Refeeding Process - Day #4 - What am I eating so far?

Today is for me the 4^th day of my refeeding process after my 22/23 Days of Water Fasting. So far is going well, I have had basically only watermelon the first couple of days and then I bought a delicious papaya, but the rest of the 3 days was just watermelon, carefully increasing the amount. I did not have any side effects for the food, actually yesterday I even had a BM, which I would define unpleasant but I guess is part of the whole process, reawakening my digestive system. This morning unfortunately my ketosis was gone, it gradually disappeared since I started refeeding, I'm assuming because of the sugar in the fruits, since I'm eating only that. But today I had a completely different meal plan; since I felt a bit down and weak yesterday – and the absence of ketosis worried me – I wanted to get some proteins, so this morning I prepared a smoothie with a scoop of vegan protein powder, an handful of strawberry, a cup of spinach and half slide of pineapple to give some sweetness. The proteins tasted really bad, I think one scoop was too much, but I felt ok after so I didn't actually regret having it.

My breakfast was with roughly 400gr of watermelon, this little one was tastier than the one I had on Friday, it was juicy and sweet; I had at around 9:30am this morning, trying not to drink too much water before or after my meal. It felt a lot of watermelon. I can tell that I cannot eat too much; my stomach gets full really quickly.

Lunch time was more on vegetables, I did not have much with me so I went downstairs to buy something; initially I thought it would be nice to try one of those place where they serve organic raw food, but all of the dishes were either with nuts, beans or fats, so I opted for the self-service isle at the grocery store. I got a tray of mixed greens (mostly spinach) with some cucumbers and cherry tomatoes; for the sweetness I added watermelon and cantaloupe. I tried to maintain the ingredients all with a high water content, nothing dry or with high fat. It was a very nice salad, but it took me sometime to eat it all, I had like half – then waited half hour – and finished the rest of it.

In these past 2/3 days while refeeding I can definitely tell how my body becomes extremely weak once the digestion starts, it's really unbelievable for me, all my strengths are gone in few minutes; yesterday I had to lie down for a little while, every time I was having a meal – this to confirm that really digestion gets a lot of energy from the body that could be used to do something else! I also notice a change in my thoughts clarity when I'm eating or when I'm digesting my meals, something that really I don't like so far.

My weight so far didn't change, I finished my Water Fast at 54.1Kg (119lb) and this morning I was stable again at 54.0Kg (118lb) – so pretty much as before, I'm expecting a weight increase for sure in the next few days, mostly due to the food that will be deposited in my whole digestive system but some retain of water as well. I have planned on maintaining a raw food diet for now, until my weight is good and stable at least. I do have a lot of small portions of chicken breast in the freezer that I really don't want to throw away, but it doesn't really expire frozen – I might think to have it once or twice a week, just to consume it, I really have no rush though.

Water Fast - Refeeding Process and my second meal of the day

Ok, so my second meal of the day is done; I just had again 2 ounces of watermelon and so far so good. This piece was cold, it was in the fridge since this morning but I was eating it in very small pieces, chewing slowly so it did not affect me much, in other circumstances I wouldn't be happy to eat cold fruit while I'm freezing here in the office. It took me another 10 to 15 minutes to eat it all, so I will resume my water around noon; I'm estimating another meal around 1:30pm and the next one I might have at home – since I'm supposed to eat every 2 hours between 9:00am and 5:00pm; not sure if I might ended up eating another 2 pieces of watermelon home or not….let's see.

Again, I wasn't blown away from the eating experience really, it was not even tasty, I'm wondering if I just bought a bad watermelon since it's almost November here. But for tomorrow I planned to buy some papaya and continue my refeeding process with another fruit, I'm not even sure I can find papaya in Toronto! I wish I was living in a tropical country…mostly because I would be on the beach right now.

I'm somehow getting impatient for this refeeding process, it feels so slow and boring, thinking that I'm not able to eat whatever I want it's frustrating. Not that I'm thinking on bingeing or anything, I'm actually fine but I would prefer staying an extra couple of days with just water than eating this tiny small piece of watermelon; but I guess I have no choice, I need to let my digestion system wake up again gently without attacking it with lots of food or anything hard to digest.

Tomorrow my papaya meals will be every 2.5 hours, so basically I will start at 9:00am ending at around 6:00pm, depending on how the eating process goes, I'm not sure I like papaya so it will be a new experience for me, I hope I will, or my frustration will be greater than today! Wish me luck!

