Power Body by Yvettebam

Wanna know some trouble with me? When someone begins to speak about the body, I get INTO IT. I can’t stop talking about it.There’s no small talk about how you want to go on a low-calorie diet with me. No, no. I will either walk out of the room, bite my tongue hard and make mental notes of things to write about later before purposefully steering the conversation away… or SIT YOU DOWN AND LOVINGLY SLAP YOU. Into behaving.You won’t find me at the dinner table disclaiming about how I “definitely shouldn’t have another slice of cake”. Baby, I’m having cake if I want it… and the thought of “should or should not” does not cross my mind. When it comes to food, those types of thoughts (should I? No…. wait… maybe a little… okay fine a little bit… damn it, I shouldn’t have done that!) are rooted in shame (which I wrote about in this article here). Fact: IT TOOK ME YEARS TO GET OUT OF THE SHAME CYCLE. The deconstruction of shame, and the replacement of LOVE, is a process that had me, quite frequently, on the floor, bawling. That’s one of my main annoyances in life, by the way: witnessing the covert shaming of the body in small moments that are meant to be filled with connection (for example a dinner party!). Growing up, I was a part of too many tables with women bashing themselves before diving into the “newest” dietary advice they’re keen on trying, or subtly glancing up and down on a woman who is going for seconds. Little me was very confused back then…Because it never made any goddamn sense. That is, if one were to develop a true understanding of the body! In the culture of shame and comparison? It makes sense. But if you were to get to the root of the foundational understanding of the majestic physical apparatus that your consciousness controls that was bestowed to you by God himself you would see that it does not make any goddamn sense. And quite frankly? It’s very boring.It’s very boring to be a person who is bashing their own body. And that’s me shaming you in the right way. The way out of the body hatred shame spiral. Tee-hee. Don’t be boring. Don’t bash your body! For real: there’s so many other creative wonderful ways you can spend your energy, spend your time, hone your focus toward than… subjugation, or the control of thyself… in a way that is materially focused and not advantageous in any way toward your health. That’s boring. I’m the cool new mean girl int town and self-shaming is SO last decade. And the whole calorie model we’re all obsessed with? It’s less than half of the equation. My newest heartbreak: witnessing patients in hospice lament about how they should be losing a few pounds, or how their stomach has never been this flat before and how joyous they are in this revelation. I could write about that one for hours. Does it truly never end? This idol worship of vanity? It has been constructed within us since we were very young… does it ever end? The rejection of our beautiful God-created vessel? The subjugation of it, the controlling aspect of it, the idea that we need to make ourselves smaller? In order to what: Appease? Appease the male gaze? Appease the female gaze? Appease your parental gaze? In order to appease a societal gaze? The sexy bunny gaze? LET ME SAVE YOU YEARS, READER: THE GAZE IS A PRISON. Whatever gaze you are appeasing… I think that’s a good place to start with the insertion of curiosity. Insert a little curiosity into the honest question of: whose gaze AM I trying to appease? It will tell you a lot. You see what I mean? SUDDENLY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT DEATH. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO BE CASUAL ABOUT THE BODY. I JUST DON’T. THIS TOPIC IS MY RIDE OR DIE. MY KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR. I WANT TO LICK MY OWN FLESH AND DANCE FOR IT. WAIT, NO, TOO MUCH, SHUT UP YVETTE! Yeah, we’ll go there. Eventually. Both in the physical sense (you and me ain’t nothing but mammals praising flesh until the final hallelujah on our own death beds) + literally if you stick around for the substack ride with me.…. Annnnyyywaaaayyyy….I’m here to let you in on a little secret, one that has nothing to do with restriction and everything to do with a foundational understanding of how the body works.The secret is titled as a weight loss secret because it grabs your attention, doesn’t it? ”I want to lose the weight!” says everyone in their intergenerational trauma lineage.Don’t get me wrong: sometimes it’s very optimal to lose weight. But here’s the difference… we don’t always have to view weight loss through the lens of shaming, and through the lens of control.We can view it through the lens of a foundational understanding of the body, and through understanding hormonal chaos, also known as obesity.Obesity is a state of metabolic hormonal chaos. And when we view it from that very logical approach, it stops being a “something is wrong with me” approach.You know that voice.“I’m fat and something’s wrong with me.””I’m fat and I’ll never have the life I want.””I’m fat and therefore unlovable!”That word (fat), and the connotations (that it brings), are not rooted in truth.This is important to understand and begin to unwind… because those connotations don’t only show up in a quiet moment when you’re reading this. They filter through your mind when you’re eating a third brownie. They filter through your mind when you’re ordering Uber Eats for the 100th time that day and the 100th week in a row. Whatever those connotations are for you, I want you to know this: they are not true. They are rooted in shame. And when we recognize that, when we recognize a shame stronghold for WHAT IT IS, when we hold it up to the light of our consciousness, to the light of our curiosity (because curiosity is a form of love), it begins to die. We can stop doing shame and subjugation and start asking better questions.Why is this existing within me?What is the chaos beneath the surface?And yes, we can explore this emotionally and spiritually as well. But if we look at it from the physical sense, obesity is rooted in hormonal metabolic chaos. Dysfunction. Something that is not ordered.That’s what I mean by chaos. Chaos is simply a description of something that isn’t orderly.And guess what? That says nothing about the person as a person.It simply means that this person has a disorderly room, in this case, metabolic dysfunction. And there are many steps we can take to optimize that room, bring it back to order, so the person feels alive in that room.Not because the person is trying to appease others through the room. Not because they’re trying to look a certain way as a person through the look of the room, trying to present themselves as someone spectacular because they have this great room. That’s all aesthetic b******t.And when we make an idol out of vanity, shame is always at the foundation of that.So I want you to practice something. Insert curiosity into whatever is being regurgitated within you, even as you’re reading this, even on the day to day, even on those restaurant outings. Whatever it may be for you.Heck, I love sugary coffee. Even as I’m sipping that sugary coffee, whatever comes up for me, the references I make toward myself as a person, that’s where the work is.That’s where we insert curiosity and get into spelunking. Spelunk into the shame instead of allowing the shame to subjugate you into a smaller version of yourself (and I’m not necessarily speaking about the physical sense now).The secret that I want to reveal in this article, which is SO easy to do, and is rooted in the foundation of OPTIMIZING THE METABOLIC PROCESS. The secret simply is… the creation of…The Fiber NetI’ve come to think of it in this way: a net on the bottom of my stomach that serves as a slow-down mechanism for…GLUCOSE ABSORPTION! (& subsequent improved insulin sensitivity, a main driver in obesity). Think of it like a welcome mat for digestion! Many of our meals nowadays are seriously lacking in fiber, and this matters more than we think, because the sequence in which we eat deeply matters. I eat fiber first, not only to slow down glucose but also to hormonally optimize the body. This is especially important in the modern world, where refined carb-fronted meals are becoming a norm due to the simple fact that they’re cheap, able to be preserved for long periods on grocery shelves, and tasty. You know what I love? The old-school logic of starting with greens. Our ancestors weren’t doing that because they hated joy. They were doing it because digestion is a ritual. That is why, historically, we began meals with a salad. This historical salad had not only the benefit of creating a natural fibrous net but also used to be made of digestive bitters (think: arugula, dandelion greens, kale), which effectively prepped bile for release (hence aiding your digestion!).It’s less about “I am eating this salad because I want to be skinny” (this is a toxic mentality!) and more about: I AM EATING ADDITIONAL FOOD IN ORDER TO EFFECTIVELY PREP MY DIGESTION (with a fibrous net + digestive bitters). NOW: Do I really eat a salad before every meal in order to create a fibrous net?No, I’m not a monk. Luckily, there’s other options… and I’m about to explain my favorite one below! Digestive bitters aside (also available in herbal tonics by the way), you can create a fibrous net in many different ways. In the past, I tried using… psyllium husk. This always felt slightly “off” to me, mainly because my underlying foundation in regards to the body orients around how nature