I’m not going to deny that I’ve had some serious thoughts about food while fasting, after all, next to my husband & Hercules, my greatest love is cooking.
In the first 7-8 days I was obsessed with Scrambled Eggs with just a few drops of hot sauce. It was the food that I kept in the back of my mind that in the event I became weak and ate something, it was a delicious and totatlly healthy choice. Well, yesterday my obsession changed, I’ve moved onto olives and brie cheese. Not together mind you, but just olives on their own and the 101 ways I want to eat Brie Cheese next week.
And these food obsessions are definitely impacting my first food choices… I know there’s this whole raw/vegan thing about easing into eating with fresh juices, fruits and leafy greens after a fast but you know what, that doesn’t make sense to me.
Let’s take a minute and think this through, it’s January and you are some sort of nomadic cave person, who’s been ‘fasting’ by famine since there’s limited supplies of winter food. And after 12 days going without, you FINALLY kill an animal to eat. Are you going to say “wait I can’t eat this I need a fresh carrot-apple -celery juice or banana or green salad?
Heck no – despite the fact that you don’t have a juicer and there’s no juice bar local, the idea of fresh foods like that are months away. So, of course you gloriously eat the protein and fat.
The picture way up in top of this post is of our garden, today. In the dead of winter. The only thing edible today is the chickens (& their eggs) that reside in those plush accommodations. It’s even too cold to grow in the greenhouse without spending big bucks on heating it.
Cave man didn’t die because he ate protein & fat after fasting. Neither did the pioneers or anyone in between the very beginning of time and the age of refrigerator storage and trucking food thousands of miles.
To be honest with you, we don’t eat much fruit. The fruits we do eat are fresh, seasonal and local. Apples & Pears from our trees and Berries we forage. (and I’ll admit to standing at a berry bush shoving handfuls of ripe black raspberries into my mouth until my belly is about to burst, just how I assume cave man did) I don’t go to the grocery store and buy strawberries in December because they don’t grow now, they don’t for us here and they didn’t for my european ancestors. That’s how fruit was eaten by man for thousands of years. Its only in recent history that we had access to a plethora of fresh fruits and vegetables year round. So, think about that before you stock up for your fruitarian diet in the dead of winter. (that is of course depending on where you live and where your ancestors came from, it might be logical for some)
It only makes logical sense that we eat differently in the summer vs the winter, just as it only makes sense to fast in the winter when naturally food would be scarce. I’ve heard so many fasters mention that they couldn’t imagine fasting during the winter and I’m like what? man didn’t fast in the summer – food was plentiful! Eat & Enjoy!
Right now my garden is covered in snow, only a few carrots and beets remain in the frozen ground (can’t get to them until it thaws). But animals are still plentiful.
While I’ve been poo-pooing in the deep contemplative state that fasting is said to bring, I guess that I’m just as guilty as all those other folks. I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on so many aspects of my life and in most cases only solidify our lifestyle choices (that probably seem radical to most).
And I’m going to break my fast on Saturday morning with a plate of scrambled eggs (eggs from my backyard chickens, of course – cooked in grass fed butter) and sprinkle a touch of hot sauce on top. I’ve promised myself to not over do it, limiting my first meal to just 3 eggs (ours are med/lg, not giant eggs).
As for today, Thursday, Day #11 of my 12 day January Water Fast, it’s uneventful. Well I’ve lost another 1.8 pounds bringing me to a total of -25 pounds in 11 days – that’s kinda fab, right? And my blood glucose has dropped back into the 90’s (not ideal, but better – I want my fasting BG in the 70-80’s)
If you are interested in understanding more about insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and optimal blood glucose management THIS POST is amazing.
So here’s where I need your help – What’s your favorite way to enjoy Brie Cheese? (preferably low-carb) Feel free to share links to your or other blogs in the comments!
I tried to leave you a comment the other day, but I’m now realizing that it didn’t go through for some reason.
I just wanted you to know that I’m following along and routing you on from Spain with a mixture of awe,interest, admiration, and maybe a touch of healthy jealousy. 😉
I’d love to try this myself, but am in the midst of a family visit- and even without that I know that my family just wouldn’t understand me trying the whole water fast thing. I’d have to ease them into that idea. 😉 I will say that I did try eating one meal a day this week (more doable with having to make dinner for my family, and nobody even notices you are doing anything differently), and I ended up with crazy energy and feel so much better than expected. I may go back to it for awhile when my dad leaves.
I’d played with intermittent fasting in the past without much success, but I left myself a much larger window of eating time and that seems to be going well for me.
I just found it interesting.
Thanks Tracy – Thanks so much for your support!!!! We are shocked at how fabulous we feel while fasting 🙂
Haley-I have been following your water fasting with awe and fascination. Thank you for sharing the ups and downs of it all. I’m rooting for you!! I have done some research on water fasting since you have posted your journey and I from what I’ve read it can take about 5 days to wake your digestion back up and it’s recommended that you start slow with bone broth and the cooked veggy’s and increase things until day 4 or 5. I was just wondering what you have found in your research on breaking the fast.
Hey Norma – I talk about breaking our fast in this post – and my rationale behind our decision.