Water Fast - Refeeding Day #1 my experience so far...

Today is the day - I started my refeeding process. This morning I brought in the office my 3 meals of 2 ounces of watermelon. First meal I had at 9:00am, I stopped to drink water at around 8:30am; I took roughly 15 minutes to eat my watermelon – chewing it very carefully - and had some water again at around 10:00am, waiting 45 minutes after my meal.

My first meal was not as I was expecting it, I've watched so many videos on YouTube on people refeeding after 21 days, or even less than 21 – and everyone was like crying while eating the watermelon, almost as it was a mystic encounter never experienced before, the burst of sensations and taste was from another world! For me….it was just like eating a watermelon really. I mean, it was good sure, sweet enough but nothing that I would cry for.

So far I'm not experiencing any sort of side effect from my stomach; I don't feel hungry nor full, I'm sipping on my bottle of water, trying to be conscious today on drinking enough liquids – I feel I'm being really bad with my water intake, yesterday definitely I was under the 2L and while doing a water fast is definitely a negative thing to do. In fact this morning my weight was same as yesterday, my Ketosis was between small and moderate traces, definitely the sugar content in the coconut water impacted my ketosis and my weight, but I want to think that also not drinking enough didn't help the whole process.

My next meal will be at around 11:15am or so, depending on how I feel but I don't think I should have any problem, let's faced it 2 ounces are really nothing and watermelon is almost all water anyway. I think tomorrow I'll register a gain in my weight, I don't think I'll have any bowel movement for what I eat today, but it's not that I'm gaining fat or anything so I'm ok with that. I guess this rule will apply for the next 2/3 days, even more going forward since the food intake will increase day by day; I don't want my body feel that I'm in starvation.

Today for some unknown reasons my skin is really dry, maybe is the cold weather and Canadian winter coming but it feels really dry, and I always wonder if it could be due to the amount of water I'm drinking, in any case I'm constantly sipping today; the key is to do small sips every now and then. I also feel always cold – apart from the weather and the office temperature – I'm sure the Ketosis doesn't help either, but I don't really feel anymore drinking the hot water, I got bored of it. I might have some decaf tea or chamomile tea after the full refeeding process. I need to do some researches to see which one is the best decaffeinated beverage I can have in the morning, I like hot drinks so I hope I can find something that will not make me miss my morning coffee; sometimes I think on buying that odd tea that the acupuncturist gave me a while ago, it was tasting like chicken broth but it was definitely tasty.

Ending my Fast - Coconut Water disappointment!

It's officially started somehow my refeeding process after 23 days with water only, so today I had a can of coconut water. I have to say I was expecting a more engaging experience from it but in the contrary: I was disappointed. I really don't like coconut, even less the water; it was like feeling forced to drink down some sort of disgusting medicine, I'm here thinking that I should have the second can but I would rather fast for another week instead!

My original plan was to drink coconut water for the first two days then during the weekend to go on real food, 2 and 4 ounces of watermelon, but…hey plans can change, especially when the experience is the first ever. So tomorrow I will have my three meals with 2 ounces of watermelon; I'll stop by to a grocery store on my way home this afternoon, I hope I can find some organic one, not easy in this time of the year in Toronto though. I will prepare 3 portions of 2 ounces each, I'm supposed to start the first meal at 10:00am and from there every 2 hours another meal, counting by the end of my meal I guess, since it might take some time for me to carefully chew and eat my fruit, that's all I will have for the day.

This morning my ketosis was still very high, I believe more than 80mg/dL, the Ketostix was extremely dark, that's a sign that I'm still burning fat, and I can believe it since I still have lots of fat to lose anyway.  I know I might go longer on this fast but I really feel it's time for me to end it, I'm getting bored of drinking only water and some days my energy levels are not great, so I don't feel doing much, mostly I feel slow in whatever I do, especially when I walk. I want to be able to go back to the gym, I lost lots of weight so quickly and my body shape is terrible at the moment, so a good exercise routine now is really needed.

Water Fast Day #23 - Ready to break my Fast

Today is my 23^rd day of my Water Fasting journey. I can't believe it's been 23 days without food, only water. Some people might think I'm crazy but overall I think this experience was amazing, I reconnected with my body, I discovered my deep emotions driving my binge episodes, I healed and cleansed my body and I found back my perfect weight. Now I have plans of a healthy eating and I hope I can be disciplined with my goals. I find that the weight I'm right now (~54Kg) is the one I'm more comfortable with, it's a couple of Kilos over my original goal weight but I don't mind at all, and I'm personally not concerned about the number on the scale rather than how I feel in my clothes or how I see the shape of my face in the mirror. I planned also to go to the gym once my energy is fully back, overall I don't have much of muscle mass so I need to build it back somehow, I'm thinking to go at least 3 times a week.

