Water fasting experiment, day 7+1, breaking the fast

In the beginning of my water fast I did some reading on how to break a fast. It is serious and complicated business.

I now understand that it is important to break a period of fasting in the right way. One of the texts that I read (well, most of them actually) laid out a schedule for breaking a fast, stretching over several days after the "end" of the fast. I will not follow its advice strictly, but it has alerted me to the fact that I need to be extra careful with not over-eating and to closely monitor my reactions to food in general over the first days (maybe even the whole first week), not eating things that my stomach may disagree with.

I broke my fast with diluted juices, yoghurt, and bananas. I have some baby food (I was not going to purée anything myself) which got to be ok to eat, much dried fruit, and I believe I have some vegetable soups (the powder variety) lying around as well... The first batch of food went straight through in an hour (no surprise, my guts are clean enough to use for sausages), but the rest stayed for longer. Just hoping I won't get too constipated later.

Also, I would actually discourage anyone reading this from water fasting for extended periods (more than a week), unless supervised or well experienced, especially if doing it for the first time. A four-day water fast would be quite enough to have to work with discipline for the sake of dealing with the effects of craving, which, being a greed-type of person, is partly why I did this. As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, the only obvious change from day four onwards was that I was getting physically weaker, and this was worse than any positive change, mental or otherwise, during the same time.

In the future, I may fast again, but I will probably keep to short three or four-day water fasts, or longer fasts on liquid diet (soups and juices). The next obvious opportunity for me to try a longer fast will be in the end of December when I have two weeks of solitary retreat planned.

If I ever do another water fast of this length or longer, it will have to be in the summer, under the conditions of a retreat, preferable with other people around, and most importantly, with ample of time to manage the transition into and out of the fast.

May all beings be happy!