The second day of the post fast I consumed some fruit and then I had some brown rice porridge in the evening. Although my stomach was a little reluctant to digest in the morning, it perked up after a bit of banana. The following days I returned to my regular diet consisting of a medley of vegetables and fruits.
Reintroduction of Foods
I wanted to try eating some items to see their affects on my body. One of the first things I tried was a white bun while I was working at the Marketplace. I didn't have a chance to look at the ingredient list, but I suspected some sort of dairy was in the bun because my stomach soon started feeling displeased. It rumbled and I felt a little bloated. A little while later, I tried a small bite of brioche. Brioche is a rich bread filled with plenty of sugar, milk, eggs, and butter. Very soon after I started feeling pressure mid-torso and it persisted for an hour to two hours afterwards. As sad as it is (brioche is one of my favourite breads), I will have to try to avoid it in the future.
The next day I tried a slice of vegan whole wheat bread. Other than the slightest bloating (less than the white bread), I felt perfectly fine.
Vegan chocolate didn't seem to affect me adversely at all (major yay!).
Another morning I also ate a slice of tofu plain. No problems there. Phew!
I decided against drinking a glass of milk. From looking at the effect brioche had on me, I felt it wasn't necessary to subject myself to a full frontal dairy attack.
Weight
Half of my weight gradually came back. I suspect that was all water weight as I did still track my calories. The number of calories I ate could in no way cause me to gain weight as quickly as a pound a day, so at least 5 out of the 10 pounds I lost was water weight.
Other Noticables
A change I noticed is I am now having troubles sleeping. The first day off the fast, I felt fully rested and alert despite not sleeping well. I had gone to bed at midnight and then woke up at 5am. The following days, however, I had the same disrupted sleep schedule and have started feeling its toll.
I have also been finding it difficult to stay hydrated. I have been suffering from perpetual dry mouth this past week despite drinking upwards of 2 litres of water a day, much more than my pre-fast days.
My skin has continued to keep the smoothness I gained while on the water fast. Probably due to my increased water intake.
Eating Habits
I am still working this part out. My stomach will start growling, but I know that if I just wait, the feeling will go away. I have been yo-yo-ing between not eating enough and eating too much.
This yo-yo-ing has led me to realize that I feel best when my stomach is empty. It is like a feeling of peace and my digestion is simply content. This past weekend I attempted to eat three controlled meals a day. Talk about total crash and burn. In fact, I found that by eating breakfast, I ate more throughout the day! I used to believe the common belief that eating breakfast would help to curb food cravings later in the day, but it was the exact opposite for me. I felt hungrier and sluggish. I did gain one bit of insight through all those mouthfuls this past weekend - I realized I felt actual hunger at night. The "hunger pangs" earlier in the day were more mental cravings than anything else. If I resisted the initial pangs to eat breakfast (eating breakfast was something I trained myself to do years ago), I also gained mental resistance to cravings. It was a similar mental wall to when I was water fasting. I may suddenly think of chocolate and how tasty it could be, but I would have no urge to reach into my desk and pull out my stashed chocolate bar.
After Word
I googled around and found something called The Warrior Diet. It is a type of intermittent fasting where you "undereat" throughout the day and then "overeat" at the end of the day. This is based on an internal clock that was set by prehistoric human habits of hunting and gathering during the day for one large social meal at night. You can read more about the diet here. The basic overview is that during the day, you consume small amounts of fruit or vegetables, just enough to keep hunger at bay. Then in the evening, you have a large meal starting with salad and progressing to more complex cooked dishes.
Now, you're probably thinking I'm just going to jump from diet to diet, and you're right...somewhat. There is just one issue about that first sentence. I am not looking for a quick-fix diet, but a new eating style, a way of redefining my relationship with food such that I can be at peace and love it. The water fast was great for proving to myself that it is okay to be hungry and that I do have the willpower to fight my food addictions, but it is not sustainable. Water fasting is a way to clean the slate and start new. The most important part about water fasting is what you do after. Ideally, a post water fast should be filled with fresh whole foods and while I had that intention, I slipped up. I'll admit it. But that doesn't mean I get down and cozy with a huge batch of brownies. It simply means I am not being kind of myself. Trying to redo what didn't work for me before is bunk and it is time to step back, look at what patterns I have, and work with it.
For this next week, I plan to loosely follow the timing of the Warrior Diet in that I will generally wait until the evening to eat, but if I my stomach truly demands it, I will have a small snack to quell it. The timing fits very well into my schedule and it is actually quite nice not to have to spend time eating in the morning. My goal for this week is to see if this new eating style agrees with me.
I will be returning to the baking labs starting next week so I will be able to resume my pastry eye candy for you all! But before that, Halloween is tomorrow! Are you doing anything fun? I don't plan on going trick or treating but I definitely made sure to carve a pumpkin! This is Finn from the cartoon Adventure Time.
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| Happy Halloween! |
Interesting experiment with the reintroduction of food. Is the idea to see if your body is somehow incompatible with a particular set of ingredients with the assumption that having a "clean system" is sensible baseline? Given the number of digestive and metabolic changes that were running around during this time, I'm wonder if this baseline is actually misleading.
ReplyDeleteAbout the breakfast thing, I knew a friend from mexico that would do the invert. Apparently the culture there is to eat a *huge* breakfast, then effective skip lunch (you still ate something, but it'd be really small). Then at dinner, you'd eat something moderate sized and go to bed. I tried this for a while once, but couldn't stick with it. Breakfast is just something I'm used to (I never ate breakfast and often skipped lunch through most of middle and high school).
I understand what you're saying and there is still a lot left to understand about the human body. But I believe that after letting the body do its thing while you're fasting, it becomes more sensitive to what you have excluded from it. That said, my fast was rather short so the resulting effects of reintroducing some foods may have been skewed in some way. For longer fasts, however, after your body gets used to eating again and is functioning per usual, reintroducing foods you suspect may be troublemakers is a valid idea. A less extreme approach can be taken when trying to find food allergies - excluding foods and then reintroducing them slowly.
DeleteThe general consensus in North America follows a similar idea. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper." Due to the scheduling of my class right now, I eat like your friend in Mexico. :) Depending on who you want to believe, some are strong advocates of intermittent fasting, a practice of not eating for extended periods of time. Many do it for weight loss/fat loss reasons, but it also just fits nicely into busy schedules. Of course, the caveat is that the meals you do eat have to be that much more nutrient packed.
What are your habits now?