Hello, CureZone :)
I've done a 6 days long water fast for the first time a few months ago, and before that a two weeks long juice fast. I felt amazing after the initial shock phase passed (referring to the water fast from now on) and I was sad to interrupt it, but circumstances forced my hand.
Now I'd really like to fast again, but fear of judgement is holding me back... I don't want to tell anyone what I'm doing (excl. internet) but I live in a small house that I share with other students and I felt negative vibes from them last time I fasted, and one of those people told me out front how wrong what I was doing was, how dangerous, ... I don't blame them for speaking their mind because they care and I know they're just being concerned, but I just feel like I can't embark on this kind of journey again when I know for certain that I'll face criticism on my choices. I can't even hide it, as they'll see the empty zone in the fridge, etc...
At the same time, I want to get my eating and weight under control once and for all; I've reached the weight of 176 lbs (which is a lot considering my ideal weight should be around 132) which I only ever reached during a bad phase of my life and honestly, this scares me. I've started exercising again around two weeks ago but my mind keeps craving the wrong kinds of food - and I am not able to offer much resistence. After my last fast I felt this wonderful feeling of "blank state" and I want to get there again... I find it so much easier not to eat anything at all, rather than regulating what I'm eating - simply because right now I'm not able to. I hope to pick up a keto diet (I'm not a stranger to that) though once I'm done fasting and my weight is a more manageable level...
All this to say: how do you deal with the combination "water fasting + people/society/friends/family"?
I think the issue is that so many dodgy diets have taken fasting and done it incorrectly which has lead to many dealths. So people assume all fasting is bad for us and they forget that humans didn't eat 2000calories every single day and that we used to go for weeks without large amounts of food.
I think my biggest issue is how people think our bodies have evolved in such a little time to be able to consume the fast food and processed garabage that is mass produced. As this food becomes more common and normalised the more we see health issues and obesity. In countries that have held back from this life style, we see healthier people.
There's some serious issues in society when it comes to diet and It's what's considered the norm that concerns me the most. It's good that we're seeing more and more doctors that are looking into fasting and seeing how benificial it is. Sadly it's hard to make money off something that just requires you to not eat or pay any amount of money to do =(
I literally have friends that think that coke cola made up excercise for a healthy lifestyle and that eating fruit is what makes people fat. So what they take from this is to NEVER go on walks or excersise and they go on these insane diets where they're eating deep fried battered food and still wonder why they're fat. I honestly don't know how they can think that's what must be done with the infomation provided. Yet when you try to tell them why, they just get angry and refuse to listen to any logic or reasoning. So i have no intention of telling them I'm fasting as all they believe in are the fads they see in movies and poorly made docus.
I imagine obesity will continue to get a lot worse before it gets better. =(