[Derek]

Well, I decided to do a rice fast. It began saturday. I'm now finishing my third day. Let me quickly log the general feelings i've been getting so far:

Saturday
----------
Woke up feeling lousy since I was up until 2am. A rarity for me. Ate a lot late on friday night (perhaps to mentally comfort myself into a 7 day rice-only fast?). Went to Legal Sea Food with two friends on Friday night to celebrate the last day of my job. Got grilled haddock with brown rice and steamed broccoli. Pretty good. Came home, made some cookies (oatmeal raisin) and ate em. Then I made and ate rice pudding (keep in mind its now past 1am). Ended up sleeping terribly. Anyway, saturday.
Didn't end up eating until 4pm. Watched movies all day. No desire to go outside. Drank lots of tea until then. Ate soft rice at 4. Made more rice to eat at 8 (1 cup of raw rice!?). Drank maybe 16 cups of kukicha. A lot of tea. Had stomach pains in bed, and heart was RACING as I tried to sleep. Felt like my whole body was pulsing.

Sunday
--------
Woke up still feeling lousy. Made soft rice. 1/c. rice, 2.5 cups water, pinch salt. Made some tea. Did some laundry and made some rice for lunch. 1 cup raw rice, 1 & 2/3 cup water, pinch salt. Went downtown to get a haircut. Visited some friends before going back home. Too cold to stay outside. Was feeling slightly dazed the whole day. Started to have mild panic attack at about 4pm that I wasn't getting any nutrition. Convinced myself its for the best made rice as soon as i got home, for dinner. 2 cups raw rice, 3 & 1/3 cup water, 2 pinches salt. Ate half, packed half for the morning. Felt like I couldn't eat enough rice...had to stop myself from eating it out of the container in the fridge.
Baked cookies for my new co-workers (new job starts monday morning) Carrot-Ginger cookies from The Self-Healing Cookbook. Didn't eat ONE! (surprised at my discipline!) Went to bed feeling okay, but nervous for my first day.

Monday
---------
Woke up feeling strange: not hungry, but empty. Steamed 1 cup of leftover rice & made some tea. Brought rest for lunch. Ate breakfast at 6:30 am. Went to Orientation for new job. Ate lunch at 1pm. Rest of leftover rice & tea. Felt pretty good. Felt accomplished. Went back to work. At 4pm, had massive panic attack. heart started racing, worry levels spiked, couldnt walk straight, felt like having a chicken sandwich for the first time in months. Began sweating terribly. Felt hot all over. Rice fast quickly began to worry me greatly. Anxious all over, I begged to go home and break the fast with anything: miso soup sounded good. But so did popcorn. So did lentils. So did VEGETABLES. Was craving veggies and beans hardcore. Was actually craving anything. I felt like I was having a fit.
20 minutes later, felt okay. Weak, but okay.
Went home, all the while wondering if I should break the fast. Cooked rice. 1 cup raw rice, 1.5 cups water, big pinch of salt. made more tea. Now its after dinner, and I feel pretty good. Wondering if I should break the fast with some miso broth tomorrow. A bit scared to continue. Any thoughts???