Fasting….A Week Later

It has now been a week since I broke my fast, which if you’re keeping up with my blog lasted about 57 hours give or take a couple. Looking back I probably should’ve just started with 16 to maybe 24 hours to see how my body would respond to it and along with the fact I used to to prone to bowel obstructions, although it’s been over two years now. That being said I’m not one just to dip my toes in the water, I tend to dive in head first. Not recklessly (I don’t think) like when I was kid no thought really put into anything and worry about the consequences later, more like a controlled dive hands always out front to protect my noodle. Like when I run it’s not 3 to 5 km when my body first tells me to stop, but pushing harder to last that 10 to 12 km, minimum knowing there is still more in the tank if needed. I loved that so many of you took the time to leave a comment and are now considering fasting, but like I was saying I should’ve check with my oncologist first. A healthy diet when you’re a Neuroendocrine patient is one of the very important factors in dealing with your cancer that can actually be controlled…by you. However with a check-up just completed and with a stable diagnosis I figured this was the chance to go for it, before it was to late. Head first I went.

I was repeatedly asked how I managed to last over two days without eating? Well that was the easy part, remembering back to my hospital stays due to those bowel obstructions sometimes not eating for three to four days while waiting for the blockage to straighten itself out. Now that was much worse laying in a Hospital bed with a tube down my nose, sometimes a catheter put you know where. I swear the only thing that kept me sane was the morphine drip and gravel combo that put me to sleep most of the time. So, even while attempting this fast at home and the smells from the food it honestly didn’t bother me that bad or really even tempt me. I’d just go read or out for a walk, no running during the fast was done, the apartment was extremely clean after those two days.

How do I feel Today?

Seven days after I feel generally overall better, with a few exceptions…the plumbing works better and for the most part the bloating I get hasn’t returned. My guts don’t seem to get as upset like they did before, usually a three day run without stomach problems was a blessing. One thing I would’ve changed is the food that I first filled my face with, although I did warm my gut up with an apple and banana the big plate of roast a couple hours after wasn’t the best choice. It tasted great, but immediately put me in a food coma and when I say that I’m not exaggerating, I passed out with the plate still in my lap, lights on, television blasting and woke up hours later very groggy. Being that I do have Neuroendocrine cancer, raw veggies even cooked sometimes don’t sit well, same with some fruit. A better meal for me to break that fast would’ve been a chicken and rice type dinner, easy to digest and slowly warm up the engine. Mentally is where I notice the most gain, I wake up feeling alert, focused ready to go. I’ve been learning some Spanish for my upcoming trip and feel over the last week I’m retaining more of what I learn, in a shorter period. Reading and writing have once again started to flow much easier, if only fasting could improve eye sight. I think my memory has been functioning better as well and I seem to be in less of a hazy fog, which is how I felt a lot of the time before due to the cancer, stress and now what I believe is some of the food we put in our bodies.

Now physically is a different story and the main reason I gave in early, I had started to feel pretty weak and light-headed. If I would’ve hung on a bit longer I have no doubt that more reserves would’ve came to the rescue. It’s that weak feeling that got to me that most and ultimately did me in. After a week now and I’m back to feeling physically strong, still going for 100 push ups a days, however my endurance has yet to return. I can still jog the same distances, just not at the same pace I’m sure it will return, but I’m still not happy about that. However just as I wrote that last sentence I just went and checked my weight and wow, I had to double check and even put in fresh batteries. There is a 10 lbs difference in a week, sorry middle picture is a bad one it reads 173, so after seven days I’m 4 lbs heavier then when I even started this, interesting! Since being diagnosed breaking that 180 lbs barrier for me has been a tough and could also be a reason my running pace is down a bit. I haven’t changed my diet at all, if anything I eat a little less then I used to, interesting.

So, in my final thought here and I’ll have one last post about this fast tomorrow, a two day fast was a challenge at times for me to complete and three days I don’t know if I’d get anymore benefit out of it than I did. I’m always looking for ways to push myself both physically and mentally in order to attempt to make improvements and understand myself better. More later…thanks for reading.