So here I sit, laying in my bed waiting for 5:00 pm. It’s a nice early January morning here in Santa Cruz. I can hear the crows cawing and I can see the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Pier right out of my window along with some kayakers paddling in the ocean. I’m surrounded by so much beauty, but all I can think about is 5:00 pm because at 5:00 pm I am going to break my 5-day water-only fast. I am going to start with some diluted fruit juice, then move on to a few slices of mango. I can taste the mango, I can see the mango when I close my eyes, bright yellow, yet moist, sweet, and velvety. This is my third fast in the last 16 months. The first was an 8-day fast at True North Health Center followed by another 3-day this summer in Michigan, and now a 5 dayer here at home in Santa Cruz.
I have the same dream each event usually multiple nights during the fast. I am at a party, having a great time, there’s tons of food and wine available. I take a glass of wine and a few potato chips and pop them in my mouth and as soon as I do, I remember I am fasting and I freak out because I’ve blown my fast! I never get to taste the chips because I wake up. And you better believe I wake up hungry.
Mindy and I had a video interview with Dr. Michael Klapper, who is one of the leading medical experts on fasting two weeks ago. The purpose of the interview was to get his opinion on fasting for recurrent cancer for my upcoming book Living and Thriving with Prostate Cancer. His exact words were “If I were you, dealing with recurrent prostate cancer, I would fast 5 days a month for several months”.
OK, now I know the power of fasting because every time I have done it, I come out feeling almost superhuman on the other side. I know that right now I barely have the energy to even type this, but at 5:00 tonight when I take that first sip of that watered-down fruit juice (I’m thinking watermelon with a little pomegranate) that it will be the most delicious thing I have ever tasted and within 3 minutes of that juice being consumed, my liver is going to convert every bit of it to glucose, send it to all my hungry cells, and I will begin to feel superhuman. I can’t wait. Until then I am going to look at food porn on the internet. During this 5 day fast, I have ordered teff flour because I am going to make injera bread for some oil-free Ethiopian food that I pulled up online. I also ordered several exotic spices and lemongrass paste for the affair. I’m looking forward to getting back in the kitchen. I would be happy experimenting with oil-free vegan cultural food and teaching cooking in my own kitchen for the rest of my life, along with a lot of surfing, and exercise, and meditation. That would carry me for the rest of my life quite honestly.
Anyway, fasting is going to be a part of my life as long as I am around. There’s just too much compelling research and too much of my own personal experience that says so. Finally, it is also extremely empowering to know that I have the wisdom and the discipline to continue to pull this off and to plan for it in the future. It is NOT EASY for me. Every single day is a struggle, but I have a carrot dangling out there and that carrot is knowing I’ll feel awesome when it’s done. It’s also knowing I am taking control of my health and my disease, not just defaulting standard western medical treatment that to this day still does not utilize the well-researched power of diet and fasting as a key component to cancer treatment and all chronic disease treatment for that matter. And that’s it, I have just used up the last ketone for my brain to type this………. it’s 11:22am, 5 hours and 48 minutes to super human.