Meet Eve Smyth

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I've been a patient of Dr. Sui's for about a decade. My visits to Dr. Sui and experience with Chinese medicine when I lived in China (Sichuan, Anhui, Macao, & Hong Kong) showed me the quality of his work and I've always been grateful that we have such an exceptional doctor in the neighborhood. That's why when he said I needed to get a handle on my inflammation and that he'd designed this fast, I was like: "Okay, tell me about it."  

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So, he finished the pitch and I was skeptical. It was about autophagy something or other and we eat small portions of dried oatmeal for twice a day for 7 days. You know, I'm not too keen to eat dried oatmeal. That sounds like something Dante would put as a torture device in one of the rings of his Inferno. 

Aside from my resistance to oatmeal, I was immediately reminded of my previous fasting experiences: a water fast (with approval from my doctor at the time) and a fast during a yoga teacher training where we could help ourselves to a mix of water, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, and probably something else that I can't remember--maybe lemon. This concoction did not help the intense pain from sugar withdrawal or the lethargy that overtook me. I slept for a huge portion of the day and generally felt like I'd been run over by a car. And, the drinking only water fast had me feeling so nauseous on the second and third day I wondered if I needed to check into a hospital (when I called my doctor hoping for an out like, "Sounds like you should eat something." He didn't give it to me. Just a: what did you expect? Pick yourself up. This will pass.) Of course, I pushed through and then felt amazing as the haze of toxins cleared my body, but, as Dr. Sui was talking about his fast, the ghosts of mine were swirling around my head. As someone who has to have it together for their day job, I can't afford to be knocked out for a 7 day fast! Thanks, no thanks. Or so I thought. 

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This is where it gets interesting. Dr. Sui uses these products by Atomy from Korea that have some sugar and you're allowed caffeine. My skeptic kicked in here. Why would I be eating sugar when I'm DETOXING? It turns out that Dr. Sui was thinking of everything. Most of the western diet has sugar. It's sprinkled thought out everything. Sugar withdrawal is heavy and hard. By using a small amount of sugar that make the probiotics, vitamin C, etc. more palatable, Dr. Sui's making it so that I won't have the horrible withdrawal symptoms. Potentially, I can fast, reset my body and get back to feeling like myself. That got my attention and, you know, I figure it's okay to try new things. At most, I'll be a bit grumpier for the 14 days and then resume trying to eat well. 

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That's not what happened. Being on this fast was life-changing. I'd piled on pounds since I moved from Hong Kong to the Decatur area. I felt like my body no longer belonged to me as I consumed the stress of the move, finding a job and adjusting to a new life after spending the majority of mine abroad. I have a beautiful closet of clothes that I could not longer wear and I generally didn't feel good. On this fast the first thing that I learned was that it wasn't as hard as expected. Turns out the reason Dante didn't write dry oatmeal as a punishment is because it's not one. It kept my hunger at bay so, really, this was the easiest fast I've ever been on. From day 1 I had more energy than I knew what to do with. I haven't felt this since college when it felt like I was mainlining the universe. This energy has been stable at this insanely high level throughout the duration of the fast. Struggling with hypothyroidism, having any energy, let alone at this level, was not something that I ever thought I would feel again. 

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Next, my body aligned with the circadian rhythms without effort. Loads of the research I've read showed that I needed to be in bed by 10 - at the latest - and waking up before the sun. That happened once in my life when I was in the middle of a jungle at a yoga retreat. It was a struggle. During the fast, I was completely unprepared to bound - literally - out of bed two hours before my alarm and stay fully awake all day. None of those afternoon dips of energy. 

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Almost finally, the weight loss. Clothes that I was going to give away fit now. I wasn't thinking about the weight loss because I assumed it was impossible with my thyroid issue. I just wanted to be back in my body. Dr. Sui held out for more and I've lost over 10 pounds. 

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Finally, I went for my bi-weekly acupuncture treatment at the halfway point of my fast. My body was changing so much in a good way that I ended up with so many needles I looked like Pinhead in Hellraiser. It was like every muscle had been purging stress and anxiety and what was left was the underlying conditions that could finally be addressed. I left the office feeling so good that I cried when I sat down behind the steering wheel. It was like the grey world of meh I'd been living in dissolved into full color. This is the joy of what a healthy body feels like. 

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Thank you Dr. Sui!

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~Eve in GA