I started experimenting with fasting as a way to cleanse the body (and mind) in the mid 1990's. At the time I was living in France.

The first few attempts at one day fasts were unsuccessful.. I'd skip breakfast, and lunch, and by mid afternoon I'd feel so rotten that I'd generally end up heading for the bathroom and throwing up..

Resolve weakened, I'd then head for the kitchen, and eat until I felt better.. At least, that was the theory, but in practice I used to feel even rottener, cursing myself for not even being able to last one poxy measly little day without food.

Such was the toxic state of my body/mind - This was even after several years of eating predominantly raw foods - sometimes more consistently than others (I first heard about raw foods at the end of the 1980's (after having been vegan for 4 years or so), but remained unconvinced until the summer of 1992 when Francisco Martin managed to successfully reach me one sunny Biggleswade morning at the 6th International Vegan Festival..)

Eventually I managed a complete day, but as I never kept any notes at that time, the exact details are lost in history.. Though I do remember that during my first few one day fasts (actually 36 hours), I'd always end up throwing up in the afternoon, and waking up the next day feeling really really groggy.

Not knowing better, - well, actually, the truth is probably more that I lacked sufficient will power - I'd break-fast the next day, and generally over eat then too (not a wise thing to do after a fast).. Oh, I should hasten to add, that although I may have been carrying some extra weight, loosing it was not my main focus of attention (I've always weighed in at around 60kgs, excepting once when I went up to 70kgs.. but again, exact details are lost..)

Anyhow, after 3 or 4 successful complete one day fasts (with the accompanying vomits and general grogginesses), I felt ready for a 3 day one..

Over the following year, I must have done at least four or five 3-day fasts. All of them very similar, though toward the end, the accompanying discomforts would take longer and longer before kicking in.. thus I was eventually managing the first day without much difficulty at all..

I don't really have much to write about them, other than that I was always fully aware of the cleansing benefits each one had on me, and that they were none of them easy (I spent much of the time imagining different foods I'd eat once I eventually broke fast, and when I eventually did, I'd more than likely overeat again..).. My girlfriend at the time, said that I was forever loosing and gaining weight (although never great quantities in either direction).

I accomplished then a 7 day fast. The first 3 days being total (i.e., a dry fast - no water either). - Oh, in case it hasn't been obvious, a fast in my terminology means no foods nor drinks other than water - there is no such thing as a juice-fast, this is an oxymoron, (an oxymoron is 2 contradictory terms joined together to create something bizarre - like "military-intelligence", or "health tablet" for example).

A few months later, I decided to do the wilderness thing.. head out into the forest, and do a longer fast alone..

I chose my spot well, pitched tent under some pine trees in a completely hidden spot where no one was likely to ever stumble across me.. I was at about 900ms altitude in the French Pyrenees, several kilometers from the Spanish border, in the middle of nowhere in particular, but roughly 10 minutes walk from a fresh water spring rarely ever visted by anyone.

This fast lasted 10 days, and was without doubt the most profoundly cleansing one so far. Again, no notes were taken at the time, but one particular incidence stands out in my mind...

It must have been on the 6th or 7th day.. To understand better, we'll have to back track a few months..:

......... During the previous winter, I had been working on an internal wall in an old house, I don't recall exactly what I was doing, but there was a lot of hammer and chisel stuff going on, and as always, I was barefoot Something happened too fast.. A piece of the wall fell off, and I jumped backwards twisting my foot as I did so, but not quite fast enough as a big chunk hit my foot as I moved.. I had sprained my ankle, and for a week or 2, I had to be careful how I walked..

It had just about healed, when one evening I slipped on some black ice on the steps outside the house (this time I was wearing footwear for about the first time that year), and within an hour my whole ankle had swollen up like a grapefruit..

For weeks I was hardly able to move at all, and I didn't feel good walking until at least 2 months later... When it had eventually healed, of sorts, I felt like my foot must have suffered permanent damage, I was unable to move it in all directions as previously. I resigned myself to having a slight stiffness with my foot.

Anyhow.. where was I? Oh yes.. on the 6th or 7th day, I was lying down in the sunshine, on my back feeling weak, but relaxed.

Suddenly, I felt this warm tingling sensation around my right foot/ankle area.. I just lied still observing/experiencing.. For about half an hour, my foot pulsated, warm and throbbing.. It was not an unpleasant/uncomfortable sensation.

Eventually it stopped, I sat up, and moved my foot. It was miraculous, all stiffness had completely vanished. My foot felt as good as new..

Then suddenly I remembered.... it had been the left foot that was injured.. Naah.. just kidding! It was the right foot indeed, and healed completely it had!

Time flew by.. I had done another one week fast in between, several 3 day ones, and the occasional one day every now and again, but I was ready for a longer one..

This time I was in the tropics of Far North Queensland (Australia), and not a better spot could I have chosen.. I moved into a cave out in the wilderness, close to one of the most lush beautiful rivers I have ever had the pleasure of bathing in..

The fast went well.. I got weak, lost some weight, threw up some, had the black runny shits that are common and normal, felt dizzy..

I spent my days, lying naked on a flat rock next to the river.. When I got too hot, or thirsty (usually combined), I'd stand up, use what energy I had to walk to the river, and just fall in and be carried away with the current.. It was cool, refreshing, and tasted so sweet.. I'd be invigorated, leave the river, and head back to my rock, to do the same again..

When I eventually came down the river, everyone commented on how I shone, my body, my eyes.. I broke fast on a cherimoya.

I wish I had kept notes about these fasts. I will do so in future, and include them here.. If you have any journal of a fast you have experienced, and wouldn't mind sharing it, please Email Me.