3 month Post-Fast Reflections

As part of my final thoughts, I wanted to introduce you to an extraordinary woman. Myrtle Fillmore, born in the mid-1800s, was one of the first women of her time to attend college (at Oberlin). She later married Charles Fillmore (who was almost 10 years older than her) and, together, they founded the Unity Church. The reason that I am so impressed with this little lady is because she healed herself of terminal tuberculosis through a process of spiritual transformation. Unity is one of the religions that grew out of the New Thought Movement and one of its primary teachings is that the outer is a reflection of the inner. Thus, our health is an outward manifestation of our internal spiritual understanding. As Myrtle changed the thoughts she held in her mind about her health (and realized the true divinity of her being), from darkness to light, and became aligned with the Divine Perfection of "The Christ" within, her body naturally returned to a state of perfect health and she lived another four decades. Her husband was so impressed with her recovery that he soon followed in her footsteps and gradually overcame a very severe bone deformity caused by tuberculosis of his hip bone (and went on to live even longer than Myrtle!). I recently read her book Healing Letters from which I share this excerpt:

God is the one perfect life flowing through us. God is the one pure substance out of which our organism is formed. God is the...wisdom that gives us intelligence in every cell...God is the only reality of us...When we let light flood us with its sunshine, all clouds vanish and we begin to see ourselves in new ways...which lead to wholeness and health...God in the midst of us is a great steady stream of renewing and cleansing and vitalizing life, and we can have the use of this life if we will open up the channels of its flowing and...draw from this source. God has put in each of us the germ of immortality which will bring forth its kind...So within us is this Almightyness that we must cooperate with. As we cooperate with the Spirit of God in fulfilling His plan in us, all that is within us bursts into the beauty of wholeness. The moment a person yields his self to Godlikeness, he is letting the Spirit of God burst the shell of doubt and fear, and the light of God reveals to him the light of life. He becomes conscious of the joy of life...in himself and in everyone else. Yielding self means giving up the old concepts of the past; forgetting ourselves and our human desire[s]...and just rejoicing that all God's creation constantly springs forth in newness of life and light and joy and service. When we forget our own desires and devote ourselves to doing what God would have done, this moment and constantly, we shall find that there is no limit to the strength we have and the things we can do. We have yielded ourselves to the Source and entered into a Oneness that makes us receptive to all that the Source is and holds for us.

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It has now been three months since I completed my 25 day water-only fast at True North Health. Overall, I am very happy with my total experience and the improvements that have resulted. Unfortunately, the fast did not resolve my bazaar reactions to most foods. However, it did produce four very positive benefits that I would like to share with you. First, it allowed my body to heal a long-standing problem of orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia (low blood pressure and racing heart beat while standing upright, especially prevalent after being in a hot bath or after going too long without eating). This is an extremely significant healing for me and was one that I didn't really expect. I have had this problem for over a decade and none of the doctors I consulted about my health problems could ever tell me what caused it and the only recommendation I got was to increase my salt intake (which did help to some extent but was, of course, only a symptomatic treatment).

Second, I now have more internal strength than I had before the fast. By this, I mean that I feel deeply stronger in my body in a way that I have not felt in years. Consequently, I have been able to engage in a more demanding exercise program and have actually started running again--something that I have not been able to do for about 15 years.

Third, my heart and lung capacity is definitely greater now than it was prior to the fast. There is an uphill hiking trail near my home and every time I have gone up it over the past 4 years, I always had to stop on a very frequent basis to catch my breath. I no longer need to do this. This, too, is a huge improvement as far as I am concerned.

Fourth, I no longer have an insatiable craving for salt. This is a miracle. After a whole year on a low-fat, mostly-raw vegan diet, I still wanted salt virtually every day. I don't even think about now.

Nevertheless, I have still been having a very difficult time finding foods I can eat and feel good afterwards. I have spent the past three months since the fast experimenting with both raw and cooked vegan foods. I will not bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that I have come to the conclusion that my digestive and immune systems are still extremely sensitive and seem to get overwhelmed by food quite easily. Since fasting always makes me feel better and, in my heart of hearts, I really want to eat an all-raw, fruit-based diet because I feel that is the healthiest choice for both my body and for Mother Earth, I decided to give Tanya Zavasta's program Quantum Eating another try.

I had tried it several months before my fast, but had such severe orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia that I became non-functional (having to lay down all the time) and had to stop my experiment after about a week. But, since the orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia were resolved with the fast, I wanted to give Quantum Eating another chance and see how my body would respond. For those of you who are not familiar with Tanya's program, she recommends eating all of your food for the day between 8 AM and 2 PM and then doing an 18 hour dry fast from 2 PM to 8 AM. She also advocates calorie restriction, which I am not doing. I am eating as much as I feel like eating and I am averaging over 2000 calories per day. And so far, so good! I have been doing this now for about 9 days, and I am feeling soooooooo much better. With 20/20 hindsight I feel that I should have come off my fast eating this way, but I was afraid to try it at the time because of my previous experience with it.

These are the benefits I am experiencing with Quatum Eating: much less mucus production in response to food, no scratchy/burning feeling in my esophagus, no "glop" in my throat, much less bloating, fatigue, and brain-drain after eating, more energy upon waking, sleeping better (no urinating at night), feel physically lighter when I go for my run in the morning, less teeth sensitivity from the fruit. I do, however, feel somewhat "hungry" (growling stomach, perhaps not true hunger) in the late evening and early morning hours, but I do not feel weak and I am able to run first thing in the morning with no problem. I am curious to see if my body will adapt to my new eating schedule after following it for a while. Tanya does not mention that she feel hungry once she has finished her food for the day and, in fact, says that when she eats later than her normal time she actually feels ill from doing so.

All in all, I am very pleased with my experiment and will continue to write about my adventures over at my other blog site The Tao of Fruit if you wish to continue following me. To everyone who has shared this sometimes difficult but ultimately rewarding journey with me, I wish to say Thank You! Thank You! for all your comments, support and encouragement. It has been a lot of fun.

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A man is but the product of his thoughts.
What he thinks, he becomes.

Mahatma Gandhi

Re-Feeding--Week 3

The Virgin Mary (Catholic), or Theotokos (Orthodox)

In most religious traditions, the repetition of a mantra or Holy Name is used as a form of prayer or spiritual practice, as a way to deepen one's connection with God (or Higher Self). This is just as true in Christianity as it is in the more exotic Eastern spiritual paths. Many saints from the Orthodox and Catholic traditions have used the Jesus Prayer or repeated the name of Jesus (Jesu Christi) or Mary (Ave Maria) as a simple but very profound form of unceasing prayer (as Saint Paul recommended).

Mary is often somewhat foreign to Christians who, like myself, have been raised in a Protestant tradition but, once introduced to her, most grow to love her. Mary is the archetypal Divine Mother who is there to nurture us all. In Kathleen Norris's book Meditations on Mary, she shares the story of an East Indian Hindu woman who had a shrine dedicated to Mary in the corner of her home. When asked about this, the woman said, "I am not a Christian, but I love her." Mary, it seems, is everyone's mother.

Below is a beautiful sermon on Mary by one of the leading lights of Western Christianity.

Let us say a few words about this Name
which means "Star of the Sea"
and is so appropriate to the Virgin Mother.

She -- I tell you -- is that splendid and wondrous star
suspended as if by necessity over this great wide sea,
radiant with merit and brilliant in example.

O you, whoever you are,
who feel that in the tidal wave of this world
you are nearer to being tossed about among the squalls and gales
than treading on dry land:
if you do not want to founder in the tempest,
do not avert your eyes from the brightness of this star.

When the wind of temptation blows up within you,
when you strike upon the rock of tribulation,
gaze up at this star,
call out to Mary.

Whether you are being tossed about
by the waves of pride or ambition,
or slander or jealousy,
gaze up at this star,
call out to Mary.