operates… and, to be frank: nature did not make that option romantic. Does it work? Yes, it does. I used to take capsule formats before meals and the fiber was fiber-ing. There’s easier food variations. My favorites include: eating a couple artichoke hearts before meals (the ones that are in a jar on the grocery shelves), eating the vegetables on my plate first (if I have any)… or... my new favorite…Chia seeds + unsweetened coconut milkThis combination is amazing. There’s variations that you can make (the world is your oyster!). Substitute water for the coconut milk, or not, because coconut milk ADDS to the fibrous net with its fat content (dietary fat can slow gastric emptying, often reducing a blood sugar rise in the first few hours). Disclaimer: Unsweetened coconut milk is key here!Here’s what I do:At night, I mix up a few spoonfuls of chia seeds into a glass of unsweetened coconut milk.In the morning: I have a huge cup of glorious expanded chia seeds. Before every meal, I SIMPLY EAT A FEW SPOONFULS OF THIS MIXTURE. It’s so easy, so tasty!, and so effortless. My fiber net be fiber-ing AND purring. Chia seeds are not only an amazing fiber net but can also be amazing for your heart and inflammation (omega 3’s baby! Article on how incredibly important Omega 3 is in this modern world is coming out soon, and it’s not what you think!). Coconut milk helps with slower gastric emptying. Combined with the power of chia seeds expanding gel fiber, it is a powerhouse! Bonus points: Add in electrolyte drops to the mixture at night, with a little tiny bit of vanilla extract. Important caveat: This will not work if the chia seeds are not fully hydrated in the liquid of your choice (unsweetened coconut milk, or water). Chia seeds are an insoluble source of fiber UNTIL THEY ARE GELLED (hydrated). Once hydrated, chia seeds become a gel-forming soluble fiber source. All of this to say: You’ll not only be full for longer but your glucose spikes will be far more regulated. In tomorrow’s article we will explore… WHY THIS MATTERS FOR HORMONAL HEALTH, especially in obesity, and how this will contribute to a natural weight-loss (no calorie counting needed). prelude:Fiber-first blunts glucose spikes, which reduces insulin spikes, which lowers insulin demand, and can improve insulin resistance over time (which is a major driver of metabolic obesity). What do you notice about the above sentence? Yeah, calories aren’t even counted. Shocker?Smirk. xoAnswers to Loose Skin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. 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Aloha friend! Welcome to my new series, “10 Easy Ways to Sky-Rocket Your Weight-Loss with Body Regulation”!Each week, I’ll be posting an in-depth article pertaining to how to regulate the body and achieve weight-loss and fitness as a byproduct. If you’d like these weekly posts to be automatically delivered to your inbox, subscribe to my substack at www.answerstolooseskin.com (and if you’re reading this, then you’re on my substack! Hi! I’m new here and would appreciate a follow!)How did this series come about? Well, it took me a while to understand the concept of “body regulation”.For years, I was obsessed with the prevention of loose-skin. I inherently knew that the casual dismissals of “oh! It’s all genetic!” were baseless. Our body is wiser than that, and epigenetic research shows that our environment is vital.I released a 6-month program called Secrets to Loose Skin following my weight-loss journey of 150 pounds. In this program, we go into the DEPTHS of fascia, lymph, musculature, abdominal pressure, and more. If you’re interested in check this program out, it is live on my website (www.yvettebam.com).There was an undertone between everything I was doing, a foundation that I didn’t even know I was addressing… but what was the common connection between all of these modalities?!A connecting force was present, yet I couldn’t put a finger on it.I began to study people with different conditions. As a body worker, I became acquainted with tissue. Fascia began to speak to me underneath my fingertips, telling me the unconscious stories that individuals were holding…There's something about the body that we, fundamentally as a society, have lost sight on. But what is it?Everywhere I looked, I saw individual’s using heavy dieting measures and exercise routines to alter their shape.But was this the only way?How was it possible that unless you were extreme in your approach 24/7, the body would turn fat? How was it possible that you could only have one cookie per month, or the body would revolt? How was it possible that a diet of green salads was the only way to go if we wanted to remain fit and trim? It didn’t make sense to me. Surely, we aren’t meant to be perpetually monitoring our body, day-in and day-out?Yet everyone seemed to be convinced that the calories-in and calories-out mentality was the only way to find success, and 5am morning jogging routines were a necessity that screamed “Motivated Babe”.After I lost 150 pounds, I noticed something weird: the amount of food and calories I ate did not change by much.How was THAT possible?Slowly, over 7+ years of learning everything I can about the body, I began to understand the underlying foundation that I had been touching on throughout my work (without consciously knowing what it was).That foundation is regulation, which sounds simple but can actually be quite a complex process in the modern world. We have grown very detached from the regulatory force of the body. Regulation is working WITH the body and its processes instead of attempting to control the body, restrict it, or move from the classical space of “I am not enough.”.Regulation is about re-forming a relationship to your body that is oriented in truth, and the truth is that your body is your deepest friend - not an enemy to force into a new shape. Regulation also requires understanding multiple body processes - especially if you’re coming from an obese sector, where your hormones need loving attention.Regulation is a key underlying-yet-VITAL component to health, vibrancy, fitness, and shape. Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers, and until we REGULATE our vessel, and subsequently regulate the informational flow throughout our body, we will struggle with an up-hill battle with fitness.Secrets of Loose-Skin is a 6 month REGULATORY program, in which we work with the body’s state (obesity) and re-wire it, slowly, with respect toward the body at the forefront. I take you through the program using my own body as an example. The ultimate theory behind loose skin is that it is a byproduct of DYSREGULATION. Many people approach the body in an incorrect way when it comes to weightless, believing in the top-down hierarchy of Calories Are King.Now, you deserve to know that working WITH the body and its systems will always be your winning ticket, which is why I am making this FREE Series of “10 Easy Ways to Sky-Rocket Your Weight-Loss with Regulation That Has Nothing to Do With Food or The Amount of Calories You Eat.”Subscribe to get future posts sent directly to your inbox. All future posts are FREE for two weeks only, and then moved to an archive for my paid subscribers..Welcome to Part One, and remember…Your body is NOT working against you. Your body is NOT something to control. Your body is your best friend, your loving vessel in this reality, and it is time for everyone to learn the interconnection of regulatory practices so that we may BEGIN TO ENJOY OUR BODY’S AGAIN (instead of being in perpetual cycles of “omgggggg I ate too much caaaaake”)..Enjoy the next few weeks of REGULATION tips and tricks! Subscribe to this substack to get them emailed directly to you! Paid substack members get video bonuses every week.Part 1: Reprogram Your BreathMost people are terrible breathers. It sounds silly, I know. We’ve been breathing since the first second of our life! Common sense tells us that we’d at least be “good” at breathing. Turns out, we’re not. We live in a chronically dysregulated society, and this imprints itself into our breathing patterns.My take on body regulation is a process of returning back to the original blueprint of our body, of functional patterns. But what does functional breathing look like? And what caused our breathing to go into a disarray in the first place?The core of the breathing problem in society is stress. Well… not exactly. Stress itself isn’t a bad thing. Stress is a hormone, known as cortisol, and it’s necessary. The core of the breathing problem in society is ACTUALLY that we haven’t been taught to regulate stress effectively.Everyone has stress, it’s a part of life. There is never going to be a moment in your life where everything is in balance, everything is perfect, and you can FINALLY begin the thing you’ve been wanting to do for the past few years! Move on from that daydream. Part of living functionally is being able to manage stress well, and a large part of that is a simple perspective shift.The stress hormone, cortisol, can serve as a motivational hormone when it’s in balance. In fact, without cortisol we wouldn’t be able to wake up in the morning! if we all were tasked with living docilely as monks in the mountains then unregulated stress wouldn’t be as big of a deal… but how do we, as normal people in the day-to-day mayhem of present society, regulate stress?Turns out, breathing is a large part of it. You have 100,000 miles of blood vessels in your body, and ensuring oxygen efficiency is where regulation starts. Efficiency being the key word, but more on that later, because… wink wink.. it’s not actually about breathing MORE.There’s a lot of misinformation about breathing. A classical one is “Buddha Breathing,” with the abdominal walls flaring out. I cringe every time I see this, because clearly there is zero understanding of abdominal pressure and pelvic floor pressure with standard Buddha Breathing work.So, how can we approach functional breathing?Let’s begin with a mini-exercise.What do you think of when you think of relaxed breathing?Don’t scroll ahead!!! Let’s do a correlation test for a moment. Think about three words for….