Making Space (Part 2 of 2)
Ten years ago I was working constantly, and was constantly stressed out. My body was so flooded with stress hormones that I couldn’t sleep and needed regular infusions of caffeine just to keep myself moving.
And I felt toxic. Taking a sip of wine would cause me to break out in a sweat; my body was full of poison and couldn’t handle any more.
So I decided to give it a break.
I would completely abstain from food for six days. The only thing I would put into my body was lemon water with a touch of maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Running On Empty
Everyone knows what it’s like to be hungry. The gnawing emptiness that begins in the stomach before reaching out and entangling the rest of the body, mind and emotions.
Just a few hours without food is enough to cause hunger pangs in many people, and I was planning to go almost a week without food. What was I thinking?
One of the most interesting things about an extended fast is that after the first two to three days, physical hunger mostly disappears. Our bodies have an amazing ability to adapt, and they can function quite well for days, or even weeks, without food.
Our minds are another story.
By day four of my six day fast, I wasn’t especially hungry. But I was thinking about food CONSTANTLY.
When I woke up in the morning I was thinking about the breakfast and coffee I wouldn’t be having.
And as dinner approached, I would construct elaborate meals in my mind, even knowing that I was only torturing myself.
I became obsessed with pictures of food I’d see on the internet and walking by a bakery was a daily exercise in self-control.
I was spending incredible amounts of mental energy fantasizing about food, and I wasn’t even hungry.
This was a revelation. I’d never even considered how much time and energy I spent thinking about food. Or how much of my day was constructed around the preparation and consumption of food.
I love to cook and have a passion for great food, but the amount of time, energy and bandwidth I was devoting to it was borderline obsessive.
The realization that I had built my entire day around mealtimes, and the ability to break that pattern were absolutely the most important benefits derived from the fast.
But they weren’t the only ones.
By day six, the toxic feeling I had at the beginning was completely gone. I felt much more at peace and in control because I had just proven to myself that I was capable of doing something that would have seemed impossible not long before.
I was more appreciative of the little things; even simple food tastes incredible after an extended fast and that appreciation for the small things spread to other areas of my life.
It felt like a physical and mental reset, and I was incredibly happy I’d done it.
And I haven’t done another fast that long since.
Fasting Made Easy
Despite the benefits, an extended fast is difficult and not for everyone. But calorie restriction, along with developing lean muscle mass, are the undisputed keys to optimal health and longevity.
So how can you get the benefits of fasting without subject yourself to days of hunger?
Intermittent fasting.
In short, intermittent fasting is giving yourself a restricted period of time in which to eat your meails. There are many variations, but I settled on going 16 hours per day without food, then consuming all my meals in an eight hour eating window.
I’d experimented with intermittent fasting in the past with very positive results but never stuck with it for an extended period of time.
So at the beginning of February, I decided to give it a longer run to see what the effects would be.
I fasted from 8pm to noon, Monday through Friday, with an eight-hour eating window where I would be allowed to eat whatever I wanted. In essence, I was just skipping breakfast each day. Going without my morning cappuccino was the hardest part.
The results: I lost fat, gained muscle and feel all around lighter, brighter and more invigorated.
And not needing to plan for my morning meal and coffee freed up time for my morning routine.
I gave up food that I didn’t need and got back time I could allocate to practices that genuinely improved the quality of my day.
That’s a winning trade.
I do sometimes feel hunger, or at least the absence of food. But I feel something else as well.
I feel energized in my body and revitalized in my mind.
Every day I engage in this simple practice I know my body is becoming healthier and my mind is becoming stronger.
Now, when I’m hungry, it’s not a sign of lack, it’s a sign of empowerment. I’ve transformed what it means for me to be hungry from a weakness to a strength.
And this whole process creates a positive feedback loop; the better I feel, the more conscientious I am about continuing to do things that make me feel good.
When you consistently stack small acts of discipline, it gets easier and easier to do the right thing.
If you want to create positive change in your life, it’s going to take sacrifice.
There’s always a price to pay; you can pay for good health now with a bit of discipline and discomfort, or you can pay for sickness later with time, money and a failing body.
Fasting isn’t the only path to the top of the mountain but it’s not a bad one to start with. You literally have nothing to do but be willing to accept some short-term discomfort.
Is that a price you’re willing to pay?
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Thanks for reading and below are links to resources I’ve used to inform myself about different fasting techniques. I used the lemon cleanse for my six day fast, as well as subsequent three to four day fasts. And an internet search will give thousands of resources with detailed plans.
I’m also moving to monthly posts as I experiment with different formats. I really appreciate the feedback I’ve received so far and keep it coming..
(6 Day Fast) https://themastercleanse.org/
https://www.bulletproof.com/diet/intermittent-fasting/intermittent-fasting-guide/
Ryan Larson
www.iamwhat.com