When rage or greed or fleshly desires
are battering the skiff of your soul,
gaze up at Mary.

In dangers, in hardships, in every doubt,
think of Mary, call out to Mary.
Keep her in your mouth,
keep her in your heart.

Follow the example of her life,
and you will obtain the favour of her prayer.

Following her, you will never go astray.
Asking her help, you will never despair.
Keeping her in your thoughts, you will never wander away.

With your hand in hers, you will never stumble.
With her protecting you, you will not be afraid.
With her leading you, you will never tire.

Her kindness will see you through to the end.
Then you will know by your own experience
how true it is that the Virgin's Name was Mary.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

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For the past week, I have been sticking pretty closely to the straight and narrow with my food and only eating what I already know is okay. My diet has consisted of celery juice, tangerine juice, blueberries, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, seaweed, buckwheat, and steamed or sautéd vegetables (broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, beets), and lemon juice for flavoring. I have been making vegetable broth and using the broth to cook my buckwheat or sauté my vegetables. All of these foods feel pretty good.

I have experimented with both lentils and garbanzos (chickpeas) several times, but the jury is still out. Neither one gave me a headache, but they did cause my throat to burn. However, there is a cold virus going around, and several people around me are quite sick with it. I can tell that my immune system is fighting it, but it is keeping it at a very low level. So I don't think I am getting a true reading on the beans right now because every time I tried them I felt like it was a distraction to my immune system and took energy away from the task of eliminating the virus from my body. The buckwheat does not do this (and neither do the cook vegetables) and I think this is very much worth noting. Beans are higher in protein (25%) than buckwheat (18%) and I know that viruses thrive on protein. But I don't think that is the whole answer. I suspect it may have to do with the type of protein as well. As Peter D'Adamo N.D. points out in his book Eat Right 4 Your Type, different foods contain different lectins (a type of protein) and, depending on your blood type, certain lectins (and the foods that contain them) are a drain on the immune system. Most people are aware of this concept when it involves wheat gluten (a lectin), but are not aware that other foods can do the same thing in genetically susceptible individuals. That is probably the case here, which certainly makes one wonder whether they should eat a food at all, if that food makes them feel worse when they are fighting a virus. Food for thought!

I also tried some leeks this past week and they messed me up almost as much as the black pepper, so I had my Radionics practioner treat me for that as well. I am planing to try quinoa, sweet potatoes, and winter squash in the near future. One of the wonderful things that is coming out of all this experimenting for myself is that I am discovering all kinds of foods that my dog loves. He is crazy about lentils, garbanzos, quinoa, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and zuccini; however, he does not like pinto beans, asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, or brussel sprouts. So now he is getting a lot more variety in his diet which I like.

I recently learned that the diet of the Japanese Okinawa Islanders was comprised largely of sweet potatoes before 1950, providing almost 70% of total calories. (Please note: the sweet potatoes eaten by the Okinawans is dark purple inside and very high in anthocyanins compared to the cream and yellow colored ones available to us in supermarkets.) They also practice a form of calorie restriction and eat 300 less calories than the mainland Japanese (1700 kcal. verses 2100 kcal per day). Their diet is also very low in fat (6%). Their diet was also low in protein (9%) and high in carbohydrate (85%). Fruit provided less than 1% of total calories, nuts and seeds less than 1%, and vegetables 3% (remember Dr. Doug Graham recommends 2-6% of caloric intake should come from greens)of total calories.You might also find it interesting that the primary caloric source for the mainland Japanese was from rice (54%) and other grains (24%), whereas only 19% of the Okinawan diet is derived from grains. The ratios for the Okinawans was 85/9/6, while those for the mainlanders was 79/13/8, both of which were very close to Dr. Graham's recommendation of 80/10/10. But the source of their carbohydrate calories was very different. The reason that these facts are interesting is that Okinawa has one of the largest populations of centinarians in the world. Since sweet potatoes must be cooked before they can be eaten, it appears that a diet which is mostly cooked can, in fact, support excellent health and longevity (depending, of course, on the particular cooked food consumed). Another group of centinarians from China eats a diet that derives almost 60% of total calories from sweet potatoes. They also practice a form of calorie restriction, eating an average of 1400 kcal. per day. Their diet is also very low in fat. Unfortunately, with globalization, the traditional diets of these population groups has changed somewhat during the past few decades and the number of long-lived healthy individuals is beginning to decline.

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Keep your eye on the sunshine, and you will not see the shadows.

Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Re-Feeding--Days 9, 10, 11, and 12

Blessed Rosalie Rendu, a Tireless Servant of Christ

Today (February 7) is the Feast Day of Blessed Rosalie (she is still being considered for Canonization) according to the Catholic calendar. She was born in France in 1786 and grew up in the middle of the French Revolution. Priests were being asked to swear allegiance to the State and those who refused to do so were either killed or exiled. Blessed Rosalie's family provided a refuge for several members of the clergy, including a Bishop, whom they hid as farm hands (much like the Germans who hid the Jews during Hitler's reign of terror).

From the age of 9 to 11, Rosalie attended an Ursuline school for girls and every day she had to pass a hospital where the Daughters of Charity helped to provide care to the sick. She was so taken with the work and mission of these Daughters that she asked permission of her mother to assist them in their work. Her mother agreed, and by the age of 17 Blessed Rosalie decided that she wanted to dedicate her life to such service and left to join a community of the Daughters of Charity.

Blessed Rosalie was eventually sent to serve in the Mouffetard District, one of the poorest slums of 19th century Paris, where she spent the remaining 54 years of her life. She ministered to the sick and poverty stricken, taught girls to read and write, started a free medical clinic, a free pharmacy, an orphanage for children, and a home for the elderly. She was also a co-founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a mission dedicated to helping the poor and disadvantaged. Here are two telling quotes that demonstrate her ability to live in the presence of God:

If you wish for someone to love you, you must be the first to love, and if you have nothing to give, give yourself.

You will go to visit the poor ten times a day, and ten times a day you will find God there. Our Lord hides behind those rags.

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The past four days have been much easier for me. I spoke with my Radionics practitioner on the evening of Day 8 and asked him to check me for problems with garlic and/or black pepper. I started to feel better the very next day, but he did not call me until this evening to tell me what he had done. Apparently he did not find any problem with garlic (could be I did not actually ingest any, not sure), but he found a big problem with the black pepper and started treating me for it that evening. He told me that he is personally sensitive to white pepper and can always tell when it is in something he has eaten, but black pepper has no negative effect on him at all.

Day 9 (February 4): I ate two meals today (12 pm and 7 pm) which both consisted of celery juice (24 oz), followed by blueberries (10 oz), followed by lettuce (1 head) and cherry tomatoes (8 oz) and buckwheat (2 cups cooked). Felt pretty good all day. I have no more pain in my colon or the lymph nodes below my ears where they meet my jaw. Started my period (34 days since my last one which began on the first day of my fast, January 2). Light flow, no pain.

Day 10 (February 5): I ate two meals today (12 pm and 7 pm). The second was the same as my meals yesterday, but with the first I substituted pinto beans (1 cup) for the buckwheat. I had a low grade frontal headache for about six hours after eating the beans (level 4 on a scale of 1-10). Period, medium flow, no pain.

Day 11 (February 6) I ate two meals today (12 pm and 7 pm) which both consisted of celery juice (24 oz), followed by blueberries (10 oz), followed by lettuce (1 head) and cherry tomatoes (8 oz), and buckwheat (1 cup) and pinto beans (1 cup). I got a low grade frontal headache after both meals. The headache is definitely due to the beans and it doesn't seem to matter if I eat them with or without the buckwheat. Buckwheat by itself does not do this to me. Period, medium flow, no pain.

