A Discipline called Fasting...

[Photos: a fairly normal protein drink that I make (whey protein powder, filtered water, soy milk, ginger, cayenne, and cinnamon), when not fasting a typical lunch (salad: spinach, tuna, onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, ... ).]


Discipline is often not a word that people like to hear; and neither is fasting. It's my experience that both are an important part of a balanced life.

Fasting for me tends to come in seasons: where it will happen regularly and then not for a while. The fasts are usually of different lengths depending on the purposes: purposes range from intensely spiritual to health reasons.

Yesterday was spiritual reasons (which shall remain between me and God) and to remind my body that food is for nourishment - NOT for pleasure. Since I still did my exercise, I allowed a protein drink afterwards to aide in post exercise recovery. I did this after my strength training this morning and then after an 8 mile run during lunch time. I then broke the fast with my family after helping prepare dinner. And then later I was able to ride on the trainer for a quick 37 minutes. So, it was a good day with exercise, but also a good day with not eating and spending more time in prayer and reflection.

Fasting is a big topic and one that I'm not going to try covering here. I mention it though, because it is worth considering it's role in our lives: especially a life of training, or a life of discipline. It's not a 'diet' thing, but rather a discipline that helps in all areas of life. To be able to tell our bodies 'NO' is a key requirement to be able to 'DO' what we often need to do but isn't easy to. If there's interest I can write at a later date on Fasting and more details on it's use in my life.

For now .. take control of your eating: eat for nourishment, fuel your body for what you want it to accomplish. Good fuel, rest, training, ... much is required to accomplish great things. :-)