I am a food lover, any kind of food, Chinese food, Mexican food, Italian one, Indian food, etc. You name it. Occasionally at buffet, I eat like a pig. Food is the driving force of my life. Even if I don’t dine out very often, I find myself in the kitchen a lot, cooking for the family and for myself. I never think about fasting, until recently.
A friend of our hiking team once abstained himself from eating for more than 72 hours with only intermittent fruits and veggie water. He still hiked energetically during the abstinence, and looked invigorating, showing no sign of fatigue or feeble at all. That is when the seed of fasting sowed into me.
Fasting has been traditionally observed by Christians, Buddhists, Muslins in particular, for spiritual or various purposes. Among them, one big reason is for the health benefit. Think of the English word “breakfast”, consisting of two word stems, i.e., break and fast to indicate the first meal of the day after a long night fast. While I am far from being knowledgeable about fasting and will not dwell on its health benefits, I believe in the theory (according to Dr. Kellogg in his book) that our human body is just a furnace, which burns the food and leaves ashes (cinders) inside. Occasional fast will help clean up the ashes, and leave the furnace idle for self-maintenance, resetting and rejuvenating the device.
My husband was on business trip Wednesday afternoon. My day at work turned out to be stressful as I was striving to meet the deadline. I was tired after work. It gave me every reason not to cook but fast. One dragon fruit around 6 pm was all I had for my dinner. But later around 11 pm, I actually scrambled downstairs for food in the kitchen. I controlled the urge and ended up with a cup of water and a plum, going to bed empty stomach. It is a test of will and discipline.
Fasting continued on Thursday, with only one banana around 3 pm in the office, three cactus pears and two plums for dinner. I jumped (like jumping ropes) 100 times before bed, reckoning that would help burn more fat.
Friday is the day that I started normal lunch around 12 pm. From Wednesday evening to Friday noon, I fasted a total of around 40 hours in a row for the first time. I feel nothing wrong, but refreshing during the whole process.
What is exactly right is this: “Where diets complicate life, fasting simplifies. Where diets are expensive, fasting is free. Where diets can take time, fasting saves time. Where diets are limited, fasting is available anywhere. Where diets have variable efficacy, fasting has unquestioned efficacy.” On top of that, life is about balance, good and bad, the Yin and the Yang, joys and pains, work and life, eating and fasting. By fasting, I am endeavoring to keep my body and mind balanced, and my first attempt is a success.