In the past few days I had a lack of energy but today I feel good, not weak at all but at the same time I'm ready to break my fast. Some time it's just the brain preparation that pushes us in the direction that we planned in advance, not necessarily because it's the right time to do it. In any case, I bought two little cans of pure organic coconut water during my lunch break, I left it in the fridge here in the office for now; I might take one home and the second one I will use it tomorrow as my "lunch", but not the pure coconut though, I'll add some distilled water, just to go slowly with the refeeding, but I may drink here and there in the afternoon, I don't think it will harm my system if it's diluted.

Saturday and Sunday will be my first 2 days of real food for my refeeding process, I think I'll buy some organic watermelon on Friday afternoon, not sure if I'll be working from home on that day, but I can definitely go to the grocery store and buy a small piece; I won't have much for those 2 days so I guess a small half will suffice. Depending on how those 2 days go I'll decide what to do on Refeeding Day #3; that will be in the office so I hope the digestion will not drown me down too much by Monday. 

After a Water Fasting - The good intentions

Today I was thinking that there's no better way to start a healthy lifestyle than having a clear list of all the good intentions once the Water Fast is completed (bear with me and my lists – I am a real example of a person with OCD).

So I came up with a list of things that I hope I will be able to avoid for good going forward, mostly because in the past they triggered my binge episodes and also – more importantly – because not in line with my idea of healthy Diet. In summary here's my food-to-avoid draft list:

• No coffee / caffeine
• No sugar (this is really tough but I have no choice)
• No sweeteners (maybe one or two drops of stevia once in a while)
• No processed food
• No alcohol (I don't really mind this one since I never been a drinker)
• No meat
• No animal derived food (another tough one especially when it comes to cheese and eggs, but I'll try my best)
• No nuts (extremely tough, I might allow myself to some raw nuts in rare occasions)
• Highly reduce root vegetables (I don't mind onions or garlic but carrots are rich of sugar and I should be careful with those – I don't care about potatoes really)
• No salt
• No oil (I might try to create my own recipe for dressing with raw apple cider vinegar)
• Highly reduce dry spices (they might help on developing dehydration in my body so better avoid them as much as I can)
• No supplements (I'm still debating on the MSN and the D+Calcium though)
• No drugs (unless really required – I never abused them but I will try to be more careful going forward, I believe those are toxics for my body, especially antibiotics)
• No gluten (this is another tough one and I might have some carbs inevitably here and there somehow)
• No fish or sea fruits (tough but doable)
• No breakfast (I want to try to maintain an Intermitting Fasting regiment IF, at least for a certain amount of months following my Water Fasting journey)

Ok, so reading at this list the first question that comes into my mind is: What else's is left really? But soon I'll post a list of what I will actually not deprive myself adopting my new healthy lifestyle. I do want to think that going forward, when my relationship with food is stable, as well as my weight; I will be able to allow myself anything I want, in moderation and just as exception.

Water Fasting - Refeeding Plan Observations

For the refeeding process I have a specific plan that I'm supposed to follow, in summary I have the following two basic rules (on top of some others of course):

• Avoid drinking water 30 minutes before eating
• Avoid drinking water 45 minutes after eating

Also it's important to handle the food that I'm eating in the best way possible:

• Cut the food in small pieces
• Chew the food until is completely dissolved into the mouth

One thing I planned for my refeeding days – at least the first 2 full days – is to stay home and dedicate the days to the process, since I will basically: drink, eat and rest in between; the digestion phase will take a lot of energy from me that I'm used to anymore since days now, so my body will need for sure.

So I will stop drinking 30 minutes before my first meal starts, I'm supposed to take my time to eat my 2 ounces of water melon, so it might take up to one hour, I don't want to rush it and I really want to enjoy the experience, enjoy the re-discovered taste of the fruit that I'll be having.

After my water melon I will take a rest, just trying to sleep or just watching TV on the couch, to let my digestion system wake up gently. After 2 hours or so I should have my second meal – another 2 ounces of water melon – but let's see how I feel; I read of people sleeping more than expected or just not feeling eating much, so I will just listen to my body and see how it goes. I'm not planning to have more than 2/3 meals anyway, but only if I'm hungry.

