Fasting Diet for Motivation
Do you get plenty of great ideas for how to improve your life, but you just don’t have the motivation to take action?
Maybe some type of fasting diet can provide the extra bit of energy you need to get things done.
Most people I know are going to answer with an emphatic ‘yes’ to the question above. These individuals are sure to have convincing justifications to explain their lack of motivation – too much work, not enough time,too many commitments blah, blah, blah – but there are plenty of guys out there achieving amazing things despite the busyness of their schedule.
Up until recently my lack of motivation has been holding me back in life. I do get periods of high-energy but it hasn’t been enough to allow my to achieve many of my important goals (e.g. financial security). Something has changed for me recently, I’ve been experimenting with fasting (juice fasting and 5:2 intermittent fasting), and my motivation and energy levels have shot through the roof.
Fasting to Increase Motivation
I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but I’ve just had 30-days straight of feeling positive and full of energy. I’ve been able to significantly increase my work output, and I’ve still had enough spare energy to take on those extra tasks (the ones that can improve my life) that I felt too busy to make time for before – it is like the more I do, the more I’m capable of doing. If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect my wife of slipping some extra-powerful amphetamine into my coffee.
The thing that makes this month of abundant positivity and energy even more surprising is it coincides with my fasting experiments. Over a month ago I began a fifteen day juice fast, and I’m now in the second week of a 10-week 5:2 intermittent fast. It seems logical to expect my energy levels to plummet by denying myself food, but the complete opposite has happened.
Fasting to Reduce Depression
I’ve suffered from mild depression for years – it is like a black cloud always out there waiting to rain on my day. I’ve become much better at managing my symptoms, but I’d rather not have to deal with them at all.
I try to keep track of my moods, and I usually have at least a day or two a month when I feel down. I not experience low moods at all during the last month, and it sort of feels like that part of my life is over. It is hard to explain how I know this, but it just feels undeniably true – almost like how I felt seven years ago when I realized my alcohol problems were over. I’m not trying to claim that my future is going to be free from bad days – of course not – but it just feels like the black cloud is gone, and it’s not going to come back.
Fasting is No Magic Cure
I don’t want to suggest that it is just the fasting diet alone that has led to my increased motivation and reduced moodiness. I tried juice fasting and intermittent fasting last year, and I didn’t seem to get much from these experiences at all – I gave up on the 15 day juice fast after 10 days, and I quit on my 10 weeks of intermittent fasting after seven weeks.
I think what this latest period of fasting has done is given my life a much needed nudge in the right direction, and this has made it possible for other things to come together for me. I felt so great after the fifteen day juice fast, and it has created a domino effect in my life.
I feel super-positive about the future, and I’ve become full of gratitude for what I already have in my life.
I can’t promise that other people are going to experience the same results as I did, but this can be a life-changing experience. I like to look at this period of fasting as a time of renewal and that’s exactly what if feels like. I’ve been renewed, and I’m now ready to take my life to a new level.
Hi Dear Paul, That is very interesting and totally strange. Actually, i use to think that if we have to work hard or have to work more then we have to eat more. Well, that is true for physical hard work such as Running, Gym or any other physical work. But food is also compulsory even if the work is related to our mind. Don’t your brain feel totally drained up during fast? What other things do you take during fast. Actually i have to work a lot on Computer and sometimes my head and back feel so tired. I am thinking about reducing that stress and depression from my mind by following your footsteps.
Thanks for this wonderful post. I hope your method will help me.
With Regards.
Hi Simerjeet, I’ve found that eating the wrong types of food (or too much food) negatively impacts my energy level. It means I feel tired all the time and depressed. I’m not an expert but perhaps this is because the body needs to use a lot of energy to deal with the bad food. Fasting allows my body to relax and it frees energy that would otherwise be used on digestion – have you ever noticed how you can feel tired after a big meal? Too much fasting would be bad – the body does need a certain amount of food – but I’m convinced that moderate fasting can be very beneficial.
Hi
I wonder does this have anything to do with one’s interest in controlling something? Often addicts like to feel in control of something in their life. I myself am a recovering addict and love to be in control (the opposite of love!). Just a thought. A neighbour of mine carries out intermittent fasting. He also has control issues, he told me such. Really it’s the ideal scenario – control, coupled with a hope or belief that it will work (in this case the placebo effect). The latter is really very powerful. Just some thoughts of mine. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Oh and this was posted a long time ago. I wonder how long you carried it out for and are you still carrying it out? Thanks Paul.
Hi Mark, it has been a few years since this post. I have gotten into the habit of only eating during a 4-6 hour window during the day. I started to like the feeling of being hungry before I eat.