A Thai Fast!

As many of you know, I took off from Beijing a week after landing there. I suddenly decided in November that I should go south in January because it was so cold. Then i decided it should be Thailand because I've never been there. THEN I decided, wouldn't it be fun to go to one of those wellness centers there and do a fast too? So...I'm here! I'm doing a 14 day full fast followed by 3 days of raw foods to re-acclimate. I'm staying in a wellness center on Phuket Island in Thailand. As many of you know, this is the most famous tourist island with beautiful beaches, coral reefs and smaller islands off the coast for exploring.

I am 10 minutes inland and living at the center, but they give rides to the beach every afternoon for anyone that wants to go. In case you're curious, I thought I should share some details with you about what's in this program I'm doing. this is my room, a home for almost 3 weeks:

What I "eat"...which isn't much!
7:00 am: Herbs
9:30 am: Fiber and Clay Drink
11:00 am: Herbs
1:00 pm: Fiber and Clay Drink
3:00 pm: Herbs
5:00 pm: Fiber and Clay Drink
6:00 pm: Broth Soup
7:00 pm: Herbs
9:00 pm: Fiber and Clay Drink
10:00 pm: Pro-biotic Tablet to replace your healthy bacteria.

I know this sounds like a lot…but it is just a few pills and scoops of nutritional supplements. In the picture below, this is the bag we received in the morning of day 1 and the consultant said, “Here is all your food for the next 2 weeks!” Yikes.


Now for what I do! Activities:
7:30 am: Morning Ritual: This can include a combination of Yoga, stretching, Tai Chi, or Reflexology. Nothing too challenging. It’s more to get your blood moving and get you relaxed for the day.

A meeting lining up massage and therapy times for the rest of the day:


11:45 am: Morning Colema: A therapy that runs water all the way through your colon for 30-40 minutes, flushing it out. Sounds gross, and is a little weird in implementation, but you’d be amazed what’s in there and how long it has been stuck in the linings of your colon.

12-3 pm: Beach time: The center’s driver will make 10 minute trips to the beach during these hours if you want to go.

2:45 pm: 1 Hour Massage (YAY! My favorite part of the day. You can choose between Oil, Thai, Shiatsu, Foot Reflexology or Face and shoulder Massages.)

5:00 pm: Evening Colema: A repeat of what you did in the morning. But you can choose what types of colemas you want for various effects. Coffee, vitamin C, garlic and pure water are some of the choices. All have their advantages, and you can’t feel a difference.

5-6:30 pm: Herbal Steam Sauna: Wood-burning sauna that will run during these hours for those that are interested.

7:00 pm: “Something at 7”: This can include anything from yoga, dancing, kickboxing, nutritional classes, etc. You can chose to participate.

As you can see, there is really only free time in the mid-afternoon and after 8:30 at night. I’m thankful for all of it, because you need stuff to take up your time when you are thinking about food. I was very hungry the first day, starting around 11am, when your body is missing breakfast. I stayed hungry throughout the day, feeling only a little satisfied when we had hot tea or the fiber drinks. At night I dreamed that I had broken my fast and was eating my Dad’s cookies. Haha…of all things to appear in the dream! I was exhausted by 7pm and went to bed, missing the evening activity. They say days 1-5 are the hardest, 6-14 should be much easier. Following day 14 I will have 3 days of raw foods to bring me back to the world of solid foods gracefully. No binge-eating. It is 3 salads + fruit juice during the day because your body has to get used to digesting and bring the metabolism back up from the fasting rate.
Day 1 down, 13 to go!