Just to let you know -- I don't have any problems with a high PSA that indicates cancer growth or anything but have a problem at night waking up often to urinate. My wife Sue suggested that I do a fast to see if this could be reversed at this stage. I have had an enlarged prostrate for the last 8 years or so, and I knew that I didn't want to take anything stronger than Saw Palmetto. I refused to take other drugs.

I have been a vegetarian for 30+ years and just recently converted to a raw vegetarian diet. Except for a hip resurfacing done 2 years ago this March, I am in great health at 61 years old. I have no problem with a 100-mile bike ride. Sue and I did a 40-mile mountain bike race in Wisconsin over some hilly terrain with no problem. (P.S. Sue and I were married 2 years ago at the end of this same race and honored our guests with copies of The Live Food Factor.)

Victoria went out of her way to make me feel at home by showing me downtown Concrete and the mural on the firehouse wall showing the whole Concrete area and then taking me to The HighJoy Homestead and allowing me to feed a very ripe cantaloupe to her horse HIGHJOY.

The Wilderness Woman in Victoria and my love of the outdoors were a good match. So she saw fit to bring me several books to read from her "AMERICAN HISTORY & WILDERNESS LIBRARY" in the library hut. These included books by Tom Brown's The Tracker and Grandfather and John Muir's Wild America by Tom Meldham. Victoria was constantly bringing videos for my entertainment. They were all very enjoyable: Road to Wellville, Walden, The Edge, This Boy's Life (a story by Tobias Wolff from Concrete), Sitting Bull, etc. I also enjoyed and learned a lot from the people staying here (Kim, Robert, Ziyah, and Wanda all had stories and, of course, Victoria's life story).

 

I also brought along Soul Coaching by Dennis Linn which I planned to do a 28-day spiritual journey during the 4 weeks but gave up on that process the second day. Instead, I listened to a lot of tapes by Dr. Herbert Shelton, lectures by Dr. Vivian Vitrano,  I appreciated. Victoria Boutneko's 12 Steps to Raw Foods was another good book. Videos by Gregory Haag and others were also stimulating. By far the best information that I read was The TAO of Abundance by Lawrence Boldt. There are 8 ancient TAO principles for abundant living that were very provocative. This book helped clarify some of the 81 chapters that I had been reading and trying to understand since I started to read and understand the TAO during my trip to Machu Picchu 3 years ago.

21 days into the fast on Saturday, November 6th, I was 152 lbs. and down 34 lbs. -- feeling great, never had any ill affects other than being weak. Since the 12th day, I no longer had to get up to urinate and could stay in bed for 8-10 hours. I awoke to a basketful of my clean laundry and a framed photo of an elk, a tee-shirt, and a lovely card from Victoria to congratulate me on 21 days. I kept commenting to Victoria during her daily visits on what a big surprise it was for the fasting to be so easy and with no discomfort or pains. The hardest thing about the fast was simply being still -- as I am a highly active guy, always wanting to be out and active in nature whenever I can. And because this fast was so easy and pleasant, I know from this experience that I would have had no problem doing a 40-day fast next time.

This was my first fast, and the first  lesson I learned the first week was that long walks to and around the whole neighborhood (Cape Horn) to the community beach were enervating. The culmination of this realization came on day 7 when Victoria took me to her favorite swimming hole Everett Pond (her Walden Pond). I was walking on a path around the little pond (about the size of 3 football fields) when the trail ran out. I bushwacked over fallen trees, underbrush, swamp and blackberry patches. It seem like I was at 12,000 feet or more trying to climb trails in Peru. It was  hard for me to just relax and become less physically active, but I know if I had it would have aided me in my healing process to have done less in the way of physical exercise. Another thing I would change is I would have less high stimulation like movies, Face book, Skype, and other electronic wizardry.

The second major lesson I learned came while breaking the fast. The first 24 hours were great with eating melons every 2 hours. ("The size of your fist," Victoria explained.) The flavor was spectacular! The second day on melons and juices also went well. Then, I added a large salad. I preferred to make this salad myself out of the basketful of fruit and vegetables Victoria brought in, and it tasted fantastic! I wanted to continue making my own meals. I was eating melons for breakfast and a large salad at lunch and dinner the rest of the week. But, I soon learned that my meals were too large.  Victoria had warned me that my servings were large. And a horrible case of constipation brought me lot of pain and anguish.