Anno domini and the Benefits of Fasting
...how to revitalise a weary Slug Hunter
Golly. That’s a helluva mouthful. Sorry and all that.
But it is all bound up together. Let me explain.
I’m certain you will have heard ‘older folks’ [insert your own term for those close to retirement] sometimes begin their replies with, ‘When I was a lad, such and such would never have happened.’ You might even have uttered something similar yourself. There follows a pithy dismissal of the character and morality of today’s ‘Youth’. The listener would be left wondering whether that period four or more decades ago was really quite as wonderful as claimed.
It was! At least, it was in the mind of the older person. And, in the end, maybe that’s what really counts. I find myself firmly in the grip of what polite people describe as ‘late middle-age’. In other words, I’m fairly hale and hearty – for my age. I am getting back to being a runner, but recovery from injury has taken more than eighteen months - far slower than the usual couple of weeks of yesteryear. My optician and audiologist haven’t noticed deterioration in the senses in which they specialise, although other drivers and my wife, respectively, question these assessments quite regularly. Shouts of, “Are you blind?” and, “Did you hear what I said (or are you just ignoring me)?” feature in a disproportionate volume of my recent human interactions.
It is true to say that the past eighteen months of enforced hobbling and lately walking have caused me to acquire several extra pounds of weight. And it isn’t rippling muscle weight. It’s more ‘wobble’ than ‘ripple’. For my sense of taste and appetites for food and drink have not dimmed in the slightest.
Quite by accident, I returned home very late one evening a few months ago – far too late to make anything for dinner. So I went to sleep having not eaten since lunchtime. So, in effect, I fasted from about 2pm through to 8am – some 18 hours. I drank water, black coffee and black tea in that time, so consumed no actual calorific challenges to my digestive system.
Predictably, I was hungry, and devoured breakfast with particular enjoyment. But I did not expect to sleep so well and awake truly refreshed. My head was clear, yesterday’s worries shrank to minor obstacles and I found my thought process to be rapid and logical. Procrastination? Gone.
These dual benefits of restful sleep and clarity of thought would be enough encouragement for me, but there are two others.
During my prolonged recovery from damaged knees, the physiotherapist opined that, ‘Age is not for the faint-hearted’. So I was not surprised by them and grew used to a succession of minor aches and pains in all my joints. They were ever present but not serious enough to warrant medication. I’ve never been a flexible person and I attribute the pains to ‘getting older’. But after this single night of fasting – they were noticeable by their absence. They had all disappeared! Amazing…
The final benefit I noticed after a fortnight of fasting on two evenings each week. I stood on the weighing scales and found a couple of pounds of wobble had disappeared. This isn’t surprising, of course – if you eat less, you will tend to lose weight, as a general rule. I know it’s more complex than this, but I’m reporting what happened to me.
The old mantra is ‘Eat less; Move more’. Basically right, I feel. Humans were designed to move, at moderate speed over significant distance. I should take advantage of this unexpected bonus of pain relief and increased flexibility.
I can now perform squats without holding on to something or making ‘Oof’ or ’Ow’ noises. So… not only have I begun the gentlest of jogging outings during some days, my evening Slug Harvesting activities can recommence in earnest.
Ha! You wondered what this all had to do with slugs…
It was a bumper harvest last night, boosted by plentiful watering at dusk of the remaining foliage, wilted after the dry heat of summer. I waited an hour for them to stretch, perform their equivalent of ablutions and venture forth in search of nocturnal breakfast.
I’m wary of sounding like that bloke next door who returns from a fishing trip. “I bagged these real big ones – giants, they were – just cruising around.”
But that is what happened. My new-found flexibility permitted greater reach across flower beds and beneath drooping leaves. So confident have they become that the biggest of them surf across the lawn en route to the vegetable patch.
Well, they won’t be doing that again.
Many religions incorporate some elements of fasting – the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan, for instance, requires most to abstain from food or drink during the hours of daylight. My own experience in the region suggests that far more food is consumed by the populace during Ramadan than ordinarily, so this isn’t really what’s intended! And the enforced fast in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia undergone by my protagonist, Peter Field in Book 2 of my Al Sharika series isn’t what I had in mind either!
Some followers of Vinaya rules in Buddhism do not eat after the noon meal. It’s rather like what I do, I think, but perhaps more rigorous.
I won’t attempt an exhaustive list – suffice to say varieties of Christianity, Judaism and eastern faiths do this too.
Have any of you tried fasting? Did you experience any of the same benefits? Let me know!