Fasting - both from food and social media

I began trying out the fasting trend last fall. Eventually, I settled on 24 hour fasts as the best for me. Noon to noon.

My goal is for two 24 hour fasts a week - typically Tuesday and Thursday, but sometimes Monday and Wednesday.  During the week is the time to do it. Its too hard to do on the weekend.  The reason why is not what I would have suspected. You see, eating food is a social experience and so fasting is that much harder to do when other people are around. The expectation is that you will eat with them, and it is very difficult not to do so.  The actual fasting part (voluntary denial of food) for 24 hours is surprisingly not difficult. Once you have done it a few times it becomes much easier, especially after you determine the time when you will naturally feel hungry. Mine, like most, is in the evening. 

I also added social media and news fasting to my routine. I, like many, spend way too much time on social media.  My particular social media drug of choice is Twitter.  Twitter makes it about as easy as possible to consume more "news" than anyone possibly can.  So for 24 hours (sunup to sundown) I go on a social media and news fast to coincide with my food fast. Instead of being on Twitter or Facebook, I read. Instead of watching or listening to the news on the radio, I listen to a podcast, music, or watch a film. 

I feel much better after fasting. Stomach is not bloated. Brain is not fried. I feel . . . refreshed. 

I have been pretty slack on fasting this year so far - often don't do it at all or get in one day a week at best.  I am going to really try to focus and be disciplined about it for the rest of the year and see what happens. Basically, a four month experiment. I will let you know how it terms out.