Friday, 27 July 2012

Dry Fasting

RUSSIA, wake up and lead this Earth to a better LIFE!
РОССИЯ! Проснись! и ведите эту Землю к непрерывному улучшению нашей Жизни на ней!

My practical experience in fasting generally is rather limited. Circumstances are such that it is not possible to conduct long fasts at the moment. However short ones are always a possibility. My theoretical knowledge of fasting, its effects, procedures - is somewhat better than the practice. So, here I go with practice.

Those who need to know more about the theory, should read more elsewhere.

I should mention that I am from Russia and can of course read and write in Russian, and in English, so the sources in Russian language are available to me as I find them in the internet.


The updates are at the bottom...

26 July 2012,
22:00 NZT - Right now I have decided to undergo a 24 hour dry fast (no food no water). May be longer. So it has begun.

27 July 2012,
08:00 NZT
The night sleep was not the best but alright, woke up in near perfect mood because of the decision to do the fast. Well, anyone who is aware of WHAT FASTING does with the body, mind, spirit - cannot be unexcited about going through this. I will not go in to the details as to what fasting is. There is a lot of info on the Internet.

So feeling light and springy. I should mention that It is about my third year on raw food, since 5 Jan 2009. There has been up and downs, mainly because of difficulties with coping with the habits of the past, 30 years have been eating a usual cooked food. Now 3 years on raw, mostly raw. So I am kinda persuaded that there is nothing better than  raw vegetarian unprocessed not-heat-treated food except of course being on liquids and after that not needing to eat at all.. I know it is possible, but I am far from that at this stage.

On raw food, many strange effects have been noticed. One of them is - I am unable freely to drink water.  I do not drink water at all, except when I am physically exercising or if I happen to have eaten some cooked food. Very strange. On raw food the water does not really go down the throat, that is - the throat is resisting it! as if the whole body resist it!!! if someone told me this, I would not have believed it! So, at this stage I say - water, as it is - is not required by the body, provided the raw food diet is maintained.
Within these 3 years I have, at most, drunk about 6-7 litres of water... may be a little more, may be little less... mostly because of eating at some stage cooked food or doing physical exercises.

13:00
Feeling a little need for liquids, I am guessing the sugar levels are already going down so getting low on "power"
Way more difficult, as I said above, is the surrounding (office) where people have NO clue what they do when they consume the cooked food. They are so far from that! I am not saying I am special. But I AM saying that one should NEVER lose inquisitive mind and KEEP GOING looking for the Truth, if you will. The current society does not stimulate this kind of mind. People need to work, not to think! Slaves. Even if one thinks he\she is free, that is an illusion, unfortunately.

So the mental-psyche element to this is highly important. One must know what is happening in the body during fasting (whether on water or without water).

16:30
Feeling slightly stronger need for liquid, little dry in the throat. As usual on fasts, some detoxification is taking place and short but strong headaches and pains in various parts of the body are getting more apparent. Will see how the evening goes. I noticed that evening is governed by a completely different type of forces\energies if compared with the daylight (early and late mornings, early and late afternoons) – AND BECAUSE of that, in my view, it is more difficult to maintain a strong state of mind.

For example it becomes VERY easy to succumb to a desire for pizza... sandwich or ANY cooked food.
Cooking has been in the tradition of people around the world for a very long time (I highlight the difference between a word “tradition” and word “nature”) that is simply hard to eliminate it within these 3 years of consuming cooked foods. Cooking in NOT in the nature of humans. Cooking is simply not natural. (Cooking I mean processing food in any way as opposed to eating it as it is). Well, if raw food is not tasty to someone (say - raw potato), that simply means one will not eat that particular thing.

If the raw food is not poisonous or irritating - it can be eaten. It is THAT simple!

I acknowledge that others might be a lot more adaptable but it proved to be rather hard in my case.
So, at least from this point, the night time is for sleeping only, and NOT for anything else. Daylight is the time to do things that help to develop us in the right way.

Daylight is the time to create babies:), not a night time. We want our babies be as strong as the SUN! Not as dull as the Moon!


19:40
Physically I am fine, as I was before. Do not want to drink too much, as I said I do not drink usual tap or filtered water (H2O). I take liquids in a MOST natural way - just the natural juice that comes with an apple or orange or anything (not squeezed). To some it may seem unbelievable, yet my co-workers see that very day. I do feel what people call “hunger”. It is in quotation marks because I have read somewhere, and I agree with what was written there, that the real hunger is what we are TAUGHT to think it is. Apparently there is a shrinking action that stomach (where food goes first after it is sent down) does and that shrinking feeling is taken as hunger. Food expands it again and that gives the body signal that it is full now. (some do not even get that signal so we can see them ROLLING on the streets, not walking).

