Pedestrian Dinner and Notes on Fasting

Pic shows tonight's pedestrian dinner of pork chops baked on a bed of sauerkraut. OK, so it was impossibly simple and impossibly good. Nothing but pork, fermented cabbage, and some black pepper over the top. We ate all the fat, all the drippings, everything except for a bit of a tithe around the bones for the kitchen god and goddess.

And this simple feast made me think a lot about the simple famine of a short fast. Yesterday I wasn't that hungry, so I didn't eat. And I think I really gained from that fast.

Bit of back story first. I've always been a morning person. Early to bed, early to rise, and all that (still waiting for the wealth and wisdom, but what can you do). So my mornings are usually very productive, work wise, and then there's a marked drop-off after 2 or so.

But yesterday, I felt productive all day. There was no drop off; if anything, I felt like I was getting more done at 4:30 than I had at 9:30. And today, even though I didn't fast, I just ate when I was hungry. And today's productivity was the same. I was really productive in the afternoon; at least as much so as in the morning.

I don't have enough data yet to form conclusions. But I do know that a lot of times we eat as a social obligation - and why eat if you're not hungry? So I am going to continue to experiment on this front some more. I'm trying to listen to my body and pay attention even if it goes against culture.

Fast Broken

So. The fast was broken at about 7:50. This was a bit late for us - we usually eat dinner at about 7:30. I was hungry but not any more than normal.

Dinner was pork chops smoked on Mechazawa (the Egg) - the delay in dinner was because unkowingly the lid was in the closed position and Mechazawa's fire went out, causing a delay in the proceedings. But (as is to be expected) Mechazawa rose to the occasion and delivered wonderful juicy smoked pork chops even with the snafu.

Accompanying the pork chops was a simple salad of greens, radish, mushrooms, carrots, and garlic with a commercial organic vinaigrette augmented with some live culture sour cream. It was really nice. And a half hour later, I don't feel like there are stones in my stomach.

So I give the fasting thing a cautious nod of approval.

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?