• The Ramadan Fasting Diary

    by Alexander Becker on September 28, 2006 | Link

    This article is part of The Ramadan Series.

    With my positive and successful experience on the Warrior Diet it was only logical to take the opportunity and try out the original. The Warrior Diet is a little less strict and allows some light eating during the day while drinking is recommended and an important part of the detoxification cycle. So, the (not-)eating part is no problem while the not-drinking will probably require some adaptation.

    I decided to participate in the Ramadan fasting for the challenge, in order to reproduce the sensation and last but not least, for the experience.

    Daily updated notes for the fasting days, details depending on progress and interestingness --

    2006-09-25:
    • Weight check: 73kg
    • I started the day with black coffee at 5:45 a.m. and managed to not drink all day long.
    • Felt slightly dizzy in the late afternoon, well, it has a spiritual component to it.
    • After sunset, I fought the dehydration with water, half a liter, multivitamin and coffee as an appetizer.
    • I craved peanuts and ate a small bowl before preparing the main course.
    • A huge amount of raw vegetables topped with tuna -- which makes me a pesco-vegan now, a mercury-vegan even more so -- three raw food dishes take care of the nutrient baseline for today.
    • The second course consists of green tea and almonds, with the dessert being some dark chocolate.
    2006-09-26:
    • Breakfast at 5:30 a.m. with coffee and multivitamin and an extra glass of water (to prevent dehydration to set in too early) and an apple.
    • The prehydration worked very well, I felt almost no dizziness.
    • Slight headaches are probably an indicator of detoxification in effect.
    • I will leave out the chocolate tonight.
    • Dates as an appetizer. Even authentic -- they say the Prophet ate dates during Ramadan.
    2006-09-27:
    • Prehydration with coffee and multivitamin and water. Some dates and a couple sweet, seedless grapes.
    • The evening meal is starchy carbs tonight -- chinese rice-pudding, peanuts, chocolate and some dates.
    2006-09-28:
    • Weight check: still 73kg. While I am not planning to lose any weight, I still expected to come down to 71kg within a couple days. The body is in starvation mode with the metabolism somewhat slowed down. I relate this to the missing fluid intake.
    • Dates, coffee, multivitamin, and water for breakfast. By the way, dates have a glycemic index of 103. Go figure.
    • Observing and longing for the sunset, the awareness of time throughout the day becomes very real and meaningful. An interesting experience in scaling time is the ever decreasing length of the day, you start the month with a 12 hour fast and eventually finish, on the last day, with app. 10 hours and a half of not-eating.
    2006-09-29:
    • Feeling great. The prolonged fasting makes me feel kind of mellow, a euphemism for delirious water craving, probably. Then again, my stress resistance is somewhat diminished. Also, concentration issues are noticable during the last hours of the day. Spot the resulting typos...
    • It's carbs day today tonight and I'm going to eat lots of them...
    2006-09-30:
    2006-10-01:
    • It's Sunday and I set the alarm to wake me up before sunrise to eat and drink and brush teeth. Another very special experience, having breakfast with the owls.
    2006-10-02:
    • Today is Yom Kippur. Double fasting. Shana Tova!
    • Weight check: 72kg. The adaptation period is very well over after a week now. Not even drinking during the day frees up even more resources and completely liberates the mind of foraging and in fact, any food-related thinking. Unless you monitor exactly these thought in order to write about, that is.
    2006-10-03:
    • I ate all night long and set the alarm only for a glass of water in the darkness of the early morning hours.
    • Almost surreal, how many of the participants are almost fainting, every afternoon, and it still has that amazing social component to it.
    2006-10-04:
    • Dates are sold out at the usual grocery stores.
    • The overeating part is very important during the nighttime feast. Eating only regularly leaves you with a sense of deprivation all day long. Also, the metabolism is stimulated by overeating and reacts with burning more calories.
    2006-10-05:
    • Weight check: 71kg -- the more I eat, the less I weigh.
    2006-10-06:
    • The full moon indicates that the fasting month is half over.
    2006-10-07:
    • Thirst creates fatigue, especially with very late night feasts -- I made Sushi last night -- and not only food but sleep deprivation. Here is the trick in dealing with the latter: How to Power Nap.
    • Finally stocked up on dates again.
    2006-10-08:
    • It's Sunday again and with enough sleep and an overload of carbohydrates from the night before, I don't even drop into forced spirituality mode anymore.
    2006-10-09:
    • Funny how fasting and overall restraint makes me plan the evolution of my diet when the month is over. I am not going to compensate for the fasting, although I may indulge in water.
    2006-10-10:
    • Weight check: 72kg. With a habit being formed in about three to four weeks, how is going to be possible to go back to eating 'round the clock -- or is this the real test?
    2006-10-11:
    • I indulged in fish and eggs yesterday, I just have to consider the potential positive aspects. Also, the hunter-gatherer style of eating resonates with me and with the warrior cycle. Pesco-ovo-vegan anybody..?
    2006-10-12:
    • I am going from eating vegan to a hunter-gatherer style of diet. Are there any implications? If yes, how are they felt, how does eating meat express itself in spirituality? Do I essentially give up potential enlightenment when I hunt and kill my meal? I don't think so but I'll find it out...
    2006-10-13:
    • After almost three weeks of perfected and ultimately perfect restraint, the body notices the over-eating of as little as one date more than necessary...
    • Also, in preparation of the post-Ramadan journey, here is a collection of quotes that all but support the hunter-gatherer diet.
    2006-10-14:
    • Weight check: 71kg. Treat of the day: Figs. In abundance.
    • Ramadan is a cyclic experience since it repeats every year but it is also a procedural one which influences other events in the life of its participants. Timeline is an interesting tool and offers itself to visualize sequential information similar to the events and chronologies covered in a diary.
    2006-10-15:
    2006-10-16:
    2006-10-17:
    • 80% of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. Why bother with the 80% that do not return our investment? Zhuang-zi has an answer...
    2006-10-18:
    • Weight check: 72kg. Considered stable.
    • One of the side-effects of Ramadan and its timeframes is the experience of dawn in all its glory.
    2006-10-19:
    • Business as usual. Once you do get used to it, change is near. In the new moon.
    2006-10-20:
    • I'm preparing to re-adapt to the Warrior style of eating. ... and looking forward to indulge in meat.
    2006-10-21:
    • An important part of fasting is the fact that you do not have to plan any meals. The schedule is clear and you just don't need to integrate meal times into an already tightly packed day. Less choices, more control -- all in a positive way.
    2006-10-22:
    • Weight check: 72kg. This means that I am finishing with one kilo less -- roughly as expected.
    • Transitioning off the fasting, in theory at least. The tricky part is to gradually give up only some of the restraint of the last weeks.

    Note: I do understand that there are more than a billion people who are currently fasting. I still want to share that special experience, especially since it fits the theme of the site so well. In many ways.

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