Cultural Chameleon, even at 176 and blonde

So over the past week or so as I started mentioning I was heading to Thailand for detox/cleanse/fast (I’ll use the words interchangeably in the next series of posts), everyone asked: Why? Do you really live so crazily and unhealthily that you need to detox?

Me: Well, no.

But perhaps the better answer is: couldn’t we all stand to be a little healthier?

With which, I don’t think anyone would argue.  Cleansing has many benefits: revitalized immune system, weight loss, toxins cleared out, increased body awareness, greater appreciation of food, heightened sense of taste, etc.

I started fasting in 2006 doing short-term juice and water fasts at home.  While I didn’t have a whole lot of results with those, I saw the potential and knew I could get a lot out of a full detox program.  And during my first structured cleanse in July 2007, I did! and that was only 3.5 days.  Ever since then I’ve been wanting to come back to do the full 7.5 days.

The timing on this specific trip was prompted by a stomach virus I picked up (perhaps in Vietnam) in early November.  Through the span of the past 5 months I’ve had varying degrees of various symptoms.  Among the most long lasting and perplexing are my nails and hair not growing and bruises taking 6-8 weeks to go away.  Perhaps you wonder why I didn’t just see a doctor about this and save myself the trouble of a fast.  Well, actually I went to the doctor in the US and they told me, its a viral infection, there’s nothing we can do, drink more water.  That was in early January.  Here we are 3 months later…  So you can say this is my answer to, or rejection of, Western medicine and all its quick solutions.  (Don’t get me wrong, I also tried Traditional Chinese Medicine, and that only aggravated my stomach.)

Besides remedying this stomach virus, and all of the associated issues: digestion, hair and nail growth, etc, I also have high hopes for the fast to greatly enhance my immune system so that I can fend off colds, any stomach problems, and other ailments more readily.

The results (benefits) of my detox will be posted at end: at least 7 more days from now.  But as a foreshadow, here are some of the benefits I noticed after my previous fast of only 3.5 days: radiant clearer skin, brighter whites of the eyes, people telling me I looked youthful, energetic, and better than they’d ever seen me, and my personal favorite as someone who’s prone to getting either a minor stomach ailment (since living in Asia) or cold every month, I didn’t get even a little cold until 5 months later!  Therefore I knew my immune system had been strengthened in only 3.5 days.

I’m looking forward to the end result.

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