Recently, I’ve started fasting several days per week.
I don’t do long 24—to 48-hour fasts; I merely fast between 16 and 20 hours per day (24-hour period). This means no food or calories are consumed during these fasting periods.
Detachment From Food ( And Other Pleasures)
Delicious food is one of life’s greatest pleasures.
But getting consumed by this pleasure can foster vices such as greed and gluttony, which can negatively affect one’s life and health.
In the United Kingdom, over two-thirds of the population is overweight.
And the only reason people are overweight is because they eat or drink too much and don’t move enough.
Fasting is a way to practice virtues like patience and moderation and avoid acting out vices like greed and gluttony (which contribute to obesity).
Of course, fasting is all about giving up the pleasures of eating for a certain period, but fasting also teaches you to be more patient and less greedy in all areas of life.
It’s A way To Give Your Digestive System A Break
During your time fasting, you’ll experience no bloating, no excessive gas, or any of the things associated with eating a lot of food.
Experience Better Clarity And Focus
While fasting, the stress hormone cortisol spikes. In hunter-gatherer times, this spike in cortisol is our bodies telling us we need to go and find some food or hunt an animal to eat.
This powerful cortisol spike can help us focus better on our work or other creative pursuits.
Doing Difficult Things Like Fasting Helps Us Build Discipline
Fasting isn’t easy. You’ll get hangry (hungry and angry) and want to reach for the pizza, but just know that your ability to let go of these temptations helps to build discipline and self-confidence. The more difficult things we do, the more other difficult things we can do; it’s a virtuous cycle.
Humans aren’t Meant To Eat 24/7
In hunter-gatherer times, you might eat one day and then wait several days until your next hunt to eat again. Our bodies are built to perform under a fasted state; it’s in our DNA. Try fasting, and I guarantee it will feel natural the more you do it, and I guarantee you’ll experience the benefits.
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