* relaxed breathing& 3 words for…* stressed breathing Got it?Seriously, just take a moment. It will help begin the reprogramming aspect of your consciousness here.La-la-la-la-laaaaa.Got it, for real this time?I trust you…. Okay. Here’s mine:Relaxed breathing: slower, deeper, mouth is closed, quieter, air travels through the nose only, uses the diaphragm to descend down the abdominal cavity, shoulders are down, connection to our coreStressed breathing: constricted, stays in the upper chest cavity, faster, noisier, quicker, air travels through the mouth, more agitated in upper body, shoulders might be moving, limited body connectionNow, with this in mind… I have some rapid fire questions!Why are we telling people to breathe MORE, when “more” equates to “faster” and “faster” equates to stressed breathing?How do you breathe MORE without breathing FASTER?You can’t.So, what are we saying when we tell people to breathe MORE?What does it mean to be oxygen deficient, in a society where most people are actually breathing quite rapidly?Furthermore, if we do the opposite and slow down, or breathe less, then how does this fit into the regulation equation? How does breathing LESS serve the body? Doesn’t the body need MORE oxygen, not less?Even if the in-breaths are deeper, what does it matter if the perfect calming breath is thought to be one-minute in duration?How can the body function optimally by breathing… less?We’ll answer all of these questions, and more, in a way that makes SO MUCH SENSE!Nose Goes…Rapid, fast breathing is correlated to stress with good reason. Our body goes into a sympathetic nervous system state, which redirects blood flow from the internal organs and into the extremities. The body does this with purpose. A sympathetic nervous system activate is also known as “fight, or flight” and it prepares us to either run away from the threat, or fight the threat. Blood flows into our limbs, digestion is put on hold because it’s less important than staying alive, and adrenaline shoots into our system.Stress breathing is also oriented in the chest cavity. The diaphragm, a muscle located under our rib cage, does not fully engage. We use rapid inhalation to draw in more oxygen in order to prepare the necessary muscles to fire up.When we become “stuck” in this immobilized-diaphragm chest-breathing stress response, often due to the fact that modern-day stressors are in new formats that do not require a physical release, it causing a multitude of domino problems for the body, especially in consideration of loose-skin and weight-loss.The body receives a lot of input FROM the way we breathe. When we are breathing in a stressful way, our body is encoded in a certain way by certain sets of hormones. Luckily, we can change the input our body receives by consciously changing our breathing. This will gradually alter our vagus nerve, and turn on the parasympathetic nervous system state.Let’s start with the bare-bones of regulated breathing: breathe through your nose only.Mouth breathing is terrible for you, there’s no doubt about it. Mouth breathing often starts in childhood and leads to deformities in face shape. For example, the tongue doesn’t exert necessary pressure on the hard palette of the mouth, which leads to deficient maxilla formation.Nose breathing creates 50% more resistance to the airstream when compared to mouth breathing, which naturally results in up to 20% more oxygen. Mouth breathing leads to stress responses that inhibit physical performance, quality of life, and weight-loss. So, first things first, re-train yourself to breathe through your nose. I don’t care what you have to do, just do it. You must begin to breathe through your nose. This is a non-negotiable.Set yourself conscious reminder timers every hour, if you have to, to check your breathing posture… and CLOSE THAT MOUTH! This is where proper breathing begins.Once you are nose breathing in your daily conscious life, work on the nighttime. I have always been a nose breather… or so I thought. Then, I started to notice drool on my pillow, a dry throat in the morning, and also had one-too-many horrifying experiences on an airplane where I woke up from my own snoring with my mouth wide-open like a zombie.Turns out, I had been a conscious nose breather. But turning the night-time? Not so much! How do I stop my jaw from opening when I’m unconscious?!I began going to bed with a simple intention of keeping my mouth closed. I worked on inter-oral exercises to strength under-used muscles in my mouth and throat. It worked. Where there is a will, there is a way. Nowadays, there’s even mouth tape specific to making sure the mouth stays closed during sleeping! A whooping 1/3rd of your breathing time is at night, so it is vital to work on your night-time breathing too. (My paid substack subscribers have a bonus section of videos in which I show you exercises to strengthen the underactive inter-oral muscles to help with nighttime breathing).Once we have trained ourselves to breathe through our nose, we can work on the flow of the breath throughout the body. Imagine your breath as it descends down into your body. The breath does not go horizontally INTO the nose, but rather, immediately begins traveling DOWNWARD. Sometimes, just using the imaginary of the breath flowing downward instead of INTO OUR FACE is enough to yield a micro-adjustment.Now, locate your diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle that is just underneath your rib cage. You can think of it as a pump. Use the imagery of an elevator… the lungs fill with air, slowly, while your diaphragm travels downward toward your pelvic cavity. The diaphragm is an essential muscle to begin fine-tuning and re-mobilization. Upon the exhale, the diaphragm returns back to its base position underneath the rib cage.The abdominal and pelvic cavities are actually a mutual pressurized system, and this is a fact that many people do not understand, and also a leading reason why abdomens are so loose-looking after significant weight-loss. While it is beyond the scope of this article, beginning to attune yourself to these layers of the body is a key component to loose-skin prevention, and something I throughly explore in my six-month program: Secrets to Loose-Skin.Proper diaphragmatic breathing is a game changer, and it is a far-cry from buddha belly breathing. The Buddha Breath encourages the splaying of the rectus abdominis, and that is NOT what you are doing with diaphragmatic breathing. Buddha belly breathing serves purposes, as most breath work modalities do, but long-term regulation is not one of them.Naturally, when we begin to focus on breathing in this way, our breathing slows down. But that still begs the question: doesn't breathing SLOWER reduce oxygen intake? Shouldn’t we want MORE breaths, and hence MORE oxygen?The Equation of Fat Loss…Now, let’s get to the meaty parts. We learned that nose breathing is paramount. Once nose breathing is mastered, we can retrain ourselves to breathe diaphragmatically utilizing imagery of air going DOWN into our body, from the nose to the chest cavity to the abdomen.Once we begin practicing diaphragmatic breathing, we may gradually begin to notice increased tissue mobility. For example, you may notice your back ribcage being able to expand, instead of remaining immobilized as chest-breathing inevitably causes. This will take time, but the point is: you will naturally begin to gain bodily awareness through a simple re-aquaintence with your diaphragm. In Secrets of Loose Skin, we get into myofascial techniques that can help RELEASE a lot of adhered tissues that can help expand breathing.Every time you practice diaphragmatic breathing, also practice being WITH your body. Anything that brings you into CONSCIOUSNESS works wonders with hormonal regulation in the body, especially with cortisol. Breathing is extra special because the regulation of breath can switch you from a sympathetic nervous system state to a parasympathetic nervous system state. Your breath can be used as a remote control between nervous system states, from stressed to peaceful, because our brains receive input from the way we breathe and release hormone accordingly.Now, let’s go a layer deeper…Did you know that the majority of weight-loss actually occurs with breathing? The equation for weight-loss is…C55H104O6 + 78 O2 à 55 CO2 + 52 H2O In other words: fat molecules, with the input of oxygen, get turned into carbon dioxide and water.The key components in breathing are oxygen and carbon dioxide.The key components in transforming body fat are oxygen and carbon dioxide.With this knowledge, we can see that exercising off calories isn’t a major contestant in weight-loss. Exercise is effective because it mobilizes more of your tissue. And, with increased tissue mobilization comes increased carbon dioxide output.It’s less about…“OMG! I ate a brownie! Exercise! 2 hours at the gym, let’s go!”