Day 12 ( February 7): I ate two meals today (12 pm and 7 pm). I have decided to drop the beans for a few days and just get back to even again. So I did everything the same as I did on Day 9, except I replaced the tomatoes with steamed vegetables. Celery juice (24 oz), followed by blueberries (10 oz), followed by lettuce (1 head) and cherry tomatoes (8 oz) and buckwheat (2 cups). With my first meal, I had broccoli (1 lb); with my second meal, I had green beans (1 lb). Both of these seemed to work just fine. Felt much better again overall today. Period, only light spotting. I am pleased that my period has been so easy this time. Since one lives on their own body fat during a water-only fast (which is somewhat like being on a high-fat diet), I thought I might experience some pain again with my first post-fast menstruation, but that has not been the case.

I really don't understand why there are so many foods that I cannot eat without getting some sort of negative reaction or other. This is not simply a post-fasting reaction. I have not eaten beans for a very long time because I did not do well with them before. Perhaps there are some beans and legumes that will not give me a headache, but I will have to try each one separately with a clean slate in order to find out.

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I tell you one thing ~ if you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather, learn to see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. For no one is a stranger, my child.

Sri Sarada Devi (1853-1920), known as the Holy Mother to her disciples

Re-Feeding--Days 6, 7, and 8

Saint Blaise, Patron of Wild Animals

Today (February 3)  is the Feast Day of Saint Blaise on the Catholic calendar. Saint Blaise was a physician who lived in the 300s (4 th Century) who was asked to serve the local Christian community in Armenia as a Bishop. There were many persecutions of Christians occurring during his time, and he was forced to flee into the wilderness in order to protect himself.

Unfortunately, his whereabouts were eventually discovered by the Governor's men. When they finally located him, he was living as a hermit in a cave. Those who came to arrest him were flabergasted to find wild animals of all types (vegetarian and carnivore) who were sick or injured hanging around his abode waiting to be healed by this good and generous man.

When Saint Blaise was being escorted back to the Governor, a woman with a young child knelt in front of him and ask him to heal her child who had a fish bone stuck in his throat. Saint Blaise quickly and easily extracted the bone from the child's throat, and many people with throat aliments have found healing through their prayers of petition to Saint Blaise.

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I am surprised at the difficulties I am encountering in breaking this fast. With all of the other fasts I have done in the past (lasting between 2-3 weeks) I never had these kinds of problems. However, I was always in complete control of what I chose to eat because I was at home. The last fast I did 4 years ago was 18 days and I was on my raw paleo program of raw meat, olive oil, and raw greens, and those are the food I used to break my fast. I did not even have a juicer at the time. I just re-fed with a small size normal meal and had absolutely no problems whatsoever (I blended the greens though). Of course, I do not feel that the raw paleo diet is a healthy choice for the long term, and I don't like eating animals, so I don't intend to go back there. But it is interesting how much easier the re-feeding experience was with foods that you would think would be a lot more difficult for the body to process. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to just start re-feeding with a small balanced meal, instead of just fruit or just vegetables that leave one feeling hungry and dissatisfied and incline one to over eat them.

In Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey's book The No-Breakfast Plan, he presents several case histories of individuals who did long fasts and re-fed with the exact same foods they were eating before they went on the fast.

A 57 year old gentleman (Leonard Thress) who was dying from pneumonia in 1899 when he commenced his fast went without food for 50 days before he became hungry. His pneumonia and several other chronic health problems cleared up during the fast. When his hunger finally returned, he broke his fast with a a slice of whole wheat toast with butter and pickled pigs feet jelly. He enjoyed it and felt well afterwards. He did not eat again until the next day at which time he consumed a dish of mashed potatoes, red cabbage, another portion of pickled pigs feet jelly, applesauce, and a cream puff for dessert. He enjoy this meal and felt still better afterwards. His case was written up in the North American.

Another 54 year old gentleman (Milton Rathbun) did a 28 day fast in May of 1899 and a 35 day fast in January of 1900 for weight loss and cardiovascular health (we was 5'6" and weighed 210 at the start), working at his business the entire time of both fasts. When hunger finally returned after each period of abstinence, he recommenced eating with beef broth, followed by several oranges, followed by a dozen oysters on crackers (at night), followed by crackers and cream (in the morning), followed by clam broth, 6 steamed clams, a bowl of mock turtle soup, a half of a chicken, canned peas, fried potatoes, and a lemon ice for dessert (for lunch). From this point on he continued with his usual routine of The No-Breakfast Plan which he had followed for 5 years prior to either of his fasts. In the New York Press, he was quoted as saying that he never felt better in his life. He ended up losing a total of 85 lbs of superfluous fat.

A 22 year old woman (Estella Kuenzel) who had been diagnosed with severe depression in 1899 and was sent to an asylum was taken into the care of one Mr. Henry Ritter who believed a fast would be of considerable help to her. During the first three weeks of her fast she was completely bedridden, but after that she began to feel well enough to walk. During the last 23 days of her 45 day fast, she walked every day. On her 44 th day, she walked 7 miles and went to an all-day Exposition without experiencing the slightest fatigue. With every passing day of her fast, she became happier and brighter, "life became once more a joy instead of a burden." When her hunger finally returned on day 45, she broke her fast with one poached egg and two slices of whole wheat toast. This meal amply satisfied her for the day, and she did not get hungry until lunch the next day at which time she had the same meal again. She had a light dinner that second evening and from that point on continued with The No-Breakfast Plan. She weighed 140 lbs at the beginning of her fast and 120 lbs at the end of her fast, so she only lost 20 lbs during her 45 day fast. Her case was reported in the Chester County Times.

Don't these stories give you pause for thought?

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On Day 6, all I had was celery juice all day and I started to feel a great deal better by the end of the day. I then had some steamed vegetables and still felt okay.

On Day 7, I woke up hungry and had a celery juice for breakfast. Got really hungry, did not eat anything, hunger went away after an hour or so, felt pretty good all morning. Intestinal inflammation much less and the pain in my lymph nodes below my ears was 50% less than the day before. I had a second celery juice at lunch and then decided to try some more steamed vegetables even though I wasn't really that hungry. I felt terrible almost immediately and for the next four hours. I had vegetable broth in the evening and felt hungry (probably more in my mind than my body) and decided to have some more steamed vegetables. I immediately got a headache and felt terrible. My reaction to the steamed vegetables today is really confusing to me since I seemed to do okay with them last night. I don't really think that the problem is the cooked vegetables per se but, rather, that my system has been thrown off balance by the garlic, black pepper, or something else that was in the food prepared at TNH, and now I am reacting to something that should be totally fine.

On Day 8, I felt like crap when I woke up. The pain in my intestines and lymph nodes is not any worse, but I have a lot of mucous in my throat and right sinus area, a general feeling of dis-ease in my head, a burning throat, and no real appetite. When I first came off this fast, I was doing brilliantly with the juice and steamed vegetables, but then I ate something that my body did not like at all (I think it was garlic, black pepper, or some other spice in one of the soups at TNH) and it seems to have shut down my digestive system even to the foods that were working originally. Its like throwing a wrench into some gears and preventing them from operating properly. When the gears are out of alignment, nothing works. I really don't want to have to go back on the fast, but it may be necessary to get my body back on track again.

I went ahead and had a celery juice in the morning and that felt okay and the mucous began to clear. At noon, I had another celery juice and that too felt okay, so I decided to try some Stahlbush frozen organic raw ripe blueberries. I did good with those, so then I had some romaine lettuce with some sweet ripe cherry tomatoes. I still felt okay after this and, in fact, started to feel much better in general. For dinner, I had another celery juice followed by blueberries and then I went out on a limb and had buckwheat with the lettuce and tomatoes. It has been several hours since I ate dinner and I am still feeling okay from it, and I feel considerably better than when I woke up this morning. Maybe I just need to eat mostly raw for now. I do feel like my digestive system is still off though, but I am hoping it will gradually work through it without my needing to stop eating altogether again.

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Goodness is the only investment which never fails.

