Onwards & Upwards - Days 6 to 9 of my Fast

Day 6 – 9

Right now I am on day 9 of this spring detox and it has been quite interesting to say the least. For starters, we broke our fast on day 6 for a few hours and ate garlic, some fermented veggies and thick smoothies with fruit. 

I am still very focused on getting all those lovely probiotics into my system – with nothing at all to slow them down! Actually, I am finding this quite easy for the most part and every system in my body is thanking me for the effort.

The next day, after our little interlude of different types of fermented foods, we carried on with liquid only fasting and have been back taking in herbal teas, fermented drinks, apple cider vinegar and beet root fermented juices again. 

Of course fasting gets easier each time I do it, but only because I get smarter about it! These fermented drinks are like liquid gold – tasty, filling and doing the job as far as gut health is concerned. Far easier then the lemon and maple syrup mixture of years ago and with faster results (but, that was a different stage of healing as well).

However, I was a bit concerned that it would be difficult to stop and start fasting again; just like that – taking a few hours out to get more solid sources of fermented foods in to me …but I found, it was just the opposite. The fermented veggies and garlic blended in nicely with our goals to flood our systems with probiotics – so it was an easy transition back to liquids.

So, you remember how I mentioned over this past few months we have been fasting in so many different ways? Well, perhaps we are now forging ahead with yet another type of fast – a few days on liquids, then a few hours on solids, the liquids again – all of it including probiotic and fermented foods, BUT, also the substrates needed to grow the beneficial bacteria once they are in our systems.

Now, as for the detox process itself….

Even with the few hours in-between we are still having all the usual detox symptoms and feeling very productive and energetic as a bonus. Usually my detox symptoms range from a headache, coated tongue, tiredness which comes and goes, bursts of energy, old memories surfacing and a need to clean (everything!) LOL.

Did I mention the clear skin, bright eyes and being able to smell, taste and sense the forces of nature....hmmm sounds like a new puppy! 

Right now I am not sure how long I will keep going, it’s just nice to feel cleaned out – we are still taking this one day at a time.

April

Wild Harvest Cordial - even my cordials are medicinal.... This one is Elderberry & Elderflower - an immune boost from nature! On my stand this week in Clonakilty & Skibbereen Farmers Markets

What if everything you have been told about your body is WRONG?

What if……we were able to take a few things we ‘think’ we know about our bodies, our health and living on this planet in general and look at them a little differently?

For, instance, are we really meant to age? What if we are, but not in an accelerated falling apart, memory losing, decline that we currently face…. With most of humanity sliding into home base barely holding it all together after 70 or 80 short years? 

To age might mean something altogether different if we were living in a healthy chemical free, non-gmo body.

Maybe, our bodies are perfectly designed to seal, heal and repair quickly and efficiently. So why don’t they? Just where does this leaky gut, allergy syndrome, inflammation, chronic pain, wear and tear damage come from and why doesn’t it ‘heal’?

What is the hold up inside of our bodies and why does life take us from energetic youth into breakdown mode so quickly…..what if it’s just not supposed to be this way? 

Perhaps, we are here for a long time as well as a ‘feel’ good time. Shouldn’t we feel good, maybe great, enjoy wellness – bordering on fabulous, at least some of the time….ahhh, yes, but we must be healthy first. 

Then, just like nature outside of us, it is also in us. Therefore, our bodies are self cleaning, self regulating and perfect ecosystems of balanced life – always striving to maintain and find that inner homeostasis.

We should crave balance….

What if only water, real food (as opposed to rubbish…), herbs, fresh air and nature – is the cure for all that ails us? Using anything else just shunts the symptoms around, buries us in toxins and interferes with the healing process.

Just saying….

April

Getting On With Living….

Today I am fasting again….however, it was nice to eat loads (read way too much!) over the Christmas holidays and equally nice to be experimenting, cooking and tasting the rich seasonal foods on offer. Life really does revolve around food and eating in this house!

But, that's all behind us now, so, getting back to today. I felt is was time to get this month started for me on yet another footing (self care is paramount) and I am doing a bit of a fast. At the moment, I am not sure how long I will fast this time around. Perhaps a week or two – or maybe longer, I like to take these things one day at a time whenever I can.

Already today I had my first little detox challenge…..I started feeling achy and sinusy as if I was coming down with a cold (like the one the kids had 2 weeks ago!). And my first thought was to just go back to bed….but alas, that isn’t really an option.

I just followed my instincts (or a very strong intuition in my case) and mixed up some of my Apple Cider Vinegar into my fermented Rebel Juice and sipped on that for the rest of the morning. By the time I realized I was feeling back to myself, the juice was gone and I had been busy with all my chores around the place.

It works so quickly!

And now here I am with quite a few things done including 2 mini workouts and still marveling that I am feeling much better – and glad I never went back to bed. The moral of the story here seems to be – to never underestimate the healing power of your body when given the right ingredients.

In this case it was my own apple cider vinegar and fermented beetroot juice – it packs a powerful anti-oxidant punch as well as provides nourishing probiotics for the gut. Because our immune system is gut mediated (if your tummy isn’t working, your immune system is compromised) all we need to do is boost ourselves from the inside with beneficial organisms….

