Final word.

When I set about doing this fast forty seven days ago I wasn't sure how far I would get and I didn't have any idea that I would be doing a forty day fast. I thought I would be doing the big four O next year to be honest.
Having achieved my ultimate fasting goal I can't pretend that this fast hasn't changed me. It is difficult to put into words but I'll try. I certainly have nice feelings in my body which started around the 30 day mark and carried on until now. I have a feeling of calmness and peace. I am happier with my own company. I don't crave bread. I don't feel the need to drink or smoke. I feel quite content doing simple tasks, enjoying simple things. Things I normally do feel more pleasurable than usual. At the beginning I felt satiated with food and life but now I am much happier and enjoying walks, talks, listening, watching, playing, exercising and resting more than  I was before, probably more than ever. I look healthier and lighter too plus I saved a lot of money that would normally have gone to grocers and shop keepers. I've lost count of the amount of times people have commented on how much healthier I appear.
I think that whoever wrote the story of the forty day fast of Jesus was onto something. It's not even that I can put it into words, which is usually an indicator that something deeply spiritual has taken place. I certainly can recommend fasting, especially if one wants to gain a renewed vigour for life and it's pleasures, if one is bored or listless, suffering from any kind of addiction or habitual behaviour, or just plain depressed. Fasting repairs the body in many ways by allowing it to fix itself.
I can say without hesitation that I will fast again. I am quite keen, so much so that I am looking forward to my summer fast. I cannot sing the praises of fasting high enough. It really does make one feel greatly refreshed, like a clean sheet of paper.

Footnote added 15 June;
Another added benefit of fasting is the strengthening of the immune system. My daughter caught a stinker of a snotty cold, which I thought I had also caught but after a couple of days of the feeling just a little bit swirly my body has fought off the virus.

Thanks again to all who donated to Warchild on my behalf. Any more donations are very welcome at Just Giving

Typical foods for the continued fast breaking next week.

Breakfast, Muesli with milk
Lunch, Salad with coleslaw and hummus.
Dinner, Rice and fish.
Fruit smoothie

Breakfast, Eggs and beans
Lunch, Asparagus, Watercress, Kale and Potato soup.
Ryvita.
Evening, Leafy salad  with walnuts and sultanas, Ryvita and cottage cheese.
Fruit juice

Breakfast, Porridge
Lunch, Sandwich with wholemeal bread salad and Quorn slices.
Evening, Vegetarian sausages and steamed vegetables.
Barleycup drink.

More breakfast again

Breakfast eggs and beans
Lunch  salad with sweetcorn, peppers, olives, cucumber, tomatoes. Carrots and hummus
A small piece of flapjack. Popcorn.
Evening meal, bowl of homemade tomato soup and a bit of last nights left over brown rice and fish.
A couple of dark Ryvitas.
I'm  pretty much onto normal eating now. Tomorrow I'm going to have porridge in the morning. I am going to be continuing a healthy diet including lots of raw veg, brown rice, and fish. Nuts, beans and pulses. Yoghurt and cottage cheese.  I'm sticking to that for at least the next week or two.

A special thanks goes to everyone who donated to Warchild on my behalf.

More breakfast

I've managed to get back onto normal foods quite safely, with no indigestion or any other digestive problems which is good. However after being away from home with only wholemeal bread available at times, attending a birthday party with cake, snacking on nuts whilst at work, eating a few too many dates and grabbing whatever was available at the time I have put on a few pounds in as many days. Because of this it's now time to reign myself in again and get back to the plan. For the next few weeks I will be sticking closely to fruit, veg, brown rice and fish. No more dates, wheat, or birthday cake, I don't care whose birthday it is. Even though I was limited to the one and only vegetarian dish in the place in three different restaurants, there is really no way to know how much salt, fat or sugars there are in foods you didn't make yourself. Luckily I am at home for the next couple of weeks and will be able to totally control my diet again. Slipping up a couple of times during a post fast period out of necessity is fine but to carry on with bad habits is not. This is why fast breaking is such a tricky thing. It's about getting your system working again safely and retaining your health. Although I could have skipped food at times instead of going for expensive restaurant foods with question marks over it, I had kind of agreed to give myself a little leeway because of being in slightly unpredictable circumstances away from home. I have also been weighing myself more regularly so I have been able to keep an eye on my weight every couple of days, this is advisable because adjustments can be made quickly before getting carried away post fast by resting on ones laurels. Even though it is normal to gain weight after a fast no matter what one eats, it is important to stick to the right kind of healthy foods, regular exercise and careful monitoring.

