The Fast: Day 3
Today has been another good day – I kind of can’t believe how much I am enjoying this. I definitely feel better this week and I do attribute it at least somewhat due to this fast. I feel lighter even though I haven’t lost any weight (there are actually a good, healthy amount of calories in the foods I’m eating so that’s one of the reasons I even hesitate to call it a “fast”) and I do have more energy. I just healthier overall – I’ve heard people say things like this before when doing these types of fasts and didn’t really buy it, but honestly I can feel SUCH a difference in myself this week. Some of the foods have been tough to get down (the seaweed salad tonight was just not do-able – some kind of olive-type thing in it that grossed me out) but most have been really good (the cacao smoothie today was TO DIE FOR, and the coconut milk is stellar).
The fact that I don’t have to think about what to eat at each meal/snack every day has been great as well. As someone who has struggled w/ food issues in the past, as a distance runner who has to think about what to eat to maintain my training, and as a typical 20/30-something woman living in 2008 with images of teeny celebs around 24/7, I find myself spending SO MUCH TIME on worrying about food (what to eat? when to eat? does that have too many calories? will I fit into my skinny jeans tomorrow if I eat that? Shit I shouldn’t have had seconds…oh well pass the ice cream....etc etc) that to just not have to even think about that for a week has been really freeing. Its kind of shocking to see how much time I spend worrying about food on a daily basis – serious waste of brain power.
The other benefit of all of this has been that I really have cut back almost entirely on processed foods/refined sugars while doing this. The chocolate covered raisins at my office still got to me today (just a few!) but I find myself eating those out of lazy habit, and overall I do not find myself craving or even having trouble passing up sugary snacks. This is a huge thing for me as I have SUCH a wicked sweet tooth….we’ll see if it sticks, but I really hope this is a jumping off point for the start of a lot of new healthy habits and the end of some old, bad ones….
