You have been "peeling the onion". That is why I have not been able to fast past the 4th day....sadness, depression, etc. Food helps us to hide, even from ourselves. Fasting forces us to face the true self and the issues we don't usually like to address. Fasting heals the mind, the spirit, not only the body.

Yes fasting can at times become a little emotional.
It seem to burn off though as time goes by.
I think when it becomes that challenging, as when you ended your fast, that its good to keep focused on what you want to get accomplished for the fast.
Like keep in mind how long you will go and keep in mind the actual benefits that can come from fasting.
I think that makes it easier and if you accomplish what you set out to do it is a nice thing to have at the end - that you made it and accomplished your goals.
Sometimes its not easy.
I sometimes liken it to someone climbing a mountain. When someone sets out to climb a challenging mountain they will endure what ever it take to reach the top.
The more challenging the climb - the more rewarding it is to complete it.

Hello waterbug,
The emotional side to fasting is rarely discussed or mentioned but there are many people (me being one of them) who are highly sensitive and susceptible to their metabolic processes in what they eat or drink, fasting and so on. My first lengthy fast of 25 days was an horrendous experience both physically and mentally.

If I ever stray from the path of Natural Hygiene (which I have done in the past) then my health deteriorates quite rapidly, and none so more as in my mental state with a history of depression.
This was the case with Sylvester Graham one of the early founders of temperance and diet reform within the USA in the mid 1800's who died at a relatively young age but would have met his demise much sooner if it were not for the principles he advocated.

As one NH commentator stated to me at one time......" Chris, you are not a cart- horse my friend...............more of a race-horse"


I thought these snippets of info' might be useful for you................

"Dr. Shew says of the first few days of fasting: "A feverish excitement of the system, together with a feeling of debility, faintness and Depression is generally experienced. The patient becomes discouraged and melancholic, and is very excitable and sensitive to surrounding influences. He also experiences pains and soreness in the loins, feet, and sometimes in the joints. He becomes very tired of the sitting posture and leans to one side or the other for support. But all of these disagreeable symptoms, which are necessary in the process, grow by degrees less and less, as the morbid matter is eliminated from the vital economy. And when the body has at last grown pure, these unpleasant consequences disappear entirely, and the convalescent gains strength with inconceivable swiftness through the period of the after-care."--The Hydropathic Family Physician, p, 790.


"The headache that follows the giving up of coffee and the headache that often follows immediately upon the cessation of eating are both processes of nervous readjustment. Depression and irritability that sometimes accompany the early part of the fast are processes of readjustment similar to the irritability and Depression that follow the discontinuance of tobacco.
Since they are always followed by improved health, it seems certain that these symptoms are necessary parts of an essentially beneficial process that the fast has enabled the body to institute and consummate".
Shelton.


"In my experience with fasting, I seldom see any increase in mental powers at the beginning of a fast. This is because we deal with the sick and these people are all inebriates and addicts--food inebriates, coffee and tea inebriates, tobacco and alcohol addicts. As soon as these things are taken from them they suffer a period of depression with headaches and various slight pains. After a few days, that is, when the body has had sufficient time to readjust itself and overcome the depression, the mind brightens up. The special senses also become acute".
Shelton.


Regards

Chrisb1.

Have you any idea why you were depressed? For me I found fasting very boring, but I wasn't depressed as I was losing weight and heading towards my goal. However after completing several fasts, the reality hit me that I had been overweight for a long period and this had led to lack of fulfillment in many parts of my life. Nevertheless, it was better to feel this, rather than be overweight, as I am now able to do something about it. Also at several times on my various fasts I got some uncomfortable feelings spring up from the past.

So for me fasting didn't fix anything emotional, if anything it sort of intensified my emotions, thankfully they weren't too negative. However fasting fixed the physical which is now allowing me to move on. So if the Depression is related to something other than the act of fasting itself, maybe this is why you are feeling worse. Or perhaps it could be related to some kind of food withdrawal symptoms? I am only guessing.