Then they do the work for us. 

When I think back to how I used to treat myself when I felt low, poorly or even completely under the weather – well, needless to say, it was a world apart from where I am today. I would often just ignore symptoms or worse, just push them down with a pain reliever and carry on.

If I have learned anything about health, healing and detox over these many years living this close to nature and in tune with my body, it’s this; when you are gentle with your body and provide natural, equally gentle means of healing, you only have to walk down this road once. 

Pushing something down or aside, simply means it will pop back up to be dealt with on another day and perhaps be far worse then what you started with.  Best to face up to whateveritis that’s around us on the day and provide our body with what it needs (nutrients, herbs, probiotics, exercise, quiet time, laughter, detox) to move forward – then we can get on with living our lives. 

And that’s what we are doing here, right?

April

Fasting & Detox - Mirror Image of the Soul

Day 8

Here I am on day 8 of the second phase of this fast on probiotic juice (Rebel Juice) and I am flying through it. For me the key really is to be busy and that is not a problem in my life. If anything I never have enough time to get all that I want to do, done!

How am I doing so far and is there anything that is different this time around….well, last time I only did 2 weeks on the juice and I felt as if I made huge inroads as far as ‘personal’ stuff was concerned, even though it was easier it was still a detox.

These past few days, I jumped back into the fasting so quickly I have all the usual detox symptoms but am still not tired or as cold as I would have been other times. I put that down to the probiotic juice I am drinking too. 

What I mean by the personal stuff, is this fast has all been about how I view myself, my own self -image, thoughts and feelings about myself. Of course, that also means all those thoughts, ideas, opinions from others who have been a part of my life with specific ideas about who I am or should be – well, all of this has to move sometime too, doesn’t it?

LOL.

So, this time around, the fast is taking me more deeply into this self-image, self perception space – actually, I feel like I am going into my very soul. This is the deepest ocean water I have ever encountered and right now I feel as if part of it might even be totally uncharted because I never know what I will find here.

Yet, I know there is this funny feeling of vague familiarity – I have been here before, but so long ago it has been nearly wiped from my memory. Perhaps for many of us, our souls are a bit like that – hugely vast expanses of space, just waiting to be explored.

I have a sense of knowing that this is the place where I will find all that I am looking for….myself - my mirror image of my soul. 

What you are seeking, is already here.

April

Barley Cove Beach, West Cork

I. AM.FASTING. Day 7….. #amfasting

Did you know that there are studies out there stating how people who fast regularly have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower blood sugars and generally weigh less – of course all with better health?

Today is day 7 of my 'before Christmas detox' – we do this every year, so for those of you who know me and have followed along over these past few years, yes we are still detoxing, fasting and moving steadily forward towards greater and better health.

This fast, this time around is a little different however, because even though we are only taking in liquids – that liquid has changed. Usually in previous years – and throughout the year with the many fasts/detoxes/cleanses we have done, we would do a variation of the lemonade detox.

However, this past week we have been drinking only Rebel Juice (my own probiotic juice drink) and some Butterfly juice (nettle, dandelion, apple, ginger = rocket fuel) left over from the market that I do each week. And so far, things are proceeding much along the same lines with a couple of major differences, we have been noting.

First of all, Rebel Juice is a form of kvass or a fermented probiotic drink made from fruit, vegetables, whey and water or from rye bread, sourdough starter, honey and raisins. Now you know me….I took those basics and added, tweaked and changed them to make my own formulation into something, well magic! At the moment we have 4 different kinds to choose from Fruit, Honey Lemon, Lime & Apple Mint and Beetroot blend. 

So, we are enjoying our Rebel Juice each day along with herbal teas, water as well as doing salt water flushes and skin and hair detoxes with my own Rebel Foods products – sea salt hair detox and so forth.

One of the big differences we have noticed with taking in these fabulous living drinks, is in the fact that we are not cold. Any other time we have done a fast, even for one or two days, we find that we are chilly. Digesting food produces body heat, obviously!

Well, this time around, with a constant supply of probiotic drinks, full of goat’s yogurt whey lactobacillus, wild yeast, beneficial bacterial cultures and so forth – our digestion is quiet, but the heat is still on in our bodies. Which is a bonus for this time of the year!

Then, remember how I used to always have a headache/aches/pains adjustment period for the first 2 or 3 days of any fast even though I haven’t drank coffee or tea in over a decade? Well, that didn’t happen either with the Rebel Juice.

And, lastly, we are far more creative. I feel as if I just want to make things, paint, write, draw, ideas, thoughts and so forth are streaming out. So, I am doing just that. I am making lots of products for my market stall, baking Christmas puddings and cakes and anything else I can find to do. 

It’s all good so far. 

April

Jugs of Rebel Juice (Kvass) for our detox - yumm! 

Fasting - An Adventure in Spirituality

Today is day 3 of my little fast....I have only been fasting off and on for the past few weeks and felt I needed to dig a little deeper this week. So...here I am, on day 3 already and feeling pretty good so far. Of course the 'worst' is now behind me in terms of the adjustment phase!

