7 DAYS OF LIQUIDS
I’ve just finished my 7 days of only liquids: 4 days on only water and some flower teas, and 3 days with coconut water and juices.
On day 8, I slowly transitioned back to solid food with only fruits – some dragonfruit and bitter orange.
Wow, who would’ve thought I could go for a week without eating?
I’d never thought I’d lasted this long. I love eating so much, especially when I can get away with eating so much more than my body needs without gaining weight! Except, I do have to pay for it in other – quite unpleasant – ways. Cue gut health issues and inflammation.
I’m writing this very comprehensive post both for myself and for those who might be curious to do a fast. Here’s what I’ll be sharing:
The Experience
The Benefits I’ve Received
The Insights and Revelations
The Factors that made it a success + My Recommendations
Body Awareness
THE EXPERIENCE
During this fast, I am surprised to find out how little food my body needs, when I’m not running around, getting involved in all sorts of dramas, being distracted and drawn in to other people’s agendas, complicating my life and freaking out over small stuff.
Very quickly, on the first day of the fast, it dawned on me that food was my reward for stress. Food was the way I rewarded myself, chronically, for being stressed out over stuff. “Okay, I have to deal with this sh*t and that sh*t, gahhh, but let’s power through it, and once done I’ll treat myself to this sushi roll/ noodle soup/ pepito pastry etc.” That’s how it often went.
After about 22 hours of no food, I started to get quite cranky, but then chanced upon a book shelf full of books right next to my doorstep! My mood shifted instantly. I was so excited! Okay, I can’t eat, but I can read! That’ll do! After all, I’m a bookworm since the day I was born Give me some good books and I’ll be quiet and content. I’ll use books as my form of consumption instead of food…
Except, 27 hours into the fast, I had become so frail and weak, with so little energy, that I could not even read a book, not even a single page of a book I liked so much. Now, for an avid reader like me, that tells you a lot! I had no energy to intelligently comprehend what the author was saying. I gave up. I could not even write in my journal. I had no energy to write. I just had to go lie down in bed, like a sickly person.
This is when it hit me:
No food is coming to save you. There’ll be no reward now for getting stressed. So, act accordingly
And as I lay there, breathing faintly, both hands on my body, I realized that the only thing available that was both soothing and nutritious was my own presence. My own presence was the only food and medicine I could feed my body with, in that moment, a very rare moment.
These are the lines in my journal that I scribbled with my last ounce of energy before collapsing back onto the bed:
“This is not about fasting or deprivation.
This is about reclaiming my energy back from all the things I’ve scattered my energy on.Reclaiming back my life force energy.
Going within to a depth I rarely allow myself the time, space and opportunity to.
Right now, I have no energy to do anything else, hence the only thing I can do is to be present, so present with myself.
It’s no longer a choice. It’s the only option.
This is about reclaiming me for myself, after having given myself away to so many things outside. Now is the time to reclaim ME for myself.
It’s the most healing medicine. It’s a different kind of food to give to my body, the kind of nutrient my body has precisely been lacking.”
Day 2 was the most difficult. I woke up in the middle of the night several times to pee, but at one point was so lightheaded I almost fainted when standing up. My body temperature also dropped, and I found myself wrapped up in layers of blankets and socks.
Day 2 to 4 were akin to my recovery after a motorbike accident, or time during covid, or a heavy period. I was mainly in bed, reading, dozing, noodling around. When I had energy, I took a walk to a nearby waterfall or took an Epsom salt bath. These days were simple. There were very little internet signals where I was staying, so I wasn’t on the phone much either. Though staying in bed and indoor most of the time, I was surrounded by so much nature, greenery, trees, beautiful flowers, and natural flowing water.
At the end of day 4, I transitioned to a green juice. From day 5 onwards, I drank juices (a mix of fruit and green juices) and coconut water, and water of course. My body wasn’t that hungry. I am learning to tune in and feel into the signals of my body so much better.
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THE BENEFITS I’VE RECEIVED
1. Skin & Eyes
After 7 days, my skin is soooo clear and so smooth. Omg it’s amazing. I’d been nagging myself to have a facial for months but just hadn’t gotten around to do it. After one week of only liquids, staying in nature and not going out to the street, my complexion is brilliant and glowing. It’s astonishing how I don’t need facials!!
And my eyes are so bright and clear. Glowing. See the photos
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2. Energy & Creativity
I have so much more energy, especially creative energy! Inspirations have come back for me! I was just pouring down pages and pages on my notebook all the ideas I would love to set in motion, both business wise and art wise.
One of the inspirations is the idea for the 3rd book! (Yes the 2nd one is already underway now :)) The title and the theme came to me so effortlessly. My ability to see the connection between seemingly unrelated subjects is also heightened, helping me identify some amazing poems to go with the theme of the book.
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3. Relationship
It’s even clearer to me how I love my partner and love being in a relationship with him. We were already great together before the fast, yet it was during the quiet hours alone that it struck me even more deeply how extraordinarily blessed we are to be with each other. A profound cosmic blessing.
