A short post today, as I’ve been busy with increasing hours at my two jobs, as well as manuscript progress.

As a casual faster, I’m still new to the ritual, but it has been a rather enlightening experience. Fasting, for those who don’t know, is withholding caloric intake for a specified interval. As a society, most of us eat too much. It shows on our waistlines, and in the various degenerative diseases running rampant.

My Experience With Fasting

The idea of fasting is to kickstart the body’s regenerative ability. To clear the mind. Years ago, I had heard about writers and artists who had used fasting to enhance their creative power. Curious, I gave it a try.

I started slow, no-breakfast fasting, using fresh juices or fruit instead. The intermittent fasting helped my morning productivity. I had more energy to get things done, more inspiration to read, research, and write. I used to be an advocate for a “big hearty breakfast”, but I would grow lazy and depressed every morning. Little got done around the house, let alone on my writing.

Later, once I got into 24 to 36 hour water fasts, I got some serious detox symptoms. Night sweats, chills, fever, heart palpitations—it scared me. However, I was bored without food, and I found myself with lots of free time—and with a high degree of focus. During these fasts, there was serious progress on my writing.

The first 24 hours I was the most productive, as my body still ran on stored energy from the previous days’ food. Once my tolerance for water fasts increased, day two became almost as productive. Day three is where I crash and must rest. Still, my mind is clear and I usually brainstorm wonderful ideas for my stories and characters. Meditation during a fast is most helpful. I’m hoping to reach the 7 to 10 day benchmark someday, life and work permitting, to see how my body and creative ability evolves.

My Breakfast Relapse

The other week, due to variables outside my control, I had a big breakfast in the morning. Sure enough, I became nervous, unfocused, depressed, and the rest of the day was shot. I ended up avoiding writing, for my mind was full of unexplained anxiety and my body was fatigued. I used to feel like this most of the time, back when my writing was a lot worse. It proves—at least for me—that intermittent fasting is an indispensable tool for wordsmithing (aka writing).

How to Begin

If you’re a writer, artist, athlete, or some other hobbyist, why not give intermittent fasting a try? The beginner fast is 16-8, meaning you avoid eating and drinking (besides fresh juices) for 16 hours after dinner. The remaining 8 hours you feed on solid foods. You can do 16 hours on water too, for improved cleansing. Advance until you can go 20 hours on water/juice, and 4 on solid meals.

The best way I’ve found to do this is to have a morning juice, then a meal around noon, followed by a meal around 4-o’clock. It doesn’t seem like much, but I’ve gotten creative with it—as I love to with food, one of my other passions—and my stomach feels well nourished by the end of the night. I’d caution against fruit juices for those with candida issues. I had to resolve mine beforehand, and iodine and boron are good places to start. These minerals are also good for boosting brain power and creativity.

Curious about fasting? What are your experiences with it? I’d love to hear in the comments below, thanks! 🙂

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Aspectä rey’lief, fair reader, and thanks for reading!
—Ed R. White