Fasting, a journey to health

by Natasha
(Schenectady, NY)

Hi, my names Natasha, I'm 34 and please,please,please if your overweight fasting WILL help you unless you are one of the few whose bodies is unable to convert the fats and waste into energy.With that being said I was an active kid growing up, we lived on a dairy farm so there was PLENTY to keep us busy and almost all our food, including raw milk,which also gets an undeserved bad rap, came from the farm. My parents divorced and I lived with my mother and started to eat crap that was commercially produced which coincided with puberty, I started to gain weight like there was no tomorrow and by the time I was 15 I weighed 185lbs at 5'1".
I never considered food my friend, I would eat out of boredom and when I didn't eat I was told that it wasn't healthy for me to not eat, that it would waste away muscle, what a bunch of crap!Social brainwashing.. By the time I was in the 11th grade I had started to figure out certain foods had a serious effect on my weight so I cut out all the pasta, bread, fried food and the so called "healthy" school lunch and dropped to 150lbs or so, just in time for graduation.I kept it off until I became pregnant and jumped to 227lbs. I would lose the weight and gain it back, it was frustrating and I couldn't seem to stop it. About 2yrs ago I had a really bad and painful experience with my gynecologist, I will NEVER see another one again, EVER, it prompted me to seriously take my health into my own hands and I started reading everything I could on natural medicine and fasting so that is where I am today. Now, about the actual fasting, I found that it was very hard to let go of the habit of eating, I wasn't hungry it was just something to do, it was social and not eating was socially unacceptable.People have ALOT of misconceptions about fasting so do please be careful about who you tell,they can unwittingly sabatoge you.I had let old habits take over my life again and was at 167lbs, depressed and my body hurt, I prepared for my first 15 day fast by switching to a diet of all veggies and lots of water for 3wks prior to starting the fast, I experienced some very interesting things during that 3 wk time period, I actually felt like crap, my joints started to swell and then the swelling just went away about 4days after I started fasting.I had slowly been decreasing my food intake to make the fast easier, the desire for food is just about all gone by day 3, now everybody has a different experience with fasting, I didn't get massive headaches or body pain, here is what happened to me over the course of my fast... lost all desire for food, dizzy spells, feeling of being stoned(used to smoke pot),cold, overall shitty feeling at times, lots of energy on other days, sleeplessness or rather my sleep dropped to an average of 3-5hrs a night and I found that worked really well for me,you will be on an emotional roller coaster, felt lighter,did not really have a bowel movement after day 7, NO ENEMA'S your body can flush out toxins just fine,nausea, feeling of weakness would come and go but overall it wasn't that bad. Oh yeah, the nasty breath, yuck, try soaking about 2tbsp of clove in 8oz of water and let sit a couple days, use as you would mouth wash to freshen your breath and take care of tooth aches. The benefits I noticed: lost 28lbs, my skin was clear and I had a glow about me, the mental clarity was phenomenal, my eyesight improved(my eye dr can verify), my cavities started to disappear(dental records to prove it),my joints didn't hurt anymore and my depression was gone.I periodically fast throughout the year and once a year I do a 15day or longer fast. Right now I'm on day 3 of a 30day water only fast.We have become domesticated animals with all the same ailments and fed pills, shots and surgery to supposedly solve our health problems when the root cause of so many illness's is our food,the way it's grown,the way it's manufactured and the chemicals that permeate EVERYTHING we come in contact with.Humans were not designed to be fed every single day,fish,mammal or insect there is a real good chance that your not going to get a meal every day.Last time I checked humans are mammals and have been safely fasting without a doctor for thousands of years.Use a bit of common sense, if you feel that something is just not right then stop your fast, but you have to remember that depending on your lifestyle, you could experience some very nasty effects so be prepared.Good luck and fast safely.