Is Fasting really worth it?🤔

Hey friends,

I almost died this week. No, scratch that, I almost caused my own death! No need for alarm though😅, it is I who is writing.

This week I executed a plan I’ve been contemplating for a year now. Fasting!!

The plan was, after months of not taking breakfast and short spells of no food, I would commence my whole day fasting routine this month. I am to fast every Monday; last meal by Sunday 9pm and next meal from Tuesday 12noon, coz as I said, no breakfast for me nowadays. I have not taken breakfast since around June this year, and all those months were supposed to be preparatory for this challenge.

Since childhood, I’ve never been a fan of breakfast. In fact, I’ve been very much anti-breakfast. Mostly due to personal reasons such as it would somewhat affect my activities during the day, having a troubling stomach throughout the day etc. Even though I’d been told to take the breakfast to give me strength for the day ahead, ironically, I’d feel stronger and more active throughout the day when I had not taken anything in the morning. Just water through to midday.

And so, in my latest years, I’ve taken a more deliberate step to not take breakfast. Consume no solids at all in the morning. I have my first meal as from past 12pm and latest is 9pm. So my time frame for taking solid food is 12pm to 9pm; adjustably of course, depending on the meal I’m preparing and situation of the day (coz some of my classes end at 8pm, and to travel home and cook won’t be much possible by 9pm). But even in that time frame, I only allow myself to be fully consuming food between 12pm to 2pm, and between 7pm to 9pm. In between the eating time zones I have no snacks whatsoever, as I believe it would lie to my stomach that more food is coming😅, which is not. In between is again just water, no juices or any other drinks.

And so this has been my routine for a few months now, since around June-ish. And honestly, it has worked out great. I feel more energized throughout the day and I don’t feel like I’m a victim of a common problem nowadays - overeating/gluttony. Also, I avoid the many risks people assume to be associated with modern snacks.

Proudly, this deliberate step to my diet has helped me overcome my soda addiction. I tell you, back in the day I would drink gallons of soda in a day - coke, to be precise. Now that I think of all that sugar I consumed, I’m sometimes worried of my blood sugar levels😬.

Research has also shown that some diseases can be treated, in part, by avoiding eating, for the gut to clean and re-cleanse itself from the impurities causing the malady. I still don’t know the truth to this though. But ain’t it funny how when a person is sick he is bombarded with excess food, most of which are utterly outright unhealthy, and would just worsen the malady? But I do get that a sick person needs food for energy, and it is recommended. Didn’t Jesus Christ Himself after raising the dead and healing the sick, order that the healed person be given food to eat. The Master knows that food is essential for healing.

Many would rebuke me by saying I have food, yet choose not to eat, thereby assuming I’m ungrateful. Adding to it they would say, there are others who have no food to eat, and have no choice of fasting or not. Yet I with food I’m being ‘wasteful’. It’s alright to have such thoughts, coz I had them too when starting out this reformation of my diet.

But I do not use my fasting time unproductively, or be angry coz of hunger. I use that time, the stipulated times I would be eating, to know and work on myself. Weird right😂. By this I mean,

1. (and obviously the most important) it is a spiritual revival session. To use the time to know my God better and what exactly I am worshipping. A thorough searching and deep contemplation of my Bible of truths that have been misunderstood by many, thereby making them false. I seek to understand them better during fasting time.

2. To assess myself of how I’ve been in the past week. Did I do what I was supposed to do? Was I the son my family wants and needs me to be? Did I do any good to people for no return? Did I improve my skills to be a valuable member of society, and not just another statistic in time? How’s my health and state of mind? And a bit of deliberate overthinking here and there😂. It is always worth it to have a self-check. What more satisfying than a certain degree of clarity of mind in such a generation and time in the world, when everything and everyone is relative!?

And so on Monday, being my first time fully fasting, I struggled obviously. I woke up on Tuesday morning weak and emaciated. Walking to the kitchen counter alone almost fainted me. I had come from a busy Monday of classes and travelling to and from town, having lived purely on water. My last meal had been fried eggs and ugali the previous Sunday at around 8pm. And so 24hours later my stomach seemed to be eating itself, literally.

Maybe I did it wrong, or there’s something I still don’t know about fasting🤔. How my Saviour did it for 40days still utterly baffles me. That is 1 month, 1 week, and around three more days. Wow!

So, What is your take on fasting? Do you think it’s worth it? Are the health benefits associated with it really as they are said? Have you ever fasted🙃? Tell me your thoughts on this🙂 by hitting the <reply> button. Should I continue to kill myself every Monday😅?

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Reagan.