We are done! I personally cannot believe I made it through the entire “Milk Cure” fast.
Below are Paula, Richard, and my observations as the final hours wind down. What are your ending thoughts? Did it go as you expected or totally veer off course?
Be sure to let us know how you finished up in the comments section.
Paula: All’s well that ends well. Slept good, elimination is back to normal. Ahhhhh 🙂 Feel pretty good, must be over the detoxing hump. Worked out today – weights and some interval cardio. Felt really good and was dripping with sweat when done. Stretched out and followed up with milk. There were a couple of rough days but it amazes me the power of the raw milk to detoxify the body. Not to mention the rest of the digestive system has got to be benefited greatly. I plan to continue this ritual every spring but first I am going to have some bacon. Consumed 14 cups of milk on day 10 and weighed in at 117.
Richard: Drank 6 cups on the final day and felt great. Don’t think I lost a pound but didn’t bother to weigh myself either to be sure. I go more by how I feel than what the numbers say anyway. I did have some mild detoxing throughout the 10 day period but not anything close to what I expected. Felt pretty much great the entire time. Will plan to participate again next year.
Am ready for the fast-breaking bash tomorrow. Can’t wait to eat food again.
Sarah: Today is my daughter’s birthday, so I spent the morning making her 2 devil’s food cakes (yes, TWO) – one to take into school at lunchtime and share with her classmates and the other for her actual birthday party tomorrow. Refraining from licking some of the yummy batter was quite a battle, but I managed to get through it. At least I can eat some of the cake tomorrow at the party!
It is all I can do to not just stare at the clock winding down the minutes until I can eat again. What shall I eat first? A mundane bowl of soaked oatmeal tops the list, but the breaking of the fast will be marked with much more festivity. Can’t wait to share it with you all.
I am feeling fantastic this morning. The congestion and sneezing are gone. So glad I’m ending the fast on a positive note rather than feeling rotten. It seems I had 2 phases of detox. The first two and a half days were definitely detox mode followed by a few days of feeling terrific. This was followed by another couple of days feeling bad and then feeling better again.
I wonder if I fasted longer if this pattern would continue or would I eventually just feel great all the time? Something to ponder.
Shall we do this again next year? I’m thinking an annual fast might be something fun for this blog. We’ve done it 2 years in a row now. The first time with just 1 person and this year with about 100. Maybe next year we could get 1,000? Why not? There’s no harm in thinking BIG, right? Shooting for the moon and hitting the top of a telephone pole ain’t bad at all.
My Day 9 – Feeling great, same as Kathy I started out the first few days drinking about 8 cups a day, and as I became more in tune with what my body needed, have been able to drink less, although I don’t mind it going up to 8. My weight loss tapered off from a pound a day, to 1.2 over days 7-8. That doesn’t bother me as I am getting down to the last few pounds. I have enjoyed the quart of microwave yogurt I made, it is now gone. As I will continue to 14 days (I have no reason in my schedule not to, and don’t feel the need to eat yet!), I might make another batch today. I don’t think the kefir grains I just got will be ready for awhile. I have indulged in a tiny bit of raw cheese the past few days (the first time did me in on that), and have always had my allowance of a cup of coffee with raw cream each morning. The past 3-4 mornings every cup has tasted badly. At first I blamed the coffee, or old cream, but at a second attempt today I am asking myself why I am doing it, coffee tastes like crap. I will drop it these last 4 days. I am definitely planning on raw milk “meals”, especially lunch. I think I’ll try to get my hubby to do his lunch, as he tends to eat out, and is pre-diabetic and not doing as well on low carb as he was. Hey – my daughter in law to be told me yesterday she wants to do a milk fast as she has noticed a big difference in my skin! Yay! At 49 that’s a huge compliment. I must say my body feels softer. : )
I will definately do this again next year. In fact, I intend on doing it in June for one week. I want to use grass fed milked cows and see if there is a difference. I live up north. I was not aware of issues with thyriods and doing this. I had a thyroidectomy in 1966 and take synthroid, of course. I didn’t experience any problems different than anyone else had except my eyesight, as I discussed in another post, seemed to get worse. But it is time for new glasses and I doubt it had anything to do with the fast. I’d like to know what I should be concerned about with the fast and the thyroid if anyone has the info. I lost 6lbs., felt chilled (temp 97.3 for 3 days) and some of the other symtoms folks had but absolutely no hunger with 5-6 glasses each day. I made scrambled eggs with veggies, bacon and a bit of avocado this morning and couldn’t eat it all. Our stomaches have shunk!! Yippy. Still want to lose a few more lbs. so I am eating slowly, sitting at the table without T.V. or computer and planning on 2 meals a day and one smoothie. Thanks to all for your comments. This was fun. Congrats to all!
I finished up Friday and over the weekend I slowly have added foods back in. Started with one egg. Then some grassfed ground beef, followed by some homemade venison bacon from my brother in an omelet with some raw cheese. Feeling good other than I was still constipated…. broke down and did the enema…. ugh…. worked well and if I had to I would do it again… but not pleasant. Oh well the things we do for our health. Thanks for the advice Sarah. Ended up losing 5 lbs and I am very happy with how I feel. I think I will do this annually.
Good for you Rick! Glad the fast ended up a good experience for you!
