That’s my experience, I can’t speak for others. I was fasting on water for 6 weeks and ended up with protein malnutrition, and a lifetime of pain. There were red flags that I sailed past in my journey for health, and I could have stopped at anytime.
I just didn’t. I was under the care of an alleged practitioner, whose lies were not obvious until I was scared for my life.
The Red Flag On Arrival
As soon as I hit the country, J (the retreat owner) blew up my phone. No longer the love and light fairy from her emails. J became a screaming shrew if I dared say no to her demands. Pick this up, do that. Go here, buy this for here, you get my drift. I figured she was having a bad day.
Nope, wrong. The mask had slipped.
At the island next day, we sat on the beach, a rose petal pathway greeting my arrival. We sat at a table and J did nothing but complain about her local staff. How horrible they were, how stupid, incompetent, and how happy she was that she had a westerner to talk to, of course I agreed J sweetly asked shoving her face uncomfortably close to mine.
I awkwardly smiled and nodded simply to get J out of my face.
I Was Under Her Spell
Her staff called her an Aswang, a malevolent creature that shape shifted at night. Who was I to argue they knew J better than I did. She was an interesting character. All love and light hippie yoga chick until you did something she didn’t like, dealing with someone who will do anything to protect themselves is a dangerous thing.
It didn’t take long to see the Jekyll/Hyde switch, and her rant about the staff wasn’t a bad day, more her mask slipping and her showing her true self.
It can be scary on a remote tropical island and the person that wants to control you is the one with the boat.
I Had To Fast First Before Volunteering
Initially my plan for visiting was to volunteer with governance and natural therapies, it was a wellness retreat evolving into a not for profit. J did insist I pay for a month to understand the client journey, which I was okay with. My idea was to get healthy learning about and eating raw foods.
Wrong. J insisted that I experience her detox, fasting program. She had told me she was a qualified Naturopath, nothing could go wrong, right?
The Fast Itself
Water, a concoction of Bentonite clay and Psyllium husk (looks like chocolate tastes like mud), some pumpkin seed thing, and a calorie read nutrition free) drink in the evenings. My body rebelled. After 2 weeks of the clay concoction my body rejected everything. Literally.
I was very unwell.
At the one month mark, I was moved to another cabin and banned from getting any help from the staff as I was now a volunteer. I had fallen down the stairs to my bathroom 2 weeks into my stay and was limping badly. There was no doctor on the island and I was not allowed to go into town to see one, or have one visit me there.
For context, we have very little internet or phone connection, the isolation was real. I was fortunate that I had met B there and she helped me wherever she could. I was becoming weak after 4 weeks of fasting, and when I spoke to J (she was the expert remember) she said she would never tell anyone to stop fasting.
After six weeks of fasting I had signs of protein malnutrition and I told J I was stopping fasting, I was seriously weak. J restricted what I was allowed to eat from the kitchen, I was banned from most things, except for vegetables. B organised a tray of eggs for me from town ( sadly some staff members stole most of them), and they would smuggle fish to me when J wasnt looking. They bought it from the fishing village on the other side of the island.
I Had To Lie To Leave
At the 2.5 month mark, I was getting weaker and when I spoke to staff about wanting to see a doctor, they panicked. They warned me not to say that to J, she would never let me leave. When I pressed them for more details they clammed up.
By this time I had also discovered that J had zero qualifications, she only knew what she had read from books.
B and I left at the same time. She promised to help me see a doctor in the capital 8 hours away. I told J that I wanted a week off the island for a break, I left most of my things behind. B was to visit her kids.
I could barely walk by this time. I had help getting off the boat in town.
This Is a Warning
There is a lot more to this story and I will reveal more as time goes by. The warning is this, any prolonged fasting should be overseen by a doctor. Fifteen years later, I still have trouble at times with my legs. I spent years rebuilding the muscles that I lost during fasting, and I know of at least one other from this island dealing with the same health challenges.
PeaCe OUT