Addition Through Subtraction

I have been fasting for more than two weeks. The routine that my life had built around the ritual of eating, consuming food and drink throughout the day, is starting to break. The feeling of being hungry through mid day is easing. I am beginning to notice a steady-state calmness engulf my day to day life style. I feel healthier; more responsive to what I eat, more alert to what I feel, and old aches and ailments no longer present. 

I am diving into this. On a cellular level, fasting promotes the regeneration of your body; on a molecular level. By resting my digestive system by abstaining from food, I have given my stomach, liver and kidneys time to rest and recover. To generate energy through the day, my body has started to break down fat and stored energy, vs. use energy from recently consumed foods. There are known antiflammatory benefits to fasting, but I am noticing them on myself for the first time, consciously. I feel and look less bloated, even after eating meals or at the end of the day. There’s a cleanliness to my physique that is coming from eating only what my body needs to live, not what ‘it wants’ to live. 

I’ve also noticed that my recovery from working out has been much improved. Running, for example, takes a toll on my knees and ankle joints. But since fasting, and the increased focus on my recovery through proper nutrition during times when I do eat, plus the added benefits of response times that are brought on by fasting, are contributing to faster recovery times. I can run on consecutive days, pain free. The same goes for lifting sessions at the gym. My joints are more responsive and I feel my sleeping hours to be more intense; of course, this is when your body recovers the most. 

I thought about how I have added faster recovery times, more intense workouts, better sleep habits, a more structured and prescriptive routine, and more intentional goals on a daily basis through the past two weeks of fasting. I have added more moments of spiritual reflection, more moments of introspection, more minutes of reflection. 

Fasting, and Ramahdan in general, has reminded me that in a world where the common theme is “more, more, more”, sometimes less actually is more. Sometimes, you add more to the rate of progress by reducing your consumption and dispersion.  It’s addition, through subtraction. 

With love , and in the name of all of our continuous pursuit of progress. 

Heba. 

PS: While I am two weeks into fasting, it’s not too late to start your journey. Check out my Ramadhan Program, marked down as a gift from me to you.