Fast Tracking

I could never say this when I was a Weight Watcher employee, but...

I think fasting for short periods is an excellent idea, for lots of reasons.

Now, fasting is probably NOT an efficient weight loss strategy on its own, and that is why WW does not advise it.  Fasting purely for weight loss almost never works because it causes a boomerang reaction when the fast is over.  Research even shows that fasting (as a strategy for weight loss) can make weight problems worse, slowing metabolism and producing a feeling of deprivation that leads to overeating. 

But it can be a small part of an overall health strategy, and that’s what I’m talking about. 

NECESSARY CAVEAT: Anyone who has an ordinarily highly-processed diet should probably not fast because your body is already short on necessary nutrients.  Similarly anyone with diabetes, heart, kidney or liver problems, compromised immunity or on medications, stop right here.  Fasting is not for you either. 

And I’m not talking about those colon-cleanse fasts which, let me just say... if they have to proudly post pictures on their website of the quality of human excrement resulting from the use of their product... the less said about that, the better.

So now we’re talking about healthy people with otherwise good nutrition fasting from solid food for a day or two.  I don’t recommend fasting from liquids unless you are on a medical fast before surgery or lab tests. 

The biggest benefit for you Weight Watchers is... YOU DON’T HAVE TO COUNT POINTS, provided you are only drinking zero-point beverages like water and tea.  It really is a nice way to take a day off from tracking. 

If you have an addiction to a particular food, a day of fasting is a good way to rise above it.  You might go back to that food again after your fast, but it will have less power over you because you just proved to yourself that you don’t need it to survive. 

If you’ve ever counted the pennies and dollars you spend on food in a day, you may have been surprised at how it all adds up.  When you fast for a day, that money becomes available for a Kindle book, a gift for someone or a charitable donation.

Fasting elevates your spirit, in a concrete way.  So many of the ills of the world stem from indulging the body over the spirit.  The things we really hate: human trafficking, abuse of the innocent, bullying, infidelities... aren’t they instances of someone indulging their appetites and passions to the exclusion of the spirit?

Fasting “indulges” the spirit, to the exclusion of appetites and passions.  In a sense, it unties the knot.  You become part of the solution, in a very personal way, over tragedies that you couldn’t otherwise affect.

Fasting humbles your body.  As we struggle to live this life well, our attention is so much on the body and its needs, and the needs of other bodies around us.  Fasting reminds us that we are more than a body.  If the sum total of our existence were our bodies, fasting would not even be possible and certainly not fulfilling.  When you fast and come out the other side feeling stronger and better than when you began, you experience the existence and well-being of your soul. 

Fasting tends to clear your mind and heart.  As you free yourself from pursuing the needs of your body for a day, you find that solutions to dilemmas may suddenly come to you.  You may suddenly see the answer to a long-uttered prayer.  You may see which fork of the road to take, after having stood at the crossroads for a long while. 

In the end, if you haven’t fasted before, you have to take the word of others, because it certainly doesn’t look like an appealing way to spend the day.  Since every major religion throughout human history has practiced fasting, you have the company of billions when you dive in and try it.