I would eat an orange. With a GREAT pleasure. Or apples! Or watermelon! When one fasts, a bite of these seems so relieving the “suffering” of “hunger”!!!

I also had some ear-aches - left and right ones. Short aching appear throughout the body which is a testing stage I guess.

Interestingly I have been clearly noticing stark difference in my wellbeing when I consumed cooled food after being on raw food. Almost instant reaction in me is that I cannot stand on my right o left leg. Apparently the nervus ischiadicus is not happy with the cooked food (cold be something else in there – one thing is clear – it causes a great discomfort). It is an important nerve that let me know by a very strong pain-impulses that it is not OK to eat any cooked food. This is a fact – that the cause of that is the processed food I take. I have made countless experiments when ”fell of the cross” in to the past habits of cooked food and then returned to the raw. Amazing difference!

It will soon be 24 hours of my first day of first time DRY FAST. I have done water fast in the past, short ones, 1-2 days. Was hard. Here I must mention the addictive effect (as if it is an illicit drug) of any food, particularly cooked one. Withdrawing from food consumption is manifested in almost exactly the same way as if one withdraws from taking drugs (I have not taken drugs, but I have read about the symptoms and feelings of those who have and tried to quit them). It is another big topic of discussion as this withdrawal might lead to a life without food – called inedia. May be some time in the future…

Want to eat... there is a fresh smell of orange in my room... rather hard. I suspect hat Ideal place for a fast would be where there is NOTHING at all to drink and eat where one just have to live for, say, 5 days without food or drink.

Tricky mind tries to find reasons for breaking the fast. IT come up with excuses like a machine gun. The same happens on raw food all the time. One's will, firmness, determination, knowledge and faith in what one does ARE PARAMOUNT.

28 July 2012,
00:50 NZT
It has been about 27 hours I last took water and food. I have has some good sleep for about 6-7 hours, just woke up. Feeling a little "old" toothache. General condition is kinda perfect, I like it! Why? because i do not really want to have liquids! Strange. But I want to eat. Not too much, but still. when I look at the fresh apples and oranges here, hard to resist, but when I do not look at them and do not think of food - fine.
I notice this fast is a lot easier to endure\sustain. There is not that wild need to eat! I have read of this difference between fast on water and dry fast, and I can now see that it is true.

03:00 NZT
Not a great need for sleep, but will go to bed. Feeling a bit dry in throat. Physical conditions remain unaltered, that is I feel as if I could do the same as before the start of this fast. 

09:00 NZT
The sleep was ok, was waking up a bit. at the moment feeling just a bit disoriented. my family member told me that I have an disgusting smell from the mouth, even if I clean. Characteristic white substance appears on the tongue. Heart beat is a little unstable. It used to be unstable on cooked food and whenever I eat cooked food from starting raw food. And it is doing the same now, speeds up and returns to normal.
Raw foodists do not have usual body temperature compared to those on usual cooked food. "rawfood"  eater's body temperature is normally about 35.0-35.4 degrees Celsius. That is what I had for the last three years. IT used to be 36.6 when I was on cooked food. My temp at the moment is 34.8. Weight is bout 73.7kg with light clothing - so should be about 73.0kg. I remember that it was about 75kg or more about a week ago. I have not registered it before the start of fast so can only guess that I am loosing fat (I do not have much of it my height being about 170cm), within these two days - about 1-2 kg? may be. I am not concerned about that because I know how to lose it and how to gain it. But important is when the body gets rid of excess fat - the body becomes more efficient. Some fat is a must. And only the body or RAW FOOD can clearly determine how much of it is ok, not any kind of a doctor, they really know very little. I should mentioned that entire medicine is for those who are on cooked food. it does not make account of a MORE NORMAL state of the body which is on raw food. So if one on raw food make the tests, of course they will be out of "normal" because that "normal" is normal for the cooked food eater. It is obvious. Would be good if so called doctors acknowledged this fact and realized that the difference is simply more efficiency, not a digress from their view of a “norm” taught in schools. One with gain of some knowledge in the universities should not lose the vital ability to thing for himself. Science would be different if the quantum of free-thinker in medicine and any other field was a lot higher.

Feeling a bit of tiny “shaking” (for a lack of a more proper word I can find) in the hands and legs. I think this is normal in the process of fast. Obviously the body strength is getting weaker. This is a known effect.


18:00 NZT
I am still alive! My fast continues! I am not 72.2 kg. I have just done 3-4 pushups to check the physical strength, and I have not felt any difference from before the fast. I have read somewhere that in water fast the rate of loss of muscles and the fat tissues is about the same where as on dry fast it is complete opposite and the higher rate is on the fat tissue. Well personally I can say I feel the difference from the water fast I did.

