Day 8 of Water Fasting to Cure My IBS + SIBO

Monday, Day 8
Weight: 152.4
Sleep: Yes
BM: No
Belly bloat: A bit better

I slept through the night—did not even get up to use the bathroom—and woke up at 5:30 feeling very refreshed. I drank down two glasses of warm water, then got ready for work. I drove to the office. Traffic was very good, as this is a week many people took for vacation, given July 4th falling on a wednesday.

I worked steadily through the morning, then took a break and walked at lunchtime in lieu of eating. Then came back and plowed through more editing. My mind is very alert, my body takes a more leisurely pace than I generally do.

My senses are alert as well. I’m noticing smells more—good and bad. I’m noticing the different flavors of water at different locales. For example, the water at the office is far more sweet than our filtered tap water at home.

I’m noticing painful points in my body where I’ve had injuries in the past—knee, foot, shoulder—ache and tingle. I read that the new stem cells being created by this process are focused on healing, and that makes me want to continue this fast longer.

I’m not sure yet where I’ll end it. I thought I’d let my body tell me. At first I was going to do a week, now I’m on week 2 and thought I’d do 10 days, now I’m leaning toward 14.

I notice I had no weight loss today, and that’s fine. Weight loss is a nice side effect, but I’m doing this to heal my intestinal mucosa (my leaky gut). There haven’t been a lot of grumblings from the gut. Some gas, which I find curious. If there’s no food, how is gas forming. I googled it and it turns out many people swallow air when sipping. I noticed that I do this. I’m trying to stop that.

I think about how I’ll end the fast. I’ve read up and many of the prescriptions are vegan and fruit-based. I don’t want to raise insulin. Remember, I was approaching prediabetic A1C and fasting glucose and that’s another health hazard I hope to reverse.

I’m going to have beef bone broth (no onions) that I prepared last night, some braised spinach, and an avocado with ACV and salt. I’m looking forward to this, but not craving it at all. It’s an interesting feeling.

I watched the videos of Dr. Jason Fung last night. I think hormones vs. calories is the most succinct. He says something that stays with me. He regularly sees the worst diabetes cases. His patients are often 350 pounds or more and taking max doses of insulin when they start. After they lose all that fat, he says there’s no need for the type of skin surgery that you see with bariatric operations. The body eats the fat proportionally. How wise the body! I’ve lost 10 pounds, most noticable in my face and collar bone I think, and there’s no sagging chin, which I’m pleased to see. I hope when we get to my stomach and thighs the same holds true. ;-)

Day 7 of Water Fasting to Cure My IBS + SIBO

Sunday, Day 7
Weight: 152.4
Sleep: Yes
BM: No
Belly bloat: Yes

I slept quite well, despite my trouble getting to sleep, and woke around 4:30. I wanted to try to eke just a bit more sleep out, so I calmed my mind and did some deep breathing and it worked. I woke again at 6:00 and got up to make a cup of hot water. After drinking water the back pain returned. I read several articles on this topic and the theories are:

Toxins in the digestive tract: The body rids toxins through the liver generally, but when there is more than the liver can handle, it stores toxins in body fat. Water fasting causes the body to use these stores of fat and the toxins are still there. In addition, I didn’t do any kind of cleanse before starting this, so there could still have been toxins in my gut. Very likely, as I have IBS, leaky gut, and have had SIBO (and quite likely still do, hence the belly bloat.) Though I’ve lost 10 pounds so far on this fast, I still have the belly of a four months pregnant woman. Are there still bacteria surviving in there?

The pain grew so bad I started googling massage near me, but I wasn’t sure I could stand the walk in today’s 90 degree heat. DH said he’d happily give me a massage. I prepared a mix of coconut oil with a few drops of tea tree oil and that was our massage oil. The massage felt heavenly, especially on my lower back, and when he finished all of the pain was gone. Amazing!

As I was all oily, I decided to do a dry brush, which I had also read releases toxins. I didn’t actually have a brush but I used a rough washcloth and brushed my whole body until the oils had been absorbed. As I type this, I’m feeling rather well.

I would very much like to do at least 3 more days because the longer I do, the more likely my gut lining will have a rest, then I can reseed it with whole foods and good bacteria. However, I have to work tomorrow and I have an hours drive and I’m not sure I can make it.

This makes me terribly sad, as I’m at a point where I feel absolutely zero hunger. I feel I could go on quite a while and I read that these toxins causing the backache will disappear and I think that would be an important sign that I’m cleansing my gut lining. I’d hate to stop now and not cured my IBS.

If I’m going to break this fast, I have to do it tonight with foods I’ve already planned. Very light fare of bone broth, carrots, and spinach. That’s it. Tomorrow night I’ll have the same, plus some chicken. The next night I’ll have the same plus some blueberries and kefir. So, 24 hour fasts.

All three nights I’ll have some kimchi and probiotics at mealtime.

So, I need to weigh all this today and decide if tonight is the night. Another option is that I could take a sick day. If I had had to work yesterday or today I’d have definitely had to take sick days, what with the nausea, lightheadedness and back pain. This would get me to Tuesday, when I work in the city, a subway ride away. I think I can handle a subway ride. Wednesday we are off work for the July 4th holiday. That would be day 10. I’d like to break my fast on day 10, unless my body gives me the signal to break it sooner.