My Thirty Day Water Fast - Day Five
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| No, I am not back to looking like this |
On Day Five, I was either flying (in a plane) or walking through airports until midnight. And, here is where my fast started to get to me. It wasn't the hunger because, truly, by Day Five it was not there, and it wasn't thinking about food, although that still was there. Rather, it was the weakness I felt when moving about. It is really strange because last time I fasted (okay, I was nineteen years old - see photo at left), I didn't feel that way and buzzed about for all ten days. So I did a lot of reading and I found varying reports of how weak one might feel and some reported weakness in the beginning but it lessened as the days progressed and others apparently spent their entire fast in a hammock; age didn't seem to matter.
And that was my problem. The weakness seriously bugged me and I really noticed it as I crawled to my connecting flight, worried I wouldn't make it to that gate in another state by the time boarding ended. I didn't have any peanuts or cookies or pretzels on the flight and I made it through the day, but I remember looking fondly at a wheelchair as I deplaned that I really wanted to sit in. Back at home, I woke on Day Six to feeling still like 1/4 of a human and although I knew this did not mean I was going to kick the bucket (I know some of you will say...."Oh, your body was crying for food!"), I didn't want to continue to be that weak because I had stuff to do. I wasn't on a prolonged vacation and I couldn't just lay about for the rest of the month, so I decided to break the fast. I did diluted juices, then juice, then fruit. Today I have had a salad.
I am a bit bummed that I didn't get to finish the fast as I wanted. If it hadn't been for the weakness, I think I would have carried on. I don't regret the try, though, as I learned a lot of interesting things about food and my brain's attitude toward it. I think the most fascinating thing I learned is that I too often eat without thinking about why and what; this is what I hope to change. I also find pretty fascinating that life is incredibly boring without food, mostly because our culture is built around food in every single social occasion, which I think is rather a terrible thing. At least when I was growing up, I remember food played a much smaller part and, even when a social occasion did include food, it was often in small proportions. This is something America needs to fix if we want to be truly a healthier population.
Ah, well, on to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland with my daughter to see Sarah Mclachlan. As I lay out on the blanket listening to her sing (Sarah, not my daughter), I just hope I don't eat an entire bag of Doritos.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
July 5, 2012
6 comments:
you are so right Pat. Our "life, as in entertainment sense that is, is focused around food".. ie. lets go to the movie (where you get popcorn etc)...come over for dinner, cook-out, go boating (gotta have snacks and something to drink), hang out by the pool (gotta have Margarita)....
Glad you survived, made it home safely and hopefully take the lessons you've learned and apply them to your life "after fasting"... Lorraine
You did good, Pat. Like you, we've learned a lot from your journey. Perhaps some of us will put into practice more thoughtfulness in what, when, and how much we put into our mouths on a daily basis, remembering your words.
Maybe this fast was a mourning of sorts for the young gorgeous Pat as well as a rebirthing of the mature wildly important & still gorgeous Pat Brown. I promise to have Lava chocolate cake tomorrow to celebrate the happy event *-* *-*
Great Pat,
Its interesting you comment about food and how food is so important in our society. But other civilizations gave food the same importance. Food was a gift to Gods. We celebrate with food, we prepare good meals to receive family and friends. Food is way to get people together. But food could be a strategy to compensate us from solitude, from sadness, from frustated experiences. In a way we are what we eat. But food it is a huge pleasure for the mind, eyes and senses. Its the balance we want to reach in the end. I have a feeling this was just a warm up test and you will succeed next time.
Alex
I'm proud of you! You did the right thing and listened to your body. It was very interesting reading about how you were feeling during your fast.
joan
Pat
I would like to say well done, even though you broke your fast. I think really that when one is young we can push our bodies to extremes, but later in life we havemto listen to our bodies, though I always have and have eaten mostly what my body craved, i.e greens strangely enough.
You are stunning now and when you were younger looking at your photo - when we become mothers we always increase our weight by at least a stone. I think this a natural thing though I understand why losing some excess weight is a good thing. I agree that we should watch what we eat but become obsessed with it.
Well done for what you achieved - I did imagine that trying to work and fast puts more pressure on your body hence your lethargy.
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