanted to be sure to have strength to go hunting. Priorities, right?