August 22, 2011
Day 1: Um what... surprisingly and shockingly good. So I have never fasted before in my entireee life, I don't remember the last time I skipped a meal much the less didn't have my water bottle glued to my hand in this heat. Ramaddan here in village has been well under way for three weeks, and people aren't even phased by it. It is also bean season which means that everyone is working in the fields all day with no food and no water. Um if they can do that, I can give this whole fasting thing a shot. So, with fasting, here are the rules:
-Wake up between 4 and 4:30 am. Eat as much as you can between that time and 4:58 am. Go pray at 5:00 am.
-Don't touch food or water again until 6:30 pm but pray at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm and 6ish pm
-Chug water and eat as much as humanly possible between 6:30 and 7 pm
-Pray again at 7 pm, and continue the feasting until you pass out around 8:30 pm
-Wake up. Do it all again for one month
So last night I ate with my usual fam and they were all really tired, so I can back early around 8pm. I was still hungry for some reason (of what? fourth meal of the day? it's fine) so I munched on some trail mix in bed while listening to music and fell asleep around 10 pm.
I woke up at 6am, whoops already past 5 am, can't eat. So I didn't. I worked in the garden a bit in the morning, washed laundry, went to another village for drop off a report with someone from the hospital, visited the hospital, came back, worked on a campaign with someone in village who is distributing medicine, made food, brought it over to the fam, and "broke fast" at 18:32 by drinking some bru-ee and munching on cucumber salad that I had made. And then I consumed (in this order): bennets made by Nini with bru-ee, cucumber salad, water, more bru-ee, couscous part 1 with my sauce plus fadi's sauce, cucumber salad, more couscous with meat sauce from a friend.
But during the fast, I wasn't hungry. I wasn't grumpy. I craved water a bit in the afternoon but it wasn't bad. I feel fine. But this makes me worried. Here are my possible reasons for a successful fasting day 1:
1. there is something seriously wrong with my body so not having food or water for 20 hours didn't phase it
2. mind over matter. I knew that I could do this and that I wanted to because everyone else works so much harder than me in the fields and if they can do it, I can do it.
3. It is still day 1. The lack of nutrition hasn't set in.
4. Maybe I'm normally consuming too many "cous-cous calories" so this is a healthy and necessary cleansing process and my body likes the rest from breaking down carbs
5. I was busy today. If I was sitting in my house reading all day and eyeing the yummy trail mix that my mother sent, things may be different.
August 22
Fasting for Ramaddan
-Wake up between 4 and 4:30 am. Eat as much as you can between that time and 4:58 am. Go pray at 5:00 am.
-Don't touch food or water again until 6:30 pm but pray at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm and 6ish pm
-Chug water and eat as much as humanly possible between 6:30 and 7 pm
-Pray again at 7 pm, and continue the feasting until you pass out around 8:30 pm
-Wake up. Do it all again for one month
So last night I ate with my usual fam and they were all really tired, so I can back early around 8pm. I was still hungry for some reason (of what? fourth meal of the day? it's fine) so I munched on some trail mix in bed while listening to music and fell asleep around 10 pm.
I woke up at 6am, whoops already past 5 am, can't eat. So I didn't. I worked in the garden a bit in the morning, washed laundry, went to another village for drop off a report with someone from the hospital, visited the hospital, came back, worked on a campaign with someone in village who is distributing medicine, made food, brought it over to the fam, and "broke fast" at 18:32 by drinking some bru-ee and munching on cucumber salad that I had made. And then I consumed (in this order): bennets made by Nini with bru-ee, cucumber salad, water, more bru-ee, couscous part 1 with my sauce plus fadi's sauce, cucumber salad, more couscous with meat sauce from a friend.
But during the fast, I wasn't hungry. I wasn't grumpy. I craved water a bit in the afternoon but it wasn't bad. I feel fine. But this makes me worried. Here are my possible reasons for a successful fasting day 1:
1. there is something seriously wrong with my body so not having food or water for 20 hours didn't phase it
2. mind over matter. I knew that I could do this and that I wanted to because everyone else works so much harder than me in the fields and if they can do it, I can do it.
3. It is still day 1. The lack of nutrition hasn't set in.
4. Maybe I'm normally consuming too many "cous-cous calories" so this is a healthy and necessary cleansing process and my body likes the rest from breaking down carbs
5. I was busy today. If I was sitting in my house reading all day and eyeing the yummy trail mix that my mother sent, things may be different.
August 22
Day 2: still fine, visited health center in morning and worked on a medicine distribution campaign in afternoon. Chowed down at 6:32 pm
August 23
Day 3: starting to feel the effects a bit. This is what my body is doing: right when i wake up and at noon I will be so hungry that I can't focus on anything else. But once I tell myself that I can't eat or drink and I'll just have to wait, the hunger subsides and everything is fine and normal. It is a bit crazy how little food our bodies need to still function.
August 24
Day 4: Today was a bit more difficult. It was sunny alll day long and I working on the medicine distribution campaign both in the morning and afternoon. When the kids came to visit and were jumping around and screaming, I had very little patience and was jealous of their amount of energy (children and people who are sick are exempt from fasting during this month). My goal right now is to fast until the fete/festival of Ramaddan, which will complete one full week.
August 25
Day 5: came into the city. Stomach is growling like crazy, baby-lion-style. Stayin strong, stayin strong. I have my granola bar, peanuts and other snacks ready for when 6 pm hits. Food consumed (in this order) starting at 18:30pm exactly: 2 bags of peanuts, fish + baton manioc + plantains, more peanuts, cracker jacks sent from my mother, more peanuts.
August 26
Day 6: Woke up and subconsciously grabbed my water bottle and chugged some water. Darnit. Broke fast at 7 am. Will not make that same mistake tomorrow.
Bonjour Mademoiselle!
ReplyDeleteJe suis super heureuse de lire ton Blog. C'est super! J'ai les lettres de tes eleves. La semaine prochaine je vais partager ton blog avec mes eleves de francais 5 et nous ecrirons des reponses pour tes eleves. J'aimerais aussi leur envoyer quelque chose d'ici. Qu'est-ce qui pourrait leur faire plaisir?
Bisous,
Caroline