Fast

With emphasis on ‘FAST’, meaning a period of abstinence from food but drinking water only as desired. No juices of any kind, just water for a period of seven days at least. The table below will link to a diary of the day by day experiences and events of my about to begin 7 day fast.

For most readers I’m sure they will conclude that this is a stupid hair brained thing to do but if anyone can generate the determination to do it, then that will probably be the biggest single health enhancing event of their lives. It has nothing to do with being anorexic, though the faster may look the part and it has nothing to do with a high from endorphins being released from the brain. It's not an enjoyable event, rather one to be endured in the knowledge that the scourge of good health, accumulated waste, will be removed from the body.

History of Fasting. Down through the ages there are innumerable accounts of people who have fasted from 7 to 40 days. There are Biblical instances as well as modern day and everything in between. Biblically, Matthew 6, 16-18 advises on how to fast but though the writer appeared to know little about it, it would seem that it was not an uncommon practice in those days.

Why Fast? Starting with animals, they instinctively fast to get well if they fall ill. Mankind manages at least three reasons, those devoutly religious make up the greatest number of participants – in their quest for enlightenment. There are those who fast to make protests but that doesn't really count as the ‘authorities’ usually put a stop to it with a drip feed within a few days. Then there are those who fast for the good of their health and some who try it as a last resort when all else fails as death is staring them in the face. It is without doubt a fact that everyone, every day, consumes food containing more waste than all their eliminatory organs are able to expel in the same time frame. If the excess can’t get out then it has to be stored internally. This happens to everyone, EVERY DAY that they eat, for as long as they live. Fasting is about halting incoming toxins to give the body a chance to dispose of stored ones and this it does with almost alarming enthusiasm.

How to Fast. The prime thing to remember, as I read somewhere, “any fool can fast but it takes intelligence and knowledge to break a fast safely.” Breaking the fast is by far the most critical part of the event. Eating too much, particularly of the wrong food, can and has been fatal. We’re talking TWO GRAPES being the first meal, and the ONLY meal for that day.

Two days before a fast begins, keep meat out of your diet, bowel motion will stop during the fast and the last thing anyone needs is an increasingly putrefying piece of dead animal stationary in one’s colon. The diet for these two days should be fruit and veges, mostly or totally fruit, and veggies should be green. Under no circumstances eat a large meal for the last meal thinking that you’ll need it to get you through, the last meal should be a quarter of the size of your usual evening meal. During the fast drink water, if you feel hungry drink water, if you get a headache drink water, any discomfort at all drink water. This is not a “How to Fast” instruction sheet, there are several good books on the market containing great detail and I strongly recommend the purchase of one to be used as a guide.

During a Fast. As someone once said, “You will be on Natures operating table”. The item that causes the hungry feeling is hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The body produces this as required to breakdown certain foods, after these foods pass from the stomach the acid remains and gnaws away at the stomach lining – the hungry feeling. After a couple of days without any incoming acid needing foods the acid goes away and so does the sensation of hunger. The body must keep the blood supplied with blood sugar and for the first couple of days it harvests sufficient of that from previous meals in your intestinal tract.

The morning of the third day is crunch time. The body figures out it is going to have to manufacture these sugars from whatever it can find as there are none left to harvest from the intestinal contents. For these third day morning hours you will feel sick as a dog and be tempted to quit as you are sure you can’t keep this up. By about midday a transformation takes place and suddenly you’ll feel fine. From then on apart from contending with ever decreasing energy levels, there will be various reactions to the body now flushing out and using what it can of stored toxins to make blood sugar and disposing of the rest to the colon, lungs, bladder or out through the skin. Again, I’m not about to write a book about all the possible processes but will just stress that light exercise and frequent showers to keep the skin clean are very important.

There are divided opinions on the requirement for enemas, some books will be for it, others against. OK, so it’s an unnatural thing to do but then modern day man’s toxic load has reached gigantic unnatural proportions. It would most likely be beneficial for anyone on their first fast as the quantity of toxins being dumped will be huge. If the requirement for frequent washing of the skin is vital and obvious (smelly), then frequent cleansing of the colon would be advisable otherwise the body will start to recycle its own waste and that will make one very, very ill.

Why now for me? It could be said that I am a seasoned fasting person. The one I am about to begin is my 15^th fast of 7 days or more. Several years ago, while a mere vegetarian, I did a 2 year stint where I fasted 7 days every 3 months and I never ate anything on one day every week. That’s 78 days (20%) of the year where I didn’t eat, at the end of 2 years I was 1 Kg heavier than when I started. Food for thought?

When a teenager and up until my mid forties I have always had a 32 inch waist. By mid fifties it was 34 inches. My earlier seven day fasts took weight off everywhere especially my waistline. After the 4th or 5th fast weight came off many places but surprisingly they never took anything off my waistline. Very annoying as I was never comfortable with those two extra inches. Year 2002 was when I switched from a vegetarian diet to a fruitarian diet, lost 10 kg in 6 weeks and bingo, my 32 inch waist was back and it’s been that size ever since. Was on the fruit diet for 2 years, which initially I might add, was one of the hardest things I have ever done but by the end of the 2 years I had regained all but a couple of kg of my original weight. Also at this 2 years later point my skin became very fragile, the slightest bump against even a cardboard box and 12 mm of skin would come off. Bleeding was excessive, almost florescent red in colour but healing was very quick. Added fish to the diet, it helped marginally but didn’t fix it. Added chicken, organic of course and after 3 weeks my skin was fine. Ever since then my diet would be fruitarian apart from the inclusion of chicken once a week. Another feature of the fruit diet is not needing more than 6 or 7 hours of sleep.