.And more about…“How can I properly address my breathing to make sure I am effectively releasing oxygen into my tissues and effectively increasing carbon dioxide loads?”People are obsessed with exercises because we created a culture system of illusion called “calories” in order to effectively market products. I am working on an article about the Calorie Myth, so be sure to subscribe to my substack if you’d like that delivered to your inbox.Weight-loss has far more to do with hormonal regulation than it ever had to do with calorie-obsessed exercise, but I digress. Exercise is certainly helpful due to the fact that the majority of weight-loss happens with respiration.Yet, this doesn’t mean “breathe faster to lose weight!” Please don’t do that! I don’t want you going into stressful breathe-faster patterns.So, HOW DOES THIS ALL CONNECT? How do we get MORE oxygen, without breathing more?To properly explain, I need to tell you another breathing secret.Ready?The secret is this… carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas!The Carbon Dioxide FalsehoodSince elementary school, we’ve been taught that carbon dioxide is a byproduct of respiration. Carbon dioxide is the natural product of our body breaking down fats and carbs. As we saw in our handy-dandy equation, most oxidized fat leaves the body as carbon dioxide and the minority of it turns into water. And as we learned in elementary school, carbon dioxide is a waste gas that we breathe out and give to the trees, right?While this is partially true, it’s not fully true. Carbon dioxide serves a deep purpose in the body. Logically, we know that a more oxygenated body is a healthier body. This makes sense! Greater oxygen availability boosts blood flow, increases energy levels, stabilizes hormones, boosts metabolism, and so much more. It causes a full-body “YES!” effect. But remember our questions above? * How does this work, when breathing in MORE air leads to FASTER breathes and a stress-response?* How do you obtain more oxygen without breathing in MORE?… And this is where it all ties together, folks.The answer is in increasing oxygen availability, not in increasing oxygen flow. How do we increase available oxygen in the body?With carbon dioxide.Carbon Dioxide is Not the EnemyWe’ve been taught that carbon dioxide is a waste product, because it is a byproduct of metabolism… but did you know that you actually need carbon dioxide in order for oxygen to be delivered to your cells?This is how it works: When we breathe in air, we receive oxygen into our lungs. The oxygen molecules attach to hemoglobin, which is the most important component of red blood cells. Oxygen becomes distributed through the body via a blood transport train.Carbon dioxide is needed in order to detach an oxygen molecule from the blood transport train. When we do not have sufficient carbon dioxide then oxygen cannot detach from the blood transport train, leaving the body unable to effectively deliver oxygen, despite the fact that it is trying to deliver it.(A note for curious, studious readers: pssst… add facia contortions into the mix and oh-boy, do we have a problem!)In fact, common symptoms of chronic fatigue may actually be linked more to faulty carbon dioxide amounts, then oxygen intake. There is a condition called hypnocapnia, or a state of low levels of carbon dioxide, that leads to a stressed out nervous system state, heightened anxiety and fearfulness, faster ventilation, a “stuck” fight-or-flight state, less oxygen utilization, and tense muscles.The body counteracts a state of carbon dioxide deficiency through a “tightening” response. This is the body’s way of trying to help obtain more carbon dioxide. Through this tightening response, the body makes it more difficult to breathe out air. In an effort to get more carbon dioxide, this constriction response effects EVERYTHING.Counteractive constriction effects not only our breathing, but our circulatory system, digestive system, endocrine system, urinary system… and onward. In short, it affects the entire body.Imagine the 100,000 miles of blood vessels that are in your body. Imagine that entire network of vessels in a constricted state due to lack of carbon dioxide. Often times, cold hands and cold feet are a big sign of blood flow constriction… and changing your breathing pattern can produce immediate warming results.When you move more, like while exercising, you create more carbon dioxide. Said differently: your tissues generate more byproduct, and it’s why your breathing usually changes during exercise. Movement is ALWAYS efficient - and it doesn’t mean you have to get up and start running. Anything that increases byproduct is advantageous, from walking to body squats.However, there’s a different type of training, that has nothing to do with movement, that we can do in order to break the feedback of a chronic stress response…And I’ve termed it: Carbon Dioxide MaxxingCarbon Dioxide Maxxing: The Big Man of Breathing RegulationForewarning: When we come from a background of… * being a mouth breather,* utilizing quick and short breaths, * depending on chest elevation during breathing, * forming diaphragm restrictions due to the aforementioned chronic chest breathing, * chronic obesity, * hormonal chaos, * sympathetic nervous system freeze states,… and onward then when we first begin to practice Carbon Dioxide Maxxing it can give rise to a uncomfortable feeling.It’s important to start small. You will be surprised by just how “far” you can advance, even with small 10-second rounds of Maxxing. I advise anyone reading this to work WITH THEIR BODY, in the current state their body is in. Don’t overdo it, because if you generate feelings you don’t like too often then you’ll create more resistance towards actually doing it! Body regulation activités should always be enjoyable, peaceful, and nurturing (if not straight-out fun!).One great thing about the body? It takes an inch of effort, and gives you a mile of returns. The body returns your love in flourishes!Beyond working on nose breathing, and working on remobilizing the diaphragm, we have to also work up an ability to hold greater levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. That is what Carbon Dioxide Maxxing is all about: being able to retain greater amounts of CO2 without a stress response. In the beginning, you will have a small stress response as you work with a new modality. This is part of breathing pattern retraining.The uncomfortable feeling this *might* elicit is called air hunger.With higher carbon dioxide retention, the body is able to move a greater amount of oxygen into the blood. That is why breathing more SLOWLY leads to greater oxygenation. It has nothing to do with actually getting more oxygen INTO the system, it has everything to do with the utilization of carbon dioxide. The body has *plenty* of oxygen molecules to utilize from even one full, deep breath per minute! It’s a matter of actually being ABLE to utilize that oxygen with enough carbon dioxide. Breathing 4 times a minute is my personal goal with this practice. For me, this slows my body down into a content, peaceful state.When we retrain our body’s breathing patterns, we will see a gradual progression from shallow rapid breathing, in which oxygen is being inhaled just as quickly as carbon dioxide is being exhaled, to slower, diagrammatically-activated breathing… in which 4 times per minute is fully feasible. By changing your breathing, you can change the state of your body.So, how do we do it? We can start training our body to effectively utilize carbon dioxide by gradually extending the feeling of “air hunger”. Begin with a 5 minute exercise in which you gently, ever-so-gently, breathe in-and-out. It helps if you hold your finger in between your nostrils… the force of your breathing should be gentle enough so that you cannot feel the breath on your finger. In other words, the breath is imperceptible.The gentleness of the breathing should extend the times of your breath-in and breath-out significantly. After a few repetitions of this gentle breathing, you may feel the beginnings of Air Hunger. This is the feeling that we want to work on extending. When I first began this exercise, my body quickly escalated into wanting MORE AND FASTER AIR. This desire is a byproduct of a stress-state. A lot of us may be walking around with mini-hyperventilation as our normal breathing, which the brain interprets as being under threat. In my case, it was caused by the uncomfortable feeling of Air Hunger.By practicing Air Hunger, you break the cycle of Air Hunger. It’s a strange dichotomy! With more practice, comes more carbon dioxide retention… with more CO2 retention the body begins delivering more oxygen to cells… with more oxygen being delivered to cells the body creates less of an “air hunger” feeling because it begins to become comfortable with its cell oxygenation level. The Air Hunger comes from a chronic habit of quick breathing in order to perpetually deliver short oxygen bursts.Another common aid in building Air Hunger, and my personal favorite, is Box Breathing. Box Breathing is a simple technique in which you breathe-in, HOLD, and then breathe-out. So, say you’re working on a 10-second hold… you breathe in for ten seconds, hold for ten seconds, then breathe out for ten seconds. There are a LOT of videos available online that will take you through box training modalities. Some people box train for several minute holds!BUT WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE IN THE DAY-TO-DAY?!Does