I want you fasting at least once a week and everyone could benefit from it. You and I need to learn to go without in all aspects of our lives, for a variety of reasons. Even beyond the reduction in calories, I think the most important thing is just to learn to be a little hungry, and to get by with less. One big challenge we have in our culture is just having too much of an excess- in options, in distractions, in media, in dating options, in job and career options, and of course in excess calories. I know this from experience!
We would all be happier and leaner if we could simply learn to do without. One of the primary principles of traditional health care is “Via Negativa”, which I’ve written about before, an ancient way to treat someone by taking something away which might be causing health problems. ‘Take away’ stressful things, unhealthy foods, toxic relationships, addictions, environmental concerns, an ill-fitting pair of shoes (or shoes altogether), too much debt, and / or too much clutter. The list of things via negativa applies to goes on and on but in this case, it applies to meals!
Take one meal per week away and go hungry.
Fasting once a week is a powerful habit to eating better than ever. It will reduce your caloric intake by 2000 calories per month, which if done alone, with no other changes, would amount to 7 pounds of weight loss per year. It will also build your ascetic discipline and self-control, which are muscles you can strengthen. We all need to learn to control our urges, especially to overeat.
Forget all the complicated books and theories. Follow this formula:
- Once a week skip a meal.
- Try to go 16 hours without eating.
- Try to make the meal you skip a dinner, and then possibly a breakfast the next day, but the bottom line is to simply skip a meal.
- Don’t do this every day, or your metabolism could slow down.
- If you want to do this twice per week, that’s a viable option.
Fast once a week, and let me know how it goes. I believe you’ll love it!
P.S. I’ve been doing more speaking lately, with the small amount of free time that I have. If you’d like me to speak to your group, please let me know!
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