Fast and Food Reset

I did a 3-day Fast and Food Reset from February 15^th to 17^th, 2021. I hesitate to call it a fast. I am not overweight, so my functional medicine doctor allowed me to eat minimal amounts of food even when I did my first 5-day fast and 21-day elimination protocol in November 2019.  After my initial fast and elimination protocol, I needed 3 additional 3-day fasts when some of the food that I reintroduced caused psoriasis symptoms to return.

After re-reading my post about that experience, I must be honest. I fell off the wagon after March of 2020. I was not drinking all that much at first, but gradually, as the weeks went by, I was drinking daily and eating something sweet after almost every meal. My focus has never been my weight but I gained back 8 pounds this year. The psoriasis was a constant presence, but not as bad as it had been before. And the psoriatic arthritis was significantly better than before. So overall, I thought I was eating well and considered my food habits a success.

The Fast

My fasting method is to highly restrict the food I eat. I eat very small amounts and try to stay in a hunger state most of the time. See my food log if you want to know what I ate. The first day was hard. I had a headache most of the day even though I was allowing myself coffee. Day 2 and 3 were much easier.

Once again, my resting heart rate dropped 2 beats per minute for each day I fasted. It is fascinating how quickly the body adapts to no food. My daily elliptical seems easier, my legs feel stronger. My low back pain is gone too. How can that be? I do not know if this is just a temporary decrease in inflammation or if my body healing itself? My hands, knees, and feet do not hurt as much, even on day 5 after I have started eating again (but not eating sugar or alcohol).

Alcohol

I had 2 recent incidents where I binged on alcohol so bad that I blacked out. I am starting to get scared that I will fall and hurt myself. This is hard to admit. And it is even harder to address. I planned this 3-day reset before the latest binge and blackout. But with that recent event, I realize that my issues are more serious than just my food restrictions. I have an alcohol problem that is not quite an Alcoholics Anonymous scale but something that needs to be addressed. While I started with a focus on food, I’m also including alcohol in this reset.

The Reset after the Fast

It just so happens that Ash Wednesday was the last day of my fast. I grew up Catholic and have a long history of making a sacrifice for lent. I happened upon a video that talked about WHY we give something up during lent, that it needs to be something that you find “necessary”. Another word from a previous bible study is a “stronghold”. Something that creates an obstacle for me in my relationship with God. I realized alcohol and sugar fall into this category. Both preoccupy my mind, pull at me and demand to be fed. I am not sure how I will do this, or if I will succeed. I am praying for courage and strength. One behavior change that seems to be helping for the moment is to pause, stare into the food or drink I am about to consume, give thanks for it and ask God to bless it to the nourishment of my body. This is a common prayer where the words are no longer heard. But I force myself to “feel” and “inhabit” that gratitude for a moment before consumption. Perhaps that will help me to stay on this path.

The changes I am experiencing are slow and gradual, but very real. I am so much stronger, and these gains are primarily from eliminating gluten. If I am honest with myself, sugar has been an almost daily part of my diet. I did manage to reduce my alcohol consumption to a little under 50% of the days in 2020 (tracked in my food log). I was over 80% alcohol-free for January, February, August, and September of last year. A life without alcohol will feel better. And I even know that it could possibly heal my body from my psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Only time will tell if a fast and food reset is a successful part of my healing strategy.