No so fast! (Week 48)
"The day after fasting, the music that comes out will be very joyous."
I never really thought of Chris Martin as a philosopher before, even though I think Coldplay's Fix You is one of the most hauntingly wise songs ever written. When it comes to fasting, I think he's onto something I hadn't considered before trying it for myself. The release from fasting makes you appreciate everything you have so much more. Kinda like the guy who stops hitting his head with a hammer because it feels so good when he's not doing it.
Admittedly, I did NOT go the seven days without food. Let's set that record straight. What I did was follow the hip new trend of intermittent fasting. There are all kinds of ways to approach it, and the one that appealed to me the most was the 16/8 method: 16 hours every day with nary a morsel, and 8 hours of normal eating.
Yeah, basically you skip breakfast.
During a normal work-filled week, that would be fairly simple, and I know a lot of people do it. But this just happened to coincide with a week spent in the bosom of my family. It was pretty torturous to watch Holly pop that thick slice of bread in the toaster and then lather it with butter as the aroma filled the room. It was also tough listening to Val crunching on her nut clustered granola, then ladle the vanilla bean yogurt into her bowl. Finally, more than one evening ended with the family grouped around the latest Netflix show with 3/4 of us enjoying some tasty snack.
A few times, I experimented with testing my willpower and resolve by starting the morning in the gym performing a vigorous workout. My gaping belly was screaming out for carbs, but I just plugged my ears. And when my first food of the day arrived at noon, it was crazy delicious!
Okay, so a lot of people start the new year with a diet. But with intermittent fasting, the goal is only partly to lose weight. Some of the other purported benefits are brain health, heart health, anti-aging and maybe even cancer prevention. The real key, and this appears to be backed up by smarty-pants doctors doing actual research, lies in circadian rhythms. On a 24-hour cycle, that means changes to your metabolism, physiology and behavior because the body makes adjustments to food scarcity. Heck, animals do it so it must be good, right?
Obviously, one week is not enough for a decent test. One thing I can report, though, is that I slept soundly every night, felt happy and energized, and by the end of the week did not feel overly ravenous in the morning. But weight loss? Not yet. Still, I like this one, so I'm going to extend the test and keep it going for at least a month.
You can look forward to my joyous music very soon. Well, as soon as I learn to play something, that is.
NEXT WEEK: Cha cha and rumba as I learn to dance!
I never really thought of Chris Martin as a philosopher before, even though I think Coldplay's Fix You is one of the most hauntingly wise songs ever written. When it comes to fasting, I think he's onto something I hadn't considered before trying it for myself. The release from fasting makes you appreciate everything you have so much more. Kinda like the guy who stops hitting his head with a hammer because it feels so good when he's not doing it.
Admittedly, I did NOT go the seven days without food. Let's set that record straight. What I did was follow the hip new trend of intermittent fasting. There are all kinds of ways to approach it, and the one that appealed to me the most was the 16/8 method: 16 hours every day with nary a morsel, and 8 hours of normal eating.
Yeah, basically you skip breakfast.
During a normal work-filled week, that would be fairly simple, and I know a lot of people do it. But this just happened to coincide with a week spent in the bosom of my family. It was pretty torturous to watch Holly pop that thick slice of bread in the toaster and then lather it with butter as the aroma filled the room. It was also tough listening to Val crunching on her nut clustered granola, then ladle the vanilla bean yogurt into her bowl. Finally, more than one evening ended with the family grouped around the latest Netflix show with 3/4 of us enjoying some tasty snack.
A few times, I experimented with testing my willpower and resolve by starting the morning in the gym performing a vigorous workout. My gaping belly was screaming out for carbs, but I just plugged my ears. And when my first food of the day arrived at noon, it was crazy delicious!
Okay, so a lot of people start the new year with a diet. But with intermittent fasting, the goal is only partly to lose weight. Some of the other purported benefits are brain health, heart health, anti-aging and maybe even cancer prevention. The real key, and this appears to be backed up by smarty-pants doctors doing actual research, lies in circadian rhythms. On a 24-hour cycle, that means changes to your metabolism, physiology and behavior because the body makes adjustments to food scarcity. Heck, animals do it so it must be good, right?
Obviously, one week is not enough for a decent test. One thing I can report, though, is that I slept soundly every night, felt happy and energized, and by the end of the week did not feel overly ravenous in the morning. But weight loss? Not yet. Still, I like this one, so I'm going to extend the test and keep it going for at least a month.
You can look forward to my joyous music very soon. Well, as soon as I learn to play something, that is.
NEXT WEEK: Cha cha and rumba as I learn to dance!
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