Arun Chandrasekaran

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Fasting To Be Healthy

April 2, 2019

Introduction

Recently one of my friends was surprised to know about fasting. Even though these techniques are part of the Indian culture, they have long be forgotten and various other techniques have been rejected by the modern rationalists. It has been a trend in India after the inception of the dravidian movement to reject anything native to India and make fun of it. So I thought it might be worthwhile to write something on fasting for people to know.

The criteria for me to fast comes from the fact on the basic understanding on being healthy and on the aging process as a whole. For instance, based on my experience so far, natural ailments kick in due to the lack of connection between the mind and the body.

It might initially be surprising to hear that abstaining from food can make you healthy, but is indeed true. Refraining from food is as much important to healthy life as consuming healthy food. Experiencing it is better than just reading/talking about it.

This is merely a log of how I fast and is a subjective experience.

Day 0

I eat normal and healthy during the dinner and drink good amount of water so that the food gets digested properly. I remind myself that I am going to fast tomorrow so that my mind gets prepared for it. I measure my weight (155 lbs)

Day 1

  1. I wake up as usual at 5:30 am, drink water and go to toilet to flush out all the poop early in the morning without any left over wastes in my colon. Having some poop left in the colon causes minor headaches for me

  2. Exercise and meditate

  3. Go to office

  4. Drink water when thirsty

  5. Work!

  6. In the evening I do some stretching exercises, read some book, play with the kid

  7. I measure my weight (around 154 lbs)

  8. Go to sleep when I feel sleepy. Most of the times I work with the team in India, so I sleep late by around 12:30 pm. I try to sleep early when I fast. When I fast, I find that my melatonin levels are natural and high and I’m naturally pulled into sleep by 8:30 pm or 9:00 pm unless I get disturbed by an external factor. May be the relationship between insulin level and melatonin level is inversely proportional, I don’t know. That could be one of the reasons in the Indian culture it is advised to eat before sunset, albeit Indians now eat after 8:30 pm.

  9. Sleep early and give enough time for the body to heal itself

  10. When I started this practise, I used to open by eyes amidst sleep (not really wake up) due to hunger. But not anymore

Day 2

  1. Same routine as day 1

  2. My body will start to realize that it is not getting any food and will stop/slow-down the acid secretion as the lunch time approaches

  3. Same old, same old. Just focus on the work

  4. Once I reach home, I would realize that my senses to smell, hear and observe have risen. I also feel a bit cold, as my body has probably stopped producing a lot of heat that it usually produces

  5. I measure my weight (around 150 lbs)

  6. The first time I fasted I was craving for food and I was tempted to eat when I saw or heard about food. :) My sleep was intermittent as well as I was feeling hungry. But not these days, after regular fasting

  7. I sleep early at 8:30 as I would feel tired

Day 3

  1. Same routine as day 2

  2. My heartbeat increases sometimes if I am conscious that I’m fasting. Not otherwise

  3. Same old same old. Just focus on the work

  4. Drink water + lime juice + natural salt if required or just stick to water

  5. I find that my body is much more lighter than before

  6. I measure my weight (around 145 lbs)

  7. There is no craving for food anymore. I sleep early at 8:30 pm as I’m tired

Day 4

My metabolism is pretty high. I don’t have enough body fat to fast beyond day 3.

The morning routine is still the same. I break my fast during lunch with some vegetable broth + avacado. I eat some South Indian rasam rice and curd rice for dinner (at 6 pm). I don’t overeat after the fast as that might overload the resting organs. I eat the food gradually to make sure that I give enough time for the digestive system and the organs to catch up with regular processing. I go to bed at around 8 pm.

Dy 5

Day 5 morning routine is the same. For lunch I eat the left over soup with rice with some fish and vegetables and for dinner I eat some meat and vegetables and sleep early. I just stay mindful of what I put in my mouth - no sugar or simple carbohydrates whatsoever.