Van Life ｜ Five Days NO FOOD

All right, so this is my last meal for the next five days. I'm only going to have water, no coffee, no tea, no anything, not even like supplements or herbs or anything. So I'm having sweet potato and steamed broccoli, mushrooms, and avocado with salt, pepper, and everything seasoning and red pepper. It's actually really good. I love sweet potato. So I just finished my dinner, and now I'm going to make some bananas and almond butter for dessert, and then that's it. Yeah, tomorrow starts the fast, and it will be five days of nothing but water. So I'm just going to do dishes, go to bed, and I will see you guys tomorrow. So it's 10 AM. I actually woke up at 6.30, but then I promptly went back to sleep. I started reading, and I guess without the coffee, I just dozed off. Okay, so day one, I honestly didn't do much. I took two really long naps. I just woke up from another one right now, and I worked on my computer for a little bit, sat outside for a little bit. I have a massive, massive headache. I didn't realize I was this addicted to caffeine. It's only 5 PM. I'm actually not hungry at all, but I do intermittent fasting here and there, not every day, but often enough that, yeah, I'm not hungry. I'm just like suffering from this headache and withdrawal from caffeine. But I'm going to just make my bed, and yeah, maybe work in bed, and just try to go to sleep, and hopefully tomorrow will be better. It is day two. I just woke up. My head hurts so bad. Oh my gosh. Once again, it is 10 AM, but day two, and as you can see, my bed is still... I'm still in bed. I'm feeling a little better, but that's because I cheated. I made coffee. My head was hurting so bad. I literally was just curled up in a ball on the bed, and I have work to do, so I can't really just take the five days off and not get anything done. I got a little day couch, a day bed, and my desk, so I don't have to make my bed every night. And this is just my mattress folded over, so it's honestly like a giant pillow. It's so comfortable. Also, just for reference, I am five foot nine, and it's six feet from here to here. It is 5.30 PM on day two, and I'm feeling much, much better. I have not that much of a headache, very small, but I have been drinking diluted coffee most of the afternoon. Very small amount of coffee just with hot water added to it, but I am starting to feel a little shaky, so I guess it's headache or the shakes. But anyway, I have a lot more energy, so I'm kind of pounding out a lot of work right now, which is good. It will be interesting to see if I can fall asleep tonight because I feel super wired. All right, so yesterday, this time, I was too tired to even get out of bed. I was like curled up in a ball and felt so weak. And now, day two, I have so much energy and I'm climbing up this ridge to get a shot of the van and watch sunset. I was just about to hike back down because I thought sunset was over, but I was wrong. Day three, 3 PM, I have so much energy. I woke up feeling really, really hungry and I had a headache, but as soon as I had some coffee, I just felt like super charged. And I've been working all morning at my computer, which is really an unlikely occurrence for me because I'm so easily distracted. I finally changed my shirt, so I'm not as stinky. Good morning, guys. It is day four of the fast. I shot out of bed today at 5.30, so I have more energy than usual. And I am packing up the van, getting it ready to go. I am heading into San Diego today to get some stuff done to the van, so I'm excited for that. But it will be my first time being around people and food, so that will be interesting. I'm just out for my little morning walk. This is where I've been parked for the last three days. All right, guys, I'm all showered and I'm heading into San Diego now. I'm just going to cut off from here and then I will update you how I'm feeling tonight. It will be the evening of day four. So yeah, pretty stoked and I'll see you soon. I am currently spending the night in an auto shop. I'm locked into the garage. Everyone's gone home. And so that's a new experience. It's pretty cool though. There's a bathroom, so that's awesome, and an espresso machine for the morning. Honestly, today I've just been on a high, driving out here and just the whole day. I've been feeling great. I feel very productive and I have a lot of mental clarity. I have one day left tomorrow, Friday, and yeah, then I'll be done. So good night. See you tomorrow. Hey, guys, good morning. So it is Friday and day five of the fast. I woke up in the auto shop and I left about an hour ago, so I'm just running some errands right now, got gas, and now I need to get groceries. So I feel like this is going to be the hardest thing I've dealt with so far in terms of exercising