So your all probably wondering what the fuck I was thinking.
No food for 24hours, and only water as liquid – no tea, no coffee.
But desperate times call for desperate measures.
Lets take it back to last Tuesday in the lead up that caused me to fast for 24 hours….
Tuesday night my Bowel Disease (Ulcerative Colitis) – which has been in somewhat of a remission – decided to flare up again.
This left me with intense stomach craps that feel like someone is grabbing my insides so tight and twisting it around – my stomach is so sore to push on, there is also an often need for a toilet, blood, and extreme fatigue.
It is crazy people suffer with this in silence because they are too embarrassed to talk about it. Looking at a person you wouldn’t even know the toll this takes on their body but also their mind. If you were with me you wouldn’t of know that I was going through all of this.
From Tuesday it got progressively worse – resulting in me testing the beautiful service station toilets driving home on Sunday from our weekend away in Portarlington.
It gave me emotional flashbacks about how sick I was, even writing this makes me tear up. I just couldn’t handle being the mentally, emotionally and physically drained version of myself that I was. It really did scare me – “I can’t go through it all again” I thought to myself.
So Saturday night I took action.
I remember reading a few articles about fasting (not eating for prolonged periods of time.) and how it can help improve UC. UC is when your intestines are inflamed and have lots of ulcers. When you continually eat your body is constantly trying to breakdown foods and process them through the intestines – meaning your digestive system doesn’t get a break and the ulcers don’t get a chance to heal. Fasting for a prolonged amount of time gives your digestive system a chance to break and for my case a chance to heal.
And at the point I was willing to try ANYTHING.
I had my last meal 7pm on Saturday night and would not eat until Sunday night 7pm.
I woke up Sunday morning with the instant urge to go to the toilet after already going 3-4 times during the night – thinking to myself in a negative way that this is bullshit I should just eat.
Then thinking logically it is last nights dinner being processed through and to stay strong and push through.
Again toilet stops on the way home in the glamorous petrol station toilets really hit my ego. I’m feeling at rock bottom – I’m back to this uncontrollable point again.
Determined I refused to throw in the towel – I would make it until dinner and then if I didn’t work at least I could say I tried.
12pm – It got to lunch and I realised the intense pain had settled.
This was a small win.
1pm – I was pretty tried from the restless night before hand and had a nap on the couch for an hour – still not hungry.
2pm – It was a beautiful day so I worked up the courage to go outside and go for a walk.
The sun made me feel really bloody good – as did the fact I got through the walk without shitting myself. (whoooo)
That is 18 hours without food.
5pm – I started to feel really weird, not hungry just a bit light headed and delusional – to the point where I almost threw up twice – BUT we had just had our floors re-stained so this could have been a combo of not eating and fumes. I also had a massive headache again could be the floors.
But no toilet trips or cramps.
We are 22 hours without food now….
6pm (23 hours without food) I was ready to eat – I admit I actually wasn’t hungry but all signs were telling me to eat – I was very light headed and very indecisive.
To I wanted to break my fast with a simple dinner – I opted for chicken breast with no seasoning or sauces, roasted white spud and steamed broc. A very simple but a very nutritious meal that was more then likely not to mess with my stomach. By the time Matt cooked this for me (yes he is amazing!) it was 7pm…
I had made it 24 hours fasting….
24 hours without food only water.
And man it felt good to eat again – everything tasted so delicious!!
After dinner – I was cramping slightly – nothing too bad and there was not toilet trips….
Being wrecked from the night before and from UC in general I fell asleep on the couch and put myself to bed at I don’t even know what time it was!
Monday I slowly introduced foods back in – I did this by fasting until 12pm (7pm-12pm no food 17 hours) and only having Lunch and Dinner – plus cutting any crap out that I might have been consuming.
It is now Tuesday and although my toilet trips are still there they have dramatically dropped and I have no more stomach cramping – this is a HUGE win for me! My energy is also up – to a point where Monday night I could sleep I was just thinking, brain storming creating and on fire…. Though annoying I still woke up with a lot of energy, which I did not have at all last week.
I’m going to continue fasting for various times on various days depending on when I’m training and what my body is telling me.
It is funny how making a few small tweaks to your diet and/or routine can dramatically affect your life in either a positive or negative way.
So I want to leave you with this – are some tweaks you need to start incorporating to feel more energized, to feel vibrant, to feel like sunlight, to feel refreshed and to feel like your true self rather then the shadow of yourself you may be living without realising?
It may be going for a daily walk to get some sun and recover, or maybe start meditating to de-clutter your crazy brain and to help you focus or perhaps introduce an energizing breakfast to have you fuelled for the day rather then foggy brained and tired all day….
These things may seem difficult to add to your routine now but like with my fasting once you inherit the benefits it is all worth it.
Notice when you are not feeling 100% and change.
Stay Strong & Stretch,
Tel X
talkingwithtel 