Here is something I am certain about: The other week I had food poisoning. First time ever. Wow, it was terrible. I didn’t eat for three days. Repeat: three days.

I suspect it was a dodgy bit of chicken. Whatever it was made me feel as tired as I have ever felt.

For those three days of stomach ache and lethargy, I barely got out of bed or off the couch.

I’m letting you know all this because during those three days, I noticed some remarkable things about the human body. Especially when I, um, rose again … and could eat a bit of toast.

By the time I got back to the land of the eating, I realised how incredible the body can be at hanging in there. Even in my state of ‘I’m so drained after walking to the bathroom that I need to lie down for the next half day to regroup’, I could register that my body was still functioning. But I had not eaten anything for what seemed like an absurd amount of time.

With only electrolytes for sustenance, my body did not totally shut down. I’m definitely no doctor but I thought my body might be unable to withstand day after day of no food. Turns out that it can, and when I did start to handle food again, the reboot of my system was surprisingly steady, if glacial.

At the start, it felt like it might take months to possibly get back to how I used to eat. Yet, it only took a few days – and some probiotics – to enjoy coffee or curry (mild) without feeling queasy.

The body is incredible at doing what the body can do.

My experience of being wiped out for three days and gradually restored to full health proved something to me that I already subscribed to. I believe God created the human body as a remarkably sophisticated and robust ‘machine’ of flesh, bone and whatever all those other inner parts of me are called.

Through food poisoning, I got to witness how impressive that ‘machine’ is. How the body is incredible at doing what the body can do.

I know not everyone’s body works as well as they want it to, and that some sickness leads in the opposite direction to where my recovery has ended up (back at my desk, writing this story). But I think it remains a palpable fact that the way God has built the human body is a mind-blowing feat of engineering beyond anything I could make up.

I’m grateful to God that he crafted my own body with capacity to overcome three days of no eating. I’d also really appreciate it if food poisoning does not come my way again. Thanks.