Henry David Thoreau

Re-Feeding--Days 3, 4, and 5

Saint Brigid of Kildare Ireland, Patron of Hospitality

Today (February 1) is the feast day of Saint Brigid. Saint Brigid appears to have been born around 450 to a pagan father and a Christian mother. It is believed that her mother was baptised by Saint Patrick (d.461) and that Brigid heard and was deeply influenced by the preachings of that great saint. From a very early age, Brigid wanted to enter an convent and dedicate her life to Christ. Her family was fairly well off and people would often knock at their door and ask for food or other assistance. Brigid never hesitated to give what was asked, and once when they were out of food she apparently gave her father's jeweled sword to a leper. This last incident seems to have convinced her father to allow her to enter a convent.

Saint Brigid received the veil from Saint Mael of Ardagh and, by 470, she had founded a double monastery (one for monks and one for nuns) on the plains of Kildare (Cill-Dara), or the Church of the Oaks, where she had a cell underneath a large oak tree. The Abbey of Kildare became became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland, famed throughout all of Christian Europe. The Abbey was also the very first monastery for women in Ireland. Again, she became known for her self-less hospitality to visitors and travelers, and there always seemed to be plenty of everything to provide for the needs of everyone, and no one was ever turned away empty handed. Her generosity is represented in the writings on the scroll in the close-up below (to care for the poor, to lighten everyone's burden, to comfort the suffering):

It is said that she performed many healing miracles during her life and became widely known as a saint while she was yet living. One of the sweeter miracles that has been passed down through the ages (whether fact or fiction, the story nonetheless contains truth) is this: One evening, the holy abbess was sitting with a blind nun named Dara. From sunset to sunrise, they spoke of the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and of the love of Christ, losing all track of time. St. Brigid was struck by the beauty of the earth and sky in the morning light. Realizing that Sister Dara was unable to appreciate this beauty, she became very sad. Then she prayed and made the Sign of the Cross over Dara’s eyes. All at once, the blind nun’s eyes were opened and she saw the sun in the east, and the trees and flowers sparkled with dew. She looked for a while, then turned to St. Brigid and said, “Close my eyes again, dear Mother, for when the world is visible to the eyes, then God is seen less clearly by the soul.” St. Brigid prayed again, and Dara became blind once more.

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 Well, I am sorry to report that the past three days of re-feeding have not gone well at all. I have not been able to get the foods I need, prepared the way that I need, when I need them. I did okay for the first two days because I made my own food in my room and was able to steam the veggies to the right softness. But then the staff told me that I could not prepare my own food in my room because it created to many smells for my apartment-mate (who incidentally did care). I ended up trying to make due with under-cooked vegetables and some light (under-cooked) soups that had spices in them and this was a huge mistake. The staff subsequently told me that the kitchen would prepare anything I needed. I told the doctor that I had been requesting zucchini for the past three days and the kitchen did not have any. I told him that I had given the kitchen a recipe for some well-cooked vegetable soup with the vegetables I knew were safe and they never made it. That is when I asked them to bring me the vegetables and I made it myself. But then the next day they did not have the vegetables I needed to repeat the process.

So, the long and the short of it is that I ingested something or several somethings that has made my body extremely unhappy. My intestines are inflamed and ache, my throat has been burning for the past three days, I have glop at the back of my throat, and the lymph nodes below my ears are extremely tender. These are all symptoms I have had in the past (I don't need to have been on a fast to get them) when I try to eat things that my body does not want. They do not offer much in the way of fruit beyond bananas and melons, neither of which I can eat. I made the decision to come home yesterday so that I can have more control over the re-feeding process. I am not real happy about this part of my experience at TrueNorth Health. If I was to do it all over again, I would just have juice for 4-5 days and gain my strength back enough to come home and not even try to start re-feeding there. I absolutely loved the care I got while on the fast and would recommend them in a heartbeat for that, but the whole re-feeding thing has been a complete nightmare for someone like myself. Clearly, these problems I have experienced would not be true for others who can eat melons (which is such a perfect food to break a fast with if you can eat it). I have no doubt that many other people have wonderful experiences at TNH, and I will still highly recommend the facility. The main caveat I can give is to definitely make your needs known to your doctor (not just the kitchen) and insist that they get you what ever you feel would be best for you. By the time I figured this out, I decided it would be easier for me to just come home.

I am back home now and had a celery juice this morning, but even juice does not feel good at this point. I may need to actually go back on water for a few days in order to get back to even and then start over with reintroducing food the right way for me. I am so happy with the way the fast went and all the benefits that will flow from it, but coming off the fast is equally important (if not more so) if those benefits are to be maintained for the long term. I am feeling a little demoralized and depressed about the way things have gone for the past few days, as I do not want to mess up all the good work that has been accomplished. I will post again in a few days, after my body has had a chance to settle down (and I am in a better mental space), and let you know how it is going.

On a positive note, I will also add that in spite of feeling bad and having negative reactions to some of the foods I've tried, I actually look surprisingly good after only five days of re-feeding.

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To love someone is to see him as God intended him.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian Novelist

Re-Feeding--Days 1 and 2

Saint Angela Merici of Lombardy, Italy

Yesterday (January 27) was the Feast Day of Saint Angela Merici according to the Catholic calendar. She was born in 1474 and died in 1540 at the age of 66. At the age of ten, she was orphaned and sent to live with her uncle who provided her with a loving and religiously devout home. In her teens, she became a tertiary of Saint Francis. Her uncle died when she was twenty and so she returned to her paternal home.

Saint Angela was appalled by the lack of religious education available to young girls and she felt called to address this need. She converted her home into a school of religious instruction and invited all of the young girls of her community to come and learn the basic teachings of Christ. In 1535, she started the order of Ursulines with twelve unmarried young women. Once the community received episcopal approbation, the movement was taken up with great enthusiasm and quickly spread throughout Italy, Germany, and France. It was the first teaching order of women established in the Church, and to the present date has adhered strictly to the work of its original mission.

Saint Angela's "Rule" for her community was recently rediscovered after being lost for almost 400 years.

Mary-Cabrini Durkin dialogues with Saint Angela in her new book Angela Merici's Journey of the Heart. Each section combines explanation of and reflection on the Rule. Durkin states, "Angela speaks often about the heart...the vessel of love. The love she talks of is her own experience, and ours, of Jesus as the One who reaches into the heart's core. He sees our truth. He touches it lovingly with the touch of God, and we become more alive."

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Day 1 (January 27): My weight was 89.6, my blood pressure was 103/76, my pulse was 80, and my temperature was 97.7. I woke up hungry this morning!!! Yippy...Yaaaaaa...Yahooo... I didn't wait for the doctor to come and check on me this morning before ording a celery juice from the kitchen and I was already drinking it by the time he got to me. My blood work came back this morning and simple confirmed what I already knew: my body had completed whatever it needed to do for this fast. My liver enzymes were both back in the normal range. It is so gratifying to be able to see the body's signals supported by the laboratory tests. Dr. Klapper is very pleased and had a big smile on his face. I drank a total of four 16 ounce celery juices over the course of the day. It took about an hour to drink each one, taken in small sips and held in my mouth for a while to mix it with saliva. I also ate quite a few steamed vegies, including zucchini, green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, English peas. I found the peas to be so sweet that it was almost too much. The zucchini tastes really sweet to me also. I also had some raw lettuce and cherry tomatoes in the evening. I ate about every 2 hours, with juices in between. I was hungry pretty much all day. I ate no fruit because it did not call out to me and I did not want to put any sugar into my body right now. I had the kitchen bring me raw vegies and I steam them in my apartment when I want them. They let the patients self regulate their food intake here (with suggested guidelines), and they were a bit concerned with how much food I was eating. But I always waited to eat until I got hungry before I ate again. I remember reading in Dr. Jack Goldstein's book Triumph Over Disease that he was so hungry after his 6 week fast that Dr. Gross could not keep enough food in the house for him and was always sending someone out to get more. I felt good all day.

