Laugh if you must...I don't care, 'cause I don't care.
The third day of my fast is beginning. I know I didn’t mention my intentions to fast on here before; I’ve been pretty slack about writing lately. But I’d been reading a lot about fasting, and I thought, “Hmmm, I’ve never tried that. Let’s give it a shot!” which is basically how I have decided to do everything I’ve ever done in my whole life.
It really is just that simple, by the way. There are no other motives, certainly no religious or spiritual ones. I just want to see. It’s a long time since I was the transient thrill-seeker I was as a young man, but I’ve still got the adventurer’s soul sleeping in me, and I am incurably curious. So, without thinking too much about it (you never want to think too much about things like this), I just kind of decided to jump in.
The fast is going to be two weeks, and I thought it would be best for it to end on the Friday of a week in which I don’t work on Saturday, which meant it needed to start the day before yesterday. I thought this because it seems likely to me that, after two weeks without food, whatever I eat (and I have been giving LOTS of thought to what that’s gonna be) will make me sick. Possibly the first couple of meals will. So, best if the fast ends on days I won’t have to go anywhere.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that, once I’m sure I can eat without getting sick, I’m going directly to Waffle House.
It’s not a total fast. It isn’t as though I won’t be getting any nutrients at all. I have a cup of thin broth every morning when I wake, and each night before I go to sleep. This is to make sure I don’t die, which I’d rather wouldn’t, you know?
I can also have all the fruit juice I want. Problem is, I have to strain the fruit juice very carefully before I drink it. Not because I’m an absolute purist; the reason is more practical than that. As I understand it, after three days without solid food, the part of my brain that tells me I’m hungry will shut down (which, as I get hungrier, sounds more and more like the bestest thing ever). After that, the rest of the fast should be painless. But if I get anything solid in my stomach at all, even just a tiny seed or sliver of pulp, it will wake that part of my brain back up, and I will have to go through three more days of hunger. I definitely don’t want that. And me, I don’t want to take the time to filter my juice that carefully before I drink it. I’ll have some, but probably not a whole lot.
I’m not following any specific plan for this fast. That would be unlike me, really. I prefer to learn things via trial and error, rather than benefiting from the wisdom of others. I am allowing myself alcohol, for one thing. Pretty much all the research I did (which I admit was kinda paltry) indicated that I shouldn’t drink during the fast, but it seemed to me that not eating for two weeks would be tough enough without also dodging alcohol. I’ll be careful, I promise. I don’t want this to turn into Leaving Las Vegas anymore than you folks do (though I do dearly love that movie). I’m allowing myself a glass of rum before bed every night, to help me sleep. Similarly, I am supposedly allowed to drink a pretty wide variety of herbal teas, and I am taking that as permission to drink all the McDonald’s sweet tea I want.
Also, medical-type folks are pretty much in concert about the need for enemas while fasting. Brothers and sisters, there’s no way I’m gonna give myself an enema every morning. I don’t care what the reasons or risks are, I’m just not doing that. We’ll see how enema-free fasting goes.
One thing that’s worrying is that, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve had fairly constant headaches. I have combated those successfully with aspirin and Alka-Seltzer (which is, of course, the greatest invention in the history of medicine), but now I don’t think I can take either of those. I mean, an aspirin would be something solid in my stomach, right? Even Alka-Seltzer has a solid, grainy residue. I have a pretty serious headache now, and I don’t really have any idea how to make it go away.
But, all in all, so far it’s going pretty well. I’m actually not terribly hungry at the moment, though there’s sort of a gnawing hunger creeping around deep in my stomach. And today is the third day of the fast, which means that when I wake up tomorrow the hunger will be gone altogether, assuming that folks who know what goes on haven’t been lying to me.
It’s a grand experiment, is what it is. I am actually pretty excited about it. I’ve been hearing about how a fast gives energy and feelings of euphoria (I am heavily into euphoria) and is an aid to meditation and so forth, and I am very much looking forward to seeing if all of that is true. Wish me luck, and I will keep you folks up to date on the results. Feel free to give advice as well if you like, though I warn you that I probably won’t pay any attention to it. Love to all.