this mean you have to be “on” all the time, continuously monitoring your breathing? No. But, remember, whatever you do… start with limiting mouth breathing. Try mouth tape for nighttime monitoring. Doing a breathing exercise even once per day is exponentially better than simply ignoring the state of your breathing. Begin with something you can handle! Work it into your schedule, as a micro-habit, and gradually change will present itself. Box-breathe during traffic stops, or practice gentle non-perceptible breathing before bed… or practice diaphragmatic breathing to warm up the body and then through in some box breaths. The possibilities are in your hands.Set a timer for 3 minutes in the beginning of your day and at the end of your day to practice slow diaphragmatic breathing. If you’re feeling above and beyond, do your 3 minute breathing exercises before every meal. Gradually, you’ll begin to draw your own attention to breathing more and more. You’ll find yourself walking down a sidewalk and randomly checking how you’re utilizing your diaphragm. Soon, you can work on the concept of air hunger and carbon dioxide utilization. If you find yourself having cold feet at nighttime, for example, slow and gentle air-hunger breaths may really help out. Carbon dioxide will increase, leading to oxygen utilization, leading to a full-body warming effect. It’ll become easier and easier, as you retrain your body into functional breathing patterns.The goal of Air Hunger Techniques is to elevate the tolerance level of carbon dioxide in the blood WITHOUT added stress, and again, this will come as you practice and become more oxygenated. The threshold you may have for this tolerance can be low in the beginning of your practice. This is OKAY!Now that we know why functional breathing is so important, not only for mobilizing the diaphragm but for increasing actual oxygen UTILIZATION (and not necessarily oxygen flow), take the next step by subscribing to this substack for future posts.My approach with weight-loss and the body is a functional approach that is regulatory. It 3333is my goal to show people how to achieve a state in which fitness is a NATURAL BYPRODUCT of regulation. Nature did not intend for our body’s to be obese, or chronically overweight. When we view the body as a friend, and seek to understand what made it go off-balance, everything changes.Thank you, my name is Yvette Bam, and I loved spending time with you today! I’ll see you on my website, yvettebam.com, bammingbody.com, or on substack.Thank you for reading Answers to Loose Skin. I hope to see you next week! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.answerstolooseskin.com/subscribe

I did it! I successfully underwent a (very long) dry fast……*aaaand* I’ve tacked on another point to my list of “THINGS I WAS TOLD US ABOUT THE BODY THAT ARE DEEPLY WRONG”.This one being: a human cannot survive for more than 3 days without water. FALSE.7 days of no food and no water, just pure body functional livin'. We all know that dry fasting is controversial as heck, and I’m not here to convince you of anything!I don’t think you should dry fast… unless you want to.I don’t think you should NOT dry fast… unless you want to.You do you.I’m here offering my experience for your reading pleasure, and maybe you’ll write me a nasty comment or two to generate more viewing eyes. Fingers crossed, please tell me all about how I am Spreading Dangerous Information About the Human Body’s Capabilities. I’m ever-so-eager to hear it…(Hehe)So, why did I do it? I completed a seven day dry fast for purely experimental purposes. In short: I wanted to see if I could do it.Would I repeat this length of a dry fast? No, I wouldn’t, not unless there was a specific medical necessity for me to do so.Good news: I didn't die. My kidneys didn't shrivel up. I didn't even enter a coma, by golly! Everything the internet told me will happen… has not happened. I spent the majority of the fast in a semi-blissful state of relaxation, with a few occasional intrusions of media telling me that I was going to die. My body, however, felt just dandy. The Russian Medical Journals I’ve been reading pertaining to research about dry fasting may just be onto something. My body feels as if it’s in an optimal state of health and, dare I say it, I'm even feeling a little bit superhuman.Fun Fact: Fasting has been intensively studied by the East for a very, very, VERY long time. The West, as most of us know, has turned toward making billions of dollars per year colluding with pharmaceuticals instead of offering true pathways to health. The body IS a miracle worker, but many of us have been subdued by the spell of this society, and installed with a belief that we cannot trust our body, or that the body is something to control.Why is it that almost everyone is on prescription drugs nowadays? Weird. Hmmm…Anyway, back to my experience!PREPARATIONPrior to this seven day dry fast, I completed too many 1 to 3 day dry fasts to count properly. My first EVER dry fast was three days long, back in November 2018. Surprisingly, this first ever dry fast, despite being over half as short in duration, was more difficult than the seven-day dry fast! Fasting, like most things, becomes easier the more you do it. Why? The body develops a metabolic switching “muscle”.Back in 2018, after I finished that first three day dry fast, I remember thinking that I wouldn't DARE go past three days. Three days still seemed like a shock-factor to me. The more I practiced fasting, however, the more a longer dry fast seemed… perfectly feasible. I am now acquainted with people that have even completed a twenty day dry fast, which is just mind boggling to me.Going into this dry fast, my goal was initially five days. I ended up going past that, which was a lovely bonus. On my previous attempts of reaching five days, I kept having mind hiccups on day four.I say "mind hiccups" for a reason. My body could have kept going. I have no doubt about that. My body seems to be so adapted to these kind of altered states that it barely rolls its eyes at me anymore. It feels like a trained fasting athlete, or something. I didn't even have any problems sleeping on this seven-day dry fast... which is weird because my cortisol spikes should have kept me up!It’s always been my mind that needed convincing… not my body. My body adapts, and it adapts well, because the body knows what it is doing. The more I become acquainted with fasting, the more I find myself being able to trust my body. My mind is the one that always yielded, expertly crafting reasons why it yielded. These reasons can be incredibly, viscerally convincing when you have not had a drop of water in 3+ days time… but it all goes back to the simplicity of…"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't... you're probably right”.I’ve proven this quote to myself, over and over again, with my log of fasting experiences. Fasting has been an incredible tool of mind-training.This time around I decided that I COULD actually do this, and that’s what made the difference between another 3-day fluke and a successful goal accomplishment. I recognized that my mind was telling me that I COULD do it, but that I didn’t actually believe it, and that’s what was causing my perpetual flops. Fasting introduced me to deeply subtle layers in my own mind-body connection. I also view the fasting journey as a deeply spiritual exercise, choosing to implement a conscious observer point-of-view as I enter altered mind-body states. This is what helps me get through the mind ping-pong battles of “OH I’LL JUST START AGAIN TOMORROW!” And “No! You already committed to it!”This is easier said than done, especially when you're a beginner. Hunger and thirst are powerful motivational inlays that'll weave themselves into your mind like you wouldn't believe... It's hard to be an observer in these types of primal states!That, however, is EXACTLY why I love getting myself into these states.There's no doubt about it: dry-fasting is like water-fasting on steroids. It does get easier the more you practice, but going without water still obviously remains a hefty challenge. Learning how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable is akin to an art form. It takes a continuously chosen and honed state of mind to help you recognize that you're so much stronger than the part of you that identifies with your mind.Let's start with the most common question:Won't you like... die?Sure. You'll die. Eventually. We will all eventually perish, into a little piece of dust, return to the stars and sing Oh-La-La in our heavenly homes.You pose a great risk of dying every single time you get into your car on your morning commute. And if you don't die from the six hundred car rides you take per year then you'll surely die from the compounded years of having your soul sucked out a tiny societal straw that has you doing jumping jacks to impress shadow projections. Woo!Oh, and if you think I’m being obnoxious now with this completely unrelated example then let’s dapple a little splooge of relation into the mix and talk about the long-list of foods that’re banned in other countries that America the Great gives a thumbs up to… yummy nutrition like titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, BHA, BHT, rBST, skittles, pop-tarts, gatorade (advertised for athletes and health but truly just a hub for refined sugar!)