Day fortythree

I have started eating again. Like I said previously, that fast was rough. I was beginning to want to crawl out of my skin.

I am better now. The level of itching is way down. Not gone, but better.

This morning I was 230.2. That's another .8 pound from yesterday. I continue to shed pounds. My waist this morning is 45 inches flat. That's another half an inch. So my waist is finally shrinking as well. Yay!

I have been eating high moisture content fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, banana) and am adding high moisture content steamed vegetables (zucchini and yellow squash) to restart peristalsis. Once that occurs, I will add back salad greens. My next meal will probably be a blended smoothie consisting of high moisture content fruit and some frozen spinach. Once that is going, I will add in fibrous vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts). By tomorrow EOD I should be eating nuts, legumes and such.

This will be my last short term fast. I know enough to know what I need to about fasting. I will continue to maintain the diet for another month or so. This will give me some time to work on professional issues (I have several up-coming trips), the house, my relationships, and such. Fasting basically occupies so much of your attention that you are not engaged in life during that period. This again tells me that I need to be completely off, both professionally and personally, during a fast. It's basically like you go to the hospital. Thus, what will be required for a long terms fast is that I take a dedicated period of time off of everything.

Anything less is a half measure and will probably fail. Fasting is hard work by itself. You need to persevere. It takes mental energy to avoid eating. Also, your level of emotional and physical capacity is way, way down. You simply cannot function normally. I was hoping that I could continue to be involved in life to a reasonable extent while fasting. But that simply does not work. At least it didn't this time.

My overall symptoms were that I was extremely weak, faint at times, had a rough time concentrating, poor emotional sensitivity, and so forth. I was definitely not where I am now. As I sit here having had a couple of meals, I can tell that I am far sharper and more energetic than I was during the vast majority of the time I spent on that fast.

I am not sure when I will be able to arrange this. I will work on this later. For now, I continue with the diet, and other healthy habits I have established over the past six weeks.

More later.