Back to the ‘why now’. My main debilitating feature is I guess a bit of arthritis in the knuckle of my left hand forefinger. This has been progressively worsening over the years. A previous 7 day fast improved it but only after day 6, I should have fasted much longer. My head/neck doesn’t swivel like it used to, especially noticeable when backing a trailer or reverse parking. My right knee is visibly larger than the left and I do get the occasional momentary twinge in the cartilage area. These three things point to excess acidity.

Never have been a headache person but have been having a few over the past several weeks, not real happy about that either. Hearing has been normal most days but some days I am struggling, I seem to lose the ability to pick up several tones. Seems to be a blockage somewhere in the ear canals as it is very hard to make my ears pop by trying to blow air out my nose while holding it squeezed shut. Vision fluctuates between good and some days not so good. I’m finding I need 9 hours sleep and tend to tire more readily than I have become accustomed.

The average citizen would be off to the doctor and a steady round of specialist appointments but not this little black duck. I’m not interested in having my symptoms treated and ameliorated or being patted on the head and told that I have to expect these sorts of things at my age. I want the causes removed, to me it all points to acid/toxic build up and being well overdue for a fast.

Previous day I ate fruit only and of limited quantity. My ‘last supper’ consisted of 1/3 of an average size papaw. The fast begins.

Unusual for a day 1 in that I was hungry off and on most of the day, this is something I rarely experience in normal times and not on the first day of my previous fasts either. Energy levels were normal as if it was a regular eating type day. Big drama was almost total loss of hearing, the worst I have ever experienced. A very difficult day trying to hear what was being said to me. I seemed to be unable to catch several tones in the normal voice range. Watching TV that night was hard as I couldn’t make out what was said most of the time, didn’t matter how loud the sound. Sight deteriorated as well but seemed to be just the right eye, just didn’t want to focus on anything, close up or far away. Can't really see that day one of a fast could have anything to do with these occurrences.

Checked the pH of my saliva that night and it was 5.0, extremely acid. This would account for my hunger pangs during the day. Took 1/3 of a teaspoon of bicarb of soda in half a glass of water.

Pulse rate was 54 , about normal for someone on a fruitarian diet. Did a normal days work at the factory, went off to the farm later in the afternoon and cut 7 bunches of bananas, finished at dark.

I seemed to have hot flushes during the night, it was a mild night and I’m not sure if it was weather temperature fluctuating or my body temperature. Checked my saliva pH first thing and it was 7.0, amazingly good. Next good thing was my hearing had returned to normal. I don’t think two days of fasting can be given all the credit for this as over the past couple of years I have a history of good days and bad days in the hearing department though never as dramatic as these two days. The best news though is my sight has improved dramatically from yesterday, my close up vision is best it has been for quite some time. I figure the fast has something to do with that but I am very surprised that there are such meaningful benefits after only two days.

A largely sleepless night. Very hard to regulate my body warmth with blankets. My hips and legs needed a doona, my stomach and midriff were generating their own heat, even tending to overheat so didn’t need the doona while my shoulders were cool and did need it.

Dream one – a couple of guys turned up with pump and a Wisconsin motor that wouldn’t run properly. The odd thing was that they seemed to know me but I didn’t know them, anyway they messed about with the motor and far as I knew they got it running OK.

Dream two – I was in Canada and had just bought a car, Cadillac I think. Was driving slowly through the pedestrian area of a railway station when I stopped to pick up a box that some 9 year old girl had dropped. After returning it to her I looked around and my car had gone. Couldn’t find it anywhere so I got on the next train. Completely lost I figured I had better get off at the next station and figure out where I was. Seemed everyone I spoke to was on a tour and didn’t know where they were or where they were going.

Dream 3 – the guys with the motor were back again, 3 of them this time. I spent time with them checking this and that but the motor just wouldn’t burst into full revs. The new guy was all for pulling the governor to bits but I pointed out that we had bypassed that and it still wouldn’t generate full power.

When I awoke I thought about it some more and I figure the problem could be that the magneto timing should be advanced 5 degrees or so. If they come back tonight I’ll be ready for them!

Totally weird. Is there another dimension existing alongside us? Can they see us but we can’t see them? Do we join them when we dream?

Back to the ‘real’ world, saliva pH 6.8, pulse rate 56 though the heart seems to be thumping. Not unexpected as by now toxin removal should be quite active. This is the morning of the third day, it’s when the body figures there are no sugar intake coming in and if its going to survive it has to start making sugars out of whatever it can find, usually fat tissue. While it makes this transition one usually feels as sick as a dog (as I did on my earliest fasts) but this time, as happened on the previous fast, I feel fine. My weight has been static on 60 Kg for the past 9 months, this morning it was 58 Kg. Anyone on their first fast would have lost 10 Kg at least by now.

Not a comfortable day, my hearing went bad again though not as bad as Day 1. Out of tune with several frequencies, everyone’s voice sounds quite odd but was able to hear TV at night. Eyesight lost its focus a little bit, just in the right eye though. This hearing thing has happened to me off and on over the past few years but day one was worst it has ever been. Scary. I take comfort from remembering that at the completion of my last 7 day fast, my hearing was better than it had been for years.