…Or, let’s go FULL DABBLE mode and see how precious our nutrition recommendations get. The Classical American Food Pyramid has you thinking that a diet full of refined grains is a heart-healthy diet…Oh, but we don’t talk about that. We talk about how dangerous it is to go WITHOUT food, yet cannot accommodate conversations about the danger of the poison that we have all around us in today’s little corporate society…What do you think your body would prefer: three days with food or water, or a artificially dyed drink loaded with an insulin-spiking fructose sugar bomb that can only be processed by the liver and thus leads to an inevitable down-the-line fatty liver syndrome due to the fact that our liver cannot process SO MANY FRUCTOSE MOLECULES at a time?I would place my bets on: the body would prefer nothing, in comparison to poison.But I digress…Look, the body is high-functioning. It knows what to do. Your body knew what to do when refrigerators didn't exist. Your body knew what to do when your chances of eating for the next couple days ran past your peripheral vision. Going for extending periods of time without food and water is NOT new. We didn't always have easy access to BPA-enriched fluorinated water.Somewhere along the way of living within our current paradigms, we've been taught to mistrust our bodies... that our bodies will suddenly go "caput" on us and collapse without warning. Horror stories of going into the doctors office for a regular checkup only to receive lab-test results of terror are paramount... but questions revolving around the systems of life as we know it are blankly averted. Doctors are more interested in the ticking clock than your explanations, the medical system has been set up to fail with pharmaceuticals that quell symptoms but refuse to address the underlying causes, food items are more akin to rat poison, and the horror story goes on.The point is: our skepticism is heavily misdirected. Fasting is not the concern, but it takes a lot of the brunt force blame from individuals that have products to sell you (*cough* westernized medical industry *cough*).Fasting is a natural state for our bodies to slip into and our bodies have a methodology in place that not only recognizes fasting, but flourishes within it… the body just needs a little time to adjust if it’s been living under the 6-small-meals-a-day recommendations of corporate America.Your body: Yes! Finally! A chance to rest the constantly churning digestive tract and actually pay attention to all the back-log of work we've been putting aside!Cell autophagy agents: it's go time!I am an advocate for the belief that our bodies are our greatest allies. Our bodies main job is to keep us alive. It knows what to do and it always does what it can to its utmost ability. Methodically abstaining from food and water might just be one of the best things you can do for your body.The World of FastingInformed fasting can be used as a healing agent for the body. It is my belief that our bodies, when given proper time and attention, are miraculous self-healing agents. Your body can be your best friend, if you choose to harness the connection. Problems begin to accumulate when you do not give your body enough time to actually do what it does best: preserve and heal itself. Fasting is just one of the many tools you can begin implementing on your journey.There are many forms of fasting, here is a couple huge differences in common styles:Intermittent Fasting: Intermittent fasting (IF) is the most popular form of fasting. It encompasses the very natural idea that your body needs a break from constantly metabolizing and utilizes an eating window of your choosing. The most popular form of intermittent fasting is 16/8, in which you eat during an 8-hour window per day and fast for 16 hours.Water Fasting: water fasting is the complete abstinence from all food. You drink only water. Shorter term water fasting becomes relatively easy when your body becomes adjusted to intermittent fasting.Ramadan Fasting: Ramadan is a type of religious fasting in which the faster abstains from both food and water for intermittent periods of the day. The faster is still eating and drinking daily... but only when the sun is down. During the daytime, there is no consumption of any sorts. I like to refer to Ramadan as an intermittent dry-fasting protocol.Dry Fasting: Dry-fasting is completely abstaining from food and water for a period longer than 24 hours. Any periods shorter than 24 hours can effectively be considered to be intermittent dry-fasting.Dry-fasting is described by many to be "water fasting on steroids." It has been stated that one day of dry fasting is equivalent to three days of water fasting in terms of the potential benefits. Dry fasting can accelerate healing, creating an intensely competitive environment by which the "best cell wins," and is a powerful tool when used correctly and in conjugation with your body's innate intelligence.No, seriously though, why didn't you die?In short, the true reason behind my lack of death are my humps.That's right. My humps.My hHuMpS, MY HUMps, my lOvELy laDY lumps.We've all know of camel being being able to trek across the dessert due to the large water storage hump on its back. But WAIT! …. That’s not actual true.The hump on the camel’s back is not filled with water, and it’s kind of obvious when you think about it… did we really expect a giant canteen of internal sloshing water? I know I did, once upon a time.The hump on its back is filled with fat. Camels trek across the desert because they have a special fat reservoir, alongside some other adaptations to be able to handle the heal… and create metabolic water as needed.I’m not a camel, but I have humps too… AND I’m also built to handle the heat. The heat of DETERMINATION!Humans might not be camels but metabolic water can still be generated by our bodies through metabolizing fat tissue. One hundred grams of fat will produce about one hundred ten grams of metabolic water. The fatter you are, in theory, the longer you can dry fast. It's the same as water fasting except with an extra step because your body is not only relying on fat for energy reserves but also converting the fat into water. Yes, you burn a heck of a lot more calories in the process, naturally, because your body is doing a heck of a lot more work.Metabolic water is simply defined as water that is produced during cellular metabolism... and, not only that, but it is considered to be the purest, “most” living water. That sounds funny to people who still think that “all water is created equal”. Not in today’s work, and I wrote an introductory article about it here (https://www.yvettebam.com/blog/the-best-water-for-water-fasting-in-2024-a-guide-to-water-types-benefits-and-filtration-systems-and-why-your-water-matters).The water we ingest matters and, unfortunately, the majority of people consume water that is not only full of contaminants but can effectively be considered dead. Consuming your water in the form of organic vegetables, for example, is a far better option than mindlessly throwing back eight glasses of dreaded tap water.So… in summary… your best friend during the process of dry-fasting is... your fat.Who thought they'd ever be saying THAT?As a child, I was particularly fascinated when I learned about bears and hibernation. A picture of a brown bear sleeping inside of the hollow trunk of a tree, cozy as can be, toasty and awaiting the arrival of spring. The bear gorged on food, got himself a nice belly of energy reserves, and retired for the winter. And the bear is not the only mammal displaying such abilities… the humpback whale is another!Unfortunately, due to the fact that there’s absolutely no money to be made from telling people that their body is possibly their best healing agent, fasting on humans iN THE WESTERN WORLD has simply not been well researched.Dry fasting, in particular, is an area of scarce scientific research. There's small wonderful communities online, with people who share their experimentations and garnered knowledge, and there's some information source coming from obscure Russian doctors... but, beyond that, you'll be hard-pressed finding concrete, fail-safe anything in American Medical Culture. When you realize that our medical system was set up to create lifelong patients as opposed to actual healing, however, you'll become more accepting of your innate capability to listen and work with your body.Why Would Anyone Choose a Dry fast?Dry fasting, as mentioned before, can be considered to be water fasting on steroids... it's believed to have more benefits than pure water fasting in a far shorter duration of time, though with added risks and added post-fast considerations.Yes: it’s harder, much harder, for someone who is just starting out in the fasting world. But realize there is no one telling you that you MUST DRY FAST FOR SEVEN DAYS because a random woman on the internet did it. You can incorporate dry fasting into your life slowly, at your discretion, with an intermittent dry fast beginning at 7pm that extends till 7am. From there, you can bounce around with time schedules and eventually do a 24-hour dry fast with little notice. It is all about working WITH YOUR BODY, which includes acknowledging the current state of your body and not forcing yourself to do anything.The re-feed portion after a dry fast can be debilitating, if you do not work with your body. There’s no recommendations I have for you here because, once again, it all depends on the degrees in which you worked WITH your body. Are you doing this out of force? You’ll create a resistance driven mindset that may find it hard to re-feed normally. Take it