04 Sep Intermittent fasting vs breakfast

Have you ever fasted?

Growing up in the church, you’re taught that fasting is something you do to enhance and enrich your relationship with God.  It is as discipline that Dallas Willard encourages is essential for deep discipleship.  His book “The Spirit of the disciplines” was a personal favorite for a bunch of my friends.  This is the memory that I always contour up when I think about fasting.  However, recently, I’ve been introduced to a new philosophy of fasting that has nothing to do with a spiritual pursuit, but rather a new way of living.

Time-restricted fasting is one form of intermittent fasting that has become a trendy method of losing weight.  Many people opt for the 16:8 method where you fast for 16 hours (allowing yourself only water, black coffee or plain tea) and break your fast for the remaining 8 hours.

This form of intermittent fasting was first introduced to me by my former staffer Jeff Ariola and eventually championed by my employee Mauna Burgess.  I thought it was pretty dumb at first because I love breakfast.  And all throughout my child and adult life, I’ve been taught that breakfast was/is the most important meal of the day.  It’s the fuel that we need to get our day started off right, but after some convincing from my crew, I decided to give it a try with Joanne for a few months.

We did the 16:8 method which meant we stopped consuming any food after 8pm and wouldn’t take another bite until 12pm the next day.  At the beginning it was tough.  All morning I would be thinking about food while my gurgling stomach would remind me that something wasn’t right… but after a month, it got a lot easier… and ended up losing around 8lbs in the process.  Fasting also puts you in a more disciplined mindset which also bleeds into your eating habits. We made more conscious decisions to choose healthier snacks and meals.  More salads, fruits and less carbs instead of chips, candy bars and flavored drinks.

Regularly making wise and disciplined food choices is one of hardest habits to form, but such a rewarding endeavor to pursue.  But I’ll be honest, in the last 3 months, Joanne and I have stopped our intermittent fasting, but plan to eat more consciously from here on out. Wish us luck. 🙂