willpower. It's been tricky being in the city because I keep driving past all these great restaurants and I just want to... Oh man, it's got me dreaming of food. I cannot wait to eat tomorrow. And actually, I'm not sure, but I think maybe I can have some broth this evening. And if that's the case, I'm very excited. I've never been so excited for broth before. But to be perfectly honest with you guys, I woke up not feeling that great. I felt kind of nauseous, sick to my stomach, lightheaded. I'm nursing a coffee and that's helping a little bit, but we'll see how things go throughout the rest of the day. And yeah, I'll keep you posted. So I stocked up on vegan cheese and I got some veggies, some blueberries, more vegan cheese, some soup to break the fast with, coffee and blueberries. Here's my second grocery run. It's mostly produce and just some more broth, almond butter. And yeah, I think I'm good to go now and head out into the desert. Okay. So I made it back out to the desert from San Diego and I did find out that I can eat tonight because my last meal was Sunday night. So technically, I can have my first meal tonight. And I'll be honest, as soon as I found that out, I've become completely fixated on food. I'm grumpy and irritable and all I can think about is that first bite. So I'm just counting down the time. I have another three hours to go, or actually two hours now. So that's good. Now I'm going to go shoot for a client during sunset and then my five-day fast will be done and I can eat. So excited. Thank you for sticking around. If you are still here, I know this is a long vlog. It's going to be different for everyone if you attempt this, but yeah, what a wild experience. I honestly can't believe I've gone five days without food. That's insane to me anyway. But all right, let's get out of here. So some of you might be wondering why I am eating such a small amount of food. And the reason is after not eating for so long, your digestive system has basically shut down. So I kind of want to slowly reboot it and not overload my system right away. So I'm now filming a whole month later after the fast and I just want to show you guys where I am right now. It's so beautiful. And here's the full moon rising over the desert. It's so pretty. I know that this video is a little different than usual, but it's part of my experience out here in the van. So I just thought I'd share it. And I actually have tried a five-day fast before, but in a house and I failed. Probably just because there was food in the cupboard and the fridge and it was too tempting. So I found that by eating all the food that I had in the van and then not grocery shopping and driving out to the desert, that did the trick. And also I'm in no way recommending this. I am not a doctor. I'm not a nutritionist. I feel like I need a thousand disclaimers here. This was just my experience and I just thought I'd throw it out there in case any of you are interested. I did learn a few things. First of all, I am addicted to coffee and I really need to pay attention to my consumption and maybe start to lay off the coffee a little bit. Number two, I am actually capable of going five whole days without food without dying, which is good to know. And number three, I spend a lot of time and energy on food. Thinking about food, shopping for food, preparing food, eating food, cleaning up after food. All of those things, they take a lot of time, money, and energy. And you know, it does make sense. A lot of big food companies have incentive to convince us that we should be eating all day, every day. I think everyone should be free to make whatever choice is best for them. And this fasting experiment was just a way for me to personally push my boundaries and see what I'm capable of. It was also a new way of incorporating minimalism into my life, which is hugely important to me. I believe in less but better. Less stuff, more freedom, fewer commitments, more time for things that matter. And when it comes to food, quality over quantity. Would I do it again? Yes, definitely. It was an amazing reset for my taste buds and just for my appreciation for food in general. Would I recommend it? I think you have to do what's right for you and what's safe and healthy for you. And you know, like I said, I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a doctor. I am a 35 year old woman living in a van down by the river. So there's that. In my personal opinion, I think there are some incredible health benefits to fasting and it's definitely worth exploring if it's something you're interested in. And you know, just go at your own pace. Okay. That's enough talking. I talked a lot in this video, but it, oh my gosh, the view outside is insane. So I'm going to go and I will catch you guys next time.