Forgot to bring my litmus paper so can’t do a pH check, took a ¼ teaspoon of Bicarb anyway. My tongue at night was pink and clean, no sign of white coating.

Really good day today, just as well as it’s a busy day. Cut 18 bunches of bananas, dehanded them and cut the dead leaves off the whole 5 acres of trees. Went to start the tractor and the battery was dead. Had to carry a large battery about 80 metres to jump start it – no problem.

Hearing was good as was the eyesight. Tongue is still clean and pink. Head will swivel from side to side effortlessly, it used to be a bit stiff.

Watched the news on TV, had to turn the volume down – too loud compared to yesterday.

Quite tired at about 8 pm and feeling a bit nauseous so headed off to bed. Soon as I put the toothbrush in my mouth I vomited. It was clear but tasted like concentrated digestive juices. Felt much better afterwards.

Have been getting up in the wee hours of the morning to pee, kidneys must be working overtime.

Pee is only slightly discoloured from clear and has absolutely no odour. This is very unusual. This far into a fast it would be normal for pee to be very discoloured and have a strong odour. I put this down to my general toxic accumulation being quite small.

A bowel movement today, first since Day 1. Most strange, it was ‘laminated’ vertically. One side was very dark, looked like molasses and had similar consistency, the other side was normal (for me) a sort of light mustard colour. For the squeamish at heart, relax, there probably won’t be another movement till the 4th day after breaking the fast, (that’s breakfast isn’t it?)

On awakening I found my right eye almost cemented shut, seems some serious work went on there during the night. Vision is good and so is the hearing.

I know it is very important to drink lots of water but I just can’t get down more than 2 litres for the day. With the vomiting last night I wonder if that is too much. The important consideration is to keep the kidneys flushed as they are probably doing most of the eliminating so I will keep the water intake to maximum and label the vomiting as overflow.

Another good day, just as well as I have 300 Kg of bananas to pack and load into the truck. After finishing the packing all is going well, there is spring in my step and my mouth is fresh but there is a faint tinge of white far back on my tongue. While not normally a spitting person, I have being spitting fairly often. Saliva builds up in my mouth and I’m not sure whether I should swallow it or get rid of it.

Took a shower tonight and noticed a strange feel to my skin prior to washing. Was not unlike a film of perspiration normally encountered after exertion during a hot day and yet it wasn’t the same. I take this to be an elimination build up of some sort.

Before bed I was a bit nauseous but there was no urge to vomit. Evening pulse rate 58.

From past experience day 6 and onwards are not comfortable days and this one follows the trend. Energy levels are well down and everything I do is at a slower pace. This morning my tongue has a white coating though my saliva pH is good at 6.8. My upper calf muscles are a bit tight. Weight loss so far is only 4 Kg. Pulse rate was back to 52. Hearing and vision are less than really good but with low energy this is not unexpected.

I usually feel better when I am actually doing something so went out and planted a couple of trees. That didn’t help much, haven’t got the energy for digging holes.

By late evening I felt lousy, very nauseous so vomited. Took a pH reading of it and it was right off the scale on the acidic side. Took 1/3 teaspoon of Bicarb in ½ a glass of water and from then felt really good. Quite amazing to go from lousy to good in just 5 minutes.

Drank 1 3/4 litres of water for the day, I only drink rain water collected out on the farm, the pH of that is 5.8 – sad sign of the times, it should be 6.5.

Woke up feeling relatively good, didn’t want to get out of bed but work is always beckoning. Yesterday’s sore calf muscles are fine, vision is good, hearing OK but the left ear is popping like crazy. A total turnaround from before the fast started as then I couldn’t get it to pop at all. Doesn’t do it if I leave my mouth open and that’s not a good remedy as my mouth dries out very quickly, it tends to do that even when I keep it closed. Had to go and cut bananas again, only five bunches but handled that with relative ease. By and large this would be my best Day 7 ever. I’m inclined to put it down to keeping my stomach from getting too acidic with the Bicarb.

Tongue is lightly coated white, pulse rate was 60 but later in the evening was 54, pee is very coloured but still has no odour. Drank 1½ Litres of water.

Was going to break the fast today but am feeling quite good so will go another day. Morning saliva pH was 6.4, pee is very discoloured and has slight odour, pee pH was 6.0 which is surprisingly good and tongue is still lightly coated white. My left ear stopped popping for the morning but did off and on in the afternoon.

Drinking water is easier, up till now two swallows was about all I could manage at a time but today three and four are the norm. This didn’t increase my intake beyond the 1½ Litres, it merely allowed me to drink less often.

Had a troubled night in the dreaming department. It was as if my usual day to day difficulties were magnified 20 fold, was glad when morning arrived except my mouth tasted like the proverbial bottom of the birdcage, Saliva pH was still 6 and my tongue was lightly coated white. After being up for an hour the taste in my mouth reverted to normal. Still feeling quite good and if it weren’t for so many things piling up on me that need doing I would go another day.

Never forget that “Any fool can fast but one has to use some intelligence to come out of one safely.” This refers to what to eat and how much. Fruit is way and above the food of choice to break a fast. The wrong food or too much of anything will make one very very ill and can be fatal. I did eat just too much too soon when ending a prior fast but never again, I thought I was done for. Always err on the small side to the point of ridiculous. My preference is two grapes for the first meal in the morning but as they are out of season 60 grams of Pawpaw will do fine.

