Fasting Has Changed My Life...I Now Have One!

Today is a fast day for me, tomorrow will be a normal food day….in a few days (Summer Solstice) there will be a couple days of feasting. Each week and every day brings something different to the table….

Because I am eating this way, I look forward to my food like never before. Even a bowl of porridge takes on a new meaning when you are truly hungry – and I fill up faster. I am satisfied after eating less.

My stomach empties out on the fast days (I usually just drink water and herbal teas), providing extra energy for detox, repair and rebuilding reserves. I work out as usual – feeling better and more myself –perhaps because I can actually ‘feel’….

My digestive system isn’t stuffed with food (all the time) – it’s a cycle of eating that has brought me back to myself in so many ways; old and new. I have discovered there is a spiritual element to eating that I never even knew existed….

Oh and the feast days! When following the Celtic or Pagan Calendar there are many feasts throughout the year. When you add in birthdays and a couple of other celebrations…there is something to plan for every few weeks.

Right now we are gearing up for the Summer Solstice or Midsummer as we know it here. This is a BIG deal for us and we have been planning our menu for weeks. Of course everyone wants a BBQ – so we are hoping the weather will cooperate too!

Fasting before a feast is not an issue at all…in fact – I think I have moved beyond my food ‘issues’ because I have permission to eat what I want, when I want it and as much as I want, during our feasts.

Of course, I’m not going to eat rubbish on my feast days either; my cleaned out digestive system enjoys organic, natural, wholesome, homemade, unprocessed and wild harvested food.

Anything I can raise, grow, make from scratch or dig up – is on the menu!

It’s hard to hang onto thoughts of deprivation when you have 3 or 4 days of non-stop cooking, baking and eating to look forward to. Once the feast is winding down I am more then happy to return to a fast day and normal eating, mostly because I am tired of all that food. LOL

Fasting has become an easy ‘out’ for me. On these days I get a breather…time to think, do some things I keep putting off – be creative and savour the feeling of a day off from eating and watch (feel) my body get stronger.

Since I started eating this way (food, fast and feast) I sleep more soundly, I wake earlier, I am less obsessed with food or eating. I think about food all the time (it’s what I do) however, those thoughts are on a far healthier level.

I am slimmer now and find it far easier to maintain a normal body weight. I work out nearly every day in some capacity (free weights, walking, Yoga etc.) – short term, intermittent fasting even enhances physical activity.

On my food days, I am the one ‘in control’ of how much I eat and when to stop. I find eating earlier in the day might be nice one day…or a big meal after a fasted workout is great too.

Everywhere I go people mention to me how healthy I look. I don’t feel tired, I have more then enough energy to do what I want to do and I feel younger then my years.

Actually…it’s far easier to take care of myself because I am eating this way then ever before. Life has found a gentle rhythm bringing my body into balance is, and I have found all this, by following a natural cycle of eating.

April

The Pagan Diet

So….you want to lose weight? Well…you’ve got to change your mind first!

Over these years (and years) of thinking about weight issues, studying nutrition, food, body image and diets….I have met many people who are unhappy with their weight. And I was often amongst them.

Then, I changed my lifestyle and my diet…a few years later I started incorporating fasting into my regimen as well and the rest is history. Or is it?

Since then I have found my biggest struggle is still with these patterns, habits and tendencies – that all exist in my mind! Our minds really are the majority when it comes to overcoming any negative patterns in an effort to create new ones.

Of course, as a Clinical Nutritionist, I also know that each cell in my body contributes to my overall mind (mood, emotions, intuition, thoughts etc.). Everything works together inside and outside – with each system and function forwarding something towards the whole being….

My gut is as much involved with creating my thoughts as my brain is. And this includes what I think about my body, my food – and especially 'what I am thinking (about my body/food) when I am eating it'.

Fasting has allowed me to explore my mind (through my body) in a new and realistic way. By going into these new places and spaces, I have found and made the deeper connections to weight, body image, eating and food.

If I have found out anything over these past few years….it’s this; to lose weight permanently, you have to re-build your mind from the inside out. This entails diet changes (food, fast and feast), exercise, emotional work (getting at the patterns) and for me, making the important spiritual connections with the food I eat.

Not one part of this is complicated, in fact having food days, fasting days and feast days has made my life so much simpler and easy to manage. It also allows me to have control over my mind (approach to food) in a new way.

Changing your mind about food involves eating the foods that assist in this process as well….we need to choose (and make) food that not only nourish our bodies, but also help to reset our body metabolism.

I have found many of these to be fermented foods as well as quality proteins…and for me, my diet consists of homemade, home grown, free range, wild harvested and organic produce as much as possible.

You are so much more then what you eat….you are the energy of the food you eat. Change that energy to something better (raise the vibration) and you do the same with your body and your mind.

April

 

Loving our feast and other weight loss stories

This is grueling, day after day of non stop eating!! LOL

Back into the kitchen again today to make crackers, gingerbread men, spelt breads, naan bread, garlic butter, pot of jam (use up fruit), chilli con carne with lamb mince, and the list goes on. All of that today and I still found time to make our meals, get some gardening done, read, write and exercise.

It all just seems to fall into place, of course it really helped that the day was bright sunshine for most of it, warm and pleasant all around. Everyone felt great, the kids kept themselves busy, the work got done and all with smiles on our faces because of the sun.

One of my favourite breads to make are naan bread, I made them especially to go along with the chilli (tomato free of course) and used my handy food mixer to make the garlic butter. I needed an excuse to use it! 

Naan bread dough

What makes naan breads different is the goat's yogurt I use to make it. Otherwise it is a simple easy bread to whip up in minutes - whole grain spelt flour, soda bicarbonate, salt, goat's yogurt, water and sesame seeds. Mix these ingredients together, with more yogurt then water, place onto a flat pan for baking and into the oven for about 20 -25 minutes or so.

Naan breads ready for the oven

The result is a very soft flat bread that tastes great with a stew or chilli. I also add herbs into the mix and sesame seeds on top to give it some more texture. Naan bread is great with garlic butter or used as a bun for burgers too.

Naan bread cooling on rack

After all that baking and cooking, I even had a chance to do some reading online - looking through some nutrition articles I came across one mentioning the problem with weight being stuck or doing all the right things and still not losing the excess weight.

That was me not so long ago. Excellent diet, exercise program, busy lifestyle and still the pounds crept on. Of course it is hormonal for the most part for nearly all of us, but what brings down our hormones and where does it all end?

For me, the answer lies in the toxins carried around, buried deep within inflamed cells. It has long been established overweight and inflammation go hand in hand. Of course, high levels of toxicity are also present in any site of chronic dysfunction.

The one area each of these articles missed was glaringly obvious - remove the toxin load from the body and you will reduce the inflammation, while losing excess weight and balancing body systems. It really is this simple. They mentioned nearly everything else, but the absolute necessity of detoxification.

Cleansing your body on the inside is as easy as cleaning it on the outside and should be carried out nearly as often. Using water, our bodies will be gently detoxed of embedded poisons over a period of time - this has changed my life or I should say simply given my life back to me. 

All of life, eating, living and being who we are should be simple, otherwise, why would we do it? 

Have a healthy day,

April 

Lamb tomato free chilli