Hunger Games

Food = happiness

But the relationship is really complicated.

Which foods we eat, in what quantity and when can indicate the course and depth of a human life.  Food is deeply intertwined with our physical and spiritual health that it is very hard to change habits and question assumptions.  Medical science learns more every day about the effects that our diet are having on our susceptibility to disease, risk of birth defect and autism, and longevity and quality of life.  But how do you change your relationship with food when food (often sugar) are indistinguishable with love?  How do you tell a person "I would not like to eat that thank you" without really saying "I don't appreciate your love and care"? To most, these statements are indistinguishable.  But the more we learn about the impact of food on our lives, the more we have to address our relationship with food, our environment and yes our soul. 

When you think of fasting, you may picture Ghandi, Ramadan, Lent or crazy people, depending on your mood, and so did I.  Now I think Stan McChrystal, warrior monk, health, and discipline.  And increasingly medical science is thinking something new associated with fasting: health and happiness.

“Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the ascetic who is set to become the new top American commander in Afghanistan, usually eats just one meal a day, in the evening, to avoid sluggishness.” —The New York Times

A recent Harpers magazine article on the act of abstaining from consuming food for a period of time sheds some light on a mysterious, seemingly scary corner of our relationship with food:  the prospect of not putting it in our bodies by choice or in lean times.  The article cites a multitude of academic, medical and spiritual reasons for occasionally abstaining from food for the same reasons we need to eat a diverse range of nutrients, vegetables, greens, meats, fruits and legumes, because for a whole host of reasons IT IS GOOD FOR YOU!

"Isn't it a little extreme to starve yourself?" 

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"What I find extreme is your militant devotion to eating 3 meals every day.  Do you even know why you thoughtlessly consume 3 square?"

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"Because that's what we've always done?"

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"Hardly."

This is not a new concept.  Most holy texts, and their mystical cousins, advocate some form of fasting.  And now medical science is relearning exactly why this was a good idea in the first place.  The American Cancer Society, epilepsy researchers, and the Department of Defense are rediscovering what our civilization has "routined" itself into forgetting: occasionally not eating is just as important to health as putting good food in your mouth when you do eat and occasionally changing your feeding habits.  t's just that we are really good at getting caught up in activity, group think and routine, replacing the meaning behind tried and true concepts with habitual daily or weekly activity.  If it didn't come from a study or if it could possibly force me to be uncomfortable, it's probably not a good idea.

Isaiah 58

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, 
   ‘and you have not seen it? 
Why have we humbled ourselves, 
   and you have not noticed?’

   “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
   and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
   only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the LORD?

 ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 

But this is not just about  not eating food or losing weight, that is absurdly shallow.  It is about better understanding your body, your human senses, redefining your "needs", constantly questioning and redefining your relationship with the world.  Oh but by the way, it has dramatic impacts on blood pressure, aging, heart disease, diabetes, and epilepsy.

http://harpers.org/archive/2012/03/hbc-90008468
http://harpers.org/archive/2012/03/0083829