What Happened To My Body When I Didn’t Eat For 21 Days

27-year-old Canadian Alanna Ketler, who is an online alternative media journalist, decided to undergo a 21 days fasting. She wrote about the experience on her Facebook page.

I recently did the unthinkable – I stopped eating food altogether for 21 days, and you know what happened? I healed my body, gave my digestive system a much needed rest, cleared up my candida, passed some parasites, and got my cystic acne under control – and would you believe it? I am still here to tell the story.

I have been battling with what I had been diagnosed as having an issue of candida overgrowth – for almost two years, but now I question whether it may have just been a parasite all along. There are tons of illnesses out there that are commonly labeled as mystery illnesses because mainstream medicine has neither discovered a cause or a cure, leaving many people in the dark when it comes to healing.

When I first learned about fasting for a longer period of time I felt that the idea resonated with something that could help me once and for all and I was excited about challenging myself, although the recommended 40-108 days felt like a little bit too long for me. I decided to try out the fast, but customize it towards my needs and what I felt intuitively would help my body.

I did a 21 days fast, which means only grape juice mixed with lemon, herbal tea and potent tinctures, daily enemas, a mixture of psyllium husk powder, bentonite clay and activated charcoal mixed with grape juice and lemon – this is known as plasma “pudding”.

Won’t You Lose A Lot Of Weight?

Throughout the 21 days I lost a total of 15 pounds – a lot of which was just water weight. As you can see from the picture, the main area that shrunk was my stomach, but it’s because it was always so bloated and uncomfortable before. This fast has completely cleared up the bloating and swelling that was almost a constant in my life for 2 years. This is certainly what sweet relief feels like.

Isn’t Fasting Hard?

Yes. But does that mean that it’s not worth doing? No. Of course not eating for an extended period of time isn’t easy, but that isn’t because you’re hungry, it’s because of your mental addictions to food. It’s interesting because we feel we need to eat, but most of us don’t really realize just how addicted to food we really are because it is not only a huge part of our culture, but we need to eat to survive. Not until you go without food do these addictions become apparent.

Fasting is a way to not only clear out the body and give the digestive system a break, but it also is great for clearing out the mind. It’s amazing how clear the head is when there is nothing in the system, no stimulants or any other distractions. I found I became a lot more aware of my emotions as well. When something comes up, and you have no escape – in the form of food or anything else, you are forced to sit with it and feel it. That was a very interesting experience throughout this whole thing as well.

I realized that we have a lot of preconceived ideas about food, we believe that we need a certain amount to be healthy, but I strongly believe that if we just tune into our body, give it what it needs, and give our digestive system a break from time to time, we will be fine. The idea of stuffing our faces with three large meals a day seems absurd to me, and things like intermittent fasting actually make a lot more sense.

Is Fasting For You?

I strongly believe fasting is something everyone can benefit from. But if you are suffering from any digestive health issues, then you especially could benefit from fasting. There are certain ways to go about it, however, and it is important to do adequate research and choose a method that is suited towards your needs and works for you.

Ask the advice of a certified naturopathic doctor before starting a long-term fasting.

yogaesoteric
November 26, 2017