Transitions

Thus concludes the fast.

here's a wrap-up:

On the eve of Day 8, Paul and I agree to start making the transition off the fast. We's already stocked up on our oranges for juice. We'd each had a few troublesome symptoms arise that made us think there would be no additional benefit of going two more days. No Smooth Move tea for me tonight, though P enjoyed his.

Day 9:
Down a half pound. Officially below my move-in-with-Paul weight. Let's try to stay there now.

We each did one last salt water consumption in the morning. Paul juiced a bunch of oranges for me to have throughout the day. He's so sweet and good to me. Juice was electrifyingly good. Explosively flavorful. Pulpy, the way I like it. I felt some rumblings in my gut after drinking. Some quick trips to the loo were necessary. Didn't spin, thought I would go to yoga but didn't even do that. Very uneventful day. I did figure out the great mystery of my moutain bike's front shock not taking air, so all was not lost.

Paul made vegetable soup stock that evening. What can I say? It was unbelievable. So good. Rich, complex, almost creamy on the tongue even though it was a clear broth. He'd cooked lentils in the broth too. After the broth had cooled, there sat a pile of the softened stock vegetables and lentils as a mass lump. Some might toss it, but we picked and savored. These veggies would go back into the stock for our veggie soup tomorrow.

Day 10:

Go figure, I gain half a pound when I step on the scale this morning. Who knew you could gain weight on orange juice?
No Smooth Move tea + no salt water = you guessed it: nothing!

Paul juiced a bunch of blood oranges for me. So pretty! I'm liking this fresh squeezed juice. It tastes like spring in a glass. After taking Luna to the vet, I had a small cup of the soup before heading off to yoga class. The soup was so good. Simple, but quite flavorful. Soup is always a good thing in my book. But I've gotta tell you, I felt pretty decadent sitting there with my glass of blood orange juice and a cup of soup. I felt like I was living the high life!

After yoga, had some more soup. This time with a rye cracker. Chewing! I was back to chewing. I felt pretty full immediately, and slightly bloated. Fiber! With some nutrients in me, I felt the fog that had inhabited my brain for the past week or so begin to left. Seriously. I felt more capable of quick thinking, less hippified and s l o w. I also felt like I had some real energy for teaching tonight.

Spin class was great. No issues. Legs worked. Paul and I made what was an absolutely delicious salad. Avocado, fancy cut celery, shredded carrot, black beans, walnuts, chopped Italian parsley, dried cranberries and mixed greens tossed with Goddess dressing. (Bad name, good stuff. And vegan.) Chewing slowly and savoring. We kept commenting how good the food tasted and noticed individual flavors. And in true Paul fashion: dessert. Sliced bannanas dipped in melted dark chocolate.

Oh. My. God. Even dark chocolate tasted remarkably sweet. So lucious and smooth and perfect.

We're back on food. Yay!

Today, Day 11: Fully eating.
For breakfast I had almonds soaked in water overnight. (I can't describe how this changes the almonds, but it's wonderful. I learned to love soaked almonds on a Spirit Rock meditation retreat.) Had a rye cracker spread with soy yogurt, and a sliced apple.

Oh, and green tea. I am going to try the green tea thing for a while instead of coffee. I so love my coffee with chocolate soy milk every morning, but it seems almost wrong to go straight back into that habit. I feel like eating lighter, and the way I make my coffee is mud-like. Thick and almost pour-able.

I feel well-equipped to teach a two hour class tonight, thankfully. So much so, that I'm recycling a super-hard class filled with long accelerations for tonight.

My wise friend Marty asked me what I got out of the fast. Here's what I told him: "I got to re-experience the simple pleasure of what food tastes like and how enjoyable it is! I got a break from sugar and caffeine and a chance to restart/rebreak some habits. I don't know about feeling "cleansed" or anything, but it was an interesting break. I have SO much more energy, but it's subtle."

Day 8: Slip and Fizzle

So I went to a noon spin class. I walked out the front door, forgetting my water bottles.

Didn't realize this detail until a second before class was to start. What to do? Nathan, my fellow spin instructor, offered me a "water". Turns out to be one of those Glaceau Vitamin Water things. A tiny bit of sugar and froot flavor. What could I do? Dehydrate and say no? So I thanked him and took the bottle, after all, it had some electrolytes and vitamins and those could do me some good.

First sip: WHOA! Tasting something other than lemonade was a trip. It was way sweet. Not sugary, but sweet, almost electrifyingly so. I am guessing the first foods and flavors I taste post-fast will be the same way. I drank it, feeling slightly guilty. Hello, Jen! It's water! Not like you pounded a whole cake or anything!

