Going for a 21 day water fast!!

First of all I would like to say thank you to all that have read and especially commented on my first post. I really appreciate the support! That's why I came here so thank you again!!!

Now on to the fasting!!!!! Well my wife, Sarah and I have decided to try a 21 day fast. As some may already know, Sarah and I both struggle with a food addiction to the wrong kinds of foods! Since 5/9/12 we have done our best to stick to RV, but we have had some slight slips. We've had some cooked vegan food which consisted of rice, beans, steamed veggies, salsa and corn chips and others. These foods are things we have used for transitioning from the S.A.D diet to the RV lifestyle. Well a few days ago we slipped bigger :( We fed our bad food addiction. We got a pizza and cheese bread. The next day I regretted it for sure, and I didn't feel the greatest either.

This is when I decided to just fast it off. I had made myself sick, I was constipated from all the cheese/grease and I believe wheat allergens. That next day all i had was water, over a whole gallon! The next day I continued with the water at the over a gallon a day, with the aid of 3 bananas spread out through the day. That brings us up to today 5/31(day 3 of water fast).

This morning Sarah and I decided to do a salt water flush (SWF). We read about this last night. We learned that drinking this, kinda fast, would help our body clean out our digestive system faster. Well it surely worked some so far! I have had 4 BM's since we had the drink 4 hours ago! I can see fat separating from the water in the toilet. We are sure that we have lots of build up mucus, animal fats, food residue, bacterias, gas, and probably a host of others.

Our goal for this adventure is to give our digestive system a break and to give it a chance to clean itself out from all the bad things we have accumulated over the years! We want this to kick start our new lifestyle! We need it to get the extra weight off and to re-habit ourselves to not go after the fast food/cooked food we are addicted to! While on this water fast we plan to keep bananas on hand just in case we have to have something. Bananas cant hurt right? Haha we all like them here! lol With us only having bananas during this it's going to further push us towards RV and at the end of the fast we plan to only eat that way!

Thank you for reading and for the support!

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Comment by Cody Bradley on June 2, 2012 at 12:00pm: Thanks for the comments :) And Sarah beat me to it but it is a great time for us to do this with us at home 80+% of the time.

I also wanted to add a few more things. We aren't doing completely water only. We have bananas on hand, I just pick some up a bit ago.

We have tried the juice fasts and failed at them. We have tried it multiple times. We would always make it up to 6 or 7 days in a row and one slip put us right back where we started almost, but more bags of food down!

I personally have done multiple time/multiple days of fasting. I know that I am a new guy here but, that doesn't mean that I am not educated in what I have been doing. Sarah and I have been working towards going raw since October. This fast was not just an over night decision for us.

I know that just jumping into doing this is harsh on the body. I know that and I have accepted that I am going to have some not so nice side effects. I know the detox feeling. I choose to do it this way because I know that I have already done lots of harsh things to my body already. I was 300+ for over 3 years! That's a lot of extra work I had to do and not even realize. I also worked at a construction company as a mechanic. It was in a way a relax kinda job but there still were strenuous tasks I had to do. I would sweat almost instantly whenever engaged in a task during winter time. And in the summer it was no surprise for me to be sweating just sitting still. I believe worst of all I was smoking about a pack of cigarettes a day! That is another bad habit I have broken. The last one I believe needs to go is my food habit! This is what I believe will work for me.

Today is day 4 and still doing well. Of course I don't feel the greatest in the world but I do feel decent. I don't have huge amounts of hunger, I have plenty of fresh filter water every day, at least 1+ Gallons.

We have tried to just switch to raw so many times and like Sarah said we have failed. We are out of control FOOD ADDICTS!!!That is a real thing and I guess, I didn't emphasize enough that we struggle HARDCORE!!

I wanted to do this. I am ready for this change in my life and I feel it is working well. I am seeing the results I wanted to see.

Thank you for your support :D

Comment by SarahLynn Bradley on June 1, 2012 at 10:19am: I just wanted to add that we are food addicts. So what is good for you is not going to be the same for us. No one really talks about food addicts. Only in recent studies has it been acceptable to even consider someone being utterly addicted to food.

This food addiction is all consuming. There is no such thing as moderation in our vocabulary HA HA HA. We have come really far to get where we are at. For others, they may not need to "reset their system" like we have to do.

I know that food addicts who go raw will succeed. And the other way around too. Sufferers of anorexia experience freedom from their demon with 8/1/1. Unfortunately we do not have the power to do that. So in our hearts we both feel (again for OUR bodies) that a extended fast is needed. And we have welcomed it. Fasting will help us in the sense that we will have to go with out food and live on our reserves. Which we both have plenty of.

Here is just a few reasons we find this will help us:

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* Fasting is exceptionally beneficial in chronic cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure, reducing triglycerides, atheromas, total cholesterol, and increasing HDL levels.

* Fasting has been found effective in the treatment of type II diabetes, often reversing the condition permanently.

* Because of its long term effects on metabolism, fat stores in the body, leptin, and disease conditions associated with obesity, fasting has been found to be one of the most effective treatments for obesity.

* A number of studies have found that fasting is beneficial in epilepsy, reducing the length, number, and severity of seizures. Fasting is especially effective for helping alleviate or cure childhood epilepsy.