Day 2 (January 28): My weight was 92.4 (a gain of almost 3 lbs!), my blood pressure was 90/60, my pulse was 76, my temperature was 97.6. I had five 16 ounce celery juices over the course of the day. I ate quite a few steamed vegies, including green beans, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower. I ate raw lettuce and cherry tomatoes 3 different times. Again, I ate about every two hours, with juice in between. I had my first bowel movement this morning and it was completely effortless; it seemed as if all the vegies I ate yesterday just fell right out of me. I had two more bowel movements later in the day. I was surprised that they did not smell especially bad. I felt good all day.

Now that I have some energy, I have started to go through the large selection of DVD's they offer in their lending library here. Today, I watched two outstanding documentaries by Mike Anderson. The first is called Eating and the second is called Healing Cancer from the Inside Out. Eating discusses the health and environmental problems created by eating a diet centered around animal products and then presents the overwhelming evidence about the health and environment benefits of eating a plant-based diet. Healing Cancer from the Inside Out discusses the politics of Big Money that supports the Cancer Industry and the Animal Production Industry and then presents the overwhelming evidence about the complete ineffectiveness of conventional cancer treatments and the incredible healing success that many cancer patients experience after adopting a plant-based diet. I plan to by multiple copies of both of these documentaries to loan out to all my friends. If you are interested in learning more, go to Mike Anderson's website: Rave Diet.

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Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives it's ease
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.

William Blake, English Poet (1757-1827)

Fasting--Days 23, 24, and 25

Saint Paula the Venerable of Rome

Today (January 26) is the Feast Day of Saint Paula on the Orthodox calendar. She lived from 347 to 404 and was one of the early Desert Mothers. She was born into one of the wealthiest senatorial families of the time, married well, and gave birth to five children. When she 32 years old her husband suddenly died, leaving her widowed. This caused her reexamine her life and she gradually became more and more devoted to Christ.

Saint Paula eventually made the decision to go into the desert to live a monastic life. She took with her a large group of unmarried woman and another large group of widows like herself. Paula found founded two separate convents in order to accommodate the needs of the different women. Although the two groups lived separately, they worshiped together and chanted the entire Book of Psalms every single day which all of the sisters had to know by heart. Additionally, each sister was required to chose a passage from the the Holy Scriptures to memorize and meditate upon throughout the day. (You may recall from an earlier post that this is what Eknath Easwaran teaches people to do in his book Passage Meditation.) Saint Paula herself was said to have become so familiar with the Holy Scriptures that she could respond to almost any situation with a perfectly appropriate passage.

Saint Jerome says that she was the living image of all the virtues, assiduous in prayer, eager at work, disciplined in fasting. She was lavish only in alms giving and in her love for the poor. Every earthly blessing that came her way she immediately distributed to those in need, as she could not bear to send anyone away hungry or in rags. When she was lying on her death bed after a long illness, her face suddenly lit up as she heard Christ speak to her, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone" (Song of Songs 2:10-11). And she relied to Him, "The time of harvest has come. I shall truly see the good things of the Lord in the Land of the Living." At that moment, she gave up her soul into the hands of her Creator.

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Day 23 (January 24): My weight was 91.4, my blood pressure was 96/68, my pulse was 96 (high), my temperature was 98.2. Dr. Linzner, who is the one that mostly checks me every morning, feels the high pulse is indicative of detoxification. He said he has seen the pulse go up to 110 and stay there for days on some some people. My urine test showed that "specific gravity" was good, which means that I am consuming enough water. My urine is still quite dark. Only slept 1.5 hour, bad night. Moderate lower GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 24 (January 25): My weight was 90.6, my blood pressure was 94/66, my pulse was 76, and my temperature was 98.1. I enjoyed a wonderful 6 hours of sleep last night. What a blessed gift! My urine does not seem to be quite so dark today. All the doctors are impressed with how strong I am, and with how well I seem to be holding up. Dr. Linzner told me that he is worthless on a fast after about 3 days and just cannot believe how great I'm doing. High level of lower GI gas (extremely annoying!), no bowel activity. I am feeling quite good overall. My acupuncturist came to give me a treatment again today. He said my eyes and my complexion look so much better than they did when he saw me on Friday. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 25 (January 26): My weight was 90.2, my blood pressure was 94/66, my pulse was 68, and my temperature was 98.1. Slept 4 hours. My mouth is starting to feel cleaner, and the water is starting to taste better again. Had blood drawn today and will get results tomorrow morning. High levels of lower GI gas (really the most troublesome symptom I am having), no bowel activity. I felt very good overall again today. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Many of you have been asking me for information on how to prevent ourselves from becoming infected with parasites. Here is an article on Parasite Prevention by Dr. Glenn Wilcox. I must say that after reading it, I came to the conclusion that it might be easier to just do periodic parasite cleanses or other types of treatments than to follow all of the hygienic recommendations outlined in this article. But you can read it and decide for yourself.

I have added several new informational Pages to my blog:

WHY DO A WATER FAST?

FASTING TESTIMONIALS 

The links are in the column to right of my posts under "My Pages.".

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If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Fasting--Days 20, 21, and 22

 I just received Doreen Virtue's newest book Angel Words: Visual Evidence of How Words Can Be Angels in Your Life in the mail ,and I am loving it. Similar to the work that Masaru Emoto did with water, showing that positive words created different crystalline structures and colors in the water molecules than negative words, Virtue has discovered that positive words create very different energy graphs on her computer than negative words. While positive words create loose expansive patterns, negative words create tight contractive patterns.

Studies have shown that the use of negative words during major surgery increases the need for pain medication post-operatively. It has also been shown, through the use of magnetic resonance tomography, that pain related words activate the pain centers in the brain. This knowledge can be used to our advantage by deliberately choosing to focus on positive words.Virtue offers many wonderful anecdotes of people who have done just that and experienced incredible transformations in their lives. Here are a few:

Carolyn: She owned a metaphysical store in Nova Scotia for five years prior to learning about the power of Angel Words. When people asked her how her business was going, she would reply, "I'll never be rich, but it pays the bills." And that is exactly the way it stayed for her. But once she realized that her words might be contributing to the store's static financial situation, she changed the way she responded when people asked her how business was going. Her new answer was, "Fantastic! This place is a goldmine!" Within one year of beginning this new approach, her business sales had increased by 40 percent.

Jessica: She had spent most of her life struggling to make ends meet, going from one job to another and finding it impossible to complete her college education. At the age of 36, she was still living at home with her mother. Then she began to study meditation and found herself very attracted to the Angel Word benevolent and decided to use that word as her mantra, and she focus on seeing benevolence in everyone around her. This one simple practice completely changed her life. She now has good job that provides her the flexibility she needs to finally complete her college degree which will allow her to pursue a career that she is truly passionate about.

Esther: When she was growing up, her father continually used the statement, "Life is not a bowl of cherries." So, naturally, when Esther became an adult to found herself continually using this statement as well. And her life certainly was not a bowl of cherries. Then she was introduced to the practice of using positive affirmations and decided that turn about was fair play. She began using the statement, "Life is a bowl of cherries!" Within a very short period of time, her life completely turned around. She has a wonderful partner, a beautiful home, and she owns her own business.

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Day 20 (January 21): My weight was 92.6, my blood pressure was 100/70, my pulse was 80, and my temperature was 98.1. I am starting to really feel the fast. Need to spend more time flat out in bed. It is harder to sit up for any length of time. Only slept 3 hours last night. Moderate lower GI gas, no bowel activity. I took a long Epsom salt bath and when I got out of tub and sat down on a towel on the floor I involuntarily expelled a big blob of thick, gelatinous, yellow mucous (about 3 tablespoons worth) from my vagina/uterus. Acupunture treatment today. The color was dark enough to stain the towel. Drank 3 quarts of water. Urine is quite dark.