And as usual, I am busy wandering around tidying up, sorting out, cleaning and clearing - the usual things to be doing during any cleanse. And it feels great to be back in the swing of things as well...each time I do this I re-gain space...

By this I mean - our old diets and lifestyle of processed foods, medication, stressed out working days and all the ways we abused ourselves...pushed us out of important places (aren't they all important!) within our bodies.

Fasting...detox....cleansing -- is all about retaking that spiritual space (mitochondrial DNA). And what an adventure it is!

So, today is day 3 of taking back some of the deepest space I have ever found myself exploring inside of my own body. I am always amazed and thrilled each time I do this...there is so much to discover about myself and what we as human beings are capable of.

Right now - I feel as if I have walked through a new door, this one is not like anything I have ever encountered in this lifetime. But I know it's a place I have always dreamed of....

If you haven't started a fast (cleanse, detox, Master Cleanse) yet....you have no idea what you are missing - it's all there inside, it has always been there and it's all yours.

April

Benefits of Fasting - Some Thoughts

Today is a fast day and I feel great - actually it is always a better day then an eating day - when I happen to be busy with projects and stuff because I find I can think more clearly as well as focus on the tasks at hand.

I thought to write about fasting a little bit more - I talk about this extensively in my book The Pagan Diet - but here are a few of my thoughts on the subject.

Fasting for me has come to mean clarity - I gain distance from circumstances taking place in my life and get to have a bit of a breather. Not that I stop doing anything or hold back on my fast days - quite the opposite in fact.

My fast days are busier, more concentrated and full on. I carry on with all my normal activities and throw in a few more for good measure. Usually I have loads of energy and a little plan in place covering some of the things I want to get done.

Having enough energy is not a problem at all - I have found that because I am not digesting food, but allowing my system to rest and have a little clear out, any energy that would have been used to digestion is now diverted to other things.

I stop eating early enough the day before so as not to be stuffed full on my fast day. This is an important part of fasting for me. I have never liked to feel 'over stuffed' with food and love it when my system is clean and clear. This can happen with a few hours of fasting, sipping clean water and some exercise.

Many people comment on how when they go without food for even a few hours they feel dizzy or light headed - yeah, that used to be my complaint as well. It didn't last long because I found first of all it was a mind thing (seriously) and secondly, blood sugar imbalance is a symptom of something other then an empty stomach. 

Think about it - never before in our history have we ever had access to so much food, all the time. And then we are expected to eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. No wonder we have blood sugar issues! By the way, this balances out very quickly after a couple of times fasting. 

Your body is designed to withstand fasting - of course it is. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise. Humanity has a huge history associated with fasting. 

Which brings me to the next point - I am a Nutritionist, I have been working with food for years, and following detoxes, cleanses and whatnot. Never before have I had so much success or satisfaction from anything diet related.

Fasting gave me back my control, my sanity and my body - and not just in the outer world. I am talking about inwardly - balance in hormones, weight, digestion and body function. Nothing else has ever done that for me, no supplement, no food, no diet and no amount of positive thinking.

However, taken all together - exercise, clean water, organic whole foods, fasting and a healthy lifestyle - you can have it all!

Have a healthy day,

April

The Pagan Diet Cover 

7 Days Into This Now

So, here we are at day 7 of this 10 day Master Cleanse and things are moving along as they usually do for me when I cleanse. I will say that this time around, perhaps with it being summer and wanting to eat fresh berries and salad leaves from my garden, this has been a little harder than usual!

However, not so difficult that I would stop for any reason - I have learned over these years that I am an all or nothing type of person, I jump in with both feet or not at all. I do gain such a sense of satisfaction with seeing things through to the end - a few years ago, I would have given up far more easily.

For some reason yesterday I was thinking quite a bit about my 40 Day Master Cleanse last year - remembering how I was feeling, especially at the end. In my book The Pagan Diet©, I mention how the main thing that I learned from that experience was spiritual discipline.

Of course, fasting and nutrition of any kind is all about discipline - which for me does not have the negative connotations that it used to have. Discipline has come to be a welcome companion in my life --- and indeed another word for what I feel I am learning is self-mastery.

Fasting has taught me a few things over the years - that it works as a healer, because your body comes back into balance and alignment in a very gentle way. But, on other levels, self-mastery and self-control are vital aspects of walking a spiritual path.

Over the years, I have witnessed many people losing hope, giving up on this journey, getting frustrated with the time it was taking, the degree of difficulty and the deep emotions that they have had to deal with. It is during these times when discipline towards your spiritual practice and self-restraint might come into play.

It is always darkest before the dawn, and I am certain that fasting, Master Cleanses, diet changes, exercise, and all manner of things that are worthwhile - each have this element to them. While I would label fasting as an easy way to lose weight and keep it off - doing this consistently with single minded purpose takes courage, commitment, confidence and concentration (4C's).

Today I am feeling well, my energy levels are good, the sun is shining and I have a slight sense of anticipation. Perhaps something wonderful is on its way here. Or maybe, the wonderful is already here ready to come to the ground like a hot air balloon.

Looking up for my balloon! Have a lovely day everyone,

April 

Coastal area - West Cork, Ireland