The coconut water that I planned to use for breaking my fast I actually thought I could drink it the Friday before my refeeding weekend, so I sort of prepare my body for the fast. A read a lot of contradictory suggestions on what food can be the best one to break the fast; some people suggest juice instead of fresh fruit, some other even vegetables or bone broth.

I personally don't want to start with nothing complicated, I think a small piece of well chewed water melon should not harm my digestion system, so I'll take this path for now; I am also thinking on checking out some juice-maker places to see what are my options out there, just in case I change my mind.

Water Fast Day #21 - My Experience Updates

Today is my 21^st day of my Water Fast experience, so far is going well, I've been a bit weak and with no much energy in the past couple of days, but overall I managed to do everything I had planned, Friday afternoon I even went to the movie theatre by myself, which is a great achievement for me and my mood challenges, and also I can say that not having my usual M&M's during the movie was not that bad at the end, I sipped on my water and I was fine.

This morning my ketosis was still in large traces, which is great since I want to lose a bit more weight before the end of my fast, planning on being around 53 Kg, but I'm not sure I can achieve this goal before real hunger comes; I've lost quite a bit so far, all my clothes are fitting me large, but I'm not complaining; I feel I have a new whole wardrobe now that I can choose from; till few weeks ago nothing was fitting me and I was frustrated every single morning. I hope after the end of this fast my weight doesn't come all back, I know some will but I have to do my best to maintain a healthy Diet, possibly raw vegan diet.

This afternoon I planned to go to a grocery store to buy coconut water, I never had it before and really I hate coconut but for the re-feeding it might be a good choice, I saw some YouTube videos of people breaking the fast with it, let's see… I'm still not sold for it.

During this past weekend I had some breakouts which I believe were part of my skin detox, strangely they were gone in a day, which usually doesn't happen that fast, I'm really looking forward on seeing my skin cleared out thanks to this water fast, one of the priceless benefits for me. Another odd thing that is happening to my skin during this fast is the hydration; usually during my past diets, every time I was eliminating fats, my skin was getting so dry, I had to constantly put on creams, which was also in contradiction with the diet – since I was supposed to refrain to use anything had oil or any type of fat. This time around I really don't need it, my skin is good is not breaking as usual so I'm not using anything unless I really think is needed a little help.

Watching one YouTube video the other day made me realized that really I'm not drinking much water maybe, most of the people suggested drinking roughly 4L of water daily, sipping and never drinking too much in once, but even sipping here and there I cannot manage to have more than 2L so far, I would rather drink the whole bottle than sipping, I just cannot remember to drink!

One good thing that is improved during these past days has been the number of times I wake up at night to go to the washroom; I heard that this thing would happen eventually but I never believed it, well it's actually true and I'm basically not waking up anymore, actually last night I think I had a full night sleep, the first time since days now. I have to say my sleep is improving with the days, at some point I really had hard time sleeping, often I would wake up, and just didn't feel sleeping but always forced myself to rest and stay in bed. Lately I have increased the amount of hours that I'm in deep sleep and I believe now is much better and I can manage to stay in bed as any normal person without feeling like a night owl.

Weight = 55.1 KG

Ketosis = 80mg/dL large traces 
FAT = 23.3%
BMI = 20.0%

Water Fast Day #18 - Updates and discomforts

This morning I had a confirmation that being lazy is not good not even when you are Water Fasting! My weight did not change and my traces of Ketosis were small this morning at 40mg/dL, while I had a solid Large traces for the past few days. I worked from home yesterday, that's the main reason, in my small apartment there's not much to walk around or to do, and I was also mostly sitting at my desk doing some work.  Today I'm back in the office and TGIF, because I'm getting bored with my assignments and I can't wait to actually do some real work here. I also planned to go to the cinema after work, there's a new Tim Burton's movie that I really want to see, and I don't mind going by myself really.

Tomorrow I want to do a couple of errands, and relax also, weather is getting colder here in Toronto e I don't feel walking around same way as during summer, guess why! This morning my back hurts a bit, nothing crazy but some pain is there; I admit it every time I have some sort of discomfort in my body I wonder is it's part of the detox process, I don't have any confirmation about that but I like to think so though.

