Fasting

It's ironic that my first entry back into the writing world has to do with fasting.  Some might say that I was on a blogging fast for the last three years.
Aside from the writing hiatus, I recently did a food fast for three days.  It was the second time I've done such a thing so I was prepared for the cravings, the spacey thoughts and the fatigue, but as it turned out, this time went much smoother than the first.  My motivation for fasting had two parts.  The first was to break my morning coffee routine and the second was to bring more consciousness to eating.  I found both motivations to be important, but the latter to be higher priority.  Too often I found myself nibbling on my children's leftovers without really thinking much about it.  The fast helped me to see just how often I was tempted to put some little snack or leftover in my mouth, and it's not to say that I've broken the habit completely, (I'm a sucker for a half-eaten peanut butter and jelly) but greater self awareness is always a work in progress.
My fast consisted of herbals teas, water with lemon and honey and water with concentrated cranberry juice and agave nectar.  I found it helpful to have sources of sugar give my body some calories to work with.  It's a little tricky to do a fast when staying home with three kids,but it called on me to weed out the tasks that aren't that important.  I don't think I could live in that mind-set or energy level all the time - very little would get done, but every once in awhile I need a break from all the things that I think "need" to get done each day.  And just so you know, I haven't had a cup of coffee in 16 days!