Fast Update, pun intended

I missed “breakfast” this morning. Classic case of hitting snooze and rolling over, forgetting that there is no snooze function on my mobile, and waking up a few hours later having missed my window of darkness. It’s now been almost 15 hours since I’ve had anything to eat and my stomach won’t stop complaining. Loudly. Thank goodness I’m not at work! On the other hand, I’m back to my original problem of thinking constantly about food, which is something that I haven’t had to deal with the past few days as my mind has been otherwise occupied.

Thus far, all things considered, my experiment is going well. As predicted, I despise the 4am ‘feedings’, mostly because the last thing my system wants at 4am is food – everything tastes dry and bland and I struggle to muster any enthusiasm for it. It’s also cold in my flat and my eyes sting in protest; “It’s 4am woman, you don’t want food, you want sleep and a warm duvet, go back to bed”. The texts from my Muslim friend help, solidarity and all that, but I definitely miss the days where I could sleep through the night uninterrupted.

Thursday morning I had strawberries all prepared to be eaten, but all I could face was a vanilla yogurt and a few brazil nuts. I crawled back to bed shortly after, wondering how I was going to get through the week. Work that night from 4 to 9 was long and hard and hungry and I had trouble concentrating. My break came to early to allow me to eat, but a kindly co-worker gave me a pack of Iced Gems to munch at my desk come 8 o’clock, which were delicious! I had chicken noodle soup when I got home to compensate, with crusty bread and yellow pepper slices, and a hunk of cheese and an apple as a midnight snack. I vowed I would make more of an effort to eat in the morning the next day.

And indeed I did – strawberries, an apple and a Terry’s Chocolate Orange bar (so sue me, I fancied it!) I also had my usual brazil nuts, which are my weird food habit I suppose: I religiously have 3 or 4 every day to help my immune system (apparently they’re loaded with selenium and vitamin E). Plus I just like them.

I had a bit of a dilemma in the afternoon - coffee with one of my lecturers to discuss a few things. Did I break the rules and have a cup of tea (which I would have loved), or did I stick to them and have to explain to him what I was doing and bear his judgement? But I had a brainwave: I pleaded Pugwash as an excuse (“I’m working on an article about religious understanding...”) and stuck to tap water, with ice. I can’t say that the sight of the coffee and jam tart he was having wasn’t making me ravenous (even though I don’t like either of those things), but I got through it.

Work again meant that I didn’t get to eat until I got home at half 9. I think my wok is one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten, and I used it to make a gloriously tasty (and needed) beef, mange tout, red pepper and cashew stir fry, with brown rice and a Galaxy bar to follow. Possibly due to the late hour, I surprisingly didn’t even contemplate my usual evening snack.

Yesterday I again had strawberries and chocolate for breakfast, plus nuts and, oddly, a small piece of cheese. My Muslim friend informs me that he gets up and makes pasta etc this early, which I can’t fathom, but my system clearly wanted salt that early on a Saturday, so I let it have some. I had to be at work from 10 til 6, which I survived pretty well, but I had another dilemma come lunch time. Did I go out with my co-workers and watch them stuff their faces while I craved joining in? Did I stay in the building and try to resist the lure of the numerous vending machines while I read the battered red top papers? Or, did I take a third, less conventional option, and take my Volvic lunch and go bug a certain Waterstones worker for an hour, avoiding the food issue completely? No prizes for guessing!

I got home at 7, and had to wait an hour before I could tuck into dinner; poached salmon, new potatoes, green beans and a tomato. I had a relaxed evening doing some paperwork in front of, ironically, back to back episodes of Come Dine With Me, before getting an early night.

But not early enough to stop me sleeping through my alarm! If I survive this evening, I will have completed more than half of my challenge, and will have just two days of ‘Ramadan’ left – wish me luck and stay tuned, and whatever you do don’t talk to me about chocolate!