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April 8, 2005
Every Once In Awhile Fasting
There are a lot of people who engage in Every Other Day Fasting, and find it a convenient way to do CR. I can't imagine being one of them. I enjoy my quotidian diet too much, and I'm so small that I doubt that I could get enough calories on an every other day basis to keep myself going. But I do enjoy the occasional day of fasting, especially at times of illness or stress, or when I'm trying to detox from anything, be it physical, mental or spiritual.
I've always been a bit of a junkie for fasting, of whatever kind. It's funny because I'm not inclined to aesceticism at all. Unlike some of the CR brethren, I'm not interested in denying the flesh in general... just in eating less now so that I can have more fun in my particular flesh for a lot longer. I enjoy food, drink, and lots of fun, just in smaller servings. And since I started out a small person, sometimes those amounts can be very small. Enjoying pleasures of the flesh has actually been an ideological issue for me: believing that it is not only fun to enjoy good food and wine, but that it is right and good to do so. My father wrote a book about the subject, called Jesus and the Pleasures. (You can order a copy of it here!) [Remember, the Mouse doesn't endorse any particular religion or philosophy, nor does the Mouse say that you have to read my Dad's book.]
On the one hand, I'm not into denial of the flesh. On the other hand, I say I'm a detox junkie. What's up with that?
I don't really know, except that there are distinct times when I feel the need to be spiritually and physically cleansed. But that doesn't always mean fasting. In my week of detox leading up to my CR birthday, I just ate my low calorie end of my boring day diet. I can assure you that I took great pleasure in every morsel of kale and cottage cheese!
But today, no doubt as a result of battling a cold, I felt like fasting all together. I've been drinking a lot of water and herbal teas, and I'm too much of a caffeine addict to quit that all together, so I did have a little coffee this morning. But other than that, not a bite or sip of anything. I'm feeling quite good... my cold is improving! It's been a very long time since I've had a day long complete fast, perhaps since before I started the blog. I've had plenty of times when I've fasted until dinner or until a late lunch, which is also good for clearing the mind. But I think this is the first all day fast.
So I've done my nutritional crunch:
Food List : 4-8-05.TXT
DATE : 04/08/05
Num. Foods : 3
Food #1 : Coffee, brewed, prepared with distilled water 4 oz
Food #2 : Tea, herb, other than chamomile, brewed 16 oz servings
Food #3 : Water, bottled, poland spring a lot
NUTRIENT TOTALS:
Abs. Values %RDA/SA
Calories 7.10__cal 0%
Protein 0.12__gm 0% RDA
Total Fat 0.00__gm 0%
Sat. Fat 0.01__gm 0%
Mono. Fat 0.00__gm 0%
Poly. Fat 0.03__gm 0%
Carbohydrate 1.42__gm 0%
Fiber 0.00__gm 0%
Cholesterol 0.00__mg 0%
Vit. A 0.00__IU 0% RDA
Vit. B6 0.00__mg 0% RDA
Vit. B12 0.00__mcg 0% RDA
Vit. C 0.00__mg 0% RDA
Vit. E 0.20__mg 3% RDA
Thiamine 0.05__mg 4% RDA
Folacin 2.96__mcg 2% RDA
Riboflavin 0.02__mg 1% RDA
Niacin 0.26__mg 2% RDA
Panto. Acid 0.05__mg 1% SA
Calcium 21.32__mg 2% RDA
Copper 0.09__mg 4% SA
Iron 0.53__mg 4% RDA
Magnesium 21.32__mg 8% RDA
Manganese 0.24__mg 8% SA
Phosphorus 1.18__mg 0% RDA
Potassium 124.32__mg 6% RDA
Selenium 0.12__mcg 0% RDA
Sodium 15.40__mg 1% SA
Zinc 0.20__mg 2% RDA
Tyrosine 0.01__gm 1% RDA
Lysine 0.01__gm 1% RDA
Phenylalanine 0.02__gm 2% RDA
Leucine 0.03__gm 3% RDA
Valine 0.02__gm 2% RDA
Methionine 0.00__gm 0% RDA
Cystine 0.01__gm 4% RDA
Tryptophan 0.00__gm 0% RDA
Threonine 0.01__gm 1% RDA
Isoleucine 0.01__gm 2% RDA
Hey, that's not fair! Why does it say I have P:F:C ratios of 7:0:93? Are all those calories in coffee and tea carbs??? At least there's a little niacin in there.
Tomorrow will be back to the normal CR yummy foods, but I'm enjoying the break, and my body feels like it's appreciating it.
Posted by april at April 8, 2005 10:12 PM
Comments
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Posted by: absence at August 13, 2005 5:51 AM