Had to go into town during the day and was almost overwhelmed by the stench of cigarette smoke and I made sure I never got closer to the smokers than upwind 12 feet. It was banana cutting day too but fortunately the weather had turned wet and cold so there were only 3 bunches to cut. Just didn’t have the energy for too much of that.

Almost slipped and fell and in regaining my balance I threw my left arm backwards and immediately felt an intense red hot burning sensation between low on the shoulder blade across to my arm. Like nothing I have ever felt before. Another minor slip an hour or so later and the same thing happened again. On and off the rest of the day I could feel its presence but without the burning, almost like it was a pulled muscle except not quite the same. By moving my arm every which way I could not find a position where I could induce the burning sensation.

Weight loss is still barely 5 Kg, saliva pH is steady around 6.6, pee is very dark with little odour and my pulse rate is down to 49. Would not normally have an evening meal on the first day of breaking a fast but Pawpaw practically dissolves to liquid so ‘pigged out’ on another 50 grams. Barely a litre of water for the day.

Not a good night, I just couldn’t get to sleep. Tossed and turned what seemed to be all night. Seemed to be a burning spot in the middle of my tongue and it was still there when I got up. A pH check revealed a reading of 5.8 and there was a solid white coating on my tongue so took some Bicarb before a breakfast of 100 grams of Pawpaw. Had a busy day on top of which I had to set up an electric fence around the orchard to keep out a wild pig who was not only eating the citrus but smashing down the trees in the process. Never got tired all day in spite of no sleep.

In the evening I had a generous portion of Pawpaw, about 250 grams and 50 grams of custard apple, could really feel the sugars and energy hit the system from the latter. Pulse rate 54, pee very discoloured but largely odourless, drank ¾ of a litre of water but can drink larger amounts at a time now.

Weather turned really cold during the night, 9 degrees Centigrade, yeah well, its cold for us tropical types. Couldn’t get to sleep and couldn’t get totally warm, not enough internal energy I guess, so turned on a heater to warm the room and finally, warmth and sleep.

Breakfast was 2 small custard apples and because it was so cold I followed this with 2 macadamia nuts. Nuts contain phosphate which when ingested will generate heat. These nuts weren’t out of a packet, commercially ruined with the taste of chalk, these were off the ground from under the tree, full of moisture and sweet tasting like fresh coconut. Quite an energy rush from them.

One of the joys of fasting is the experience of eating again in the first few days. Because one must eat tiny amounts, one tries to make the ‘meal’ last as long as possible by taking very small bites, slowly chewing them down to minute fragments (which gets the food totally salivated), savouring every tiny morsel and enjoying the flow of energy that emanates from it. By contrast, all too often regular eating is about gulping down as much bulk as possible in the shortest time to make the stomach ‘feel full’.

Lunch was 2 small black sapotes, 150 grams of Pawpaw and a couple more Macs. Evening meal saw me finish off the Pawpaw and start another one. Found a ripe Jack Fruit on a tree and ate a couple of seed capsules out of it, they were really nice. Took a Brix reading and it went a whopping 28%, no wonder it tasted good. My Custard Apples have been going 25 ½ %. Anything over 22 is usually really good fruit.

Coming out of a fast is always an intriguing experience, more often than not it changes what one is inclined to eat. Have never been a big fan of Avocados but now I am. Ate 2 this evening and I have never eaten that many in one day ever before, usually half a one so long as its creamy and not stringy and I’ve had enough. A lot of Avocados on the trees this year, can’t wait for more to ripen, picked a dozen and put them in a warm place.

Pulse rate 52, pee losing its discolouration, weight loss since I started now 7 Kg, probably won’t fall further.

Another cold night but managed to get through it without using a heater. Starting to feel like eating like a horse but will keep the reins tight for a couple more days yet.

On awakening birdcage mouth was back, saliva pH 5.6 so ¼ teaspoon of bicarb was my start to the day, closely followed by Pawpaw, Jackfruit, Black Sapote and a couple of Pecans. Again, not dry powdery and tasteless out of a packet, but picked from a tree two weeks ago, cracked this morning, delicious and energising.

My aim is to go as long as possible on my own grown fruit. The cold spell has stopped fruit ripening on the tree, a vitally important factor for highest quality fruit. The weather is a couple of degrees warmer today and no cold wind so this should improve. Organising a steady supply of ready to eat fruit without buying it presents a unique set of problems, one becomes intimately suseptable to climatic conditions and constantly aware of the conditon of one's fruit trees. Pawpaws were to have been my main diet after the fast but they have stopped ripening, have only half of one left. Black sapotes are all eaten, Jackfruit is lasting well and do have another. Out of Custard apples but plenty coming on, same with Avocados. I grow bananas commercially so have an endless supply of them all year. Didn’t want to eat them yet as they are slightly mucus forming as I have only just finished cleaning that out of my body. I have citrus in generous quantity and variety, again I would prefer to minimise citrus intake for now. Did have one Nova mandarin today, brix number was 14, syrup in segments, just magnificent. Even found a couple of Natal Plums, brix number 22, very nice but what a strange flavour.

Very busy day today, handled it with ease as energy levels are getting back near normal.

