Sooo…on December 21st, the NRT practitioner suggested a three-day fast to break my taste buds of the desire for sugar. She seemed so confident that this would be the final step in getting me off the sweets that I agreed to do it. I started the new year with a three-day fast. I’d fasted before, but not for that long.
I ate no food for all of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, January 2-4. I drank chicken-and-vegetable broth (that I made) and water, and that was it. And I only had five cups of the broth a day. The water was supposed to be hot, but I also drank cool water and a little bit of sparkling water. Because I work from home, I was able to spend these days in my apartment which helped a lot: no staring down food being eaten by others.
No big deal for a fat American, right? It would do us good to go hungry every once in a while, right? I agree with those statements, but it was hard. Dog, it was hard! To encourage myself, I went online and found accounts of people who had done three-day fasts. Some said they only felt hungry the first day. That was not me. My hunger disappeared for only brief periods and on the third day the hunger was the strongest.
I suspect that people who eat mostly protein and produce — with little starch and sugar — have the least hunger when they fast. Their bodies switch easily into fat-burning mode or maybe that’s where they always are. That means their bodies rely for fuel on their fat stores and those stores are always available.
But people like me, who eat plenty of sugar and starch every day, live in sugar-burning mode. That means our bodies rely for fuel on what we put in our stomachs and when that supply stops, our hunger reminds us to eat. Then it yells. Then it screams. For days.
On Thursday, Day One, I found it very hard to stay awake. I drank my hot water, sipped my broth, and felt hungry. I dozed through the morning, then slept through most of the afternoon. I was not in a good mood. Each time I woke up the hunger was right there. The hot broth did very little to relieve it, but I was grateful for it because an all-water fast would have been even more miserable. I didn’t expect to sleep well after all that napping, but I still slept a full night. My body seemed unable to do anything without food.
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| Cauliflower! |
On Friday, Day Two, my energy came back. Shockingly, I was able to sit at my desk and do all the work I hadn’t done on Thursday. I didn’t even want a nap! My alertness was especially startling because I still didn’t consume anything except a lot of water and my five cups of hot broth, spaced out carefully over the day and evening.
I also researched how to come out of a fast and learned that returning to regular eating should take as many days as the fast did. Damn. I’d talked to my practitioner about Sunday and she’d suggested starting with a cup of matcha tea and then sticking to soup and rice. I was resigned to that, but this article suggested I take it easy for three full days, post-fast. My earliest burger would be on Wednesday. Aggravation! I’d committed to a three-day fast, not a six-day ordeal. But I wanted to get the biggest benefits possible (and my Catholic tendencies are still strong), so I decided to follow the advice.
On Saturday, Day Three, I still felt alert and active. I had a few moments of light-headedness, but my energy was steady. Still no temptation to take a nap, but the hunger was also very steady. That night my hunger gnawed against itself as I imagined the food I’d eat in a few days. I looked forward to morning with extreme, single-minded eagerness. I just had to get through the night. So what if the next day I’d only have vegetable soup and rice? It would be food.
On Sunday, which I guess I’ll call Day One of Breaking Fast, I sat down with my bowl of vegetable soup (made with chicken broth). I lifted a spoonful that had a piece of cauliflower. It had never tasted so good! I relished that bowl, eating slowly and tasting everything: carrots, potatoes, onions, kosher salt. By the end of the bowl, cauliflower had become my new favorite vegetable.
Lunch was another bowl of soup and a plate of jasmine rice. Dinner was the same. I also added hot tea to my beverage list. Eating this way meant I still had hunger for part of the day, but I could live with it knowing there was a meal coming.
On Monday, Day Two of Breaking Fast, I had almost the exact same meals, except I added chicken to the soup. That night I also savored some cocktail peanuts. I love peanuts. Still had some hunger since my body wanted cheeseburger.
Today was Day Three of Breaking Fast and I had eggs with steamed cauliflower and broccoli for breakfast, butternut-squash-and-chicken soup for lunch, rice and nuts as a snack, and chicken, potatoes and peas for dinner. With more substantial meals, I finally had no gnawing hunger. Tomorrow I plan to resume my usual eating, minus the processed sugar (but I’ll delay cheese until Thursday).
So far I’d call these the results:
1. Energy is still better than it’s been in months. The couch does not call to me mid-afternoon!
2. Digestion is totally peaceful. No stomach aches or noise.
3. Certain clothes fit better. My favorite jacket fits for the first time in over a year.
4. My teeth feel cleaner.
5. My mood is very good.
6. I feel more attractive. I might be imagining that I look slimmer, more alert and happier, but if it’s a delusion, I’m not inclined to break it.
7. I haven’t had my usual longing for sugar since Day Two of the fast. Sweets were part of the foods I daydreamed about and the desire for them was still there on Friday. Right now it’s gone.
My one goal with this fast was to break my sweet tooth. Have I succeeded? It’s too early to tell, but so far, so good. The idea is that if I can stay off the sugar, I’ll finally (finally, god dammit) lose some actual pounds, and if I can lose any pounds at all, maybe I can keep them off. I don’t have a lot of hope, but I have a little bit.
Next post on fatness: No sugar cravings