As you know, I spent most of this month fasting. Not only that, but I was also thinking about fasting, listening to others talking about fasting, and reading about fasting. I´d say that I spent a fair amount of time on the fasting topic.
However - what I did not spend is money.
I didn´t spend money as fasting is free.
Well - I am, of course, not the first one saying or recognizing that, and I give all credits to Jason Fung as he was the first one I heard mention it. He says: Fasting is free. And I say: He is right.
(He also mentions that you can combine fasting with any diet of choice and here he is right too, but that's the topic for another article.)
While we could simply acknowledge it´s free and move on, I feel it deserves a little bit more than that. Therefore, I'd like to put some more thoughts on this fact to actually understand the overwhelming meaning behind it.
Let´s dig into it:
Money
When you do not eat, you do not need to spend money on food.
Let me repeat: When you do not eat, you do not need to buy food or pay anyone to give you food. You save money. Real Euros or Dollars in your pocket. For every skipped meal. You do the math.
When you fast, you do not need to spend money on special foods you´ve never heard of for an overcomplicated diet - there is no superfood to buy, no organic-biological specialty you need to invest in. You simply don´t eat.
When you fast, you do not need to spend money on fancy drinks as you only consume water, tea, or coffee that you would have drunk anyways.
When you fast, you do not have to spend money on courses or groups to learn the secrets of fasting. You simply skip a meal or two or three... (to be fair, you could spend money on courses, but that's voluntary).
I believe there is no special training or knowledge that you need to spend your money on. All you need to know is freely available for everyone on the internet. To make it easy for you: Let me quickly summarize what you need to know about fasting:
Keep yourself hydrated. Only drink water or unsweetened coffee or tea.
Have some salt to keep your minerals in balance.
If you are on medications, talk to your doctor to make sure you are doing well.
If you feel really unwell - stop fasting.
I recommend watching e.g. Jason Fung videos on YouTube, reading different blog posts about fasting, or listening to podcasts. Whatever you prefer - the info is out there waiting for you. I added a few links as examples where you could start your journey 🙌
And even when you need some assistance or encouragement to keep you motivated to fast: There are support groups on Facebook and special apps for free that will happily support you on your fasting journey.
Time
Yes - I spend a lot of time learning and thinking about fasting. I even spend some money as I bought some books about it to learn even more. That is obviously not needed for fasting, but I love reading about it and talking and writing...
However - back to spending time. For my fasting
I did not spend time buying food,
I did not spend time preparing food,
I did not spend time eating and
also, I did not spend time cleaning up the kitchen again.
I saved time. Time that I thoughtfully reinvested into research and other things I love. Good deal!
For sure I ate once a day and for that, I needed to go shopping once a week and prepare it once a day. However, it was once a day and not multiple times and with that, I saved the prep, eating, and cleaning time for my breakfast and my dinner.
Lifestyle
Fasting can accompany you in basically anything you are up to. Even if you are a gourmet always looking out for the next fancy meal or restaurant: You can remain that gourmet and still fast.
Just think about how thrilling an already superb specialty will taste after 24 hours of fasting 😍 I am sure fasting will bring your gourmet hobby or profession to a completely new level of tastefulness.
I strongly believe you can do whatever you like. You are free to choose. Just some examples:
You want to travel - fine! Your fasting does not hinder you.
You want to go hiking - enjoy! Fasting will be your best friend on the trail.
Do you run marathons? Check out success stories from runners on keto. They usually fast.
Do you enjoy watching movies? Me too! And fasting works with movies as well.
You´re invited to dinner? Perfect - send my best wishes and enjoy the meal. You can fast again tomorrow.
Fasting is free, but fasting also makes you free. It does not dictate you anything and you don´t have to stop something enjoyable to have a random snack because the clock tells you it´s time to eat.
Maybe you are even one of those who might reverse some diseases that are bothering you for a long time already, lose some weight, and have better sleep. For free. Because fasting is free.
The other side of the coin
What you have to keep in mind: If you do not need to spend money - there is basically no money to earn (with fasting).
And now we are getting into the beef.
If there is no money to make, there is no profit to take and this explains why there are quite some efforts to convince people that fasting is a bad thing to do. Why? Because if you fast, you do not buy the food, the special treatments, you do not get ill too much and you might even reverse existing illnesses and stop spending money on their treatment. That´s good for you - but bad for the ones you used to give your money.
Therefore there might be some articles in magazines that are not too positive about fasting. If you come across any of those, you might want to check: Are those magazines maybe sponsored by someone selling something? And what studies do they cite? Are those arguments against fasting backed up by science? Most likely not - as all studies come to the same conclusion: Fasting is good, healthy, and can help you.
However - I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. My recommendation would be that you try fasting yourself and see how you feel about it! And if you are on a budget: Even better - as fasting is free.
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