Left Such Things Behind

Day three of this prolonged fast.  Feeling good.  Was at the gym and on the one machine where I always test my limits, I found my limits were indeed, more limited, on two-and-a-half days without any sustenance.  But not dramatically so.  Just a bit. 

It’s three-thirty-five in the afternoon just now.  The end goal of “dinner time” is well within reach.  And I must say that there was little-to-no discomfort or cravings that I dreaded as I considered this challenge from afar.  I’m not more tired.  I’m not less productive.  Cruising along, banging work out.   It strikes me that I could “easily” do this monthly.  It’s a fine discipline but will it really positively impact my health or consume my unwanted paunch, which regular biking and weights has failed to do?  Will need to learn more. 

When I was thirteen, or so, I was off at a YMCA sleep-away-camp, Wawa_Segoia, where they taught us how to hike and canoe and you were out on the Appalachian Trail and paddling down the Housatonic River for a two-week stretch.  And you carried everything you needed and everything you planned to eat, on your back.  During that process of denial from the ease of a refrigerator, the ease of a contemporary home, we came across a house one time as we cut from one part of the trail to another and saw a television on inside and it looked so remarkably other, as I recall.  We had left such things behind.

And when you got to the top of a peak, and they pulled out some thing or other to eat it was magical. I’d normally disregard things like cucumber sticks, or an orange, but on top of the mountain, it tasted unlike any other orange or carrot or handful of peanuts I’d ever eaten.  The lack of choices, the lack of access had made the routine into a rare gift.  I’ve passed the kitchen a few times today and noted food and observed that I didn’t want to eat.  Shouldn’t I be ravenous?  I suspect when I finally allow myself to eat, (or I am certainly hoping that when I do) whatever it is will taste remarkable, at least for the first few bites. 

Wednesday, 2/20/19