Yes, it has been an interesting past few days. It started on a very good note from Saturday night, when Erika finally made it back to Erfurt, at 4am, and sick with a cold. So Sunday was spent resting and recovering, but at least she is finished with test taking! We had homemade chicken wings for dinner, which was awesome. We needed a really tasty meal on Sunday because we began fasting on Monday. The plan is to go 5 days without food, and one day on either end of the fast with light fruits and vegetables to get the body accustomed to the changes. We had been planning to do this for awhile now, but haven't really had a good time to do it, finally we both have enough free time to do it. And don't worry Mom and Dad, I've done some research and fasting shouldn't have any negative side effects for Crohn's. Many people actually say that it helped them, according to the interwebs. So this week I'm going to be talking more about that on my blog here, to record some of the things I'm feeling.
The idea to do this actually came from a This American Life episode I listened to during one of my late nights at the hotel last summer. David Rakoff was the test subject and he did a 14 fast with 3 days on each side to adjust. His goal was to reach some kind of spiritual enlightenment, like Gandhi or Buddha or Jesus and in the end he didn't quite find what he was looking for. Here is the link to the TAL episode, it was a pretty good episode I think. But basically he achieved a better appreciation for his body and for food. Erika and I are trying to achieve a similar end, it's more about testing yourself, and learning about yourself, and also a bit of spring cleaning, to see how well detoxification actually works, as I'm very skeptical about detox "treatments" myself. It's not about losing weight, because fasting is not the best way to lose weight. Proper diet and exercise are the best ways. But we do also hope that at the end of this we will reset our eating habits as a way to improve our diet overall. After a fast, we hope to have a better appreciation for basic foods, fruits, and vegetables. But don't worry, I don't plan on giving up some of the best things in the food world, like steak. Or ribs. Damn I miss good barbecue.
So yesterday we started the fast, and I think it will prove to be the hardest day. Firstly because we drank some diarrhea inducing salt, I don't know what it's called, but that stuff is awful. I gagged and spit up more than I thought I would, and it definitely brought back too many bad memories from the hospital, where I had to drink a gallon of the shit. Yesterday I only had 500ml, roughly 1/8th a gallon. Thankfully that got over with in about 30 minutes, then I spent the better part of the day watching Netflix, waiting for my guts to release their poison. Definitely hungry, but not so bad. Also I could feel a headache growing.
Today started out much better, I was able to sleep very well through the night, and woke up a little woozy. It took me awhile to feel really comfortable in my skin again, felt a little nervous or shaky walking around, but overall my stomach today has cooperated much better than yesterday, the only problem is my headache. I didn't realize that running out of carbohydrates can really cause a big headache. But today I had the pleasure of giving myself and enema. For how gross it sounds, it's really not so bad, and it is pretty amazing what comes out of you at the end. Going to do it again tomorrow. Don't knock it til you try it, guys. It's kind of like diarrhea, but waaaay less smelly. And you really do feel much better afterwards.
So I've spent all day trying to write this, but distractions and dis-ease made it a slow process. I will update again tomorrow to describe how I'm feeling. Also, Erika and I have already picked out a bunch of new recipes we are going to try...
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