My main discomfort so far is my mouth, not just the white coated tongue but the feeling of dryness and the bad breath, unfortunately there's not much I can do about it, even if I try to sip water it still feel the same, I guess I just need to wait till the detox process goes to an end, apparently the tongue will turn pink while the Fasting Process needs to end…let's see if I can reach that point first, I'm planning to stick to the fast at least for 25 days, to ensure my Candida is harmless, but really my body will tell me when it's time to end it.

My emotional issue behind my binge episodes

Believe it or not my Water Fast journey helped me so much to understand my issues with food, my binge episodes and the reason why food became such an uncontrollable dependency for me in the past years. Thanks to my Water Fast my mind is now able to see things clearly, to have the whole picture of my eating disorder, the emotional reasons underlying my BED, amazing right?

So I analyzed why in the past I was bingeing, my usual answer was because of my very restrictive diet, which could be the triggering factor yes, but the persistence of the episodes made me wondering if there was more, a subconscious reason that I was not dealing with, mostly because unknown to me.

So I found it. It goes back in my past, in my family, my mother is an amazing cook, she cooks to express her love to her children, she is happy knowing that everyone is always well fed, that the fridge is full of all kind of things that we love, and always in abundance. Since I moved to Canada few years ago my family is not with me anymore, I'm alone in this country, no relative, no family of my own; sure lots of friends and acquaintances but nothing compared family relations. My subconscious started to miss all the love that my family used to give me, my mother's attentions, and the dinner table full of her way to give us love, so I binged. Binging is my way to compensate for what I miss: affections from my parents, from my sisters, closeness from what is my most important thing in my life: my family. Every time I binge I feel a sense of happiness, gratification, is my way to give love to myself that otherwise I will not receive.

I hope this Water Fasting journey will help me to understand that food is just food, that cannot substitute emotions, cannot replace the love of my family, I need to deal with the fact that I am here in this country alone, that my family is always there for me when I need, just not here physically. 

Water Fast Day #17 - My symptoms while fasting

It's been already 17 days since I started my Water Fast and overall I am very pleased that I took this decision of fasting. My results are great from many points of view, just only the idea that my body is somehow healing itself is priceless for me, I had too much going on in my past months that I wanted to get rid of in any way I could.

In these days I'm often anxious, mostly impatient I would say, but I'm not sure why; I'm wondering if this is part of the healing process and soon will go away, I hope so. I don't feel hungry, my ketosis are still in large traces every morning, I noticed that I don't wake up at night anymore to go to the washroom, before it was like 3 times at least! Very annoying while sleeping really. My sleep is not great though, I have hard time to sleep deeply with no interruptions at night, I know that is a common thing while fasting but it really bothers me, I love sleeping and psychologically I feel I'm not resting enough if I don't have a full night deep sleep. My breath and my mouth are absolutely terrible in the past few days, I do brush my teeth regularly but it seems that there's nothing I can do to avoid this thing, I still have a white coat on my tongue, I feel my mouth like I didn't brush my teeth since weeks…disgusting, no options though, so I just have to suck it up I guess.

One thing I noticed in the morning is that I cannot drink a full glass of water, I have to sip slowly and not too much, otherwise I would feel my heart beating fast and I'll be light headed, don't know why and I don't have a logic reason for that since during the day I have no problems whatsoever while drinking water.

I'm losing lots of weight, which is good, although I know I might regain part of it but hopefully not all; I planned to follow a raw vegan diet till is completely stabilized maintaining the fat consumption to a minimum, so what they called it LFRV Diet – Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet. People started to notice my lower weight, not that I had any comments about it, just coworkers saying that I look amazing, which is great for me, especially because I do feel amazing with this Water Fast. If anyone tells you that people don't notice your weight, well let me tell you it's not true, I have proofs.

Water Fasting - Importance of how to break a fast

Here's an interesting article that explains the importance of breaking a fast, I think everyone should carefully break a water fast to avoid dangerous side effects, I will definitely keep in mind all these advises while breaking my Water Fast:

"Breaking the fast is equally or more important a stage than the fast itself. It is the most dangerous time in the entire fast. If you stop fasting prematurely, that is, before the body has completed detoxification and healing, expect the body to reject food when you try to make it eat, even if you introduce foods very gradually. The faster, the spiritual being running the body, may have become bored and want some action, but the faster's body hasn't finished. The body wants to continue healing.

