Water-only Fasting, Day 4

Weight: 211.2

I went to the RecPlex and sat in the sauna for 30 minutes, cooled down in the pool for 10 minutes and then sat in the suana for another 15 minutes. (30/10/15) It was good to go back.  :)

I'm also involved in a walking competition at the office, so I walked a bunch yesterday. I'm hoping to do a lot more today.  :)

Since Sunday, I've "lost" almost 9lbs.  Mind you, I believe that all of it is water weight and any food still processing through my system. I'm continuing to take Natural Calm, which has a high magnesium content and tends to flush the system, so I'm making regular trips to the toilet. What's leaving my body basically liquid. Who needs a colon cleanse when you can fast and drink Natural Calm? O_o

Yesterday was the worst as far as hunger demands. At about lunch time, I really felt an urge to eat--but very specific things.  I wanted to go to HuHot and enjoy the buffet.  I wanted to go to Schnucks deli and get some grilled salmon.  I wanted fruit.  Oh, how I wanted fruit!  Sitting at my desk, I have a half bottle of almond butter (high protein, good fats) and a six pack of Spicy V8 (high veggie content, some carbs and lots of vitamins/minerals) -- I didn't want those.  So, I determined that I really wasn't "hungry" -- rather, I had *appetite*. 

In our culture, we've commonly mistaken these two things and cured them with one method: eating.

Appetite, however, is very different than hunger.  That gnawing, craving, urging to eat is not "hunger".  It is appetite. It is a desire to satiate the body--to have a full belly, to enjoy the texture of food, to taste the flavors, to smell the scents.  It is very similar to desire, infatuation and lust.  It is a craving and a "perceived need" (actually a "want"). 

Hunger is very different.  It is a need -- not just perceived, but actual -- that your body is lacking in enough fuel and nutrition and without it, your body diminishes. I liken true hunger to true love (as compared to infatuation.  When you encounter someone and you feel that interest in them, they return it and you spend those glorious early days in raptured bliss with one another -- that's infatuation. It's lust.  It's not love.  Love is deep, abiding, long lasting, self-sacrificing (not self-indulgent) -- and, typically, takes awhile to develop.  Years.  (Yes, infaturation can grow into love -- just as appetite can grow into hunger.) Infatuation is a feeling -- love is a need.

I've often heard it said and I agree with it: Infatuation/Lust is a feeling -- Love is an act of the will (a need).

When I have appetite, my body wants, craves, preceives a need, has a longing, misses what it felt before, desire the stimulus of scent, flavor, even the sight of the food. I've been experimenting on myself.  I've been loading up images of food and smelling foods while feeling this appetite. Surprisngly, it is assuaged slightly when I do this.  That's my first clue that what I'm dealing with is more of a feeling and less of a need. After a couple minutes of looking at interesting recipes and smelling some almond butter yesterday, my appetite diminished. Now, if I'd eaten some, I know I would have eaten a lot more--because stimulation of desire tends to excite it further.  (Just like being close to someone tends to lead to kissing and kissing to more active satisfaction of the physical desires.)

My change in lifestyle has clearly taken a more philosophical turn lately.  :)