Only noteworthy events will be related from now on so maybe only a line or two will be added each day.

Eating quantity is limited by availability of ripe fruit. Oranges, mandarins, pecans and macadamias are ready to pick and eat 'on call' but Jack Fruit, Black Sapote, custard apples and avocado need some forward planning before being ripe enough to eat. Had first bowel motion since the one a week ago, always reassuring so see the body getting back to normal function. Motions should occur on a daily basis from now on though not unusual to miss a day occasionally at this stage.

Day 14, Knuckle is getting tender, can’t figure whether its too many oranges or too many nuts.

Day 15, I have been checking the pH of my saliva every couple of days or so, usually finding it acidic so am taking Bicarb of Soda quite often. I am getting to the point where I can tell by the taste in my mouth whether my saliva will be acidic or not.

Day 16, Weather has turned very cold so am eating too many pecans which may add to my knuckle’s woes. When so cold it is extra difficult to organise to have fruit ripe for next meal let alone next day. Finished the last of the Jack Fruit and black sapote.

Day 17, The humble orange is by and large almost a complete food fruit (if grown in the right conditions of course) and seeing that I have a good crop this year, today is be the first day of a diet comprising 90% oranges. We’ll see how my knuckle likes that. There is a lot to be said for a mono diet. Apart from man, every creature on the planet eats the one thing for a meal, whatever is available from nature on that day. If man lived in the wild he would have to as well. Imagine how much easier it would be on our digestive system if it didn’t have to extract the sugars from a green pea if it weren’t mixed with steak, animal fats, canola oil, fish, hot chillies, pasta, French dressing or whatever.

Day 18, Now eating about 15 oranges a day, a bit concerned that so many oranges might make my knuckle worse but it seems easier though not bending more yet. Quite surprised how well my body adapted to oranges, I enjoy them more now than I ever have.

Day 19, Very cold night, ph low so took bicarb. My errant shoulder blade muscle is still niggling, I’m starting to wonder if it’s a melanoma, there’s no outward sign on the skin but I figure they grow below the skin before they make an appearance on the surface. Decided to put some Cansema ointment on the spot where it is tender. Cansema will vigorously go to work and dig out any melanoma, roots and all, if one is present and do nothing if one isn’t.

Day 21, Weather very cold. Out of oranges so went to the farm and picked 30 Kg of Navels. That will last me 2 weeks. A mono diet of oranges is in fact a very effective cleansing diet.

Day 22, Saliva pH very low, took bicarb. Half an hour later it was only 5.6 so took some more. Worked late in the office, had to force myself to go to bed at midnight, just no tiredness at all.

Day 23, As usual, up at 2 am to pee and then again at 7 am. Hard to believe so much volume when I haven’t had anything to drink for an entire week. Feeling really good today, plenty of energy. Managing to get a steady flow of ready to eat avocados, custard apples along with the oranges and mandarins plus the occasional Kumquat and black sapote. Still eating too many macadamias and pecans – hard not to eat them when its cold and they are so delicious fresh harvested. Checked my niggling shoulder muscle and no sign of activity by the Cansema so it isn’t a melanoma.

Day 24, Warmer today at 17 degrees C, plenty of zing in the system and feel very aware, just great reverse parking without difficulty, head pivots to the right more than ever did before and effortlessly and right knee back to the same size as the left. Two custard apples ripened today, can really feel energy flow from these. Did a chin up today, first time since before the fast. Weight has recovered barely 2 Kg. Normally wear singlet, shirt and 2 sweaters but had occasion to need to be bare to the waist for half an hour and didn’t feel cold at all. Had birds attack my Ellandale mandarin so at dusk had to erect a birdmesh tent over the tree in the drizzling rain. I got half wet thru but didn't feel cold. Pulse 64 which indicates I am still in elimination mode. Short term memory is better as in remembering phone numbers etc. Because we lose our abilities very slowly, we don’t notice they are going. We only realise it when they really go or when they suddenly come back. It matters not what you do (exercise, meditate or massage) or what you eat, it seems that a 7 day fast once or twice a year is vitally important – it’s like pressing the body’s reset button.

Day 25, Cold wet miserable day but feeling really well, energetic and alert. Have not had anything to drink for three days, have no desire to do so. Grazed my bare leg against a metal container and no skin came off. Before the fast and without chicken in my diet, had this happened I would have lost a big chunk for sure.

Day 26, Weight still a couple of Kg short from before the fast started, has been static for a week so I guess it will stay there while I continue mainly on oranges.

Day 27, Last night was very cold, kept waking up as I wasn’t keeping warm enough. During the day it was 14 degrees C but I coped with that OK. Glad I’m not fasting now. This evening I was wide awake at 11.30 but went to bed then anyway.

Day 28, Woke before dawn with itching top side of my elbows. Got up to wash them, found a rash so scrubbed them clean, went back to bed and slept OK. In the morning there was hardly any rash and they weren’t ichy. Saliva very acid this morning so took bicarb.

Day 29, While watching TV about 7 pm I noticed I was itchy across the stomach and top side of upper thighs. The rash was back, most strange as the stomach rash was above the navel whereas below the navel to the top of the thigh there was no rash at all. The elbow rash was back too but not as bad as last night. Had a hot shower with emphasis on cleaning where the rash was. The itching stopped and had a good nights sleep without getting up for a pee as I have been doing more often than not.