By rejection, I mean that food may not digest, may feel like a stone in your stomach, make you feel terrible. If that happens and if, despite that clear signal you refuse to return to fasting, you should go on a juice diet, take as little as possible, sip it slowly (almost chew it) and stay on juice until you find yourself digesting it easily. Then and only then, reintroduce a little solid raw food like a green salad.

Weaning yourself back on to food should last just as long as the fast. Your first tentative meals should be dilute, raw juices. After several days of slowly building up to solid raw fruit, small amounts of raw vegetable foods should be added. If it has been a long fast, say over three weeks, this reintroduction should be done gingerly over a few weeks. If this stage is poorly managed or ignored you may become acutely ill, and for someone who started fasting while dangerously ill, loss of self-control and impulsive eating could prove fatal. Even for those fasting to cure non-life-threatening illnesses it is pointless to go through the effort and discipline of a long fast without carefully establishing a correct diet after the fast ends, or the effort will have largely been wasted."

Water Fasting - Stage 3 and its amazing benefits

Today I was looking online to see if I can find which one are the different stages of a prolonged Water Fast, so I found this website which I found Stage 3, in the specific, to be perfectly explaining some of the great benefits of a fast. It is a must read article!

Stage 3 (Day 8 to 15)

On the latter part of an extended fast, you can experience enhanced energy, clear-mindedness and feel better than you have felt since childhood, On the downside, old injuries may become irritated and painful. This is a result of the body’s increased ability to heal during fasting. If you had broken your arm 10 yrs before, there is scar tissue around the break. At the time of the break, the body’s ability to heal was directly related to lifestyle. If you lived on a junk food diet, the body’s natural ability to heal was diminished.During fasting, the body’s healing process is at optimum efficiency. As the body scours for dead or damaged tissue, the lymphocytes enter the older-damaged tissue secreting substances to dissolve the damaged cells. These substances irritate the nerves in the surrounding region and cause a reoccurrence of aches from previously injured areas that may have disappeared years earlier. The pain lasts as the body is completing the healing process. The muscles may become tight and sore due to toxin irritation. The legs can be the worst affected as toxins accumulate in the legs. Cankers are common in this stage due to the excessive bacteria in the mouth.

Water Fast Day #14 - Amazing Water Fast!

I've been fasting for fourteen days so far, and time really flies. I'm doing well, today my Ketostix registered only moderate traces of ketosis but I'm feeling good. I had a black bowel movement this morning, as predicted by other water-fasting-fellows. I had this feeling of heaviness in my abdomen since a couple of days, I wasn't sure what it was, this morning I had this confirmation, my body was just trying to get rid of those toxins I guess, I feel different now….I had a sort of low-pressure feeling this morning.

For my Water Fast Day #11 was my "revelation day"! I felt as never before, my energy and my motivation was over the moon, I accomplished so much in few hours and on Saturday (my birthday) I woke up smiling and happy to complete everything I had on my TO-DO list. So I did, I ran around all day, I was happy, tired, thirsty, in love with my life and my body. I have been experiencing what is the life all about: not food, enjoying everything else. Food changes our minds, the way we live; we are focused on things that are not important instead of enjoying what so precious we have in our hands: the life.

My mind is opening up, I feel that all my thoughts can wire between each other way better, I'm more creative, my English is getting better, I'm more focused, my OCD is drastically increased, I'm always smiling. I don't want to complete this Water Fast until my body healed itself properly, it's unbelievable to me the way I feel, I can't even explain exactly, it's like everything has a meaningful sense now. I still recall the advice of the Church on fasting, I always thought was absurd, but now I can see why it was the real way to go; an advice on how to actually live our life in the fullest.  

Today I don't care much anymore about my weight, not denying that I love the way I look today, but I'm looking forward to enjoy this experience, to see where my mind can bring me. I feel I'm more productive at work, in general in all my things. I have so many projects in my head that I want to accomplish and I cannot wait to start.

If you are looking to get your life back try Water Fasting for at least two weeks, it's a life change I promise.

Water Fasting - My Refeeding Plan

I want to add what I came up with for my re-feeding plan, after my 21+ Days Water Fast Journey. So far is my first draft; I'm not sure I'll modify some of the choices, I'm still debating if I should break my fast on fruits or on vegetables, I'm still investigating online the pros and cons of both choices (from a Binge Eater perspective) - I'll keep you updated!

My Water Fast Day #9

Today's my Water Fast Day #9 – I'm feeling great, my Ketones are in large traces as 80mg/dL and my mood is improving each day into the fast.