Day 21 (January 22):  My weight was 92.4, my blood pressure was 90/60, my pulse was 76, and my temperature was 98. Slept 4 hours. I woke up very nauseated and stayed that way until around noon. Starting to get some muscle tightness. Mouth has felt very, very acid today. Moderate lower GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water. Have moment of intense thirst, but also find it difficult to drink water. Urine is quite dark.

Day 22 (January 23):  My weight was 92, my blood pressure was 90/64, my pulse was 84, and my temperature was 98.1. Slept 4 hours. Very weak and tired today. Getting some light-headedness when I stand, so have to be more careful. Moderate lower GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water. Mouth again feels quite acid. Have moments of intense thirst, but also find it difficult to drink water. Urine quite dark with a strange reddish tinge (kind of like when you eat beets). Urine gets check in the morning, so we will see what they have to say about it. Had my third B-12 shot today. While food looks and smells good, I have absolutely no hunger.

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Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Fasting--Days 17, 18, and 19

Saint Raphael, the Archangel of Divine Healing

I have recently discovered the work of Doreen Virtue, a Ph.D psychologist who has turned to Angels for help in healing her clients. After many years of working with people who were struggling with addiction and other serious issues, Virtue has found that calling on the Angels for help has been far more effective than most of what she learned in her professional training. Virtue saw Angels as a child but lost this ability during her teenage years. Many years later, after a traumatic experience, her ability to see Angels once again returned to her. She now devotes her time to teaching others about Angels and how to connect and communicate with them, having written over 20 books on the subject. I am currently reading her book The Healing Miracles of Archangel Raphael which is so inspiring. It contains one story after another about individuals who were healed of various long or short term illnesses by praying to Archangel Raphael for help.

Archangel Raphael is mentioned in the Book of Tobit (in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles). A man named Tobit is blind and in such despair over his situation that he wants to die. Another woman named Sarah has been married 7 times and each of her husbands have died on their wedding night. Sarah is so distraught over the situation that she, too, wants to die. Tobit has a son named Tobias who must take a journey to collect money that is owed to his father, and Archangel Raphael appears as a human guide. On the journey, they meet Sarah and Archangel Raphael performs a healing on Sarah to free her of the negative influences that are causing her husbands to die. Once this is accomplished, Tobias and Sarah fall in love and marry. After collecting the money, they all return to Tobit. Raphael then performs a healing process on Tobit which heals his blindness and everyone lives happily ever after...This is the story that gives Archangel Raphael his healing reputation.

Here are a few of the healing stories mentioned in Doreen Virtue's book:

Lena: She had an excruciatingly sore throat for five days and trying to swallow water was agonizing. She could not sleep. Finally, in complete desperation, she got down on her knees at 3:00 AM and begged Archangel Raphael to please heal her. She then lay down was able to go to sleep. When she awoke in the morning, her throat was completely healed.

Lisa: She had suffered from severe menstrual pain for 20 years. She had to take 4 pain pills every 2 hours, but even this did not take away the pain completely. One night while lying in bed, she prayed to Archangel Raphael to heal her. In the silence that followed, she heard a voice instruct her to soak in a warm bath and place her hands on her abdomen while calling upon Archangel Raphael. When she did this, her hands became intensely hot as if Archangel Raphael was sending his healing energy through her hands into her abdomen. Her pain vanished. She was again instructed to do this 2 days prior to her period every month, which she does, and has never again experienced any menstrual pain.

Sandy: She had a cerebral hemorrhage which caused her to have a continual migraine headache for over two years. None of the pain clinics or medications were able to provide her with any relief. She heard about the healing powers of Archangel Raphael and decided to pray to him for help. After doing so, she went outside for some fresh air and after walking for about 15 minutes she noticed something was different but could quite place it, and then she realized that she no longer had a headache. The headache has never returned.

There are many, many more stories like these. I highly recommend the book for those who are interested in the spiritual aspects of healing. Interestingly, Doreen Virtue has gradual moved to raw food diet over the past several years.

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Day 17 (January 18): My weight was 95, my blood pressure was 98/72, my pulse was 68, and my temperature was 98.2. I only slept 3 hours last night. My pulse was calmer this morning after having my acupuncturist give me a treatment last night. I am at the point in my fast where I have to lay down pretty much all the time, but other that that I am feeling pretty good. Still have moderate lower GI gas, but not bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 18 (January 19): My weight was 93.8, my blood pressure was 111/70, my pulse was 89, and my temperature was 97.8. Slept 5 hours. The quality of my pulse was described as rapid, bounding, and full. Dr. Klaper gets concerned when it it rapid, bounding, and thin. So I am still doing okay. I notice that right after I wake up in the morning, or after a nap in the afternoon, my pulse seems to be more rapid and it takes about an hour for it to calm down. I am not sure why that is. Overall, I felt really good again today. Moderate GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Day 19 (January 20): My weight was 93, my blood pressure was 96/68, my pulse was 80, and my temperature was 97.8. The doctors are impressed with how strong I am and tell me that I am absolutely amazing. Still felt very good today. Moderate GI gas, no bowel activity. Drank 3 quarts of water.

Parasite Update: The radionics pratitioner I am using had a family emergency and was unable to start treating me until last night. In his diagnostic overview, he found all of the parasites that Dr. Hammed Ibraheem found, but he also found two additional ones that Dr. Ibraheem did not find. He also found a high level of inflammation in my gastrointestinal system and said that the parasites were really well embedded in me. I am sort of glad he was not able to start on me right away because that gave some time to see if 18 days of fasting would make much difference in the parasite infect and resultant inflammation, and apparently it did not which is very good information for others who may be wishing to fast in order to get rid of parasites. It is probably best to eradicate the parasites some other way first and then do a fast to heal the gastrointestinal tract.

Blood Work: I got the results of my second blood test back today and my liver enzymes are much more elevated. The doctors said that my body is doing some heavy duty work. AST(SGOT) is 73 on a scale of 0-40 and  the ALT(SGPT) is 58 on a scale of 0-50. My MCH is still high which indicates that I am still deficient in B-12. So far I have had 2 B-12 shots (10,000 mcg each).

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Love makes everything that is heavy light.

Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

Fasting--Days 15 and 16

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I have decided to post some of my favorite quotes by him. He is a lighthouse of spiritual wisdom, and is one of the best examples of someone who has carried out the words we read in the Epistle of James (2:17), "What does it profit...if someone says he has faith but does not have works?...faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of great faith and great works.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

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Day 15 (January 16): My weight was 96, my blood pressure was 94/62, my pulse was 68, and my temp was 97.8. Slept five hours, drank 3 quarts of water, took a B-12 shot. Still felt pretty good over all. I did have an outbreak of a dermatitis herpetiformis lesion on my elbow. This is a skin manifestation of celiac or gluten intolerance. I had these lesions for 8 years from 1988 to 1996 before I discovered that gluten was the cause. I have not had any gluten since 1996. The fact that this is re-manifesting would seem to indicate that my body is going after deeper level toxins and pulling them out into circulation for elimination.

Day 16 (January 17): My weight was 95, my blood pressure was 88/65, my pulse was 68, and my temperature was 98. I slept for 6 hours, drank 3 quarts of water, felt very weak for much of the day. very hypotensive and finding it difficult to sit up for any length of time without becoming nauseated. Dr. Klaper is taking note of the "quality" of my pulse which apparently is stronger or more forceful than it was. This is something that they use as a sign that it may be time to terminate the fast. He thinks I can still go a few more days. I sincerely hope that I am able to go longer than that, as I feel that I am just now starting to get to the deeper stuff and I do not feel that there has been sufficient time to allow for a deep level healing. But maybe I will be one of those people who will have to do a number of 3 week fasts in order to accomplish what one longer one would have done. We will see. My acupuncturist came to treat me later in the evening and he said my water element was way low and that I really need the treatment, so it will be interesting to see if the quality of my pulse feels different to the doctor tomorrow.