Day 30, The sun finally shone through, first time for a couple of weeks. Makes outdoor work so much more pleasant. Still struggling to get enough fruit to ripen to fulfil my needs. As a result I eat too many nuts. My knuckle is about back where it was before the fast began, is it the citrus or is it the nuts, that is the question? Yesterdays rash did not return, I wonder what was being eliminated through my skin.

Day 31, Pee pattern has changed these past few days and now it has some discolouration. Will try and drink some water to increase the flow. I don’t pee anywhere near the quantity as earlier and there is no need to get up in the night. This change occurred immediately after the rash – hmmm. Managed to drink 2 glasses of water for the day!

Day 32, Back to the 1.30 am pee schedule, volume is substantial, hard to believe it was barely 3 hours since the last one.

Day 33, Ditto as day 32 in spite of drinking no water at all – or any other liquid. Obviously it is the large intake of oranges that makes it happen. Weight still 2 Kg from my start weight.

Day 34, Had a slight headache most of day and into the night. Also was tired in the evening – most unusual, normally I have to force myself to go to bed.

Day 35, Awoke still with the headache, tried a bit of self chiropractic and did get click out of my neck, shortly afterward headache disappeared. But now neck is very tight to turn left or right as before fasting. Up at 1 am to pee. Strange, in the wee hours of the morning the volume is very large. If I’m not forced up and I make it to the normal morning pee, the volume then is no where near that of an early morning one.

Day 36, Neck starting to free up, left turn is about OK but right turn is tight still. Main staple still oranges with avocados as can get them to ripen, custard apples a plenty, occasional mandarins with a few Macadamias and the occasional banana. Sweet Indian limes are dropping from the tree but how can they be called ‘sweet’?? Kumquats nice but bit early yet.

COMMENTS

July 25, Hey there Malcolm,

Excited to see another Fruitarian thriving out there, I thought I'd drop a
line. I found your website from your posting on Suvine's page. I'm a new
fruitarian myself and initially visited her site for info on how to be a
fruitarian healthily and now just read it because she leads a pretty
interesting life. Sooo, anyway I stumbled onto your web address in her
comment section and thought I'd check it out. (I have a voracious appetite
for information and thought that I'd see how another fruitarian lived)

Your water fasting diary really interests me. As of yesterday I have been
on my first water fast. I am finding that it is extremely easy to do and
aside from my husband's exclamation that I'm crazy for doing this it has
been without event. I have to say that reading your diary has been
inspiring for me. Today I have started to think about a food a bit and in
my head I am already rationalizing why it would be alright to go ahead and
stop now. My plan is to fast for five days, and then on the fifth day to
do an assessment and decide if I would like to go further or not. Five
days seems like such an insignificant amount of time in the grand scheme
of things. I'm sure that I can do it.
Thank you for posting a diary of your fasting experience. I am looking
forward to reading about how it turns out.

Blessings,
Rebecca

Hello Rebecca,

Always wonderful to hear from like minded people and share experiences. Any time you have a query feel free to drop me an email. I don't have all the answers but I have been there and done that on a very wide scale.

If you are into your first day of your first fast, it may be a bit premature to claim that it is easy! Let's see what you think after the morning of the third day.

I note one of Suvine's commenter's claimed that he managed to be a fruitarian for 12 days before giving it up. What a joke. It takes 6 months for the body to make adjustments and a further 6 months for the benefits to really shine through. This is an all or nothing deal, if one was truly fruitarian for a couple of months, then weakened and had a slice of toast, it will take the body a month to reverse the damage from the toast.

When fasting beware the influence of friends and relatives (and husbands). You will lose weight and look terrible, they will be most concerned and urge you to give it up. Fasting is as much mental as it is physical and the last thing you need is mental conflicts. Tell them to be helpful and supportive or stay away. Note that all the Biblical fasters went on their own out in a desert to fast.

July 30, Hi Malcolm,
I have to say that the fast itself was a success but alas I wasn't strong enough to last the entire 5 days. As I said before the first few days were easy. On the third day I got all of the weird detox symptoms people had talked about. I had a lot of trouble with muscle coordination, my ears were ringing on and off all day and I just wanted to sleep. On the fourth day the symptoms had decreased to manageable level, but I was just soooo tired. On the fifth day I was ravenously hungry. From everything I had read the hunger was supposed to disappear after a few days, and I think my body went in reverse. It was easy to not eat for the first few days but by the fourth I could feel it coming back and then on the fifth it hit with a vengeance. I finally gave in to the hunger and broke my fast with a glass of watermelon juice. I have to say that that was the best glass of juice that I have ever had in my life :-) On Saturday I had a smoothie of banana and mango for breakfast, watermelon chunks for lunch and black plums for dinner. Yesterday was more of the same except for a snack which consisted of a cherry Larabar (raw cherries, dates and almonds). Looking back I think that if I had taken the week of from work I may have succeeded in lasting the entire five days. I think that the having to deal with the stress of raising my daughter, commuting into the city and preparing the house for guests over the weekend was a bit too much activity for a fast. Luckily I have a desk job so the I was not on feet all day long, but just the stress of work itself was almost too much to bear. As it is I feel that I did accomplish a bit of cleaning. My skin and eyes are both brighter and clearer than they have been in a very long time. My sense of smell seems to a bit sharper. Overall I think that it was a success. I would like to try it again in a couple of months. I think that maybe if I do a few five day fasts a year it might be an excellent form of preventive care for myself. I'm fast approaching middle-age and don't want to fall victim to all of the diseases of excess the other women in my family suffer from. I'm interested in hearing how you deal with stress during a fast. I noticed in your diary that you said you went out to cut bananas and work outside while fasting. Do you notice your tolerance level for things to be short while on a fast? I found that the smallest things irritated me to no end. Being on the subway was too much to bear at times. Do you exercise? I went jogging for a mile or so on day 2 and didn't notice any ill effects other than a bit of weakness. Thank you for asking how it went. Although I'm sure my long-winded answer was more than you bargained for. ;-)

