You know what’s fun? When you do something and then afterwards you realize, wow that wasn’t actually as hard as I thought it would be. Sometimes our imagination creates a bigger obstacle than in reality exists.
Recently we’ve been experimenting with fasting in our house. Nothing crazy but simply going from dinner time on Saturday to a late lunch on Sunday, approximately 18 hours. Prior to doing the fast, my mind was going back and forth on will it seem long, will I be super hungry and will my energy plummet.
Again the “imagination” created a much larger hurdle than the truth presented. The reality was I surprisingly had plenty of energy to do a great workout, cleaned the house and wasn’t really hungry. And the added bonus was not really thinking much at all about food.
The biggest learning point was a “food pause” felt so refreshing. As a food-obsessed nation stepping away from the deluge of eat this, snack here, have another snack then a meal here and oh what about another snack is a bit like the hamster on the wheel.
While I’m not saying everyone should fast but getting off the wheel of food at every corner of your daily routine is worthy of at least a try. We’re always telling people change is good, here’s an opportunity to put that in practice. Doesn’t cost you a thing, just some time.
There are many more clever individuals to research on fasting but one of the best in my book is Dr. Jason Fung. He has plenty of good material out there to research and dig into. But beyond the science and data is just this mental break from the bombardment of food being pushed on us at every angle of our lives.
I’m particularly concerned with children, and for the record I don’t have any. But food is thrown on kids at every aspect of their lives right now. As adults it is up to us to set some good models out there. Food does not have to be provided for every sport practice, pre and post. Snacks are not needed on a daily basis. Learning to eat meals and enjoy food together is something we should commend, demonstrate and applaud.
Five “food for pause” ideas:
- Take one day (or more) of the week and eliminate all snacks for the whole house
- Skip breakfast and drink only water, tea or coffee (no added milk, sugar or fake sweeteners), basically finding an easy path from dinner to lunch the next day
- Stretch out your time between meals by adding in either exercise or quiet time
- Find a partner to fast with and support each other
- Plan your meal that follows time off and enjoy it!
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
Mark Twain.
Krisna’s book “Finding Lifestyle Sanity: A Survival Guide” is available here.