For dinner I made a Madras with brown rice, white fish, curly kale and chick peas,

Fourth and Fifth day breaking the fast

I had to travel this weekend. I packed a salad, with cherry tomatoes, hummus, crispbread, cashews, black olives, and crunchy peanut butter. In London at times in has been difficult to find suitable foods and has required a bit of searching and crossing things off the menu. In the late afternoon I was in Chinatown and ended up spending a lot of money on a very small bowl of beancurd and sweetcorn soup and miniscule plate of crispy seaweed. "You don't want a main course!" said the surprised waitress. I didn't attempt to explain myself. It hit the spot though. In the evening I went to a social club. On the way there I grabbed two apples from a shop. At the club I only drank water. Later on, after a long walk to find a night bus I was ravenously hungry and stopped in a 24 hour Italian cafe at about 2:30 am and had a salad and some penne pasta with plain tomato sauce. I had to stop the restauratuer from piling on too much of the pasta onto the plate. It tasted so good I would go back there again for sure.
For breakfast this morning I had some crunchy cereal with milk which was the only thing readily available at the time. At lunch I ate a peeled carrot that I had in my pocket for a snack. At about 2:30pm I was hungry and found myself in a hotel which only had rich meaty food, but luckily the soup of the day was creamed asparagus and watercress with a wholemeal bread roll. Perfect. In the evening I had wholmeal bread and Marmite because that was all there was at the time, no problem, I really enjoyed it. I ate the last few dates I had left over. I also had a couple of cups of ordinary tea for the first time in at least six weeks. Toast and marmite and tea I love you and I am glad to have you in my life again.
My digestion is good but I am still sticking to small amounts and no full fat cheese or meat, no white bread, no alcohol. So far so good. Even though I've always known about eating small amounts post fast, I still learned the hard way. After one fast a couple of years ago, when I was having an orgasmic food moment I over did it eating seconds and thirds and I ended up with chronic indigestion. Never again.

Third day of breaking the fast

I feel very positive about this whole experience. I have visited the health food shop more in the last two days than I have in the last year. I am interested in healthy food now. The fast has changed me. I want to be healthy and fit. I don't want to fall back into old bad eating habits. I want to keep this good feeling going. The detoxified body has become taut and the feeling of health is palpable. My whole mood is better than before and I am getting stronger and my stamina is increasing. I am enjoying being busy doing chores, learning more guitar and reading. I have had very positive responses from people about this whole thing. We have raised a lot of money for Warchild.

8:00 exercise

8:30 porridge with yoghurt linseed and honey

10.30 glass of tropical fruit juice

11:30 green salad balsamic vinegar dressing.  Cottage cheese. dates. rye crispbread

12:30pm country soup (last bit left over from yesterday see yesterdays blog for ingedients)

2pm Cycling

3:45pm miso soup drink

5:30pm kale, carrots, onions and gravy with garlic and yeast extract and hemp flour.

6pm dates strawberries

7pm Glass of fruit juice.

I'll have a snack later too but I don't know what yet. I'm going to chill out now and watch The Graduate.

8:35 snack Yoghurt with crushed walnuts, sultanas, honey and cinnamon.

Second day of breaking the fast

7:00am exercise

7:30am small yoghurt linseed and honey

7:45am small bowl of baked beans

Barley cup drink

10:30am green salad with fresh basil and two table spoons of sweetcorn
with french dressing.
Chewing this gave me a jaw ache, from underused muscles.
Just goes to show that if you don't use certain muscles for a month they need building up again.

11am Orange and mango juice 100%
Juice and water helps stop me from wanting to eat and eat.

1pm Lunch country soup mix
containing aduki beans
barley flakes, pearl barley, red split lentils,
green split peas, yellow split peas
marrowfat peas.
to which i added
sweetcorn, garlic, stock, herbs. finely chopped red onion,
half a large red hot chilli pepper and white pepper. fresh basil on top.

