I woke up at 3:00 am and couldn't fall back to sleep. I don't know if that was fast-related or not. I do know that I was having breakfast by 4:30 - some strawberries, a fried egg and some toast.
Usually I am one to dump extra sugar on sliced strawberries, but this morning, seeing as how they were the first things I had eaten in 3 days, the strawberries were incredibly sweet without added sugar.
This is one of the benefits I have noticed with fasting - a day or two in and you start craving real food. Fruits and vegetables become a whole lot more appealing than Doritos.
I tried to preserve that trend today, eating mostly veggies, some homemade bread and a little meat. I had two little pieces of leftover Christmas chocolate in the afternoon. The fast seems to have broken my addiction to sugar - at least temporarily.
I began the morning at 186.2 lbs. and I end the day at 191.2! I am pretty sure I did not consume 5 lbs. of food today, so a portion of that must be my body reabsorbing water as well.
I did find today that my fasting experience helped normalize hunger for me again. I am reminded that there is no danger of dying just because your stomach starts growling! Instead, I used hunger to remind me to drink water.
The funny thing was that sometimes water seemed to be exactly what my stomach was after. Have I been mistaking thirst for hunger all this time?
Honestly - and I know I am not the only American for whom this is true - I can go weeks at a time without feeling any true hunger.
That trend needs reversing.
All in all, the fast was not as difficult as I anticipated and proved to be a great way to reset my bodily appetites. I think it would be worth doing once a month just for the physical health benefits, let alone any spiritual benefits.
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