This is my second fast, I just hit the two weeks milestone and haven’t decided how far I’m going to take it this time. Regarding what type of fast I’m talking about, I’m doing a water fast for health and dealing with an old sugar addiction, so mostly water, but tea, coffee and lemon juice are ok for me. I also take salt and vitamins/magnesium supplements daily.
Something I’ve noticed is that during my fasts I tend to look up recipes with the intention of trying them once I’m done with the fast (and past the refeeding period). I don’t really feel an urge to eat those foods at on the spot, I just seem to enjoy learning new healthy/tasty recipes to try after all this.
None of those recipes are what I would consider unhealthy and/or sugary/fat, I’m talking stuff like garlic broccoli, bell pepper chicken or salmon salad for example. I’m really hyped to try those recipes and cook them for my family, a lot more than I usually do.
What I’m asking is whether this is a normal behavior during a water fast, as well as whether it would be considered unhealthy or harmful for my health (physical or mental) and my fast.
Thanks for the read.
I’ve looked up a lot of recipes on longer fasts too. I didn’t think there was anything particularly unhealthy about it, maybe a little funny. It wasn’t leading me down any dark path or anything like that.
The way I see it, the human body is made to eat food if it’s available. The problem is that food is so readily available in the modern era and with such dense calories, unlike in humanity’s formative years when food was scarce and it was more important to load up when food was around. On a fast you’re deliberately abstaining from eating based on intellectual notions about nutrition and physiology… I don’t think my body itself is overly concerned with these notions; it just wants food. And if it feels deprived of food, it will go into food-seeking mode.
I feel like the looking up recipes and watching cooking shows is part of this. It’s like it’s preparing you for when food is accessible. But this is just my theory! I find it amusing just how sensitive the body can be to seeking food: the heightened smell, sight cues, thinking of acquiring food, etc. These aren’t things I would be overly aware of if I didn’t fast.