HOW A COCONUT CLEANSE CURED MY FATIGUE
STANDING in Sao Paulo airport at 6am, I am wondering whether I'm going to survive the next eight days.
I've come to Brazil with six others to see whether a period of fasting can boost my immune system and build up my strength.
Starting now, for the next eight days we will drink only coconut water. In the evenings, we will have a bowl of vegetable and miso soup, taking in 400-600 calories daily. I'm achingly aware of every food stall and coffee shop we pass. We still have two flights and a two-hour drive to our final destination, the village of Cumuruxatiba in Bahia.
Our host is Dr Dermot O'Flynn, a London-based GP who treats patients with chronic health issues. I met Dr O'Flynn after I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The cancer, thankfully now clear, is one of many health problems I've had over the last two decades. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, in 2009.
Polycystic ovary syndrome, irregular heavy bleeding, insulin resistance, chronic sinusitis, polymorphic light eruption, arthritis, calcific tendonitis, long-standing anaemia and actinic lichen planus are all part of my life. I have seen at least a dozen types of specialists and I'm very tired.
After gulping down lots of coconut water we arrive at our destination, a beautiful house above a stunning stretch of beach. This is our playground, Dr O'Flynn explains. For the cleanse to work we must exercise moderately for at least four hours a day, anything that will keep us moving.
We are so exhausted the first day that we drink our soup and head to bed. We gather at six the next morning for coconut water and then we're off into the sunshine, exploring the beach and ocean. We climb the
steep hill home and I gasp with exhaustion. This is not working.
Leaky gut releases cytokines and interleukins and can cause depression, fatigue and bloating. "Be patient," Dr O'Flynn tells me on day three, as I watch the others bounding around. He says it takes a while, usually until day seven, for things to change. So I continue to swim, to enjoy the daily massages and to lie in a hammock in the sun.
It is a curious thing to realise I am not hungry but I do notice the absence of feeling full. I begin to think about how often I reach for food merely because I like the fullness in my stomach. It helps to be distracted. We go paddleboarding and whale watching. This is a holiday, a 'cleanscation' as the genial Dr O'Flynn jokingly calls it.
By day six something starts to shift. I wake up alert. I swim for two miles. I bound up the steep hill that made me gasp the first day. What is happening to me?
Read the full EXPRESS article here.
Maha Khan Phillips