Detox my Life

During the Easter holidays, I decided it was time to detox my life.

Not just physically with a five-day fast, but also digitally — and ideally, I’d finally tackle the chaos that is my room and give my brain a bit of a breather too.

So, I had a good chat with ChatGPT and got myself two neat, printable plans: one for a digital detox, the other for a mindful fast. Beautifully designed, of course — because good prep is half the battle, right?

Now, I’ll be honest: on the first two fasting days, I cheated a little with cappuccinos. But from day three onward, I went full-on monk mode: just water, herbal tea, and one fresh coconut a day.Physically, I was okay-ish. But mentally? I was deep in food fantasy mode. I found myself endlessly scrolling through Zomato menus, imagining elaborate meals. I even caught myself lingering on Blinkit, dreaming up recipes I could make — if I were eating. The real test came when I had to make pizza or crêpes for my little one. The smell alone nearly broke me.

The goal was to hit the autophagy phase by day 4 or 5 — that holy grail of inner cleansing. But honestly? I had zero energy or motivation. That big cleaning-and-decluttering project I was going to do while fasting? Yeah, no. Instead, I spent most of the time in bed, reading — mainly to distract myself from obsessing over food.

At some point, my husband came in and said, “This can't go on like this.”And he wasn’t wrong. By the morning of day four, I felt so weak and shaky that even taking a shower felt like a major effort. After checking back in with ChatGPT, I made myself a veggie broth — but even that didn’t do much. So at 5 p.m. that day, I officially broke the fast and ate a proper bowl of soup.

It felt like my body was actively fighting against this entire mission.And maybe it was.Maybe a five-day water fast just isn’t for me.Not every body is built the same. I’ve always known I need regular meals or I start feeling terrible. And, fun fact: from an evolutionary perspective, it actually makes sense. Women, as gatherers, likely had more frequent access to food compared to men out hunting. Even ChatGPT agreed with me on this — which instantly made me feel less like a fasting failure.

More conversations revealed that I’m probably a parasympathetic type — a so-called “carb type.” Which explains a lot. Like why I need to eat at regular intervals and why skipping meals has never gone well for me. I got some tailored nutrition advice from the AI — and guess what? Since I’ve been following it, I genuinely feel better.

So what did I actually get out of the fast?

1. I learned that strict water-and-tea fasting is not my thing. At least not for five days straight.

2. I realized (at almost 50!) why I need to eat regularly — and what kind of meals work best for me.

3. My cappuccino “cheat” led to a surprising discovery: looks like I’m lactose intolerant. Since switching to plant-based milk, I’ve felt so much better.

4. And I may have still hit a mini reset — I’m less hungry overall, which could mean my insulin levels are starting to balance out.

   
   

So in the end, this fasting experiment gave me a much deeper understanding of my own metabolism. And it reminded me — again — that there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to health.

Oh, and the digital detox and home decluttering? Those will be next holiday’s projects.

Because let’s be honest — there’s no point in overdoing it.