The Monthly Plan

A daily plan is rhythm. A monthly plan is a cycle. The moon completes its circle in about twenty-nine and a half days, from new moon to full moon and back to new moon. In practice it is thirty days from one full moon to the next. That circle is the measure of this plan.

Why this length? A week is far too short — it would be over before the body began to change. Three months is far too long — the mind would flag in the second week. Thirty days is long enough to see an end, and short enough not to tire of. And it needs no calendar; the sky will tell you.

Before you begin a cycle

There is only one rule about when to begin a cycle — on the full moon. You do not need a calendar; looking at the sky is enough. But the week before the starting day matters. In that week, get used to finishing the evening meal before seven; cut back the coffee and the tea gradually. Stop them suddenly and a headache will come in the first two days, and you will blame the fast for it.

To buy in advance: dried grapes, sabja, almond gum, honey, sesame oil, dry ginger, cumin, pepper, lemon, palm candy. Look at the day-by-day schedule, write a list, and buy it all before the cycle begins. If you have to go to the shop on a fast day, that day is lost.

Tell them at home. Your partner and your children should know what you are doing and for how many days. Those who do not know will worry; those who do will help. Take a look at your work diary too — do not let important meetings and travel collide with the new moon day.

Finally, a word with your doctor. Anyone taking tablets, particularly for diabetes and for blood pressure, will need the dose adjusted on fast days. That is not for you to decide alone.

The shape of the cycle

This plan has the shape of a valley. It begins high at the full moon, descends slowly, reaches the floor at the new moon, climbs slowly again, and reaches the same height at the next full moon.

The calories going in on day one are about 1000. They fall day by day until, on the fifteenth day, the new moon, they reach zero. Then they climb again, and on the thirtieth day they are back to 1000. Across thirty days, about 17,200 calories in; 7,800 calories out through exercise.

An important observation: the descent is fifteen days; so is the climb. The climb needs the same steadiness. Breaking a fast is work that takes more care than the fast itself.

How to break the fast

Breaking a fast is work that takes more care than keeping it. After the dry fast on the fifteenth day, the first thing to go in on the morning of the sixteenth is warm water, or orange juice — not cold water, not milk. Half a glass, sitting down, slowly.

After that, wait an hour. If hunger comes, tender coconut water or diluted lemon juice. No solid food that day. The gut has been resting for fifteen days; it must not be dragged back to work in a single sitting.

The general rule is this: for as many days as you descended, you must climb. The second half of this plan, from the sixteenth day to the thirtieth, was designed for exactly that. Hurry back to normal food on the twentieth and half the benefit of thirty days' work is gone.

The cycle's four seasons

The day-by-day schedule

This is the full plan from one full moon to the next. The abbreviations are explained below the table.

The four seasons must not be treated alike. In the descending days what the body asks for is steadiness; on the floor, quiet; in the climbing days, patience. Most people fail not on the floor but on the way up. In the relief of having passed the new moon, the discipline slackens.

Abbreviations

Rules of the monthly plan

• WWYP at five every morning — check the weight, a litre of water, a twenty-minute walk, ten minutes of yoga, light the lamp and pray.
• A ginger-lemon drink at six every morning — except on fast days.
• No solid food after five in the evening. Only fruit at seven at night.
• An oil bath once a week — usually on a Saturday. In this cycle they fall on day 21 and day 28.
• Record your weight every morning. The same scale, the same hour, the same sort of clothing.
• Write these down in one line beside the weight — how you slept, how your hunger was, how your mood was, what was hard.
• Stand at the end of the cycle and look back. What worked, what did not, what you will change next time. This is the "review" described in Chapter 8.

Changes you can expect

These are the common experiences. Your body may answer differently. Write your own experience down — for the next cycle that is your map.

Warning

This plan is for healthy adults. I am neither a doctor nor a nutritionist. Only a patient trying to find the root of his own illness. Speak to your doctor before you begin; and begin only once you have understood the whole method.

The following people should not do the fast days of this plan:

• Pregnant women, nursing mothers, growing children, adolescents.
• Anyone taking insulin or tablets for diabetes — on fast days blood sugar can fall to a dangerous level.
• Anyone with trouble of the blood pressure, heart, kidney or liver. Because there is a great deal of salt in the stomach cleansing, it is particularly dangerous for anyone with high blood pressure.
• Anyone with an eating disorder, or who has had one.
• Anyone who is underweight.

Turning the dry fast into a water fast is always the safer choice. Anyone doing it for the first time would do well to stop the new moon dry fast at twelve hours rather than twenty-four.

If at any time faintness, chest pain, palpitations, blurred vision or severe dizziness come — stop at once, drink juice, and seek medical help. Your body matters more than the plan.

You may lose around seven kilos in a cycle. If you need to lose more, repeat this cycle every month until you reach a natural weight. Even after you reach your goal, do one full cycle at least once a year.