Expectations

I’m in my third day with no food.  All I’ve consumed since Wednesday night are lemonade, laxative tea and some peppermint tea.  This morning I replaced the laxative tea with a quart of water with two teaspoons of sea salt mixed in.  It was terrible, and I fought off a gag reflex to put it down.  I didn’t finish it all but it had the desired effect.  About 20 minutes later I was running for the toilet.   

What do I expect to get out of this fast?  People fast for many reasons, including spiritual, physical and political reasons.  My reasons for doing this include all three. 

Spiritual
Dominion of mind over body is fundamental to my spiritual life.  If I can learn to resist the urge to eat I can learn to control other physical needs.  But if I start seeing visions I’m ending this fast immediately. 

Physical
I don’t understand the physiology of the lemonade fast; especially since Stanley Burroughs made most of it up, but things are coming out of me that I definitely have not consumed in the past three days.   I’ll spare you the details, but this morning I felt like something big was about to happen.  It’s going to need more coaxing, but when and if it happens, I’ll be a believer. 

The maple syrup in the lemonade provides me with about 1,300 Calories a day.  That’s a lot less than I’m used to, and I have lost about four pounds, but people can survive on far less than 1,300 Calories per day.  So, while my stomach has felt empty, I have felt physically fine, except for about 20 minutes yesterday. 

I went to a low-intensity yoga class Friday morning and felt fine the entire time.  My mistake was that I drank the laxative tea before the class and didn’t have any lemonade until after the class.  Then I decided that it was a good day to go cross country skiing.  It was past noon when I got to the trail and strapped on my skis, but I had had only 16 ounces of lemonade, or about 260 Calories, since ten o’clock the night before. 

I made it about half a mile before I had to turn around.  I just didn’t have the energy to propel myself forward.  I hardly had the energy to go back downhill.  It didn’t help that it was about 5 degrees F in the canyon, and that the trail hadn’t been groomed since Thursday’s snowstorm, but I was just out of gas.

So skate skiing is a little too intense for a fasting body, but I may try some classic skiing later today or tomorrow.  I’ll make sure I’ve had my fill of lemonade with maple syrup first. 

Political
I’m going to fast until Jimmy Carter announces his candidacy for president in 2008.