Continuing with my
fasting, here's what I consumed today:
1 wrapped chocolate candy thing; the most ready source of glucose available at the time.
1 large cup of green tea, no sugar (continuing with the antioxidant trend, though I may have to cut back on it because I don't want to get addicted to caffeine again)
1 small sandwich containing nothing but bread, lettuce, peppers, etc. See commentary.
1 cup of ice tea (the good, not-made-from-corn-syrup kind)
Suprisingly, I've gotten a couple comments on my fast in the catbox, which suprised me because a) I figured I was largely invisible to everyone on everything that isn't an editor and b) I didn't realize anybody actually read daylogs.
So, a bit of explanation to my fasting fans out there:
In the last couple months, I've been alternatingly depressed and just plain bored, and lately I've been turning to food whenever I became bored or sad. I'm vegetarian, so it's not like I was diving into pepperoni pizzas from the local grease oven, but I have been eating a bit much for me lately. What's worse is, I haven't really been enjoying it; food tasted bland and boring, even when it wasn't. Briefly, after getting an idea from an Orson Scott Card book, I tried meditating on the tastes of food while I was consuming them, but that only worked for a little while. In stark contrast, I ate two pieces of plain whole wheat bread before I went to bed last night, and they tasted amazing.
So, in short, this is a fast to reset my appetite and put myself in better touch with what my body really wants to eat, so that I can hear the difference between an actual food need and a craving born from boredom or depression.
As for why I'm eating a little during the fast: traditionally, fasts have been anywhere from bread and water diets to giving up of all food, sex, conversation, entertainment, etc. I'm going for a low-impact fast. Rather than starving myself to the point of ketone release, I'm keeping my blood glucose levels just high enough to keep my brain and CNS fed. This is particularly important to me, because I'm potentially a borderline diabetic. So, perhaps this is a rediculously low-calorie diet (somewhere around 100-300 calories a day) and not a fast. But I'm sticking to carb-heaving fare, and not arguing semantics.