After a day of fasting
My alarm just went off, telling me that it is the official sunset. I thought I'd be champing at the bit, NEED FOOD NOW, but I'm not. I felt a little faint and dizzy earlier, but that has passed now. I also really, really wanted to eat something a couple of hours ago (and had that nasty voice asking me who would know), but I did not succumb to the devil on my shoulder.
My first alarm went off at 5.45am this morning. I knew that first prayers were at 6am (I think I was meant to be praying until the official dawn, but I'm afraid that didn't happen), and I was up and getting my breakfast together by 6.30am. I had a breakfast with a wholegrain and pumpkin seed bread ("for sustained energy"), scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomato, and baby spinach, a big glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, and about a litre of water (literally -- I have been to the toilet a lot today). I followed that with some almonds and pumpkin seeds until about 7.25am, when I ate two dates and finished my water before brushing my teeth (my alarm saying it was almost sunrise went off when I was brushing my teeth, so that was timed well).
And then I went back to bed (it's Saturday. Saturday is my day to sleep in. I have church on Sunday!).
I have to admit, I made the conscious decision to take today because I knew there wasn't anything on the calendar that could provide me with temptation. I considered going to see Much Ado About Nothing, which only opened here on Thursday, but I have to travel a fair distance to get to it, and I know I bored-eat at times like that. I didn't want to present myself with too much temptation.
I do kind of feel like I'm cheating a little. It hasn't been 12 hours that I've been fasting, and I get to eat (and we're going out in an hour, so I do need to break the fast before then). It's been an enlightening experience, fasting like this, mainly because I thought going in "well, it's not like you drink a lot during the day, anyway"... but it's amazing how much you crave water when it's denied you!
I have to admire people who do this for 30 days straight, because I don't know that I could. And the fact that, again, I pretty much just put things on hold for a day to avoid being around too much food -- I'm glad I wasn't working in the food services industry today!
But I did it, and I'm glad I did. I hope the call doesn't have to be made next year, but I know that if it is, I will put myself forward again. I might even put myself forward on a day when I need to be around food!
Now I'm going to eat another couple of dates, drink a large orange juice, and have a cup of coffee.
This entry was originally posted at http://purple-smurf.dreamwidth.org/504522.html
My first alarm went off at 5.45am this morning. I knew that first prayers were at 6am (I think I was meant to be praying until the official dawn, but I'm afraid that didn't happen), and I was up and getting my breakfast together by 6.30am. I had a breakfast with a wholegrain and pumpkin seed bread ("for sustained energy"), scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomato, and baby spinach, a big glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, and about a litre of water (literally -- I have been to the toilet a lot today). I followed that with some almonds and pumpkin seeds until about 7.25am, when I ate two dates and finished my water before brushing my teeth (my alarm saying it was almost sunrise went off when I was brushing my teeth, so that was timed well).
And then I went back to bed (it's Saturday. Saturday is my day to sleep in. I have church on Sunday!).
I have to admit, I made the conscious decision to take today because I knew there wasn't anything on the calendar that could provide me with temptation. I considered going to see Much Ado About Nothing, which only opened here on Thursday, but I have to travel a fair distance to get to it, and I know I bored-eat at times like that. I didn't want to present myself with too much temptation.
I do kind of feel like I'm cheating a little. It hasn't been 12 hours that I've been fasting, and I get to eat (and we're going out in an hour, so I do need to break the fast before then). It's been an enlightening experience, fasting like this, mainly because I thought going in "well, it's not like you drink a lot during the day, anyway"... but it's amazing how much you crave water when it's denied you!
I have to admire people who do this for 30 days straight, because I don't know that I could. And the fact that, again, I pretty much just put things on hold for a day to avoid being around too much food -- I'm glad I wasn't working in the food services industry today!
But I did it, and I'm glad I did. I hope the call doesn't have to be made next year, but I know that if it is, I will put myself forward again. I might even put myself forward on a day when I need to be around food!
Now I'm going to eat another couple of dates, drink a large orange juice, and have a cup of coffee.
This entry was originally posted at http://purple-smurf.dreamwidth.org/504522.html