Day One Water Fast

So much has happened since my last post that I sort of wonder what the point of starting now is. Nevertheless here I am for a reason that has not quite revealed itself yet.  Literally I am sitting on a lawn chair on a balcony outside my room in Santa Rosa, California at True North Health Center.  It's  a beautiful day with perfect temperatures.  I sit overlooking the view of the courtyard below with the colorful rose garden and just beyond the soothing sound of water from the fountain.  People are milling about, some slower than others. People fast anywhere from 10-40 days here.  I know, I'm sure you're coming up with all sorts of reasons why this is wrong but just wait.  Historically fasting has been around for a long time.  I'm talking Jesus and Moses long time.  Lots of skeptics think and have felt free to tell me that your brain needs food and can't live on water alone.  No offense but no duh.  I plan to eat again and so do the others.  Fasting allows for great things, a time to heal, a time when your body, instead of using up to 80% energy to digest food, can use that energy to heal.  What a fabulous concept right?  Back to why I am here.  I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and my unwillingness to accept this is evident in the fact that every time I type the word my spell check asks if this is what I truly mean.  I started having pain a year ago and here I am, I'll skip the other boring details of how and where and what.  I developed a whole foods plant based diet or WFPBD and based on much research it works for many things.  Rebooting my system with a water fast and slowly reintroducing foods are the doctors orders here.  No drugs, no nothing, just water then fine tuning my diet  Sounds easy right?  If it wasn't for the delicious aromas coming from the vegan, no salt, sugar or oil kitchen I'd be golden except there are eaters here, I will be one in 10 days, and people get to eat after they fast.  

Back to the fasters.  They look different and I suspect I will turn into one here in  few days.  It's the long fasters I think that stand out.  Their eyes are sunken in, they have a sort of dreamy far away look, they talk different.  I adjust my ears wondering if that is an accent I hear.  Instead I think it's the sound of a slow almost slurry speech that comes from a brain deprived of glucose.  There is a very blissful presence in the fasters, they seem ok to be around food and eaters, they go to cooking classes and yoga and lectures.  They are the ghosts of the future for me here at True North.  A girl can only dream!

My first day on water alone and I can't wait for nightfall.  I have time on my hands and it's interesting adjusting, slowing down.  I'm not quite comfortable with all this relaxation and I have a sneaking suspicion this may be my achilles heal.  

I'm excited for this journey because like any journey what you expect is usually not what you get.  I love the unknown!