Easy Fast

Yesterday was surprisingly easy. I fasted for twenty hours and it felt good. Physically it didn't bother me. I didn't really notice until about five in the evening when I got hungry for dinner. I waited until just after six to eat and then had a second helping after seven when my daughter returned from dance class. I ate a bowl of ice cream later that night and quit eating before ten because I wasn't hungry. I woke this morning feeling the same way my body usually feels. I was not craving food or otherwise in deficit.

As for mental effects, there really was only one. I felt good about doing this thing I thought would be difficult but which turned out to be easy. I felt good that I wasn't trying to set any records or plan the future. I was in the moment, living the day, nothing ahead or behind. I just wasn't eating food for a while.

I'd like to say that my other senses came alive! or that I felt smarter and more energetic, but I felt normal. No lightning-bolt changes or eureka moments. Still, there are things that matter about it.

I'm reading Thoreau's Walden and that it has been messing with me. I like how Thoreau takes a new look at most everything. He steadfastly refuses to accept traditional points of view. Yesterday's experiment was a lot like that. When I come home from work, I want food and have grown accustomed to thinking that I need to eat. Turns out, I don't. I didn't give up on eating yesterday, I gave up my eating schedule. Because of that, I ate better food, tasted it, and ate less than usual.

Will I fast again today? Maybe. It's too early to tell. I'll make the choice as I go through the day and isn't that a lovely idea? I have the freedom to choose rather than feeling enslaved by habit. If I get hungry, I'll eat. If not, I'll wait. Keep it simple.

I do know that yesterday's fast won't be the last one I undertake. It was too intriguing not to repeat.

What's my goal with fasting? I want to reinvent my relationship with food and see where that takes me. I don't have an ending in mind. In the past I've aimed to lose 30 pounds, but it hasn't worked out.

Putting a one-inch target on the wall, stepping back twenty paces, and throwing a dart results almost alwasy in a miss.

Choosing a direction, throwing the dart, stepping forward twenty paces, and seeing where it went seems the better way to go.

It's how I go about writing too. Pick an idea, throw the dart, and see where it goes as I write on.