You’ve never tasted food so good. Never tasted it so completely.
That first meal after a long fast. Maybe the first few meals. You taste everything. Every grain of salt. Bitterness of the greens. Silky fat of the butter. The spices. Acid.
Even the celery. You taste the damn celery!
After a fast, all of those tastes come through. Senses are heightened.
Sometimes that stuff you love doesn’t taste so good anymore. The cookies are too sweet, the fries are too greasy.
Even better news, fasting is really good for you. It’s necessary. Part of our biological process. You give yourself a break from all that mouth pleasure and your body thanks you. It thanks you for not having to continuously stoke the furnace. It gets a nice break from processing all the junk you shove in your face every day. Even for the clean eaters out there, chalk full of vitamins and minerals, your body creates its own kind of vitamin, its own kind of self-care, just by leaving it alone for a while.
Your body needs a break.
Autophagy. The process of cleaning out old, damaged cells in the body. You dip your toe into this process each night when you go to bed, and halt it when you break your fast in the morning with that triple pump latte. But if you can extend it for a few days your body cleanses itself, simply though abstinence.
The holidays can be a rough time for fasting, with all the merriment, but it’s a good time to fast in other ways.
A fast from work can clean out a lot of damage.
The animosity you have for coworkers, the burn out you have from Zoom. Set them aside and fast for a few days, maybe even a week. Let your system rest.
A fast from your alarm clock. Allowing your body to reset its circadian rhythm. Full and restorative sleep.
A fast from commuting. The unnatural morning panic session you put yourself through as you fly low all the way into the city.
A fast from anxiety. Meetings with your VP. Your clients. Anxiety of ever increasing productivity and goals.
After a fast, all of those activities and emotions come through with full clarity. Senses are heightened.
And sometimes that stuff you love doesn’t taste so good anymore.
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