Fasting for Health and Healing (Series): Day 3

As you know I started the Lemonade Fast on June 18, 2007. This is my report for Day-3, June 20. I slept very well the night before. The day started off quite well. I had no headaches or any body pains as I did on Day-2. I had a total of 8 glasses of the lemonade. My energy level was good throughout the day and was able to handle work stress quite well, though by evening about 5 pm, I felt that I needed some rest.

As I observed my body the whole day, I realized that my body was not in such a bad shape as I thought it was before I started the fast. All the cleansing happened on Day-1 and Day-2. Today, my body was functioning normally, though I felt a bit lighter than before I started the fast. After listening to my body carefully, I decided that the 3-day fast was enough and I did not have to continue for 10 days. So, I have now decided to break my fast.

My conjecture is that may be my being a vegetarian throughout my life, contributed to my body being sort of clean. I cannot say. I don’t have any reference point, since I have never eaten any animal derived product except milk products. For the past two or so years, I have consumed milk products only sparingly, after I realized that they were the reason why I got mucus in my throat causing a lot of discomfort. Only thing I can say about the result of my fasting is that I feel lighter than I was before the fast. My body did not have undesirable reaction of any kind.

If you are non-vegetarian who went on a fast or cleansing of some kind and would like to share your experience with me, I would be very happy to hear from you.

DISCLAIMER: Before you embark on any fasting of any kind, first consult your physician and do it under strict supervision. In this article I discuss my experiment and experiences from it. If you fast after reading this article, you do it at your own risk.

2 Responses

  1. Praveen says:

    By chance, I glanced upon this article as I am feeling a growing urge through body’s signal to detox all negativities. Desika.. from what I have read, the real benefits of fasting start from day 3 but one of my friend who had a succesful 15-day run on water alone suggested to restrain from anything involving body/mind labor during the period.

    As you said, the body becomes light and even awareness is at its high!

  2. Praveen,

    True, the awareness becomes high. During this period continue to pay attention to body’s signals. If you get a signal to stop fasting, do it. You may break the fast with fruits and fruit juices, and moving on to eating Pongal with Ghee.

    Following are my suggestions. Take them only as suggestions, you and your body take precedence over this:

    These days I don’t recommend fasting like this for this long. At least this is the signal from my body. It goes to another extreme of no food. Also, I would not do complete water fast, especially considering that we lead active lives with work and family.

    I do mini fasts. That is, drink vegetable or fruit juices every few hours throughout the day without eating (much) solid food, and in the night you have a regular meal. Also, drink green tea/tulasi tea with ginger through the day. That is, you are basically detoxing during the day. It will take a few days for the body to detox and adjust to this rhythm. This is slower, but effective. You will have high energy through the day because you are not eating solids taxing your digestive system.

    Another way would be to fast once a week using fruit and vegetable juices when you feel hungry for sustenance without eating solid food. This will be slower still.

    I hope this helps.

    Desika