First Fast?

So. Yesterday my singing group had an early dinner after rehearsal, with food from a very good Lebanese restaurant. I stayed away from the carbs and had an assortment of meats and some tabouli, baba ganoush, and hummus. It didn't seem like too much, and the food tasted great. I only drank water. But by a half hour after I'd left I felt bloated and gross. Not like I was going to throw up or have other gastric disturbances, but just like I'd eaten too much and it just wasn't sitting well. I don't know if it was the food or me, but there you are.

So 2. We've been toying around with a pseudo-paleo diet. As a result, I've read a lot about periodic fasting - some people recommend at least a 24- to 30-hour fast once a week. I say if you're hungry, you should eat, and scheduling a fast is hardly what our Paleolithic ancestors would have done. But so many people swear by an occasional fast that I have been curious.

So 3. This morning I got out of bed late (7:30-ish) and I don't know if it was that ton-of-rocks dinner or something else, but I was not hungry at all. So I thought, why eat if I'm not hungry? And I decided to fast. I figured if I got really really hungry I would just graze on a few pecans or something but otherwise I'd fast until dinner. Since we ate early yesterday, I wouldn't even have to delay my regular dinner time.

OK, so it's 4:30 now. I made some leftover lamb stew and eggs for Phil for breakfast, and I also made cat food and rendered some lard today, so the house smells *really* good (sort of like there's been bacon frying all day). I exercised fairly strenuously for 45 minutes and did a lot of chores and stuff around the house, so it was a fairly active day. I've had some coffee, tea and water, but nothing else. And yeah, I'm somewhat hungry, but hardly ravenous.

So I'm titling the post first fast, but putting in that question mark. I can definitely see doing this again. I wouldn't want to if I were hungry already at breakfast, and I definitely don't want to based on an arbitrary schedule rather than on how my body feels. But for those days when I wake up and just am not hungry, I'm thinking, why not?