The other thing of note: my muscles have absolutely NO ability to recover right now. I went to spin yesterday, keeping it pretty moderate in the 80-85% HR zone. Nothing crazy, my average for the hour ride was under 80%. Today, though, my HR wouldn't stay up, my legs felt incredibly heavy, especially my inner thighs. I went through the motions of the class without really digging in a doing the super hard work; my legs just weren't there. I mean it. They were fighting me.

Makes sense. Eight days into a fast, with back-to-back spinning. No protein. No "real" nutrients for my muscles to recover.

Tomorrow will be a yoga only day. I'm a little concerned about Thursday and Friday, but I can modify my way through it.

Talked to one of my fellow spinners who is a MD psychiatrist and he said what I was doing was bad for my body, and that I was likely in ketosis (wasn't it cool to be in ketosis during the Zone craze?) and that my body is in startvation mode, so as soon as I start eating again it will take those calories and store them immediately as fat. Hmmm, wonder if that is true?

Day 7 was yesterday

I said I'd make it 7 days, and I did. It changes from moment to moment, but at this moment I'm going for the full 10. My only concern in cutting it short or modifying the fast with some protein consumption is my exercise. Thursday night I teach spin as normal, and Friday night I teach a two hour spin class. This would be the day I get orange juice.

Yesterday was fine. The rain killed our plans for a hike, so I went to spin instead. My spinfriends as all puzzled and question-y as to why I am doing this. I am thinking of food. Looking at pictures, and reading restaurant menus on the web. We looked at a vegan cookbook and chose Paul's first post-fast baking treat. I am eyeing the jar of pickles in the fridge, wanting to slice them up thin and savor their salty goodness.

Paul cleaned out the fridge so when we do start eating, it's clean and has plenty of space for the healthy goodness that will take up residency. I am hoping he will stay interested in eating vegan and/or healthy, for selfish reasons; I stand a better chance of cleaning up my diet if he's on the same page. When Ben + Jerry walk through the front door with him, it's usually all over for me.

I feel a little colder. A little more reclusive. A bit more inwardly focused. And definitely less congested. I haven't breathed this well through my right nostril in a long while. Dairy really isn't our friend, is it? Without meal prep, it leaves us time for a little more fun.

Plus, it's been nice to see the scale moving downward. Eight pounds as of this morning (day 8). Almost down to cycling weight, and just under the weight I was when I moved in with Paul. I have this delusional idea that I want to lose another 10 pounds or so before I leave for Nepal.

But I live with a guy who cooks and bakes. Right.

Days 5 and 6 of the Clean-o-Rama

Yesterday was a particularly active day, after my fucktard neighbor had a loud, late party; needless to say I didn't sleep great. Seems that no matter what time I go to bed, I'm up with the sun, or with Splat's help before sunrise. Anyway, yesterday Paul and I went to a yoga class which was 1.5 hours. Then we went for a small hike in a park I've never been into. It was so much less crowded than Redwood, yet still on Skyline. It had gorgeous redwoods, and is mountain bike friendly! The closest thing to good single-track in the East Bay. The fog spilled in during our hike making it chilly. We chugged down a nalgene of lemonade between the two of us. That was a lot of activity for a fasting person, and while it felt fine, I am conscious of energy spent against a caloric deficit. I bailed on going to see some live music, figuring I didn't have the energy to be that social with friends.

Speaking of caloric deficit, I didn't do this to lose weight. (That's an added bonus.) But I've lost six pounds thus fast. Nothing yesterday (!?) and only a half pound today. Maybe spinning is the magic combination for those 2.5 lb days?

I have noticed that I am more belchy. Since I can no longer burp the alphabet, this doesn't do much for me. I also notice that I am expelling mucus. After the salt water yumminess every morning, I seem to cough up mucus, and my sinuses loosen a bit. Since I do a saline wash up my nose everyday anyway, this is a lotta salt flushing. The departure method of said mucus makes sense. My respiratory system has always been my weak link. So those are the noticable side effects.

As for today, it's been a very low energy day. Three flights of stairs to the laundry room left my legs feeling heavy. I feel a little sore from yoga yesterday. Not overly talkative (which may come as a relief to Paul). Don't feel like the sharpest tack. A little dull. I haven't had the blissout that Paul has. It hasn't been challenging, but I haven't noticed improved sleep or life on the puffy cloud. My sense of smell is definitely more acute.

If tomorrow continues to be this low energy, I may try to add in some powdered greens to boost the likely nutritional deficiency. I may also consider ending the fast on Tuesday. I've been taking it day-by-day, but with the goal of making it at least seven days.

I teach a two hour spin class Friday evening in addition to my usual Thursday night class. With that in mind, I have to look at this upcoming week and approach it wisely, which may not mean fasting until the end of Thursday. We shall see.