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I believe in person to person. Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Fasting--Day 13 and 14

I spent the day reading an inspiring book by Cheryl Russell titled THANKYOUOLOGY: How the Art of Saying Thank You Transforms your Life! Cheryl was raised in the Unity Church and has practiced a life of positively affirming what is Good and True. But in recent years, she has paid special attention to being thankful for everything in her life. She describes how the deliberate act of taking time to say thank you to your body, your friends and family, your co-workers and bosses, the people who inspire you, and of course God can facilitate a more rewarding life experience. She shares a wonderful personal story about a time when she was given only 60 days to move out of the home she had occupied for 9 years, as the landlords had decided to move into the home themselves. She was devastated and panic stricken, and she was in the middle of a huge fundraising campaign for the non-profit that she worked for at the time. After the initial shock, she managed to gather her wits about her and put her "thank you" practice into action. So, with only 3 weeks left to find a new living situation, she sat down and wrote a thank you letter to God:

Dear God,


Thank you for my new place to live. I love it so much!
1. Thank you for the gorgeous ocean view.
2. Thank you for the peaceful sounds of silence.
3. Thank you for the fresh clean feeling of my home.
4. Thank you that my furniture fits perfectly.
5. Thank you for the birds and gentleness around me.
6. Thank you for the great outdoors for my daily walks.
7. Thank you for the friendly neighborhood.
8. Thank you for the home that feels SO magical!
9. Thank you for the affordable rent.
10. Thank you for a May 7, 2005 move-in date.


With Love and Hugs,
Cheryl

Within 12 days, she had found a new home that met every single request she had made in her letter! In the Gospel of Mark (11:24), Jesus tells us, "whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." By writing a letter to God, and thanking Him in advance for what we want, we are doing a Jesus instructed. And, I suspect there is something especially powerful about writing down our prayer requests.

For people who are struggling health issues, Cheryl recommends making a daily practice of thanking your body, especially the part that is giving you trouble. She uses alliteration to make is fun. Here are some examples:

Thank you stupendous stomach!
Thank you lively liver!
Thank you exquisite eyes!
Thank you glorious gallbladder!
Thank you brilliant brain!
Thank you precious pancreas!
Thank you terrific teeth!
Thank you splendid spleen!
Thank you intelligent intestines!
Thank you clever colon!
Thank you eloquent ears!
Thank you scrumptious skin!

Well, this probably gives you the idea. You can make up your own for any part of your body and repeat it from time to time throughout the day. You may be pleasantly surprised at what a positive effect this practice can have on your total well-being. In Masuro Emoto's work on water, he found that positive words directed at water created completely different crystalline structures and colors than those in water that had negative words directed at them. Since our bodies are made up almost entirely of water, it would make sense that positive words directed toward them would have a profoundly positive effect.

Here is the song Thank You by 33 Miles:



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Day 13 (January 14):  Still feeling good. Slight nausea from time to time, but nothing major. My weight was 97.0, blood pressure was 96/70, pulse was 81, and temperature was 97.9. Experienced some stuffiness in my right sinus for several hours after waking. My roommate says I have color in my face for the first time since she saw me. Still experiencing some gas, but no bowel activity. Drank 3.5 quarts of water. My vitamin D levels are low at 30. Optimum is 50, so I will need to supplement once I come off the fast.

Day 14 (January 15): Still feeling good. Slight nausea from time to time, but nothing major. My weight was 96.4, blood pressure was 90/54, pulse was 80, and temperature was 97.7. The uterine bleeding has finally stopped. Still experiencing some gas, but no bowel activity. Drank 4 quarts of water.

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A good friend sent me this article today and I wanted to share it with everyone:

A Study on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Giardia by Leo Galland

In 1991, my colleagues and I published a study of two hundred patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and demonstrated active Giardia infection in 46 per cent. Most of the patients with giardiasis had only minor gastrointestinal symptoms but were really ill with muscle pain, muscle weakness, flu-like feelings, sweats and enlarged lymph nodes. In fact, 61 per cent of fatigued patients with giardiasis had been diagnosed elsewhere as suffering from chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), compared to only 19 per cent of fatigued patients without giardiasis. Cure of giardiasis resulted in clearing of fatigue and related ‘viral’ symptoms (muscle pain, sweats, flu-like feelings) in 70 per cent of cases, some reduction of fatigue in 18 per cent, and was of no benefit in only 12 per cent.

In 1990 I presented a paper before the American College of Gastroenterology which demonstrated Giardia infection in about half of a group of two hundred patients with chronic diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain and bloating. Most of these patients had been told they had irritable bowel syndrome, which is commonly referred to as "nervous stomach". I reached two conclusions from this study: (1) Parasitic infection can be a common event among patients with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. (2) Many people are given a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome without a thorough evaluation.

My presentation was reported by numerous magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times. My office was flooded with hundreds of phone calls from people who were suffering with chronic gastrointestinal complaints. Most of them had been given a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) by their physicians. The standard treatment for this syndrome had not helped them. All they had received was a label. Many had been told there was no cure. In evaluating these patients, I found that the majority had intestinal parasites, food intolerance or a lack of healthy intestinal bacteria.

These conditions were not mutually exclusive. Many patients had more than one reason for chronic gastrointestinal problems. Treating these abnormalities as they occurred in various patients produced remarkably good therapeutic results. A year later, researchers in the Department of Family Medicine at Baylor University in Houston reported findings similar to mine. Despite the research and the news reports about parasites, I still find that intestinal parasites are a common and often unsuspected cause of mystery illness.


Galland L, “Intestinal Protozoan Infestation and Systemic Illness”, in Textbook of Natural Medicine, 3rd Edition, Volume 2, J. Pizzorno and M. Murray, editors, Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, St. Louis, 2005, pp. 655-660.

Galland L. “The Effect of Systemic Microbes on Intestinal Immunity” Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) R. Jenkins and J. Mowbray, editors. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. London. 1991. pp 405-430.

Galland, L., Lee M., Bueno H. and Heimowitz C. (1990) “Giardia lamblia infection as a cause of chronic fatigue.” Journal of Nutritional Medicine, 2, 27-32.

Galland, L. (1989) “Intestinal protozoan infection is a common unsuspected cause of chronic illness.” Journal of Advancement in Medicine, 2, 529-552.

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If the only prayer you said in your whole life was "Thank You" that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), German Theologian, Philosopher, and Mystic

Fasting--Days 11 and 12

May Rowland, a Leading Light of the Unity Movement

I was unable to find a saint for today that captured my heart, so I've decided to introduce you to a very remarkable woman named May Rowland. May was the director of Silent Unity from 1916 to 1971, serving this ministry for 55 years! Silent Unity, the Heart of the Unity Movement is the original and oldest  ministry dedicated to answering prayer requests from anyone and everyone around the globe. Today, they receive more that 1.5 million prayer requests each year through email, snail mail, and 24/7 telephone hotline. You can call them at 1-800-NOW-PRAY. All Unity prayers are positive in nature and seek to affirm Goodness and Truth. The words that will be prayed for you by the representative who answers the phone will be comprised of many Affirmations tailored to your specific need. The prayers of Silent Unity have a way of leaving one feeling more peaceful inside. You don't need to be a member of the Unity Movement to request prayer from them. They give freely to all. All prayer requests are taken to the Tower of Light for 30 days where someone holds silent prayer for all the prayer requests currently there 24/7. This ministry has remained unbroken for over 100 years.  Here is a picture of Silent Unity's Tower of Light:

May Rowland was largely responsible for the organization and success of this unique ministry. May wrote a wonderful little book titled Dare to Believe, and I would like to share an excerpt from it that is representative of the "Practical Christianity" that is taught by Unity.

Sometimes we feel we could live more harmoniously, with less confusion and disorder in our lives, if could change our environment. However, changing one's environment is not the solution to the problem, though it may be a temporary help.

