Broke my first 3-day fruit fast today. Well, fruit feast might be more descriptive. I dearly love fruit. [insert lopsided grin]
What's a fruit fast, you ask? No, I'm not cutting fruit out of my diet. It's like a "real" fast, except I still ate (raw) fruit during the fasting period. Why? Well, I've been wanting to fast for a while now, but I was hesitant to try it because fasting can be dangerous if not done properly. Also, I'm kind of skinny and [cough] I was afraid my parents would think I'm having weight perception issues. Heh.
I saw fruit fasting as a perfect compromise.With a fruit fast, I would be eating during the (longer) fasting period, but fiber is still supposedly easier to digest than fat/protein/etc. And fruit isn't addictive like other forms of food. So I'd still be able to detox, which is when the body dumps toxins acquired through food into the bloodstream for removal It does periodically throughout the month on a small scale, but fasting triggers detoxing in large amounts. I'd also be able to break myself of some food addictions and prove that I have some willpower in me yet.
There are some amazing benefits to proper fasting. Most people report improved mental clarity, a feeling of internal and external "cleanness", increased energy, and better sleeping patterns after ending a fast. While I'm pretty healthy (and haven't experienced any insomnia in a long while, thank goodness), I have been feeling fatigued for tha past months. I've had some major improvement since I started paying more attention to nutritional requirements and excercise (and-- let's face it-- optimism), but I still hoped a fast would increase my energy levels.
My fast was harder than I had expected in some ways and easier than others. My parents were supportive and bought me lots of bananas and oranges (but not apples, because lately the ones we've bought have been going bad within just a few days). Unfortunately, I quickly became bored of the limited selection.
I ate five bananas, four oranges, a can of pineapple, a cupful of frozen blueberries, and a few sips of unsweetened green tea on the first day. ("Yuck!" at the last one-- I'm a true southerner in that aspect.) I tried to hit my daily caloric requirement, but fiber just doesn't pack enough calories. :P Most of the day was uneventful, except that I was literally craving "real" food. Oh, and my dad decided to cook some of the best-smelling porkchops. (I could taste it in the air every time I bit into my orange! Extremely unfair.) Around noon, I was craving fish in particular, but by evening my mental feast switched to pasta. Jogged a bit in the afternoon. I started to develop flu-like symptoms around 8pm: fever, headache, dizziness, general fatigue, and a disgusting white coating on my tongue. That made me happy, since it meant that I was in fact detoxing; I'd started to fear that my fast was a dud. I went to bed relatively earlier at 10pm.
The second day was much harder. Although I no longer craved food, I was very hungry (and bored). I ate four bananas, four oranges, and another can of pineapple. The flu symptoms were gone to be replaced with a general feeling of irritability. It never climaxed to anything significant, but I was certainly ticked with some people. I also became frustrated at the perceived lack of results. Stayed up a while with my sister, then went to bed at midnight and fell asleep within seconds.
Yesterday was hard. I didn't eat until 2pm because I was trying to stretch out my dwindling supplies. My family was stressed when I woke up, which in turn made me extremely moody. I even considered quitting my fast a day early, because of the "poor" results, but Dad encouraged me to keep at it. After a trip to the grocery store with my dad and sis that afternoon, I calmed down and reverted more or less to my usual self. Tomatoes and cucumbers (botanically fruits, though often called vegetables because of their use in savory dishes) helped un-sweeten my palate. [I'd forgotten how amazing tomatoes are, even commercial ones. I'm planning to grow some this year.] Altogether, I think I ate two tomatoes, a cucumber, and three bananas.
So! Today was my first day off the fast. The first noteworthy thing is that I now have heightened senses of smell and taste (though maybe that's all in my head?) as well as a rediscovered appreciation for the pure variety of food. My stomach shrank a bit during the fast, but I don't mind too much. I'm not sure if my weight changed-- it probably did-- but since weight loss was far from my goal, I didn't bother to measure. I'm not moody in the least, and I have no idea if my energy or sleeping habits have been affected. Anyway, I'm not sure if any of these effects are lating, or if there are any more that I've missed, but there you go.
Altogether this was an interesting experiment, though I'm not sure if I'm going to repeat it. I don't want to ruin my love of fruit and I especially don't want to upset my weight. Maybe if I'd taken a week or so beforehand to prepare and slowly wean myself off food, it would have been easier. One plus is that I don't have caffeine addiction, so it wasn't hard to miss my daily cup of coffee. For anyone thinking about taking a fruit fast, make sure you do some basic research first. Everybody's different, and some people (like those with diabetes or liver problems) put themselves at addition risk with these fasts. Anywho. Definitely something to look into.
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Oh yeah. There was something else I wanted to mention. A while ago, I did some research into recommended diets for people like me who have trich (trichotillomania or "hair pulling" is a disorder similar to OCD). At the time, I'd laughed a bit in ridicule/despair at the items on the list (Eggs? Caffeine? Raisins? Peanut butter?!) and realized I would never be willing to cut those foods out from my diet. However, I grudgingly noticed that while on this fruit fast, I didn't have a single urge to pull. I don't think I never realized what a constant presence trich has been in my life until it was no longer there. Even when I was moody on the second and third days, I had no urges. It was weird. Liberating.The only time I did experience some slight urges was at the end of the third day... after I had eaten tomato seeds, a "trigger" food. [face palm]
Now I realize that I really am going to have to cut out these food eventually, or else surrender myself to trich... And I'm not sure which I'd prefer.
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