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4. Inner Power
I feel so much more in touch with my power. Now, I know this is such a cliché to tout around the personal growth, spiritual space. Let me try to be more specific about it.
So, unpleasant things have happened during this last week (including drinking juices that I had adverse and severe reactions to, having nightmares), but I’m not fazed. Yes, they are unpleasant, and for sure I examined the root cause to prevent them from recurring. However, I feel this very clear knowing that I am powerful, I am the creator of my reality, and I am okay. I might be a bit shaken, but I’m not afraid. I feel strong and powerful.
(For those who are familiar with the 3Ps, this was my insight: I know that the experience occurred within my own Consciousness, created by the power of Mind and Thought. The 3Ps work through me, somehow, and create that experience within me. I am the 3Ps in action. I am that which has created and given rise to the experience. Therefore, I’m much more powerful than it.)
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MY INSIGHTS & REVELATIONS
1. Back to simplicity
I realize that I just love to live very simply, to have a very simple life. Having all the superfluousness of life stripped away for a week, I realize that my needs are not that complicated at all, and those few needs that would have me thrive, I got very clear on what they are.
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2. Where does our energy go?
It’s eye opening to see how we somehow get roped into this lifestyle of hustle, bustle and so much doing, where we’re constantly zooming around and consuming (food, information, entertainment, activities), emitting tons of pollution into the atmosphere, then we need to buy all these products to scrub all the pollutants off our skin and anti-age our skin from all the stress, and we buy all these foods and drinks to soothe, medicate and reward ourselves for all the stress. Crazy! It feels like insanity to me.
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3. The true cost of eating (not just monetary)
I also realize just how much time and energy it takes to eat. I mean, not just the activity of eating itself, but all the preparation and consequences of it. All the shopping and prepping. Decision making. Cooking. Cleaning up. Eliminating. Trouble shooting when something goes wrong in the process. Dealing with the tiredness, grogginess, coma after eating etc.
It is a hefty price to pay to eat. Not just the price we pay on the food itself, but also the time and energy involved from the beginning to the end. Just to be clear, I have no interest in going extreme, I love eating too much to be a breatharian, but this realization got me considering the true price I’m willing to pay for certain experiences. Do I want to pay it with $xx of my life force energy? Is that sensory pleasure worth that much?
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4. Harnessing energy for creation through talking consciously
I also realize just how much energy it takes to talk and to communicate verbally. Soon after I broke the fast, my partner came to join me, and I quickly realized I didn’t have so much energy to keep chatting on and on incessantly with him the way I used to.
Most of the time, the things we talk about don’t really matter. They’re either running commentaries on the ways things are, or explanations of what we’re doing, or reinforcing and regurgitating what is: “Look, the sun is out! It’s raining. That’s nice. I am going to do this…” What a waste of energy.
I’m becoming so much more aware now on how I can conserve my precious life force energy on creating (versus commenting) and on things that really matter.
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5. Conscious communication requires skillful directing of energy and following through
It’s one thing to write off the cuff and flow into streams of consciousness, yet it’s another thing to give structure to ideas and organize them into a comprehensible framework.
I started writing this post as insights during my fast, but it’s taken a whole lot more time to organize the ideas into a structured post. Organizing, structuring, and moving toward an end result seems to require an intense level of focus and a different part of the brain, which wasn’t too readily available to me during the fast.
Likewise, it takes energy to articulate our ideas and follow through with them into complete, coherent writing that others can understand and appreciate.
That’s why, anyone can speak or write off the cuff, but it’s another thing to publish a book. The masculine structure is required to hold the feminine stream of inspiration. And it is the structure and the follow-through that set books and articles apart from random musings and journaling.
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FACTORS THAT MADE THE FAST A SUCCESS + MY RECOMMENDATIONS
I call this fast a success because I stuck to the plan. The original plan is to do 4 days of water and then start the juices on day 5 for one day. Not only did I not cave in to hunger and devour a bowl of rice midway, I also extended my juice fast to 3 days instead of 1. And day 8 is all fruits, not even any cooked food yet.
Prior to the fast, my partner had expressed concerns for me. I had not done any extended fasting before; the longest I’d done was 24 hours. He also thought that as tiny as I was, I did not have enough fat tissue reserve for the body to use as fuel during the fast. So, naturally, we were wondering if the fast would be too tough for me.
Now that I’m through to the other side of it, not only do I know that I can do it, but I also know what has made it possible and not too rough.
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1. Having a really great fasting guide & facilitator
A beautiful soul was my fasting guide and facilitator throughout the whole journey. She answered all my concerns and questions before the fast, organized all kinds of logistics, guided me through yoga therapy and breathwork every day during the fast, grounded me in my intention and prayers, took care of everything for me when I was too weak to even get my clothes to the laundry, and supported me even after the main fast was over.
