FASTING is not crazy

Last year I went to the hospital with intense stomach pains. A CT scan of my abdomen showed several issues, all directly caused by the fact the I am overweight. I think if everyone had a scan of their insides, we would all have better life habits. The results scared me into action. I immediately stopped drinking alcohol. I was never a heavy drinker but I usually had a glass every time I went out to eat. My last glass of wine was sometime in January 2019. Hey… my health is more important.

I knew that I also needed to change my eating habits but all the diets I had previously tried did not help to break this food addiction. My daughter heard about Dr. Jason Fung’s book The Complete Guide to Fasting. I ordered it on Amazon and read the entire book! A couple of things I noticed right away:

1. Fasting is EASY! No fancy meal planning. No special ingredients to buy. When I eat I am conscious of what goes in my mouth, but the only rule I have is that it has to be real food, not pre-packaged.
2. Fasting is POWERFUL! It helps me to feel in control of my eating. It has broken the control food has on me! I use an app to track when I am fasting and I stick to it. The results are immediate!
3. Fasting is ENERGIZING! I do not feel tired when I fast. I do not feel weak or confused. I feel strong and energized. I actually sleep better after fasting all day!

I started by skipping breakfast, and gradually built up to a 42-hour fast, 3 times a week. I have also done several extended fasts of 65 hours or more. The weight is coming off slowly, but steadily. Someone finally noticed the difference at work yesterday and I was thrilled. This is definitely a sustainable way of life. The book and the Facebook support group have helped me to stay focused.

I was surprise by how some people around me reacted. Here’s the thing that upset me the most… some people said I was crazy! They all know I am obese. They can all see I need to lose weight. But instead of supporting me they criticized me. People really? I am struggling enough as it is. I don’t need anyone to make things harder for me! One person literally made fun of me: “Are you doing some kind of protest? Only protesters fast”. It was so mean, so STUPID. I understand now why Dr. Fung tells us to keep this to ourselves. People just don’t get it.

When I first started this blog I was so hopeful, but life quickly got in the way.  I stopped writing because I felt like such a failure. I am an emotional eater! I eat when I am depressed, sad, stressed, happy… If it is an emotion, I acknowledge it with food. I took a 29-week emotional healing class which definitely helped to heal a lot of those issues, but it wasn’t until I started fasting on a regular basis that I felt the stronghold break.

The opinions of other people don’t matter to me anymore. I know how fasting makes me feel and I know I am getting good results. I am not crazy, I am fasting and fasting is good.