Day 21
I had originally hoped to go at least 3 weeks and on the night of the 20th day I broke my fast. I didn’t feel myself all day. Foggy, down, anxious, a tightness in my chest that was disturbing. At my age and lifelong history of bowel issues, i don’t want to take huge chances, especially with my grueling schedule. In most of my past fasts, I would be hungry the first few days then not again for a week or two, flying high and wondering why I had ever felt the need for food. Then one day I would feel weak and starving and just know it was time to add food to my system, so I would. This time though I didn’t feel @ all hungry and was flying high the entire time. I think it’s because of the mass quantities of fruit juice. I also think I may have been consuming too much fruit sugar considering my past health issues. I don’t think I am clean enough yet to consume mass quantities of fruit for such a long time. And the vegetable juice just wasn’t satisfying enough. But cooked veggies… Now that’s satisfying. Cooking vegetables brings out their natural sugars and they become extremely satisfying.
I was also concerned because I am beginning a Pilates class today. Not the mat Pilates which I get bored with. I’d much rather practice yoga. But it’s the original Pilates with the equipment. My daughter has been doing it for a few months now and her body is in its best shape ever, after having her 2nd baby just 8 months ago. She loves Pilates now but in the beginning she told horror stories of how grueling it is, so I have been reluctant to try it. Knowing I had this class today and feeling as bad as I did yesterday I decided to break the fast.
Breaking a fast is perhaps the trickiest and most important aspect of any fast. It is also where most people make their mistakes. In fact, it can be extremely dangerous to your health if you’re not careful how you break a fast.
Fasting, living without solid food, allows the body’s digestive system to take a rest. The body has time and energy now to dig deep into the tissues and pull out disease deposits of toxins, mucus and unbelievable morbid matter. Fresh juices help to loosen and thin this matter, passing it into the blood stream until it is thin enough to pass through the kidneys. The thicker, caked waste that lines the walls of the intestines is also being worked on by the juices. If all of this waste becomes loosened too quickly without a bowel movement it becomes too much for all of the organs to handle. It is important to break the fast with laxative type foods not”so-called nourishing” foods. The sooner all of this loosened disease matter leaves the body, the better.
Breaking it with fruit can be dangerous because it tends to loosen up even more, and if the system is already overloaded with toxins, you must try to eliminate them first before loosening up more. On the other end of the spectrum, if you break your fast with dense foods, like proteins or starches, they can mix with all if these loosened poisons and have drastic reactions, like becoming a brick-solid mass in your intestines that has to be removed surgically. For the average person, cooked veggies is the way to go.
Once I made that decision, I was so excited to eat when I got home from work. I had been planning all along to break my fast with a green salad and some cooked spinach, and that is exactly what I did. I braised some chopped garlic in a tiny bit of coconut oil, added a big pile of baby spinach, a few other greens, a teaspoon of water and covered the skillet. Turned the heat down to low and let it steam for just a few minutes. My salad was chopped romaine, cucumber, celery and tomatoes with grated carrots. The dressing was avocado with lemon. I also had a few roasted beets. It was awesome.
I felt great and slept soundly but not having a bowel movement before bed I had some very disturbing dreams. This morning though I had a hugely successful colonic and am ready to face the day!!! Yay!!!
This fast has been an awesome experience for me. It is invigorating and inspiring for me to up the ante on my diet. I have been cruising along with it and become a little complacent. I am pumped now. The plan is to drink more juice during the day. I’ll add a big fruit juice to my usual big green one. And then a dinner of raw and cooked greens. If I’m still hungry I can add a sweet potato. I’d also like to try Ehret’s suggestion of eating like this a few days alternating a few days of juice fasting. I think that will be the smart and fastest way to cleanse my blood and tissues.
After all, cleansing my body of toxins and foreign matter has always been the goal, not to just go some arbitrary number of days without eating.
On with the journey.

In case anyone is interested, here is the list of what I’ve been consuming:

Day 17
16 oz. celery, cucumber, romaine, carrot, lemon
40 oz. papaya
1 qt. apple, carrot, sweet potato, lemon, cinnamon
1 qt. strawberry, pear, apple, cucumber
12 oz. cantaloup

Day 18
3 qt. apple, carrot, sweet potato, lemon, cinnamon
1 qt. strawberry, pear, apple, cucumber
1 qt. cantaloup
1 qt. orange

Day 19
1 qt. orange
1 qt. apple, carrot, sweet potato, lemon, cinnamon
1 qt. apple, tomato, cucumber, romaine, southern greens
2 qt. apple, carrot, sweet potato, lemon, cinnamon

Day 20
1 qt. apple, tomato, cucumber, romaine, southern greens
2 qt. honeydew, pineapple, cucumber
1 qt. strawberry, pear, apple

Spinach, southern greens, garlic, 1 t coconut oil
Salad: romaine, grated carrots, celery, cucumber, tomato, avocado w/ lemon
Beets