I've been reading a lot about Water Fasting, its benefits and how to properly do it; I also watched lots of videos on YouTube and I bought 2 eBooks about water fasting information and guidelines. Overall I'm really excited about all the health benefits that I can achieve with this 21 Days fast.

But what I have been really worried in the past couple of days though is on how to properly break a fast. I did read lots of information and prepared a nice meal plan for the first 3 weeks and beyond, however I still feel a bit afraid on getting back on eating and be able to handle my cravings and binge episodes.

Online I found various experience of course, people succeeding, people indulging in junk food in big quantities from day 1! I do have the strong opinion that first days are crucial, not only for the mind of a binge eater but also to avoid dangerous body side effect. After so many days of drinking only water lots of organs in the body shut down, so I will need to gently put everything back on without shocking my body.

I read of people breaking a fast in an Indian restaurant, when spicy food is one of the top 3 things to avoid in the first days after a fast. A lady went to a Chinese restaurant to break her fast and she even ate the fortune cookie! Come on, ok with the food but leave the crap out of your system since you just detoxed it. Anyhow, I guess we are the result of our food choices and we can only blame ourselves, I include myself obviously! 

Why I decided to go for a 21 Days Water Fast?

Here few of my reasons why I decided to extend my Water Fast; I'll list all of them in no particular order:

• With a minimum of 21 days of fasting there are more than 90% chances of eliminating Candida Albicans from the system (or at least reestablish a good balance with good bacteria in the body) – For a sugar addicted as myself this is real hope!
• To enter into Ketosis (burning fat state) I need at least 4/5 days of fasting so 72 hours would not be useful for anything in this perspective, so I might as well avoid altogether and just try to eat healthy instead.
• With a prolonged Water Fast the health benefits are endless, those includes improvements of anxiety, depression, digestion issues, joint pain, cancer, skin problems, and so on. Easy to say I was sold on that.
• The psychological impact on a prolonged Water Fast is relevant; the connection with my body and mind, with the nature and God is extremely profound.
• The possibility to heal my body and reset all my organs in a healthier state, detoxing myself of all the bad food and toxins I had in the past years.
• The hope (even if very small) of getting rid of my Binge Eating Disorder and to find a new relationship with food.

I think I covered most of my personal reasons, I might add other comments in my future posts, checking in during my Water Fast.

Water Fasting - For the most intense fasting experience

Today I read this article and I wanted to add some extract to my blog, to explain how powerful can be a Water Fast: 

"Water fasting offers the quickest detox and strongest therapeutic effect. It is also the most challenging fast to perform in the first few days.

Some call water fasting the only "true" fast and believe that any food allowed into the bodily system prevents the complete resting state desired, compromising the level of cleansing and detox attained. While it is true that water fasting is the most intense path to detoxification and therapeutic benefit, other types of fasting, and even cleansing diets, detox and heal as well.

The speed at which old conditions can right themselves during a water fast is incredible.

It's amazing the little health "issues" that just go away--the mole that just drops off, the shoulder that's been achy for years suddenly feels well again, that little patch of "weird" skin you've grown accustomed to vanish without a trace...and those are just the little things.

Besides the emotional challenge of going without food, these first days may have the most intense and uncomfortable symptoms of detoxification. After that, the body adjusts to the new fasting state, and most individuals feel little further discomfort, even hunger disappears. After 2-3 days, the body goes into a state called ketosis, where it begins to fuel itself internally by burning fat cells. Ketosis occurs around 48 hours for women and 72 hours for men according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Fasting and Eating for Health.

The length of time one can safely operate in ketosis varies from person to person. When hunger returns, often called "true hunger", it will be an unmistakable call of the body for nourishment, and is a signal to end the fast.

Fasting is a personal journey--you are not competing with anyone. Your body dictates how long you can safely fast, not your head.

Trust yourself."

Water Fast Day #4 - How am I feeling?

Today is my Water Fast Day #4 and I also checked my ketosis for the first time since days; I can confirm that I had 1.5 Small Traces of Ketosis this morning. I didn't see the Ketostix so dark since forever really, I was glad to see that I'm currently burning fat.

So far my Water Fast experience is good, I know I'm not following the process in perfection, apparently I'm not supposed to use any soap or cream as well as not brushing my teeth or doing any makeup. None of those things is feasible for me that I work every day in an office.  Some people go to those Wellness Centers in Costa Rica, but seriously who has 4/5 weeks' vacation to get there for a Water Fast? I personally don't have this luxury, I've a mortgage to pay and if I miss 4 weeks at work they will replace me with someone else!

