Go Fast Yourself! Part 1

We are going to do a 3 part series about a hot topic & one that has a lot of misinformation: intermittent fasting.

Isn't intermittent fasting starvation & that can't be good for you right? NO! Fasting differs from starvation in one huge way: control. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food for a long time. This can lead to severe suffering or even death. It is neither deliberate nor controlled.

On the other hand, fasting or intermittent fasting is the voluntary avoidance of food for heath, spiritual, or other reasons. It is done by someone who is not underweight and has plenty of stored body fat to live off. When it is done correctly, fasting should not cause suffering, and certainly never death!

Food is available, but you choose not to eat it. This can be for any period of time, from a few hours up to a few days or – only with medical supervision – even a week or more. You can begin a fast at any time, and you may end a fast at will too.

Anytime you are not eating, you are intermittently fasting. Wait, what? For example, you might fast between dinner and breakfast the next day, a period of about 12-14 hours.

Consider the term “breakfast.” This refers to the meal that breaks your fast – which is done daily, and why it is termed breakfast. Think of it this way moving forward: “break fasting.” Rather than being a form of cruel and unusual punishment, the English language acknowledges that fasting should be performed daily, even if only for a short amount of time.

Intermittent fasting is not unusual or hippy, but a part of everyday, normal life. It is one of the oldest and most powerful dietary interventions imaginable. Yet somehow we have skipped over its power and overlooked its therapeutic benefit. Learning how to fast properly gives us the option of using it or not.

…to our next post Go Fast Yourself! Part 2, where we will talk about some of the health benefits of fasting and what it actually does in the body!