Hi Becca,
Not a long winded reply at all, just wonderful to hear how it went. Being your first fast and you went to work, travelled on the subway, prepared for guests - you gotta be crazy!!!!!
Fasting is a mental as well as physical thing - probably more so mental. The LAST thing you need is to be surrounded by people, even worse, to have to talk to people. You will know that by now. Pleased that you 'survived' the 'ordeal' and are looking forward to another fast. Pleased also that you can see the benefits from it. The sense of smell is usually appreciably enhanced.
A couple of important things you didn't relate - weight before and after, pulse rate before, during and after. The amount of weight lost is a factor in when you might fast next but I guess you wouldn't have lost too much in 4 days. As to your apparent hunger on day 5, next time just drink more and more water till it goes away. Dilute that hydrochloric acid in your stomach. Yes, being irritated over next to nothing would be normal. Minimising your outside influences lets you be at peace to cope with this. I get plenty of excersize doing my normal day to day work so don't persue other activities. I probably walk about 5 miles every weekend tending the banana patch.
Some people are runners and some are not, those who are not should not take up jogging. Walking is good for everyone. Finally, what you ate coming out was bordering on too much. Had you fasted for 7 days you would not have got away with that. Eating too much is an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. I take it that a Larabar is a bought/manufactured product? Stick with natural raw fruit for at least 4 days. I would like to add your emails to a comments section on my fasting page if that's OK by you. Just to let others see that it's not so difficult. Cheers Malcolm

Malcolm,
You know, I had the feeling that I was eating too much coming off the fast but it was extremely hard to control once I started eating. I think that my body went into some sort of state were it wanted to store up calories against future fasting or something.

As for the weight loss, I have to say that I don't think I lost a lot at all. I have banned scales from our house because I think peoples' preoccupation with the numbers isn't healthy, so there isn't any way to compare. Our philosophy is that if the clothes start getting tight then it's time to exercise more. I did notice however that my stomach is little sleeker and the saddlebags are gone from my hips. I didn't take my pulse and honestly hadn't even thought to monitor it. I would get really winded climbing stairs or moving to quickly, which I heard was normal. I guess that would be something to note for the next fast.
How very blessed you are to have a banana patch. There are always bananas in our house and I often think how much simpler it would be to just grow them ourselves. We are in the process of buying some property with land so we can have some apple, cherry and pear trees. Unfortunately in this part of the world I am pretty restricted on the types of fruits I can grow but it will still be satisfying to just have those. I can't wait to walk out my front door and have fresh fruit hanging there for the taking. It's wonderful to be able to talk to someone about all of this. The people in my immediate circle still think I am a bit strange for fasting or being a fruitarian. Some have taken to teasing me, saying that soon I will exist only on air. It's all in jest but I do wish they could understand how much sense it makes to live this way. Feel free to post my fasting info on your page. Have a great day! Becca

Conclusions.

I have just realised that five months have slipped quietly past since my fast so its well and truly time to weigh up whether it was worth the effort or not.

To begin I will mention that a most fortunate event of my life was to meet up with one Rex Peterson now retired, iridologist extraordinaire, a truly gifted person in that field. For example, I was present one day when he viewed the iris of a 60 year old woman and he commented that she almost died when she was four and it had something to do with water. With amazement, the lady replied that yes indeed she nearly drowned at age four when she fell into an irrigation ditch.

In my case he saw the reaction from a heavy infusion of dairy products when I was 5 years old. Yup, that’s when my dad bought a dairy farm. During one of my many visits to Rex over 30 years I recall him saying that wherever acidity built up in the body, the corresponding part of the iris would whiten. If this condition did not change over time, then the acidic condition would become toxic, the iris reflecting this by turning orange then brown. If the toxic condition persisted long enough the next step would be cells starting to die off, the iris reflecting this by turning black – not a good sign if the area related to an essential organ.

Of course this acidity, toxicity, cell death cycle, which can take many years, is almost solely the result of diet but environment has some influence as well. Not surprisingly the stomach area of the iris, encircling the pupil, is a most popular site for the cycle to get started. Very few people do not have a grey/white ring around their pupil, many already have an orange ring. But enough of the iridology, just remember that your friend with the steely grey eyes is full of acid and destined for years of ill health as massed toxicity will eventually take over.

We are alkaline beings and while fluctuations from alkalinity to acidity is normal, prolonged accumulations of acidity is our number one enemy. All of our ill health minor to major can be traced back to acidity. Cancer thrives in acid conditions, in fact it just can not exist in an alkaline environment. Even the humble massage is about breaking up pockets of acidity in muscles, if you are lucky the acid goes to an eliminatory organ, if not so lucky it will return later or congregate somewhere else. There are all manner of alternative therapies that do wonderful things for innumerable ailments but at the end of the day all they are doing is dislodging acidity/toxicity in anticipation that it will disappear via an eliminatory organ.