slowly, with consciousness, and Stay With Yourself. This isn’t for the meek. It isn’t for the casual “heheeeee” person. This is for someone who wants to work with their mindset, or who wants to help aid in the healing of a serious illness.Dry fasting creates an extremely competitive cell environment due to water restriction. It’s all hands on deck in a dry fasting environment. Your body goes into a self-preservation mode, needing to allocate resources to cells that need it most. It's a "survival of the fittest" type of scenario, with the healthy cells receiving all of the attention and the sickly cells being sacrificed. The body goes into a cellular recycling mode called Autophagy, and healthy cells are spared.If I were to ever have a debilitating illness, such as a tumor, or diabetes, then I would highly consider a dry fasting schedule.My 7-day Dry Fast - Review and Personal NotesDays 1 and 2, for the most part, chugged along just fine...Expect for the tongue aspect.Yuck.One of the worst parts of dry fasting, for me, is the terrible taste that forms in my mouth. The mouth becomes dry, yet oddly gooey at the same time. One of the first telltale signs of both water and dry fasting is a white-coated tongue. This tongue emerges much quicker with dry fasting, especially if you're doing a hard dry fast with absolutely no water contact (including showers), and the taste is just a constant, uncomfortable and nagging reminder.On my first three-day dry fast, I remember all days being hell on earth. On day two, in particular, I remember working an eight-hour standing shift and becoming lightheaded to the point of needing to hold onto a table and continuously breaking out in cold sweat. Dry fasting is just NOT something you want to do while you are actively working. This is an obvious statement, but for some reason I have a tendency to want to break the "rules" and see what happens. This time around, I had all days apart from the 7th (and hardest!) day off work and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to take advantage of the free time.Having a dry-throat is also common for me and I did not avoid it this time around. When a case of the dry-throat hits me I pretend to be a vampire who developed a moral compass and is intent on NOT drinking any more blood. Hey, it works!At 24 hours I woke up with a pounding headache and neck ache. Neck aches are very common for me when I’m NOT dry fasting and they almost always come with a resounding headache. I went back to sleep for another five hours and that alleviated the majority.40 hours in I went running for 1.5 miles. I felt fantastic, despite the continuous bad taste in my mouth, and extremely determined. A peaceful feeling stayed with me for the rest of the day and I wanted to go outside to sunbathe.While I did go running, I do NOT recommend exercising while dry-fasting. Despite wanting to push my personal limits to the extreme, and feeling okay for the rest of the day, I believe my exercising really offset Day 3 for me.It is so important to use this time to rest, rest, rest, aaaand REST. Even though it may not feel like it, your body is doing SO MUCH. You may feel lethargic, lazy, or "guilty" for lounging around all day... but allow yourself to slip into the laziness!The time-aspect of dry fasting can suck. Time inches along, which would be perfectly fine. In fact, it can be considered a pristine opportunity to jumpstart projects, read that book that has been on your bookstand for three months, or tune into that beautiful body of yours. Except for the fact that you may just feel a burning desire to drink. You start thinking about all the glorious opportunities you had to drink water... brilliant, ice cold water...The first time I dry fasted I remember cuddling on my bed with a five pound bag of ice. Granted: It was in the middle of a 95 degree heat wave in Lahaina, Maui during August and I didn’t have air conditioning. My body felt like it was a heat generator and faint-like hot flashes weren't helping. IIf anyone actually wanted to take an ice bath then it would have been me. I'd have volunteered as ice bath tribute. I couldn't do much besides read, the heat was brutal.Napping helps pass the time.Day 3Besides day seven of the dry fast, day three was the hardest day for me. I experienced an insane, unrelenting headache that manifested from neck pain. It was blinding, to the point where I had trouble looking at lights, and it was absolutely miserable.I think my running had a lot to do with it.63 hours in the neck ache started. My body was trembling, and I had a few eye twitches happen. I felt extremely foggy and withdrawn.After sleeping for well over 12-hours... I woke up feeling primarily like crap. The feeling lasted throughout the day, despite my attempts at sitting down and resting. I alternated from sitting outside and listening to the rain, to typing away on my couch... to crying on my bed (fasting is deeply emotionally purging for me)… to typing away at my desk.My primary crap-focused area was my neck. It hurt. I cracked that motherflower to no avail. The pain persisted. I considered dry-swallowing an aspirin. The pain persisted. I didn’t do it. It persisted. I distracted myself, going into some publications and reading all about some new mouse studies. The pain persisted.Finally, after finishing up a skin routine, I peered into my closet and noticed my essential oils sitting calmly in a little basket. Hmmm, I thought... well, it couldn't hurt.Essential oils are something I have recently started to become roped up in. Quite literally. My friend convinced me to buy a starter kit and I agreed, more to appease her than of actual interest. Months early, when I was on day 14 of a water fast, she muscle tested me at a park. I tested positive for the Citrus blend and he placed two drops on my tongue. The effect was almost instantaneous. I felt, quite literally, revitalized. My adrenals were weakened during my fasted state and the citrus sparked them back up.I remembered our afternoon in the park, looking into my closest, and my eyes focused on peppermint essential oil. Menthol is what gives peppermint its cooling properties and increases bloodflow. After all day with this neck pain, I was ready to give anything a try.I placed three drops of Peppermint into my hand and gently massaged my neck with it before breathing in the leftover particles. Ahhh. Relief. My neck was feeling nice and spicy and no longer radiating pain. It allowed me to concentrate on tasks I have actually wanted to do that day, instead of being constantly displaced in a little pain bubble.It worked, and after looking into the WHY some more… I discovered that peppermint applied to your forehead is just as effective for the treatment of a headache as 1,000 mg of acetaminophen. Who would have known?Ah, so there I was, day-three and feeling some relief. I'm peeing quite normally. The amount is definitely less than it would be in consideration of the insane amounts of water I usually drink BUT the color of the pee is still pale yellow.My cravings consist of... early grey tea with cream, avocado, tomatoes, goat cheese, green onions, crackers FOR a combo of that yumminess, riced cauliflower, and I wouldn't say no to a hearty steak either,Day 4Four days into the water fast! My initial goal of five days is still on the horizon, but I had never made it this far before and was so excited to fully surpass the day three mark. The momentum this gave me made it pretty clear that day five was very achievable.Day four was probably the easiest day out of the whole week. Dry fasting propels you into a keto-adapted state much faster than water fasting does (in water fasting it can take between 3-5 days while with dry fasting it takes me 1-2 days) and my body was in full cruise-mode today. I made sure to take it easy and alternated between sitting on my butt and laying on my backside.Day 5Day five was also a hard-hitter for me. I went to a dance class for an hour, having already prepaid for a series of lessons and not wanting to miss out. I tried taking it easy during the dance class but around the 45 minute mark I had to excuse myself.I went into the bathroom, where I simply sat down on the toilet and practiced conscious breathing. I was feeling lightheaded and faint.Once the dance class was over, I sat in my car listening to music for just over an hour. I felt a LOT better, despite being pretty wiped out, and slept like a baby that night.Noted: It is not advisable to wear stripper heals and pole dance when you are five days dry fasted.Day 6I went into work on day 6. Admittedly, there were numerous occasions during my eight-hour shift in which I considered sipping on water. I spent the entirety of my lunch break twiddling my thumbs and juggling the thought of having water back and forth.My brother, who was the only person actively aware and receiving updates on my fast, was extremely concerned for me during day 6 because of the fact that I was working a physical 8-hour shift.Admittedly, I probably sent him one text too many of sarcastic jokes. I felt absolutely fine, for the most part, my mind was perfectly clear and I was actively walking around and completing my work supervision duties with no problem. The thought of water, though, was inescapable… and my hands developed a wrinkly appearance, that went away during the night (with more metabolic water generated? Unsure!).I looked at the people drinking water and shook my head longingly to myself. Did they not realize how incredibly lucky they were? They took sips