What kind of thing makes your fast better?

[ladyofcastile]

Hi, guys! I would like to learn from the things that you do to help yourselves during a fast and to enhance the experience. Personally: Tea pot of weak green tea, first thing, while meditating. Gentle dry brushing. Turning my shower into a steam room (music and candles included). Home made clear vegetable broth with salt, a few drops of lemon and a pinch of cream of tartar (I run and I get depleted of minerals quickly). Yoga at night just before going to sleep. Super fresh bed linen. The smell of lavender. Walking or running in some kind of woodland area. Gentle swimming. Ginger tea or a sip of sugar free ginger beer if I get a bit nauseous. Short nap and a hot water bottle if I need it.

[Hidden]

Hi ladyofcastile I think that what you are doing is really good and am sure that your clear vegetable broth helps because we need electrolytes (base sugar and salt)

I love fresh bedding and am curious how you make yours smell of lavender as that sounds really good.

So thanks for making this post and I'm sure you'll get some great tips from other members.

If you would like a badge to denote your fasting time and weight loss if you wish then please just say and we will assign you your badge.

Jerry 😊

[ladyofcastile in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, Jerry. I have my own lavender plants in my little urban roof garden. I put a few springs on muslin bags and I place them in the linen cupboard. Lavender soap bars have a similar effect.

I never weight myself. I think that often,we give those numbers on the scale far too much power. Our body weight goes up and down all the time, that is normal. I have seen too many people mistreating themselves and hating themselves because of a number. I should know, I suffered of anorexia for about 10 years when I was a very young woman. And I didn't even hated my body, but my mother seemed to. Very sad. Specially when I have discovered a few years ago that I simply have lipedema. It is genetic. I can contain it, I can improve it, but it won't go away. It is the way Mother Nature designed me: tiny waist, big thighs. But it makes me very resilient. In my case, weight is a poor indicator of my fitness level and my general health.

[Hidden in reply to ladyofcastile]

Hello ladyofcastile and thanks for this tip I shall try this as I have lavender growing so will put some in a linen bag as you do as it sounds lovely.

I'm sorry that you have lipedema and you are very right about getting obsessed with our weight. You are also very right that you like everyone else on the planet is how Mother Nature designed us. I'm a coeliac and that's an autoimmune disease and it's genetic and we live with ourselves and accept ourselves for a happy life.

If you're interested in healthy eating HU have the HE forum and you'd be welcome on there, please see:

healthunlocked.com/healthye...

Jerry. 😊

[ladyofcastile in reply to Hidden]

We never know why we are "blessed" with these conditions. I believe that it is our personal narrative of it, our will to overcome while embracing it and understanding it what makes all the difference. Honouring our bodies and our spirits in their raw humanity. I had rheumatic fever throughout my whole childhood. The treatment left me quite traumatized, but thank you for the penicillin, Dr Fleming, I am alive and the illness left no trace. I have a weird blood type, B-. Less than a century ago, most of my children would have died because of it, either unborn or in early infancy. But perhaps my blood type contains the key to stop some kind of catastrophic epidemic in the future. As for my lipedema, I believe we are the insurance policy of the human race, That handful women that have this locked away storage of energy to go through a pregnancy in times of scarcity. Seen from this angle, I belong to a lineage of incredibly resilient women and I am honoured. That is my personal narrative of it and it's good enough for me.

[Hidden in reply to ladyofcastile]

You are right because many people never get over feeling its not fair why me. I now appreciate feeling well and how good is that as most people take that for granted.

So good for you as we are what we are and the more we do to improve our lifestyles the better. 😊

[Hopalong1]

Thanks for your post, ladyofcastile . Your tips sound lovely. I am making some veg broth today. Walking is my thing. Set off for ten minutes and am gone for an hour. Hypnosis gets me in a good mindset too.

[ladyofcastile in reply to Hopalong1]

Hypnosis! Wow! That is a complete different level! Self hypnosis, perhaps?

[Hopalong1 in reply to ladyofcastile]

I have had a hypnotherapist before, but I am using some cds.

[S11m Volunteer 70lb IF20]

Hi, ladyofcastile , welcome.

I drink a pot of weak green tea, every morning, with a coffee-spoon full of pink Himalayan salt.

I do vigorous dry-brushing all over every day to tighten up my loose skin (I am 70 and I have lost 30kg). I can still find enough loose skin to skin-fold fat-calliper-measure my bodyfat. ( They said that you were over-weight if you can "pinch more than an inch" at the supra-iliac point, and I am down to 4mm!)

Boredom is one of the main problems fasting - so I try to keep busy. Slow walking is good, but I find that brisk walking burns glycogen faster than I can burn fat, and makes me hungry.

Do you fast for weight-loss, fitness, longevity, health, or what?

[ladyofcastile in reply to S11m]

I have lipodema. And I am a runner. Carbs are not good for this condition, but I need them for running and all the other things I do. I find Keto too weird. I need normality and not to have to think too much about it. Simple carb cycling works for me and through fasting and exercising on fasted state, I also train my body to switch more easily between glycogen burning and fat burning. As I said, I don't think to much about it. I just listen to my body and follow my instinct. Fasting also allows me to stop for a moment and see myself, do some soul searching, observe the unexpected emotions coming to the surface, just stop and be present. It is a great balancing tool for me, in every aspect of my persona. It is a kind of quiet inner pilgrimage.