 I used to blend the soup but I like and need the chewing.
pudding was a small handful of dates.

3pm Afternoon snack;
hummus with coriander and jalapeno and rye crispbread and white pepper.

barleycup drink

8pm Dinner; bowl of small green salad, country soup
pudding; a few dates.

Midnight snack; 6 strawberries and 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese (gotta use up that tub that I bought)

Hunger is stronger and the days go quicker. I bought a couple of recipe books for vegetarian ideas.
After the soup I feel pretty stuffed. At first I thought I'd eaten too much but after a couple of hours felt better.
Carrying food in my intestines feels a bit odd after so much time on liquids. I don't have as much energy as when I was fasting but at least I'm eating healthy. One thing I forgot to mention when I was fasting was the groaning stomach noises, which was a regular thing, I don't know why I forgot to mention this. Things have quietened down now fortunately.
I don't miss wheat. The green salad with french dressing is amazing to me, a couple of months ago I would never have got a buzz from eating that. This is great, health food is more satisfying than fried chicken wings. Hopefully I can keep on a good diet for as long as possible. I certainly need to keep eating this way for the next two weeks at least. I'm glad I'm not missing bread. I wanted to cut down on wheat. This fast has given me an appreciation of healthy food like I've never had before, even after a twenty one day fast.
Had a late night bowel movement, eureka!

First day of breaking the fast.

"Every fool can fast, but only the wise man knows how to break a fast"

George Bernard  Shaw, writer

A few words on fasting first. Please be aware that I didn't just decide to do a forty day fast over night. This was my thirteenth fast and I have learned about fasting slowly over twenty years. I was originally taught by a yogi and I have read many books on the subject. I started with short fasts of a few days. During the first eight fasts I made mistakes every time. The last few fasts have been fine however and I now consider myself a 'master faster'. I have learned enough on the subject to do it my way now but if you are reading this and you are interested in fasting for goodness sake get some education and experience on the subject before attempting a long fast.

Journal.
I did my exercise at 8 and broke my fast at 9 with yoghurt and linseed. Eating today has been amazing.  I was teaching guitar at lunch time and I felt really hungry afterwards. I was really excited about my tomato soup, which was orgasmic (not organic). I managed to not have a second bowl and I didn't go mad on the dates afterwards. Todays foods which are all good fast breakers are listed below. I'm so into food right now I have my next four meals already planned out, maybe I should calm down a bit. 


How to break a fast properly. Breaking a fast should take a third the amount of time of the fast, so I will be eating carefully and healthily for the next two weeks. The trick is small amounts of easy to digest foods that promote saliva and reactivate the digestive system gently. My fast-breaking foods today are as follows.

Breakfast = yoghurt linseed and honey (small bowl with a table spoon of linseed, teaspoon of honey)

Lunch = tomato soup and a few Finn Crisp rye crispbread pieces* (4 medium tomatoes with stock garlic, herbs and a desert spoon of olive oil added just before eating)
Pudding = 8 dates
Glass of fruit juice
Afternoon snack = Stewed apple puree with cinnamon and honey and a splodge of natural yoghurt(4 small apples, teaspoon of honey)
Dinner = a small salad of green leaves with French dressing then same as lunch with same pudding.
Supper = cottage cheese with cucumber and Finn Crisp rye crispbread (three table spoons of cottage cheese, 4 or 5 crispbreads) with white pepper.
 Yummmmmmmmm
Water should also be taken in between meals.


* I have about  4  Finn Crisp crispbreads (they are small) , but if you have Ryvita two will do.

Recently I had to explain (yet again) the difference between fasting and starving I answered with the following :-

Fasting is a yogic practice done for health. Starving is being deprived of enough nutrients to live. In an overweight person this can take many weeks or months.  People who have less than 5% body fat should not  fast for more than a couple of days as they wouldn't live off their fat but their muscle and eventually thier bone marrow and organs. Fasting causes homeostasis to occur, the body's own self righting healing mechanism, which is good. Starving causes death to occur, which is bad.