of that water like they didn't even think about it, like it was just always available to them on their beck and call...It really opened my eyes to just how grateful we can be for the simple necessities. There is nothing quite like choosing not to drink water for an extended period of time that'll really open your eyes to just how fortunate you are every single time you lift a glass of water to your lips.I stared at those people incredulously, without even mentally mentioning the numbers of coffees and teas I saw. My goodness. So much wealth, so much access, and their they were... complaining about things that they could be considered fortunate enough to complain about.And the worst part of it all? I was the same way!Day 7I thought the day would never come! Day 6 dragged on and on... the thought of coconut water being on the horizon made the clock feel as if it was purposely playing a time game with me. I was impatient, and that motherflowah was scheming against me and going backward.I had a flight to catch later on that day. The flight was 9 hours long and, to be quite honest, I wasn't sure how I would fare in a high, claustrophobic altitude in a seven-day dry-fasted state.One thing was for certain: I wasn't about to break this fast while ON the plane. It was going to be either before.... or after, taking me into day eight.I weighted the options, back-and-forth. Ultimately, I decided to break it beforehand. I did not want to be faint on the plane. I did not want to have an adverse reaction. I did not want to cause an emergency landing of some sort.And... my body was telling me it was time. I made it past my goal of five days and I needed to rehydrate before entering that plane.Let me just say: Thank GOD I did. I ended up running for the duration of my time at the airport and I was the last person to make the plane. Two minutes later and the plane would have left. I would not have been able to run so much, while dragging a heavy backpack, while dry-fasted.I broke the fast with coconut water. It seemed too delicious, with all its juicy electrolytes, to pass up. I kid you not when I say I felt the coconut water make a trail of cool-ness down to my stomach, and felt a full-body relief and thank you upon drinking. It was amazing!SleepingSleeping, throughout this particular fast, was no problem.I'm not sure why, perhaps my body has grown relatively used o dry fasting from my 3-day fasts, but this time around my body wanted to sleep for ages. And ages. To the point where I was slightly concerned. At least when you have insomnia you are conscious of your body’s condition! But my body was just a sleeping little beauty.One of the most common observations about fasting, especially dry-fasting, is how difficult it is to fall and stay asleep. There's a reason for this: your body is really stressed out and, as can only be expected, is on overdrive. The majority of accounts I've read on dry fasting have reported tossing and turning throughout the night before finally calling it quits and getting up.The lack of sleep can put you in a further, stressed out state... and, with sleep deprivation, irritability and confusion can rise. As always, pay attention to yourself and trust your body signals more than anything, or anyone, else in the world.What I found most interested about sleep was that I always felt better AFTER I sleep. On day 6 of this dry fast, for example, my hands became pruny with dehydration following a 8-hour work shift. I went to sleep and woke up, peed normally, and had no pruny hands. Perhaps metabolic water creation has something to do with sleeping… just like a lot of fat burning has to do with breathing. Hmmm. Food for thought.Did you... pee?Yes, I peed! Quite a bit! Around twice a day, I'd pee around half a cup or so of extremely clear liquid.That's right: my urine stayed completely light and clear throughout the entirety of the fast.One of the key dangers of overall long fasting in general is the question of electrolytes. During my 40-day water fast, for example, I experienced a total aversion to water around the 28 day mark. My body was repulsed by water. Every time I would try to take a sip, it would throw it right back up and dry heave upon the sight of a glass despite the skin on my hands developing a wrinkled dehydrated appearance. Why?I hadn't been taking ANY electrolytes. I completed my 40-day water fast way before there was a ton of fasting information on the Internet, before the importance of electrolytes was easily found. The closest thing I was able to find, at the time, was an article about certain athletes taking salt pills. That struck a chord in me... salts! You needed salts in order to process water! Duh!Point is: Despite the more difficult nature of an extended dry fast, you, at the very least, are not urinating out electrolytes in the same capacity as you would be during a water fast.With that being said, electrolytes are still an extremely important topic to be familiar with in life, not just in fasting.ExerciseDon’t be like me. Don’t push your already-extreme limits. Exercising while dry fasting just is NOT worth it. My exercising was mild: a 1.5 mile run, a 1-hour full-body dance class, and an 8-hour physical work shift… *but* it is better to avoid all of that. Dry-fasting is a time of healing, not a time to push your limits. The next time I dry fast, I would love to be in an outdoor camping-style environment to truly reconnect with nature, take it easy, live by the sun… be by a stream of water…My 1.5 mile run resulted in some nasty repercussions the next day. My 1-hour dance had me not only breaking out in cold sweat but feeling extremely faint. What I did was extremely stupid and highly inconsiderate towards my body’s active healing state and obvious energy conversation need.My experiences with fasting have really opened my eyes towards working with my body with a loving approach, as opposed to my tendency towards being testy in a negative way (I can withstand more! Give me more! I can take it!). I have had to, on multiple occasions, take a step back and examine my own intentions. Am I really trying to push my boundaries in a healthy way?The running decision was a very conscious "let me show you what can be done" type of move. I was very present with myself throughout the run and felt really drawn to being outside in nature. It did not leave me heaving on the side of the road. My body had been feeling great throughout. The after-effects, however, caused me to feel like a withdrawn zombie. My dance class was a different story. I could feel my body was not on the same terms as me, yet insisted on enduring because “I had pre-paid for the class”.The mind over matter discussion in the beginning of this article was what I was going for with my exercising. I'm happy to have experienced this during this fast. Next time, if any, I choose to dry fast I will NOT be implementing any form of exercise... including standard working hours.Why I Personally Choose To Dry FastAs I've progressed on my fasting journeys (which started with intermittent fasting a handful of years ago) my reasons for fasting have broadened. I keep being met with more and more wonderful effects.I started out fasting because of the indisputable health reasons. For someone who didn't quite know (at the time) what they were doing with nutrition yet, intermittent fasting was a fantastic way to assist in taking a step towards a healthier body. Then, inspired by a juice fasting documentary, I tried out a few juicing fasts... which fully propelled my curiosity toward fasting ad caused me to start looking up avenues of research on water fastingSoon, I was doing extended water fasts with my first big-one being 40-days. Dry-fasting is experimental for me. My fascination with the body is only growing, and the way that I have been able to notice the knots in my mindset on account of fasting is revolutionary.I notice that dry-fasting brings up a lot of “old pains”. Pains from injuries I had as a kid. Dry fasting also helped a lot with the scar tissue I have on my back, When I was 7 years old I had a cancerous tumor and to remove it they took a large chunk from my back. I was not able to feel the middle of my back until my fasting experimentations started in 2018. Present day, I have regained a lot of sensation on my back.My vision has improved from -5.75 to -2.25 driving. For computer work I use -1.00.It’s events like THESE that make me wonder… how many lies have we been told about ourselves and our body’s, in order to generate profit?It just goes deeper, and deeper…Follow me on social media if you so desireYoutube, Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook: YvettebamA memorable quote I read somewhere:“When I lived on the lake, I was just good dog. He oftenrunning away from home for various reasons, for a long time. Comehome very skinny and hungry, it was fasting with water. ButOnce he was hit drunken motorcyclist, when I examined him, he wasin poor condition, but most interesting is that he crawled into the darka barn and refused food and water. Any injury - is primarilyedema, and he instinctively felt it. Seven days he neither ate norand drank only on the eighth day was eat and drink water. He fullyrecovered.So when respected nutritionists talk about the terriblethe dangers of dry fasting, I always tell my patients that ifit was harmful, the nature of time evolution would long ago have cleaned anduse the mechanisms of dry fasting.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.answerstolooseskin.com/subscribe