Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

 The quick, simple and obvious truth of why intermittent fasting works is the realization that excessive weight gain is caused by eating all the time. and that if one simply restricts the time one will allow for that activity, that is at least half the problem. That is particularly true in exercise — of people who think they have to eat before they can do anything else — especially exercise, and so a good practice and habit is to exercise before eating rather than thinking one can only do so after a meal — at which point, exercise becomes further deferred, if not forgotten altogether. But together, they are the ideal diet/exercise combination.

Many morbidly overweight people will rationalize that if they don’t eat before doing anything else, they will “starve to death,” but humans like any other species, have evolved to do well without eating for prolonged periods — and that is Nature’s plan for keeping one healthy — because then the organism will “eat itself” — which is a good thing, because it realizes that the prudent thing is to burn off the oldest, weakest most diseased and excessive cells in the body in the purging and renewal process to maintain its health and viability. That is what every life form does — rather than going into starvation mode first. It is the last and unavoidable last resort — when one has run out of choices and options.

But if one’s priority is always to eat first and foremost — above all other considerations — that will be disastrous when food is always abundant and available, and so one should devise a schedule to reduce those opportunities. That is just common sense — aligned with millions of years of evolutionary wisdom to derive higher beings. If we ignore that wisdom, we create a lifetime of problems for ourselves — which the ancients have warned us against, but foolish people think they can simply cancel what they want. And so things don’t work right — and they haven’t a clue.

A good place to begin is to do nothing — and see if things get better or worse — including not eating. It seemed to work so well that wise people throughout the ages and across cultures have recommended it highly — as the beginning of wisdom, insight and mindfulness — that makes everything else possible. That practice has even become the cornerstone for many religions — as well as health modalities and cures. It might have been that they were intolerant to some foods — so abstaining from further consumption was the obvious and simple cure. To such people, consuming more is not the answer — but the problem.

They often have no idea — but think that if a little is good, more is always better. And of course, unlimited more is the ultimate achievement. But nothing works that way — and instead, there is a fine line for obtaining the proper balance in all things — for optimal effect and results. In a world of scarcity, it would be advantageous to eat at every opportunity, but in a world of abundance and prosperity, a better strategy is to practice restraint, and focus on more pressing priorities — and make the most of those other opportunities. Then one is a complete and well-developed human being — rather than one doing too much of only one thing — to the exclusion of all their other opportunities and abilities.