I ended my fast on Day 10 — I accidentally ran out of milk and my husband and I had to go out for the day anyway, so it kinda worked itself out– I wanted to go at least the 4 weeks recommended in the book- and maybe as long as I felt good—- But, my daughter wanted to try it , to clear up her blemishes, and since we cannot afford to have 2 of us on it (we have a family of 8, so our consumption is high already!) –I felt that I would stop so that she could start and see some improvement sooner—- Overall, I felt well the entire time– did have some constipation, though one elimination every day was still ‘happening’ – but will use the warm water enema next time I do the fast– just to avoid the ‘worry’ of letting it get too bad—- I have heart arrhythmia issues, that have been resolving themselves nicely since I began, a few years ago, eating as recommended in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook— but still deal with slight, ongoing heart problems– interestingly, it especially bothers me during and after a meal! But, while on the Milk Fast, MY HEART DID NOT BOTHER ME AT ALL! I was so thrilled with that particular effect that it had on me! I felt like it gave my heart a rest and somehow was a perfect substitute for ‘food’ , since I neither gained , nor lost weight– I stayed a steady 115, which is perfect for my small 5’4″ frame– Overall, I was very happy with the fast and will definitely do it again! Thanks, Sarah, Richard and Paula, for your encouragement!
Rebecca, this is an awesome testimonial. Thank you for taking the time to let us all know how raw milk even rests the heart! WOW!!!
My husband and I are actually talking about the two of us “fasting” with raw milk at least one or maybe even two days a week indefinitely since it is so satisfying … just to give the digestion a regular break. Will let everyone know if we do something like this permanently.
I was thinking the same thing! One to two days every week, then maybe a whole week twice a year. I want to do this in June because of the grass fed thing but I only plan on going one week then and 10 days with you guys in the spring next year. In between I’m planning on one day a week. My grandfather ate whatever he wanted 6 days a week and fasted one. He lived long, was slim and healthy. Of course, that was way back in the early 1900’s. Before perservatives.
Day 4, slept like a LOG this weekend!
I would love to do this too! But I am breastfeeding and don’t have a source of raw milk yet. My husband and I are living in Africa… we are going to get our own goats in the next month or 2 so that when we wean our son at a year he will have good milk. The only milk options they have here are either powdered milk or UHT 🙁 uck!
Just wanted to write in and add my husband to your list of raw milk “fasters” – he can be # 101 for the blog : ) It took me a few years to get him to drink the raw milk but now he is all for it but still eats out everyday and drinks tons of Mt. Dew. I mentioned your fast idea to him and he wanted to do it! He made it until Friday evening, one day shy of the 10. He had some detoxing going on the whole time and lost 16lbs! The other cool thing is that it got him talking to a ton of people at work about raw milk and the benefits! He has decided to keep a partial fast going for breakfast and lunch everyday. I love it because that’s when he eats out. Thanks Sarah for the chance for him to join in on the fast!
Here, I’m on Day 1 of a milk kefir + homemade yogurt, as finding raw milk is difficult here, I think it’s going to be good that way, too 🙂
Anyone else notice their fingernails growing a LOT faster during their fast? 🙂
according to Ayurveda, the hair and nails are a subset of the bones; real milk is used in traditional Ayurveda as a carrier for medicinal herbs (which are cooked in it), but the milk itself is considered medicinal if it comes from healthy cows…. it would be interesting to have someone (or many) have DEXA scans done after a raw milk fast to see if their low bone density improves after (I have a record of my bone density so as soon as I can afford to get one more scan done I will let people know the results!)
I broke my fast at 11:30pm last night (end of Day 10) with some turkey bone broth flavored with thyme and a little seasalt. Yum! Today we were invited to a friends home so I ate what they served (burritos) but w/o the tortilla. I don’t feel like I want to throw flour into the mix yet…. It felt REALLY weird to eat food. Normal, yet SO foreign. I don’t know if it was that I hadn’t eaten anything but the raw milk for 10 days or if it was the food, but the burrito fixings were SO good! The flavors were outstanding! I couldn’t wait though to get to the fridge and pull out my milk. Drank at least 4 or 5 cups today… 🙂
The 10 days were pretty easy for me. I was never hungry, just missed the different tastes of food…I found that I really loved cinnamon in my milk though, and Good Earth tea soaked in slightly warmed milk. My sense of smell went through the roof and everyone’s breath, feet, whatever, REEKED! My husband said my breath though was neutral (at first I thought it was my breath I was smelling w/ the detox). I don’t feel like I really detoxed much, except for my skin was really clear and eyes bright. I had a TON of energy the first 5 days even though I was constipated. I learned how to do an enema and decided I would do them on a semi-irregular regular basis.
Overall, I felt really nourished. REALLY nourished. I liked feeling light and not heavy, like after eating solid food. I liked having more of a flat tummy. I loved the extra time it afforded me, not to cook and eat. I didn’t see any difference in my asthma (used my inhaler almost every night, as opposed to when I was drinking the ACV every day before the 10 days of Milk Cure and didn’t need to use it at all) Will go back to my daily ACV… I still had my seasonal allergies and went back on my allergy pill by day 4 – was desperate. My period was almost a non-event though which is huge for me. I normally struggle with moodiness (understatement) and my husband was very pleased to not see it coming 5 or 6 days out. Didn’t have to take any pain meds for headaches, cramps, anything. Had a low back ache the day before that disappeared as quickly as it came. Would consider doing a 5 day milk-fast every month just for that lovely change!
Other than those things…have recommitted to eating healthier and know more than ever, that I need my own cow…..! I <3 RAW MILK!!! Now to convince the HOA they should let me graze my cow on condominium grounds 🙂