Update to Today's 24-hour fast:

Hi, again,

I am within 25 minutes of breaking my fast and I feel great about having done it. My body feels good and energetic especially since I tossed out the unfinished half cup of green tea and made a cup of "Plantation Mint" instead. The PM has always set a little better on my stomach. I do feel slightly tired but not enough to take a nap or anything -- I am really not ready for sleep. I feel awake and fine but I'm not ready to run a marathon, for sure.

The one big visible result I have noticed is that my normal every-day edema is greatly reduced. I actually record my edema by observing the size of my ankles every morning, giving it a number between 1 and 10, and have recently noticed that by the end of the day they are really swollen. Not today. The fast has done something in that area that I am really pleased about. My ankles are still at "morning levels" meaning they are not completely without edema but they are not as swollen as they usually are by this time of day. I think that is excellent and I am very happy about it and the fast.

I spent most of today reading "Eat Stop Eat" again because I needed to refresh my "reason tank" and be reminded of all the health benefits that are possible from giving my body a rest from eating. My body seems to have liked the rest. And I do too.

I wish I could share all the stuff from ESE because I am so excited about it. Really I think anyone who is concerned with their eating habits or excess body fat should at least consider it. It is simple, you don't really have to change what you eat the rest of the time so much as simply be sensible about eating the rest of the time.

The fasting accomplishes the weekly caloric decrease in a simple, direct, unfussy, way. My experience of it is that it does take a decision to do, and you have to keep your eye on the goal and reasons for doing it, but the actual doing is not at all as scary as I might have thought a few years ago.

I remember the fear that would slip in when I considered fasting. I really did not believe that I could go without food for a whole day and felt anxious about it. I worried and wondered if I could eat just a little something and still call it a fast. I worried that I would get sick or feel really bad from it. Oddly enough it was way easier than I used to fear. In fact, I discovered that there really does not need to be any fear at all!! The fear and worry were way worse than the actual experience of skipping a few meals for a short time period -- from dinner one day to dinner time the next.

The fact that I have experienced some immediate results (reduction in edema) is really quite amazing to me. Get the book. Read it. Try it. What have you got to lose?

www.eatstopeat.com


Much love,


Be back soon,


Marcia