Anyhow, my weight is exactly the same as last time I checked, which was way before my binge eating episodes, I cannot say much about it really, maybe going forward I'll have a better picture of how I am doing with this.

My sensation into just 4 days of fasting are not bad overall, I don't feel hungry, well at least most of the time, but I don't have cravings which is a big thing for me. In the first 2 days I had bad headaches, most probably for the coffee withdrawal and sugar too I guess; I used a couple of aspirins on day #1 and #2 and that fixed all. I definitely feel slower in my movements and I don't have the same energy as before, but I kind of like this status of my body, it relaxes me, I don't feel anxious anymore, I didn't have any raised heartbeat yesterday and even my anxiety was a bit less painful, not disappeared yet but looking forward to it!

My decision of Water Fasting

I need to give some updates regarding my Water Fast, after lots of researches done online and on YouTube I decided to do a 21+ days Water Fast. The reason behind this drastic choice is due to my Binge Eating Disorder. All this time that I had so many issues dealing with my sugar cravings and my BED, I always wondered if I had a Candida Albicans. Of course all the symptoms associated to a Candida are so generic that anyone could say: yes I think I might have it, so I don't have a scientific proof of that. Nevertheless a water fast experience I believe is really what I need at this point of my life.

Apparently after more than 21 days of having just water I can say with confidence that I eliminated the Candida Albicans from my system, or at least put it under control so that the good bacteria can fight the Candida without problems. The Candida survives with sugar, complex carbohydrates and all that junk food loaded with sugar and chemicals, without an extended period of clean eating and drinking the Candida cannot be starved neither killed. I could have had an alternative with juice feasting or following a strict diet regiment, but let's face it: I'm not good in that so far, so I need a more drastic way on how to deal with the Candida and my Binge Eating episodes.

Eliminating this problem is not the only reason why I chosen to water fast for such an extended period of time. Fasting is a physical and mental process, helps the body to detox and purify itself, I can heal my health problems, my addiction to food, I can clean my entire system, it's like pushing a reset button. People have been healed of numerous symptoms, such as: acne, anxiety, arrhythmia, PCOS, diabetes type 2 and I could go on and on. But what mostly sold me on this was the possibility to reconnect with my body, to detox itself and start from a fresh new begin of eating healthy, forgetting this food obsession that is killing my life from many point of view.

Failing, Binging and Fasting

I'm here to report that in the past 2/3 days I had few binge episodes unfortunately, not sure how or when everything started, I think when I just allowed myself to go off the protocol for the first time in this Round #3, and then I was off the wagon. In the past days I had few white sugar food as well as bread, pizza and pasta dishes that I did not have since a while. This morning when I woke up and saw my face and my eyes – they were kind of swallowing; my face is still now bigger than usual, like I gained 5 pounds but only on my face! My eyes were tired and wrinkly – more than the usual at least. I think it was for the food but it was strange to see such a drastic change overnight, and the rest of my body is not affected in the same way, is not that I see such more fat all over me, mostly on my face. I feel warm only on my face, it's a strange feeling, so strange that I'm questioning if I got any allergic reaction from something that I ate. Like all the junk food maybe?

Anyhow, today – as any binge eater and her insane purging behaviour – I decided to do a 72 hours water fast. Mostly to get rid of the coffee and the Stevia taste, trying to get back into Ketosis for good. I hope I'll be able to make these 72 hours – let's face it, it's tough for anyone, for a binge eater even more.

Good news though is that so far I don't feel much hungry, it's 2pm and I didn't eat since yesterday evening, I had few glasses of water but not as much as I used to, in my defense is this new office that I'm not familiar yet, I don't have my bottle so I am always using a mug borrowed from the kitchen. Maybe next time I'll have my own bottle.

So far I hate this place, I don't have my desk – here is a first come first serve basis. But let me tell you: just BS! Because people end up sitting always in the same spot and if you (new person in the team), come along "stealing" desks well then people will start to complain. Another thing that I hate about this place is the fact that there's any allocated space where to keep my stuff! Where am I supposed to keep my shoes?! My bag with tooth brush and tooth paste? Just crazy for me, apparently there's a long waiting list to have a drawer. I hate this place so far, if I keep on bringing back and forth my laptop I will need a chiropractor by the end of the year.