When it comes to acid removal there are far more appreciable benefits from a seven day fast than there are from 50 Reiki treatments, I’ve experienced both. Unbelievable as it may sound, in similar fashion, one week fasting does wonders for neck or back aches and pains, far more effective than 50 weekly visits to a chiropractor – I’ve been there too many years ago. Our vertebrae are held in place by opposing muscles, when acid builds up in a muscle on one side it tightens up and never relaxes. When the corresponding muscle on the other side relaxes the acidic muscle is still tensed enough to pull the vertebrae out of place, even to the point of pinching a nerve in the process. Fast, get rid of the acid, the muscles get to contract and relax equally and the vertebrae shift back into place without any external intervention.

As a result of my interest in soil analysis, essential to make crops grow nutritionally dense, I also became interested in hair analysis which effectively discloses the quantity of minerals present in the hair over the period of time it took the hair to grow. It follows that whatever is present in the hair will also be found in similar ratio in just about all other cells of the body. Imagine a pool of water, drip one drop of oil onto its surface. It very quickly spreads itself thinly over the entire surface. Scoop the oil from one area of the pool and remove it. The remaining film covers it again by making itself thinner. In similar principle the body spreads available minerals, good bad or otherwise, around all its cells.

Because of the nature of my work, making bullets, I shall relate my history of lead concentrations in various hair analysis results. About a year before this fast everyone working here had their hair analysed. Everyone had elevated levels of lead, Brad who handled it almost every day topped the list at 0.84 ppm, mine was 0.78 ppm, almost as high though my actual physical contact with it was not that frequent. Bear in mind that less than 0.05 is in the acceptable level range. We both took Sun Chlorella tablets and after 4 months another hair analysis revealed Brads level had reduced to 0.3 and mine was 0.19. Conventional wisdom has it that lead levels cannot be reduced, they only accumulate – Ho Hum.

At this point I stopped taking Chlorella tablets and went on a program of foot bath detox and far infra red saunas. The hair analysis after this showed lead levels at 0.22 ppm, slightly on the rise.

This is where the fast started. My expectation was that lead would be removed big time and there would be no further need for Chlorella. Ah well, they say life is full of surprises, my lead level rose significantly to 0.29 ppm, up 30%. Not only that, many other heavy metals associated with bullets – tin, antimony (five fold), iron, also increased markedly as did rubidium (four fold – no idea where that came from). Needless to say, I have been on a steady diet of Chlorella ever since. Some elements came down, Molybdenum and Mercury reduced by 50% but most were up which wasn’t always bad, Selenium increased up to the optimum level. In all previous hair analyses my metabolic type was Slow 2 or Slow 4, this time it was Fast 1.

So what happened? I can only speculate from here on.

It is well known that plants absorb many of their nutrients and minerals from the air, nitrogen for example, as air is mostly nitrogen. Then there is the seemingly outlandish claim that a few rare humans were ‘breatharians’, people who never ate and somehow got their nutrients from air. Barbara Moore who became famous for walking across the USA eating nothing else but the grass beside the road, was supposed to have 'upgraded’ to this state.

I tend to conclude that the body absorbs nutrients and minerals from the air via the lungs and through the skin. It seems likely that bars of lead that I have stacked around, are constantly giving off ions of lead to the atmosphere. In a normal eating state, perhaps the body doesn’t try as hard to vacuum up all and sundry ions from the air as it seems to when fasting. That we ingest particles that are atomically small as part of our nutrient uptake beneficial or otherwise is hardly unique, after all there are whales that live only on plankton, creatures so small they can hardly be seen.

This provides another reason why our biblical heros went out in the desert to fast, not just to get away from people but also to get away from pollution and why monks of yesteryear built their monasteries high in the mountains of desolate places.

The lesson for us all is that we are sponges and we absorb from our environment. By disregarding what we do to our environment is to directly abuse our own state of health. Live next to an industrial estate and expect to be full of heavy metals and who knows what else. While the influence is lessened the further away from the source we are, we can’t avoid it completely. For example, pollutants generated uniquely in Chicago USA have been found in people in Columbia Sth America.

Enough of the theorising, bottom line is how many of my pre fast problems went away and stayed away.

Hearing – improved and ears will pop on demand.
Vision – still improved but was slightly better earlier on.
Right knee – no problem, same size as the left knee.
Knuckle on left hand – gone back to where it was so no improvement.
Neck and head pivoting – turning left is fine but turning right has tightened up.
Headaches – quite rare now, not severe and only of short duration.
Tiredness now sets in at the end of the day and I seem to need 8 to 9 hours sleep each night.

A longer than 7 days fast is called for and later this month, December, it will happen. What better way to spend Christmas – rejuvenating the body rather than bombarding it with every conceivable acidic/toxic gastronomic delight. I expect copy cats will be few and far between.

I will take notes but unless there are momentous differences from the last one, I probably won’t write it up.

Reasons for this fast	Day 1 & 2	Day 3 & 4	Day 5 & 6	Day 7 & 8
Day 9 & 10	Day 11 & 12	Day 13 to 23	Day 24 to 37
Conclusions			Post your comments	View Comments