In the study of Truth, we recognize that our environment is an outpicturing of our states of mind. Naturally we carry our states of mind with us wherever we go, and in entirely different surroundings we would still have the same type of problem to meet that we have now.

In order to change conditions in our environment, we must change our own consciousness. We start to change conditions by overcoming the state of mind that binds or limits us. Then we cultivate the harmony and peace and love we desire.

States of mind are not altered by changes in circumstances and surroundings, but circumstances and conditions are altered by changes in our states of mind.

The solution to man's every problem is in man's own consciousness. When we learn to tune in to universal harmony through daily prayer, we find new joy in living. Our body responds with health, our mind is at peace, and our affairs are in order.

Knowing the importance of keeping our lives in tune, let us be joyous, let us be happy and enthusiastic about the good things in life. Let us put into action the joyous life and energy within us by talking and thinking about the good things. Let us give thanks to God for the blessings that we daily receive. Let us bless with our love and good will the persons with whom we are associated; let us find joy in loving service.

Let us enter into the joyous, harmonious state of mind that will make us healthy, keep us healthy, and fill our lives with peace and happiness.

If you want more information on the history and teachings of Unity, please read the article What is Unity?

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Day 11 (January 12): I had a break though today. My nausea has been reduced by about 80% and so has the gas. I feel so much better, both cleaner and clearer. My weight was 99.0, my blood pressure was 87/68, my pulse was 81, and my temperature was 98.3. Slept from 3 AM to 7 AM (four hours total). Took my first B-12 injection. I ordered a special high dose, preservative free form from Wellness Pharmacy in Alabama. It provides 10,000 mcg per cc. I will do injection about once a week. It will be interesting to how long it takes to register on my blood work. My acupuncturist came to give me a treatment in the evening. Drank 2.5 quarts of water. No bowel activity.

Day 12 (January 13): Felt very good again all day. My weight was 97.8, my blood pressure was 90/68, my pulse was 80, and my temperature was 98.0. Slept from 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM and again from 4 AM to 7 AM (five hours total). Not being able to sleep normally is one of the most difficult aspects of fasting for me. I got my first blood work back today and my liver enzymes (AST/SGOT) were elevated at 46 on a scale of 0-40. This is completely normal while fasting. Dr. Nick Tancheff of Hawaiian Fasting Retreats told me that what you look for when fasting is the re-normalization of the blood work as an indication that you have accomplished what you needed to and that is the time to end the fast. If you choose to end the fast before this happens, he feels that you haven't really completed the process. I am still eliminating a small amount of blood from my uterus each day. I did have a bowel movement this morning, which is is the first one I have has since day two. This is completely normal. Everyone is different. Dr. Jack Goldstein, author of Triumph Over Disease (see book carousel above) had many bowel movements every day of his fast because he had ulcerative colitis. But many people only have one or two during their entire fast. The one I had today was a very uncomfortable experience for me and took about 20 minutes to come out. I was very sore afterwards. Several of you asked me about this, so there you have it. Drank 2.5 quarts of water. Everything else is going really well.

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Who has not found Heaven below -
will fail of it above -
God's residence is next to mine -
His furniture is Love.

Emily Dickinson, Mystic Poet (1830-1886)

Fasting--Days 8, 9, and 10

Saint Theodosius the Great (423 AD-529 AD)

Today (January 11) is the Feast Day of Saint Theodosius the Great. From a very early age, St. Theodosius's heart was aflame for God. As a young man he set off for the desert of Palestine and found a cave to live in. He spent the next 30 years there alone in fasting a prayer. His diet consisted of dates, carob beans, raw vegetable-herbs, hearts of palm, and legumes soaked in water (sprouts!), all foraged from the surrounding land. Eventually, the renown of his devotion and the Divine Light that shone in him became known and many disciples began flocking to him for spiritual counsel.

Up until this time, all monastic communities were quite small and consisted of only a handful of brothers or sisters. But St. Theodosius changed all this. There were so many people who wanted to be under his direction that he start what has come to be known as a cenobitic monastery (cenobitic simply means populous), where more than 500 monks came to live under his care.

St. Theodosius was an extremely compassionate man. Within the confines of his monastic community, he established a hostel for the poor and homeless, a hospital for the sick, a hospice for the elderly and dying, and an asylum for the mentally ill. He would cleanse the most repulsive wounds of the lepers himself and tenderly embrace them. Once during a local famine, the hungry would come to the monastery for food and the tables of the dining hall had to be continually replenished all day long. No one knows where the food came from, but the kitchen pantry was always filled with enough to feed everyone.

Many people experienced healing miracles through his prayers during his life time. And once, when the crops in the fields were being destroyed by locusts, his prayers sent the pests away and saved the grain from being destroyed. His prayers were also said to bring rain when needed. Travelers who were lost in the wide desert claimed that he guided them to the monastery and saved them from perishing.

Once when two of his disciples were quarreling bitterly, he threw himself at their feet and refused to get up until they had become reconciled with one another. He was a man of great love, faith, and humility. He lived to the age of 105, and many miracles have been reported by people who have prayed to him for help since his death.

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Day 8 (January 9): I threw up again last night, mostly mucus with a little stomach acid. Not much total, but it provided enough relief to allow me to sleep. Slept from 12 AM to 4 AM and again from 5 AM to 7 AM for a total of 6 hours. My weight was101.4, blood pressure was 96/66, my pulse was 76, and my temperature was 98.1. Still nauseated pretty much all day off anf on. They gave me some plain carbonated "sparkling" water to drink as needed for this and it does seem to help. I only use it if I absolutely have to. I had mild upper and lower GI gas, but no bowel activity. Drank 2.5 quarts of water.

Day 9 (January 10): Slept from 1 AM to 5 AM, for a total of 4 hours. My weight was 100.4, my blood pressure was 106/72, my pulse was 104, and my temperature was 98.0. Again, I was nauseated pretty much all day. It ocillates between a level 3 and a level 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I did not need to throw up again. I had moderate to high upper and lower GI gas today which made it very difficult for me to go to sleep. No bowel activity. Drank 2.5 quarts of water.

Day 10 (January 11): Slept from 3 AM to 7 AM and again from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM, for a total of 6 hours. Took a nap during the day from 1:30 PM to 3 PM. Stayed in bed all day until around 5 PM at which point I finally started to feel somewhat better (good enough to post a new entry on my blog!). Still mildly nauseated this evening. Dr. Klaper say it will eventually pass. I hope so, because 40 days of this will be like running an ultra-marathon (without training!). My weight was 100.0, my blood pressure was 90/60, my pulse was 88, and my temperature was 98.3. Still have quite a bit of upper and lower GI gas, which is considered to be completely normal and due to bacteria breaking down toxins in the body. No bowel activity. Drank 2.5 quarts of water.

On another subject, which my be of particular interest to woman, I wanted to discuss my menstrual cycle. I started my period on the same day I started my fast (January 2). I have now been bleeding for 10 days. It has not been heavy, but it has been continuous (very light for the past 5 days). The blood is a dark brown-black color and smells like rancid fish. It is really quite disgusting. Since I have been following a very low-fat vegan diet, my period has only been lasting 3 days and the blood is a bright red color. So, what is happening now is very much out of the ordinary for me. Clearly, I am eliminating a lot of junk from my uterus. Kind of scary if you want to know the truth (to think that all this has been stored inside me somewhere!). They tell me this is all completely normal on a water fast as well.

You may have read that when you go on a fast, your tongue develops a thick white coating which is a sign of the intense elimination taking place in your body. I thought I would share my tongue with you, so you can see exactly what this looks like. I brush it every day, but every day it comes back. It makes the water taste kind of bad. (I don't mean to gross everyone out; i'm just trying to accurately document my experience.) One of the signs that your fast has completed its task is that this coating clears up by itself (but this usually requires a fair long fast).

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You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.

--Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), author of Introduction to the Devout Life