We’ve come to the last day of my live foods day ‘fast’! At last, after a whole day of nothing but drinking juices and water, I could finally sink my teeth onto something solid.

What I Ate

First up was this fresh bowl of grapes, strawberries and mangoes to break my fast. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that much of a big deal, I suppose I didn’t want to just munch on something solid, I wanted something warm and filling as well.

I drove the car out to make a quick repair, and I didn’t feel any difficulties at all being outside (except needing to pee more often and getting hungry again). When I came back, I couldn’t resist another one of those yummy and filling avocado milkshakes.

In fact, I couldn’t resist so much I drank nearly a third before I remembered to take a picture!

Up till now, I’d followed my instructions to take nothing but live foods for the 3 days, except for the salad dressing and milk. But when it was nearly noon, I was to break it big-time for a bowl of soya beancurd

Looking at it another way, excepting the sugar syrup it came with, the soya beancurd was probably pretty good for me.

Next, I had a real treat planned for myself; durian, the ‘king of fruits’. It has a strong, savory smell and rich, creamy texture – a fun way to add some flavor to a live food fast!

Now, I know a lot of people from overseas like Caucasians and the Japanese hate durian, I’ve heard it described as smelling like ‘rotting corpses’ or ‘sewage’, but the majority of us living in South-East Asia love this fruit and have no idea what the haters are talking about. My girlfriend (who’s Chinese) can’t stand it either and we’ve determined that it’s genetic, you’re either born with the durian-loving gene or you’re not.

Finally, a healthy salad. I cheated a little bit here, you can see the slices of wholewheat bread I toasted for myself. The taste of something starchy and warm – heavenly!

I also found myself hungrier than the day before when I was just having liquids, and kept snacking on grapes, tomatoes and bananas.

But finally, near evening, I was feeling so hungry I decided I had enough – time for a warm, home-cooked, flavorsome meal to break the ‘fast’.

I felt immediately ‘heavier’ after this meal, like there was something weighing down my gut. It was quite an apparent feeling to end the fast on.

What I Felt

Remember what I said yesterday about not having any of the usual symptoms of a detox? Well, they happened today. Headaches, frequent trips to the toilet, excessive white coating on the tongue – except for the headaches, the rest were actually a good sign that my body was flushing out my system.

I also felt lighter these last 3 days, without taking lots of solid food at one go like starchy carbs or meat, I didn’t experience the ‘afternoon sleepies’ that usually come after a full meal.

Man, those fruits and vegetables sure get processed fast! Luckily I was on leave from work, set meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner lost all meaning as I was getting hungrier more often throughout the day. On this diet, it seems you eat smaller meals, but at more times.

In the evening, I ‘broke’. I didn’t want to deal with this constant hunger anymore, so I decided to share a warm, home-cooked meal with my family. After nearly 3 days of cold leafy vegetables and fruits, there is something to be said for a warm, cooked meal.

It’s during these last 3 days that I remembered how much I love food. I mean, I don’t love it in a 6 burgers a day way, or a 10-course French fine dining dinner way, I just enjoy the way a warm, flavorful meal tastes and the different varieties you can enjoy with food.

And in a psychological sense, there’s also something satisfying about the feeling of a full stomach. Whether this is healthy or not, habitual or instinctual, I’m not too sure. In one of his programs, Tony Robbins talks about going on a fast, and how some people realize during a fast that they crave foods not because they’re really hungry, but because they’ve used foods in the past to satisfy emotional needs, like the need to feel loved, or taken care of, or the need to feel variety in life. This is something I’ll need to explore in my everyday diet after this fast.

So while these last 3 days were interesting, I wouldn’t stick with this diet anytime soon. While I appreciate a good healthy salad as much as anything else, I appreciate the experiences of good meals too, so for me the best philosophy is all food in moderation.