Its sometimes amazing what people will hide. Or the lengths they will go to hide it.
This music video reminds me of PostSecret, the blog that made it big from people writing secrets on postcards and sending it in. This blog has spawned several "books" filled with postcards. Some secrets that I read, I nod my head in agreement. Yes, I feel the same way. Some, fill me with awe and inspiration. Some, blow my mind. Who woulda thought, huh?
In the never ending war against the blubbery wasteland that is my waistline (loving the similes!), I have tried to figure out what is hunger. In the actual sense of the word. Because truth to tell, I've actually forgotten what hunger feels like.
Based on several different research studies and also an article I read almost 3 years ago, I decided to give fasting a go for real. One, to find out if I can actually do something about my burgeoning weight (living in Asia and knowing where to find good food is pretty damn bad for health) and secondly, to also wonder if I am addicted to food itself and if I am shoving spoonful after spoonful of food into my mouth for the hell of it.
It's not exactly my first time popping the fasting cherry either. I've done it a few times over the 3 years since reading that article but this year, I've been taking my own advice a lot more seriously. A few weeks ago, I fasted for 24 hours thrice in a week and I felt great! One thing I started noticing quite rapidly was that my stomach which used to bloat quite often after eating stopped stretching my waistband so often. I also noticed a reduction in terms of my weight (which I was pleasantly pleased about) and also a certain calm that I go into. Its like a trance but not really.
My fast would usually begin after dinner. I would finish off a meal and then not eat anything until the evening after when I would have dinner. Pure 24 hours. The idea is to actually have a small meal prior to the fast and a small fibre rich meal to break it but I've often gone for rich, oily meals right after the fast. Which does NOTHING to help with the fact that my stomach has not digested anything for the last 24 hours.
So today, having woken up too late to have breakfast and rushing on my way to work, I was crossing the overhead bridge and wondering whether I should have a breakfast wrap and a coffee. But I couldn't justify it. To say that I was hungry would not be an accurate depiction of how I was feeling. So I thought to myself, "To heck with it, I'll fast."
Even right now as I'm typing this, I've officially hit the 16 hour mark since I last put food into my mouth. And I'm still feeling okay.
Its interesting, the feeling of hunger. Like, how do we actually justify that we're hungry? Is it that when you think of food, you salivate? Is it when your stomach growls, calling to you for food? Is it when you get gastric pains?
People who fast talk about a certain calm that seems to descend over them during the fasting period. I totally get it.
During this point in time, you don't really feel like talking. You don't feel like doing anything in particular (although its hard, especially for us who have to work to put food on our tables. How ironic, huh?) and you feel like the whole world goes quiet on you. During this time, I would prefer to be lying in bed with some slow, sleepy music on, like this for example, and think about random things in my head. Its a nice place to be.
However, I'm at work and I'm gonna get busy very shortly.
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This is the longest post I've typed in a long time without trying to revert to pasting chapters from my fadingly dying story. But then again, its 1.30p.m. and I've had this stupid blog post page up since 9.30a.m. Stupid.
Tootles.
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