Book 275 - A Year of Magical Learning (1/2)

Reflection Title: Feast and Fast – You can’t find balance without both ends of the spectrum!

Book – Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body through intermittent, alternate day, and extended fasting by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore (Part 1 of 2)

Book Description:

Fasting is not about starving oneself. When done right, it’s an incredibly effective therapeutic approach that produces amazing results regardless of diet plan.

In fact, Toronto-based nephrologist Dr. Jason Fung has used a variety of fasting protocols with more than 1,000 patients, with fantastic success. In The Complete Guide to Fasting, he has teamed up with international bestselling author and veteran health podcaster Jimmy Moore to explain what fasting is really about, why it’s so important, and how to fast in a way that improves health.

Together, they make fasting as a therapeutic approach both practical and easy to understand.

Reflection:

Remember…Don’t Do It Alone!

Even if you have a purpose and are doing meaningful work each day, it still sucks if you don’t have any one to share it with. Balance only comes with having both meaningful work and meaningful relationships built around the things that matter most to you in this world.

I’m blessed to have both Emilia, and now my ClubAny Co-Founder, Trieu with me on this journey. Without them, I can say for certain that none of this would be possible.

With that in mind, meaningful relationships can never be a one-sided exchange if they are going to truly be sustainable. The relationship must be equally meaningful for both parties. For that to happen, sometimes you have to be willing to learn, listen, and try some of the things that bring value to their life and align to their purpose. That thought is what led me to discover this awesome book called the Complete Guide to Fasting.

Trieu has been fasting regularly now for months and it has radically had an impact on his health and wellbeing. One of his core values is health and that led him to embark on this fasting journey to see what he would find. What he found was incredible results and a feeling of realignment and balance within his body. Trieu is never one to push anything on someone else, but I’ve slowly been hearing him subtly mentioning more and more about his experience with fasting and it has made me grow more curious. I started asking questions to learn more and I liked what I was hearing. I told him I would be open to giving this a try, but I had to learn more about it myself first. That was the purpose of reading this book.

What I found after consuming this book was my next monthly challenge, and a much deeper understanding of the purpose behind fasting and how it can play an important role in the balance equation.

The operating system of this universe is harmony and balance. Because of that, my mission in life is to find sustainable balance and harmony in myself to align with the laws of the universe. Once again, after reading this book, I found out yet another way in which I’m operating that is out of alignment.

I never stop eating throughout the course of the day…I mean NEVER!

From the moment I wake up, until about damn near the moment I go to sleep at night, I’m constantly eating or drinking something with sugar and calories in it. It can be as harmless as a cup of herbal tea with some sugar in it for taste, but I’m always consuming something. It wasn’t until after reading this book that I realized just how imbalanced that eating pattern is in the grand scheme of things.

Sure, I make sure what I’m eating all day is a good balance of what I consume. I don’t eat to excess when I eat (most of the time), I exercise every day so I’m burning calories, but it doesn’t change the fact that I hardly ever go longer than just my sleeping time at night where I’m not actively consuming energy. I honestly never stop consuming energy and calories if I’m awake.

Learning how imbalanced my eating patterns are and the effect that imbalance can have on my body is eye opening and alarming. I mean, I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’m in pretty damn good physical shape (at least I think). However, I have a sneaky suspicion that if I took a blood test right now, I’ll probably discover that I’m pre-diabetic based on my blood sugar levels. After reading this book, I would be more shocked if I wasn’t pre-diabetic to be honest.

I’ve already begun to become more conscientious about not just what I’m putting in my body, but WHEN I’m putting it in my body as well. In the next few days, I plan to embark on my next monthly challenge of intermittent fasting in October and see what I find.

Thank you, Trieu, for being you and once again gently nudging me in a new direction just by living your values and helping me to discover new ways in which I can do the same.

Purpose and Balance are meaningless if you don’t have someone to share it with along the way.

Question: What might you find if you learn and actively participate in activities that align to your meaningful relationships? How can you apply those lessons to your own purpose?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Complete Guide to Fasting