Today at sunrise I began a spiritual fast. Almost all religions of the world have fasting as a part of their practice. Christianity has Lent, Islam has Ramadan and so on. As part of the fasting process I will be exploring several of these practices over the course of the seven days of my fast.

I've decided on a seven day, sunset to sunrise fast. I am doing this completely for spiritual reasons, to see, experimentally, what benefit such a practice can be for someone who is attempting spiritual growth.

It is recommended that during the time of fasting a person should spend extra time in spiritual oneness and I'll be practicing meditation and yoga daily. I will also take a time each day to declutter something in my home, a suggested practice that symbolised the decluttering of the spirit as you rid yourself of the cluttered thoughts through meditation. This is a spring renewal for me as I try to be free of the sugar cravings that plague me. I plan on moving forward into further dietary cleansing in the future but one small change at a time.

As to the sugar addiction, This is the beginning of the 4th day and other than a little wine yesterday I've been avoiding sugar. It became easier once I found an organic, sugar free, additive free, whole grain bread to eat. My eventual goal is to rid myself of white flour eventually and it's kind of happening by accident as I am learning that often bread products that are sugar-free are white flour-free as well. Sugar cravings have subsided quite a bit and I hope the purchase of a nice chai tea yesterday will help keep me craving-free for the seven days of the fast.

Affirmation: As I enter into a time of spiritual fasting I will learn to enjoy and appreciate the amount of food available to me and understand that I have an abundance of good wholesome, body positive foods available and that I may eat as much of it as I wish. I choose to only eat the amounts needed for body nourishment however.