Quick...fast...

It's day 1 of my self imposed fast and it's anything but hurried. Each minute is passing by like 10 years. I've been at this for just over 12 hours (well...almost a whole day if you consider that my last meal ended at about 10pm last night), and already I feel like those Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons, shipwrecked on a deserted island. Everything I gaze at looks like a big juicy turkey leg or t-bone steak. I walked through the grocery store a few hours ago and couldn't help but look longingly at the meat and even the cereal and canned food aisles. The rotisserie chickens near the check out counter almost sent me over the edge.

Don't get me wrong. I'm eating fruits and vegetables and drinking water, but that's it. Why? Well, why not? People fast all the time. People have been fasting from time immemorial, and for all sorts of reason. Philosopher Paracelsus (one of the 3 so called fathers of Western Medicine along with Hippocrates and Galen) called fasting "the greatest medicine...the physician within". Fasts are about physical discipline that may translate into modifications in ethical behavior. Me? I guess I'll buy some of that. Maybe some or all of these apply.

I think reason number one is to detoxify. I've traveled alot lately and had to eat some pretty sorry food. I know what you're thinking. Had to? Yeah, I wasn't exactly in any major metropolitan area last week. I ate at the Tin Pan Tap and The Pilot Truck stop. Health conscious is not even in the conversation. The stuff at the Tin Pan Tap was at least a little tasty, but I didn't at all feel good about eating there or any of these places. When I'm on the go, like I so often am even when in town, it's tough to eat decent food. I absolutely hate being sick so I try to get enough sleep, exercise as much as possible, wash my hands like a surgeon, and eat right.

What is eating right though? Well, when you're cooking your own food, it shouldn't be too tough. At least you have control over your ingredients. You can control how much grease you use or not. You give up all of this when you eat out. Even the most well intentioned and healthy menu items can still be tainted by poor preparation. The cumulation of all of this makes my fast necessary. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. As with everything else, it was tough to work it into my schedule. Stop laughing. I'm serious. I couldn't do it around my birthday. Well, actually, I thought about it but that damn Superbowl was the same weekend so that was out. I had enough cake, fried food, and red meat that weekend to make any good couch potato proud. I still went to the gym, but I felt it. I was sluggish and unmotivated, and struggled to get through the days. My attention span was minimal, but what else is new. I couldn't very well do it when I had a basketball game to play either. The league that I play in is taking a break for the President's Day Holiday, so that gives me a few days to get this done. Let the detox begin.

Dr. Joel Furhman, M.D. (some cat I found on the internet...I don't know him. He might be reknown or...he might be some cat that got his M.D. at Western Career College...i dunno) says, "The fast does not merely detoxify; it also breaks down superfluous tissue - fat, abnormal cells, atheromatous plaque, and tumors--and releases diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for elimination." Even better! In addition to purifying and getting rid of any bad stuff that may be hangin' out in my system, I can get rid of this little extra stuff at the mid-section. You knew it was going to come back to vanity at some point, didn't you? Looking good naked still rates pretty high. Its like Groundhog Day everyday when you step out of the shower. But I won't get on that rant here.

Self discipline turns out to be a nice by-product as well. Let's face it: I love food. Admittedly, to do this over a weekend is tough for me. I eat for sport. I have fun eating good food. I try to eat food that's good for me, but if some Chicago style pizza is in reach, I like the freedom of not having to turn it down if I'm hungry. This is training of sorts. It's a self imposed test that will let me get a better idea of what my limits are the next time I'm really in a pinch. It's just like when I was a real athlete and not just a weekend warrior/washed-up-pick-up-game-participant. In the fourth quarter of a game, i knew I had an extra gear and could dig deeper because I had lifted those weights and had ran those extra sprints/miles/hills, etc. The mental aspect of this is huge. I may need to dig deep and focus on something in my "real" life sometime in the future. When that day comes, I'm going to recall when I was hungry as all get out, and had to look past the leftover tamales and the red velvet cake in the fridge and instead get down with the baby carrots and the cabbage soup. Stay tuned. Day 2 has just begun.