* In a 1988 trial of 88 people with acute pancreatitis, fasting was found better than any other medical intervention. Neither nasogastric suction or cimetidine were found to produce as beneficial effects as those from fasting. Symptoms were relieved irrespective of the etiology of the disease.

* A number of studies have found that fasting is effective for treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Fasting induces significant antiinflammatory actions in the body and researchers found decreased ESR, arthralgia, pain, stiffness, and need for medication.

* Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rosacea, chronic urticaria, and acute glomerulonephritis have all responded well to fasting.

* Severe toxic contamination has been shown to be significantly helped with fasting. Clinical trials have found that people poisoned with PCB experienced "dramatic" relief after 7-10 day fasts.

* Poor immune function improves during fasting. Studies have found that
there is increased macrophage activity, increased cell-mediated immunity,
decreased complement factors, decreased antigen-antibody complexes, increased immunoglobulin levels, increased neutrophil bactericidal activity, depressed lymphocyte blastogenesis, heightened monocyte killing and bactericidal function, and enhanced natural killer cell activity.

* Other diseases that have responded to fasting are: psychosomatic disease, neurogenic bladder, psoriasis, eczema, thrombophlebitis, varicose ulcers, fibromyalgia, neurocirculatory disease, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, bronchial asthma, lumbago, depression, neurosis, schizophrenia, duodenal ulcers, uterine fibroids, intestinal parasites, gout, allergies, hay fever, hives, multiple sclerosis, and insomnia.

* The historically lengthy claim that fasting increases life span is beginning to garner some support in research literature. Regularly repeated 4-day fasting has been found to increase the life span in normal and immunocompromised mice.

* Although the use of fasting in the treatment of cancer is controversial, there is some emerging data SHOWING that fasting helps prevent cancer. Intermittent fasting (2 days weekly) has shown an inhibitory effect on the development of liver cancer in rats.

People Who Should Not Fast
Although most people can fast, there are a few who, because of special
conditions, should not.

* People who are extremely emaciated or in a state of starvation
* Those who are anorexic or bulemic
* Pregnant, diabetic women
* Nursing mothers
* Those who have severe anemia
* Those with an extreme fear of fasting
* Those with porphyria. Porphyria refers to a genetic metabolic defect that affects the body's ability to manage porphyrins. Porphyrins are a group of compounds that combine with iron to produce blood, are involved in the control of electron transport systems, and, within mitochondria, are intricately involved in the production, accumulation, and utilization of energy. Porphyria can cause malfunctions in the liver, bone marrow, and red blood cells and produces a wide range of symptoms including seizures.
* People with a rare, genetic, fatty acid deficiency which prevents THE INITIATION OF KETOSIS. This is a deficiency involving the enzyme acetyl-CoA, a mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation enzyme, that is essential to ketosis. Those with this deficiency who do fast can experience severe side effects, including hepatic steatosis, myocardial lipid accumulation, and severe hypoglycemia.

I really appreciate the concern. We appreciate support more. It's already hard enough to consider ourselves still hooked on our "drugs" There is no control in an addict. Although we have both lost 100 lbs each, it is still a living struggle.

When we are raw, we will eat good for a few days, then we start craving bad food. So what we do is eat nuts. The nuts are now not enough because we have had the fat. Now it goes from that to cooked foods and if we want to binge we go out side the lifestyle and eat out. It's disgusting and we keep cycling like this. I know more fruit will be helpful. But Cody and I both feel like there are just way too many years of build up gross-ness in our systems. YES it is hard on the body but it is the best way to detox. I haven't even felt hungry these past few days.

21 days to change a habit as well.

We do not need to be supervised. I do not believe that is necessary. We do not have any critical diseases. By that I mean diabetes, high bp, anemia, pregnancy etc... Both of us are out of work right now. So really there are no stresses and this really is the perfect time to do this. We can go and sleep whenever we want to. we are farther away from the city so we have cleaner air. Jobs were near down town ;(

I think it is important to be educated in both pros and cons and I promise I would never do this If I really thought it was detrimental.

We have already made it to day 3 I would say that is a feat in itself for us.

Many people do not understand addictions if they never experienced it themselves. It's hard.

I love my husband and I would never steer him wrong. I mean, I am the one who introduced him to 30 bananas!!! LOL

PEACE & PINEAPPLES YA'LL!!!!

Love you babe!

Comment by Iron Clad Ben on June 1, 2012 at 4:31am: WHOAH! Bro, hold on a sec. I know you are gung-ho and I don't want to poop on your parade but you can't just do a 21 day water fast with your wife out of nowhere.

1) Water fasts must be SUPERVISED. You must have someone checking on you several times a day to monitor your vitals and make sure you are doing OK.

2) You must EASE into things. You should be doing mostly or all raw foods for several months before jumping into a water fast.

3) Usually your first fast is shorter, 7-10 days and it still must be SUPERVISED.

4) Fasting is resting. You cannot be working at your job, looking after your kids, or doing much physical activity. You will spend most of your time in bed.

I know you are wanting to accelerate your healing. But I would recommend building the habits of the 811 lifestyle instead of trying to forsake food altogether. The benefits will come. You are not ready for a fast yet.