Day 3-4 of zesty fasting

Thankfully, the awfulness of Day 2 stayed there. Once the stomach ache from vomiting the previous night dissipated, Day 3 was fine. Had to remind myself to drink the lemonade, didn't feel much hunger. Very heightened sense of smell, almost annoyingly so. All this time spent not eating leaves us to pursue other fun stuff. Teaching spin last night was fine. I kept my heart rate below 85%. Luckily it wasn't a killer class, just plain ole' medium endurance riding. While spinning I did notice that my sweat was unusually salty, much like the salt water I drink each morning.

Today's been a-okay, too. Paul had the day off, and so it was a lazy morning after we consumed our salt water. It was funny to see food habits being broken; usually we'd go out for a meal or need to do some grocery shopping or the like. There was none of that, just noticing the letting go of habitry. My friend Becky was right- I was more productive due to not having to think/deal with food. Also noticed we've run the dishwasher far less than normal since we're not cooking.

I'm being intelligent, as hard as it is, and not doing long rides outside during the fast. A spin class is one thing, a ride outside is a whole different story, especially since around Berkeley-Oakland you can't escape the hills and that's where my energy would get eaten up. I will miss riding with my friends for a few days, but better to be sensible than to get myself into a bad sitch.

In other news: Starting to do a bunch of reading and research about my upcoming trip to Nepal. The Annapurna Circuit isn't a cakewalk. There's one pass, Thorung La, which is 17,770 feet we have to make it over, then descend over scree. This shit's serious. Thankfully, I will be taking a three day course to recertify my Wilderness First Responder next month, which will give me the refresher I need to deal with altitude illness and other things we may encounter on the trail. It is becoming apparent that I will need to be in phenomenal shape for this three week trek.

Day 2: Not Fun

Yesterday mid-day I developed a headache. Bad enough that I blew off yoga class, which is so unlike me. I felt ill at the smell of the lemonade. My sense of smell seemed heightened, and any strong smell left me queasy. The headache progressed.

While vacuuming, I started to feel nauseated. Acid reflux upchuck happened. I stopped vacuuming and took a prone position, feeling progressively more awful. Shortly after P came home, I began vomiting. I didn't have much to yak. It hurt to heave nothing. P was sweet and held my hair back. This happened on and off for a couple hours.

I managed to get to sleep. Staying asleep was another matter. I woke up at 2:30am. We took the dog out at 3am. (dammit, she still leaked!) Was awake from 2:30am to 6am. Headache dull, throbbing. Finally at 4:44am (the chinese believe the number 4 signifies death. for many years, I woke up exactly at 4:44 every morning.) I took some Ibuprofin. I had tried to be a trooper and withstand the headache, but it was going on almost 18 hours. I found some nice ways to appreciate being awake. Finally crashed out, only to be woken by Splat declaring his hunger. At least you get food, dude.

I feel better this morning. Weak. Hungryish. Headache gone. Stomach feels worked as it does after a pukefest. Was that a detox evening? Who knows.

I'll go for day 3, what the hell. I teach spin tonight. Wish me luck.

Silly Fasting Business, Day #2

It was my idea. A spring cleaning, so to speak. It sounded like a good idea. Originally I had wanted to do a juice fast, but my friend with the juicer is out of town, hence, the juicer unavailable. Then one of my cycling friends was on a modified version of The Master Cleanse, aka The Lemonade Diet. She's not a kook, so it got me thinking maybe that would work, too. Although Becky supplemented with powdered greens, and gave me her leftovers. Haven't gone there yet and dunno if I will.

I'm doing it with Paul. Bless his hungry soul. Makes it more fun when you gulp Smooth Move tea with someone you love, then you can talk about the lovely details of it all. Or when 3:45am wakes me with stomach cramps, I have a warm understanding person to spoon away the pain. Helps, too, that he's all jazzy about it!

Besides being hungry and crave-y, it's not so bad. I am backing off on the cycling some, with Sunday's bonk still fresh in my mind. I'm teaching spin tomorrow evening, but skipping the four hour ride with Mark. I have a low-grade headache today. I haven't had caffeine in two days, could that be it? Or is it truly the detox action?

How long can I do this? It's supposed to be 10 days, but I was reading that after 7 days your body uses your own muscle for protein. I am needing all the muscle I have, so it may be limited to 7 days. I saw my chirpractor today and she thought for one's first fast 3-5 days might be more appropriate. Surprisingly, she was totally on board with the whole fasting concept. At the very least, I'd like to make it through the weekend. I've got some bike riding needing to happen while I'm not working.

Paul's suggesting a raw vegan diet after this is all done. Does that mean he won't bake? Because that truly is my downfall.

Asia Travel

I booked my ticket. I'm meeting Michelle in Bangkok. We're going to Nepal, Tibet, and who knows where else our adventures will take us. The plan, thus far, is to do the Annapurna Trail. We'll be over there for seven weeks.

Ever been over there?

Tell me about it, please. I've never done anything like this before. Been to Germany and Italy. That's it. All the more reason I should be doing this, eh?