Hunger is not the end
An experience to share today. The one I did a few years ago in a center that proposed hiking for 1 week ... without eating. To frame things a little, my remarks are neither pro nor anti practice of food fasting ; I just share here my experience and the elements that appeared to me as positive and negative during such an experience and how it can make a link with the theme of this blog. I chose the category "report to self" for this post.
young food: Day 1
A dozen participants came here with very different objectives. Some in a process of well-being and detoxification, others to accompany their half in the first category, and others like me out of curiosity and experience seeking. Some were used to food fasting , others were on their first try.
My main motivation at that time was the curiosity to see how my body would react to the deprivation of a vital need , in this case the need to feed. Having had a sporting course in the past, I had some notions of nutrition, and I was quite attentive to how to feed myself to be in better shape. For example, during this period I did not plan to skip a meal; I was even irritable when I was hungry and some circumstances shifted my meal time.
The first night, we all drank an infamous liquid with the purpose of purging us. I do not draw a picture, but the not very glamorous explanation is that the fact of emptying (digesting 😉) allows the intestines to be free of any "matter" that can stagnate and cause inconvenience of any kind. That night, my best friend was some "triple thick Lotus"
young food: Day 2
Our first day of fasting food and hiking. Strangely, I did not feel lack of energy. I did not feel hungry, nor showed signs of weakness. It must be said that one of the absolute guidelines for this course was to hydrate more than usual, about 3 to 4 liters per day to compensate for the loss of water usually contained in food. Maybe I was "satiated" by all this water?
In the evening, we "dined" together around a broth of vegetable juice. Just the water in which the vegetables were cooked, without salt, without anything. We will say that it was water with taste. We then had, as every evening of the week, a small information workshop on organic food and detoxification. Some principles were interesting, but the general discourse was a bit too much for my taste. With all the principles, instructions, recommendations and forbidden announced, I could not see where was the pleasure of eating. In short, I listened politely all these recommendations ... while thinking of the Master Pizza that I was going to engulf when returning from this food fast .
young food: Day 3
On the morning of the third day, when I got up from the bed, I felt that my legs were playing castanets. Big drop in energy. I had to go twice before getting up. As the only thing I could eat was water, so I drank a good 1/4 liter to fill my stomach a little. But the energy did not come back. The start on a hike seemed badly engaged.
It was at this point that I realized that my body was entering a new phase. The energy saving phase. I noticed that all my movements, my movements, my overall functioning were slowed down. For example, I was walking to the rendezvous point in the morning at a snail speed and I was at the top of what I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I really felt that my environment and I were in slow motion mode.
I still decided to leave with the group, and strange as it may seem, the fact of activating erased my state of weakness in the morning. I was working at a more modest level in terms of energy, but I still worked. Beautiful awareness and change of belief about the consequences of skipping a meal or " it is noon, it MUST eat "
young food: Day 4 and 5
The routine was settling down. In the morning, raised at dawn, hydration, hiking, hydration. Afternoon rest, swimming pool, sauna, steam room and hydration. In the evening, vegetable juice (which I also stopped on the 4th day so it was bland, I preferred to stay in the water), workshop on the benefits of bio, food fasting and company.
At this stage of the experience, an interesting observation related to the relation to oneself is my awareness of the dynamics of the drive. For without having the physical sensation of hunger, I episodically had the mental drive to eat that came to tickle me. And in this context, I could observe that after a few minutes, this drive lost its energy and ended up disappearing of itself. And if it works with an impulse as primary as that of feeding, it should also work with all kinds of impulses and why not with emotions. The concept of reception and acceptance of emotions then made sense ... at least for me.
young food: Day 6
Last day of food fasting . I was not sorry to finish it. Not so much to start eating again, because my body and my mind had adapted to this state of lack, but precisely because I had gone around the question, I wanted to move on now.
One last anecdote to share with you, that of the food recovery.
The organizer of the course had prepared a small light meal and composed mainly of fresh products and of course ... bio.
I was therefore preparing to eat a sweet potato, without salt, without anything, after several days of fasting. Believe it or not, the moment I put the first piece of potato in my mouth, I had a thrill that ran through my whole body and a body sensation close to orgasm. A very powerful thing. I think I'll remember that piece of potatoes all my life.
Conclusion:
the positive points
- An interesting experience from the point of view of the functioning of the body in a state of food fasting
- Discovering unsuspected resources, both physically and mentally
- An awareness of impulse dynamics
- An internship well supervised by the organizer
The points of vigilance
- The bio pushed to a paroxysm does not suit me. I did not find any notion of pleasure.
- You must still be in good health before performing this type of experiment. I checked with my doctor before leaving.