She is super knowledgeable, kind, sensitive, caring, full of wisdom and nurturing energy. I felt so supported by her and always knew I was in good hands with her. She was there whenever I experienced any discomfort or pain, giving me solutions or reassuring me that my body was doing exactly what it needed. She also provided accountability for me to stick to the plan and not quit halfway like many people I knew would do, left to their own devices.
With this being my very first fast, I don’t think I would have been able to do it without her. I mean, previously I had caved in after 24 hours on my own
If you live in Bali and would like to do a water fast retreat for yourself, I highly highly recommend her as a guide. Message me for her contact, she is truly an angel and her services are very accessible.
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2. Doing colonics and daily enemas
During these days, no solid food or fiber was taken, but the body still needed to release waste and toxins. Colonics at the beginning and at the end, and enemas in between were soooo helpful in supporting my body to get rid of all these old, compacted, accumulated gunk that had been stored up inside the colons.
Honestly I feel that if you were to do a fast without at least a colonic at the end, 70% of your effort would go to waste (pun not intended!) This is because during the fast, the body will detox itself, and if all the bad stuff that die off inside your gut doesn’t get flushed out, there’s just gonna be more of them circulating inside you now. Ewwww…
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3. Having an environment that sets you up for success
During the fast, I was too weak to go out, especially on day 2 and 3. So it helped to stay somewhere surrounded by nature, so that even though I was in bed and indoor most of the time, I was still serenaded by greenery, trees, beautiful flowers, and birdsong.
It made so much difference that I could be in natural waters during those days. Waterfall, ocean, streams, rivers… whatever that is. The body resets itself and receives so much energy and nourishment from nature. The negative ions, the fresh air, the soothing colors and melodious sounds of nature… they are ALL foods for our body and soul.
And it feels so good that I was able to drink fresh spring water coming straight from the mountains throughout the fast (versus water that sits in plastic bottles), water charged with super high vibration and frequency. We know that water is one of the best conductor of energy (hence electricity / electrical charges) in the universe, it makes sense to pay attention to the energy carried and stored in the water we drink.
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4. Letting this be a self-retreat, away from the daily grind
An important thing that I did prior to the fast was clearing my schedule completely. You would not have the energy to do much, and you would not want to do much.
The fast has the potential to be a very sacred time, a sacred portal to commune with yourself, and you wouldn’t want anything else to interfere with your own sacred connection. Staying in a place with little internet access, maybe going into the jungle or up the mountains, removing distractions and involvement with daily dramas, cutting out all appointments, meetings, events, etc. all these would nourish your soul immensely, as they did mine.
Another thing I did during this time to nourish my body was having massage or deep tissue bodywork.
By taking myself out of the normal environment of clutter and temptations (food in the fridge or pantry), I made it much easier for myself to rest in the purity of my being and of nature.
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BODY AWARENESS
1. The body speaks, how do we listen?
During the fast, especially day 2 and 3, my body was constantly sending me hunger signals. Hungry. Hungry!! HUNGRY!!! Feeling weak. Sick. Lightheaded. Blood pressure dropping… Now that I have been fully present to those signals and not acted upon them, I have developed a deeper understanding of them and know that I don’t ALWAYS have to act on them. It is quite mind-blowing.
Look at the following 2 scenarios:
A. You’re too busy working, your eyes are glued to the screen, your body is sending you hunger signals but you’re too busy to notice it. Or, you may notice it but you press on to keep working because you feel you have no time to eat.
B. You’re fasting, your body is sending you hunger signals but you’re not giving it food.
From the outside, the action may look the same: not eating, not feeding the body with food. However, it is the energy behind that action (or non-action) that is truly important here. There is a stark difference between pushing the body/ steamrolling over and ignoring the body’s signals/ being unkind to the body and acknowledging it, being present to it, soothing it with love.
The difference is in awareness, choice, and presence.
This is the line that sets apart self-love and making conscious choices from being disconnected from the body and living totally in the head.
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2. Sensitivity & Allergies
Your body will be very sensitive during and after the fast. This is a great time to tune into and become aware of what works and doesn’t work for your body – think ‘detective’ work. Sometimes we have food sensitivities but in a normal diet, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what causes it. After a fast, the body is so clean that you will see right away the effect that certain food has on it.
For example, in my case, I’ve found out:
– I have adverse reaction to celery juice and moringa juice: nausea, dizzy, diarrhea, heart palpitation, light-headedness. Obviously I won’t be jumping on board that celery juice train, no matter how good for you it’s said to be.
– Fruit-only diet or fruit juice diet do not work for me if the fruits are overly sweet. Need to be very selective with the fruits: citrus (orange, pomelo), low GI fruits are better, otherwise they create lots of gas and discomfort.
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FINAL NOTES
I will always look back at this special time with fondness and cherish it… It really was a treat for myself, in a way I couldn’t have imagined.
Normally I would treat myself with food, activities, outings, external sensory pleasure.
But my own presence? My own unmediated, uninterrupted, undivided presence, energy and attention?
I’ve had a direct experience that it is the most nourishing food and fuel I can give to myself. Yes, that kind of food is available, too, at all times, waiting to be received.
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