No food for 3 weeks

Believe it or not, we fasted for exactly three weeks. We started on August 14. During fasting we “ate” nothing else but tea made of special herbs, honey, and apple vinegar. Three weeks only drinking tea. No eating, nor drinking anything else.

How it came and why

front view

In Cuba we met a Russian couple sailing around the world for 15 years in their self-made sailing boat (www.saltysail.com). We learned that captain Mike and his wife healed many people’s diseases by fasting. I became interested in fasting then, because I suffered from certain digesting problems, caused by the consumption of milk products over a period of 28 years of my life, not knowing that I suffer a lactose incompatibility. Half of that time I had very strong symptoms, but as nobody, not even doctors, had any clue what is happening with me, I accepted my problems silently as “normal”. Five months after becoming vegetarian I found out that I suffer a lactose incompatibility. It is genetic. My father has it, but I haven’t ever seen him again since I was seven, so he could not tell me.

I went well being vegetarian, but though most problems decreased strongly, some never really stopped. I was bothered having digesting problems, thus healing myself by fasting sounded logical and possible. Augustas supported me by fasting together. Mike send us the herbs, and after settling down in Cuenca we started.

The fasting process

fridge is empty, dried goods are stored unreachable, thus - Let's start fasting!

The night before starting we hid all our dry food under the sink. The next morning we drank lots of salty water for cleaning stomach and intestine fully. Then we made our herb mixture, which was quite tasty. Fast we got used to only drink the whole day our tea. Getting up and being ready in no time became as easy as never before. We did daily exercises, worked a lot (on the computer), and felt quite happy during the whole fasting period.

our food for three weeks: tea of special herbs, honey, apple vinegar

During the first days, we felt our stomach changing. After the first week we noticed some weight loss, which continued slightly until the end of fasting. I froze a lot, because the body temperature goes down during fasting. It seemed that the Cuenca weather fasted together with us, because it switched to freezing temperatures when starting the fasting process. We felt strong, energetic, awake during most of the fasting period. Rarely, hardly existing weakness we fought with an increase in honey that we added to our tea. Our teeth became extremely sensitive through the daily use of vinegar. Sometimes we felt our bodies aching in certain parts, which was normal, as during fasting the body tells what is wrong with you – and tries to fix it.

Why three weeks?
The body needs 14 days for getting rid of garbage, poison, whatever wrong one ingested. The third week is the “repairing stage”, when the body finally can concentrate on healing by renewing damaged cells in the body.

boiling water and brewing tea all day long

Did we have food cravings?
Of course, but usually not of the kind like “feeling hungry”. We “only” dreamed of food. While Augustas started to dream of potato dishes with egg and sour cream, I started to dream of vegetable soup and boiled potatoes. In some situations, when the stomach was “dreaming” too much, the wish to eat became stronger. But in general we kept a good balance. We did not suffer. The last days before finishing the fasting we naturally started craving for delicious meals. We accepted this as quite normal, as we KNEW it is going to be the end soon.

In a whole, during the three weeks living of our herb mixture, we used countless liters of boiled water, 1.5 liters of apple vinegar, and 8 liters of honey.

Finishing fasting

While one can simply stop eating, he cannot start eating right away after fasting for so long. We needed one more week to get back to the normal eating process, as stomach, intestine, well – the whole body!, has to get used to the sudden supply of food. Thus, during the Day 1 we lived on a fresh apple juice – water mixture. The Day 2 we drank pure, juicy, terribly tasty fresh self-made apple juice. On our Day 3 we could eat three apples. All those days we had to add garlic to each drink or apple. During these first three days we consumed in total 137 apples and a couple of garlic heads.

The Day 4 we had a little celebration. It was Friday morning, and we were allowed to eat vegetable soup. We got up at 6 a.m., prepared a wonderful vegetable soup, and watched the animation movie “Ratatouille” (about a rat which became a cook). It was a special morning.

Saturday and Sunday (Day 5 and Day 6) we could eat anything but fish and meat. Still carefully choosing the amount of food, we had a taste-nerve celebration during those two days. We even invited a couple of friends for lunch, to celebrate the end of our fasting period. First fast, then feast! ;D

Today is finally the day, when we are allowed to eat EVERYTHING we want. We are happy, and a bit proud, that we managed to fast the 21 days required. It was a real success. Fasting is a truly incredible experience, and we hope to do it again one day. Not now, but we might do it the next time we stay somewhere for a longer while.