M,This is very interesting; and sounds familiar. I wonder how common it is the water fasting. I'm glad to hear of your experience. It would be good to collect such refections, for the book. Now I'm beginning to feel it might write itself into being.


The desert would go pefectly with the Djivan Gaspariyan.


c.

Hi M,
there can be much confusion about bodily processes during and after the fasting process.

The body has a wonderful way of preserving its protein on a water-only fast with what has become known as protein-sparing.
Over a 30 day Water Fast a person generally loses a maximum of 1-2 pounds of muscle mass. This conservation of the body's protein is an evolutionary development that exists to protect muscle-tissue and vital organs from damage during periods of insufficient food availability.

As you may already know, the main fuel supply on a water-only fast is ketones: the use of fatty acids as fuel instead of glucose.

When anyone breaks a fast this shift is made back to glucose as the main fuel source, and any further depletion of your protein stores will be reduced and eliminated in a very short time frame.

The body will break down any surplus protein from the diet into organic acid and where this is then converted into glucose which can then be used for obtaining energy. In other words protein conversion into carbohydrates.

Strawberries and salads contain amino-acids that go to make up your own human protein, and where it is a fallacy to think that chicken (for example) or any other meat protein is human protein. Chicken protein is after all chicken protein and NOT human protein.

I wouldn't worry on that score. You will replenish your protein stores in next to no time ( Shelton did admit though there is a greater need for protein post-fast) in the anabolic process, along with the other elements of health such as Vitamins and Minerals and so on.
Shelton and others recommended more protein after about one week post fast by consuming more Nuts, Avocados, Legumes, and even those aminos found in fruits.

Chrisb1.

Hello M,

Celery leaves are high in vitamin A, whilst the stems are an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C and dense in potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, SODIUM (52 mg in half a cup) and essential amino acids.

Half a cucumber has about 3mg of sodium and apples about none.

Fuhrmans take on sodium is not "theory" but based on Science and Scientific research...................

1. Murphy, H.B., Blood pressure and culture. The contribution of cross-cultural comparisons to psychosomatics. Psychother Psychosom, 1982. 38(1): p. 244-55.
Cooper, R., et al., The prevalence of hypertension in seven populations of west African origin. Am J Public Health, 1997. 87(2): p. 160-8.
He, J., et al., Body mass and blood pressure in a lean population in southwestern China. Am J Epidemiol, 1994. 139(4): p. 380-9.
2. Luke RG. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Assocation, Vol. 118, 2007. President’s Address: Salt – too much of a good thing?
3. Tuomilehto J et al. Urinary sodium excretion and cardiovascular mortality in Finland: a prospective study. Lancet 2001;357:848-851
4. Burney P. A diet rich in sodium may potentiate asthma. Epidemiologic evidence for a new hypothesis. Chest 1987;91 (2 Suppl):143s-148s
5. Tsugane S, Sasazuki S. Diet and the risk of gastric cancer. Gastric Cancer 2007;10(2):75-83
6. H, R., and Y. Suyama. 1996. Sodium excretion in relation to calcium and hydroxyproline excretion in a healthy Japanese population. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 63 (5): 735-40.
7. Ito Tuomilehto, J., P. Jousilahti, D. Rastenyte, et. al. 2001. Urinary sodium excretion and cardiovascular mortality in Finland: a prospective study. Lancet 357 (9259): 848-51.
8. National High Blood Pressure Education Program, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. National Institutes of Health. “National High Blood Pressure Education Program Working Group report on primary prevention of hypertension.” Arch Intern Med 1993;153:186-208


Your sluggishness is due to the time you were fasting (21 days) and it will take at least an equal number of days and beyond to get back to "normal" with an abundance of energy.

No one can expect to resume where they left off after 21 days of fasting: the body has been depleted of its food reserves during that time that need to be replenished, including the musculature which has also suffered to a small degree.

Nature works very slowly, so time is of the essence and patience the name of the game.

Chrisb1.