When I tell people I’m fasting, I get some incredulity.  It could be fear-based — “how will you LIVE?”  Sometimes it’s a little derisive — “oh, you’re one of THOSE.”  But most of the time, people are just wondering… “why?!”

I’m fasting for health.

Could I be any more fuzzy?  Health?  Who says?  How could it be healthy to not eat?

That’s part of what this blog is about.  It will take me a while to flesh out all my thoughts on fasting here, but it’ll be useful to set out what I don’t think fasting is good for:

• causing healthy weight loss
• removing mucoid plaque from the colon
• inducing spiritual experiences (though it can help)

I am, in fact, very careful to try to not lose much weight, although it’s inevitable when one’s calories are at a level roughly 50% of normal intake, and that’s yet another topic I’ll explore.

I want to keep these posts relatively short and direct, so that’s it for now.

Further reading: The Paleolithic Diet, Fasting, and Functional Fitness – a personal blog post by Karen DeCoster who does “fasting for health” too.  Excerpt:

The one thing that made me go from “ok” or “athletic” to “lean and chiseled” was fasting. Though my fasting periods are completely unplanned, erratic, and usually short-lived, it absolutely works and it makes me feel clean, fresh, energized, and great. It clears the body of food toxins and renews life. Plus, the fasting periods are almost necessary because of my busy schedule, so it helps my time as well as my health.