When life speeds up, slow down.

Advice I recently gave to my friend’s daughter as she was coming of age and into her menstruation. 

This was also advice I gave myself at 19, as I was grasping at straws as to what foods to eat or not eat. Pondering how to exercise and take care of my body, on a very basic level while constantly being inundated by new fad diets and programs being advertised daily. In hindsight, I was absolutely clueless to health.

Being raised in Las Vegas, my idea of health was slightly skewed, as doctors I met with never seemed to acknowledge the association of food to individual health. Buffets, fast food, and other popular establishments were seemingly in support of the standard American diet which severely lacked in the fundamental nutritional needs of the body. 

Some of you have heard me say, that I had my first colonic at 19 year old. This sparked a new interest in fasting and discerning for myself, what my actual needs are versus what my wants were. This lead me to not just go along with what was being fed to me and those in my demographic, but to seek a balance. I was adamant to break my food addiction and fasting became my ally. 

Within just a few months of beginning this journey, I opted to fast for an entire holiday season. Starting from Thanksgiving though Christmas (including Chanukah and Solstice) that I typically enjoyed celebrating with traditional foods, I refrained. 

My intentions in attending the holiday gatherings had shifted from a consumption mindset to a connection motivation. I found that in doing this I had deeper conversations with those around me, I felt more spiritually empowered and clear minded in my motives. I also gained an ethereal empowerment in repetition of the words, rituals and traditions there-in. 

One of biggest benefits to this holiday season, was being floored at how much extra time I found myself with. I wasn’t sorting out recipes, I wasn’t creating in the kitchen. I wasn’t food shopping, I was intentionally keeping to a minimum any conversations circulating around food. It almost seemed as if time slowed down instead of speeding up like holidays past.

However, I did find in conveying this information to others, some seemed to feel as if my actions and motives were a direct attack on who they were and how they lived, and/or how their choices affected their health. 

I like to joke that when I fast, this is when I eat things with my nose. Though I may not be inhaling nutrients through my nose as if into my mouth to chew them and swallow- I’m instead digesting the flavors and smells as if I was. I implemented visualization, allowing my mouth to salivate and then swallowing that aromatic fantasy. This became pretty convincing almost to the point of feeling like the real thing. Of course, what really was feeding me in those meditations was my desire to rewrite this relationship as a whole, this relationship with food and famine- this is what inspired the process. 

Ultimately, what I gained from this holiday fasting experiment was learning that it was my connections, that feed me. My connections that connect me to this world, and what I was choosing in the past, to fill the voids of certain connections I was missing, with foods. Examples such as losing my father a few years earlier, doesn’t hold a flame to being present and enjoying the connections as they arise in real life. While my life had heartaches, I began being filled with even more gratitude for what I did have. I credit this period in my life when I retired some old beliefs that were not serving me anymore.  

To this day I continue to use fasting, and intermittent fasting, as a tool that reminds me of who I am at a core level. My longest fast to date was 45 days where I only consumed water, herbal teas, and fresh-pressed juice. I gave myself colonics everyday for 30 days, until I started oscillating them with oil enemas. To be fair, if I were to do this again today, I would optimize it with what I know now.

Reflecting on some of this in this moment, and with some issues we are facing as humanity on a whole, I felt it was important to remind myself and my loved ones that we are more than what we eat. Hence, my self-proclaimed famous quote ‘You could be doing all the right things, eating all the right foods, but if you are still an asshole, you are not healthy.’

This article, its author, and the company and website it is found on, assumes no responsibility or liability for any way the content, errors or omissions is perceived. This content is for informational or educational purposes only, and does not substitute professional medical advice or consultations with healthcare professionals. 

Darlene J. Weiss

Living Waters

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