There was a time when people woke up in the wee hours of the morning to get their Black Friday on. With e-commerce available 24/7, I wonder how many Americans head out the door to knock out the proverbial Christmas shopping list. Instead, maybe they're hitting the gym or pounding the pavement. I know I ate enough carbs to fuel a marathon. While I did not wake up with a food hangover, I went to bed in a food coma. Black Friday is now a day of personal reckoning. HBU?
With the holiday season in full swing, I said to myself, I can't feel this way for the remainder of 2023. I don't want to wake up in the new year with diabetes. The sheer amount of Christmas cookies and cocktails, snacks and seasonal treats has me thinking I need a game plan, a positive approach, a path toward "better than yesterday." One thought came to mind: intermittent fasting.
If this catches you by surprise, it should. That's so 2018, right? According to The Fasting Cure Is No Fad, "Fasting is one of the biggest weight-loss trends to arive in recent years. Endorsed by A-list celebrities and the subject of a spate of best-selling book, it was the eighth most-Googled diet in 2018." But fasting shouldn't be dismissed as just another fad, and that is what intrigues me most.
Michaelsen argues there's a logic to intermittent fasting. "Fasting can contribute to brain health and happiness." It can help with "an array of chronic conditions and when combined with exercising can spur distinct inccreases in the best known nerve growth factor, BDNF and might even be effective in preventing the recurrence of cancer." Wow.
Sports and Spirituality views (intermittent) fasting as a timeless discipline—relevant to both domains. For example, as Michalsen writes, "fasting overcomes an instinctive need in a way that gives us physical and mental strength. As a practice, fasting is more than simply restricting calories or nutrients. For many people it is also a spiritual experience. Over the course of our lives, we encounter many kinds of deficiency, whether of money, success or affection. Fasting is a conscious renunciation, a controlled exercise in deprivation. That's why successful fasting increases self-efficacy—we overcome an instinctive need in a way that gives us physical and mental strength."
What a thoughtful way to think about entering into the Advent—a four week period of preparation for the nativity of Jesus Christ at Christmas. It is challenging to live the spirit of Advent given the abundance our consumerist culture promotes, starting November 1...long before Black Friday! Rather, Advent is about waiting—patient waiting—and reflecting on how we can prepare our hearts and homes for Christ's birth in the world as it is today. And let us remember—Advent comes to a close on Christmas day. Joy to the World!
So why not enter into this time before Christmas with a different mindset, not to mention a physical and spiritual discipline? Give (intermittent) fasting some consideration. Try it on for size. Let me know what you think.... Happy Holidays!
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