Interestingly I do not feel strong hunger. At times I might, but is is very easy for me to redirect the attention. The level of hunger feeling I could assess as very mild! I thought it would be rather strong. So the scientific data I have been reading is being proved on my personal experience. I am glad about that.

Today I bought 19kg of oranges. The color, the smell is just amazing and I can FEEL how juicy they are! But I do not have or have extremely little saliva being issued in the mouth, also strange. On water fast I just could not hold it!!!  It would come at ANY view of raw food! I can now see the big difference, and advantage of dry fasting. They say (scientists) that the changes that take place in the body on dry fast are equal to 2-3 times of water fast. 1 day dry fasting = 2-3 days water fasting. I am also very happy about that, as it is a lot easier to “suffer” 10 days than 30 days.
So I am becoming very fond of dry fasting. If I were to spend this time on fast AWAY from my usual environment of home and office, It would even be a lot more easier I suspect.

I should mention that I have been carrying some heavy rubbish bags, about 20-25 kg on one hand – picking up two and carrying them up the stair to about next floor and then another 3-50 meters (have been doing some tidying up before our move). I did not feel any difference between now and from before the fast. Was a bit dizzy may be, but it was alright, really. I did not think it would be. But it was.

Sometimes a bit of light headache, some pain ping to my nerved on legs I mentioned above, even now I feel it is “ringing”, but overall condition at this stage is very satisfactory. Spirit lever is high. I think I might go on for the third day. Will see.
Sorry, I also should mention that I peed about 4 times, so water is produced in the body from the fat. I went to toilet too – 3 times, but this was within 24 hours of the beginning of the fast.


29 July 2012
05:00 NZT
Woke up at about 4:50 am, could not sleep properly, was psychological unease. That is – my physical condition is almost the same – very strange, but in the head – because it is GENERALLY UNUSUSAL for a human not to take liquids – I am in a discomfort which manifest in worrying in general.

Strange type of hunger I feel. Coupled with the mental discomfort described above it was difficult not to run and eat those oranges! But woke up, and the feeling eased a little. So I feel better now.

I have been using the word “feel” a lot in here. Apparently it is highly important how the one who does the dry fasting feels. On that It really depends how he-she will complete the fast. So ATTITUDES are OF GREAT IMPORTANNCE.

My weight is 71.3. When I woke up, went to pee, strangely I still do that. Although no water is consumed. Was 71.5 and became 71.3. So from the day before – before I went to bed the difference is about 500 grams, which is as the sources describe.

I do not feel any pains, aches of the like. I could do the push ups….  In fact have just done 4 push ups very easily, without ANY effort, as if I am not on fast. I note that that would have been a difficulty if I were on water fast – assumption, I was not trying push ups on water fast.



12:14 NZT

some further updates and thoughts along the way.  
Have just returned from the beach, I have been running there with the kids, perfectly fine – all in all has about one km light run. Honestly. I just does not feel that I am fasting. This is my first dry fast, and supposed to be one day. This is my third one.

Had to pee couple of times, good evidence of water being produced by the body, apparently from the deposited body fat. Have also carried a whole bucket of sand to my car (about 16-20 kg). Not probs. I really wanted to stop bypassers and ask whether I look like a person who have not had anything to eat or drink within the last 2.5 days.

As I have written earlier, I has a bit of problems sleeping. When I went to bed, could not have a decent sleep. One of the reasons may be that on DRY fasting does not require loss of resource that are required during the digestion, so accordingly the amount of sleep required is reduced. May be.

Has a bit of unpleasant pressure in my eye-balls. May be because I was reading the evening before in the dark room from my mobile phone (about DRY FASTING!) or may be because of sleep deprivation, or may be because of processes that take place inside or may be… ? 

So far overall – very positive experiences from Dry Fasting. Couple of times I got irritated at some matters around. That is rather easily irritated. Reason may be because I am out of my comfort zone doing dry-fasting. I am aware that generally on fasts there is not only body that is undergoing certain deep processes but also the mind-spirit side is also under pressure, in this case (of mine) under more severe pressure than the body as I can judge. The very fact of someone being able to live (with a good degree of comfort) without food and water – is a shift is paradigm, in the worldview.
Interestingly, I have told that I am fasting to my cousin-sister who has completed Russian medical university, she was terrified!!! I told her that there is no need for worrying as I feel great (and that is true, of course taking in to account the circumstances). She said she would never do that, that she and hunger are not going to ever meet. She was against these practices. Well… I told her that qualified physicians in Russia (whose works I am reading at the moment) who have had 20-30-40 years of experience doing water and dry fasts highly recommend them as THE MOST powerful tools to get read of most of the diseases, provided that disease has not gone far enough – beyond the point of return. That is if parents are wise enough and have some experience doing fasts, and they teach their children, their children would be as healthy as babies even at 50!!! Provided they were on raw food – of course. That is my firm view.