More on Intermittent Fasting and Qigong

Some of you already know my resolve to begin two health-oriented programs as described in the article "Diet, Daughter and UFOs". The first was intermittent fasting described in "The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting." The second was Qigong mentioned in "Diet, Daughter and UFOs." I started both and altered both within the first week. Let's examine the problems of each.

Intermittent fasting is actually just a more stringent form of my daily eating pattern. Normally I don't eat all day and begin chowing down about six or seven pm. From that point, I consume food until I fall asleep, normally at three or four in the morning.

I am an insomniac, which has caused many problems in my life. Once, after not sleeping for a couple of days, I was watching television. The next thing I knew, a different program was airing. I wondered initially if somehow there was a problem at the station. That is, until I noticed breadcrumbs all over my chest and chair and an empty hamburger bun bag. I had consumed an entire bag of buns, an hour passed and I didn't realize it. I was awake asleep.

You may wonder what this has to do with intermittent fasting. It has everything to do with it. My last three years have been devoted to getting at least 6 hours sleep a night. I have been mostly unsuccessful but improving. Once I began the intermittent fasting, that reversed. I went back to old habits of sleeping every other night. It seems I can't go to sleep hungry. Something I've always known. Because of this, I had to adjust the program and eat at least one meal on the days I fasted. That meal occurred after 7 pm. On the other day, my last meal was at 6 pm. Sometimes I have to cheat to sleep and snack a bit right before bed.

Along with the disruption of sleep came the realization that I've never denied myself food. I've always been thin, occasionally too thin, and this was a new experience. Frankly, it was an experience that sucked, BIG TIME! As soon as I convinced myself this was the route I wanted to take, I began to feel deprived. With that feeling of deprivation, came outrageous hunger. Not even the cats' food was off limits as I looked longingly at their chicken in giblets gravy when serving them breakfast and supper. Never before had I been denied food. This was a new feeling and frankly, I didn't like it.

When I changed my schedule of fasting, I also relaxed a bit and decided that if I cheated, it wasn't a big whoop. I simply would continue and do my best. Suddenly the cravings disappeared. It's all in the head it seems. This is perhaps why I don't gain weight, I already learned "The Secret" of weight control. "Don't worry, be happy and know that you'll lose weight no matter what."

The exercise program was a different matter. I located a beginner's qigong website. It seemed step one was all about subtle hand movements, fifteen of them in all. Somehow, 36 to 54 hold a magic to it. I say that because each movement needed to be done 36 to 54 times. By the end of the 15 exercises, I had decided it would be more pleasurable to have a pack of wild dogs eat my feet or put a stinging jellyfish on my tongue. The thought, "Oh dear God, what I have started and how quickly can I end this?" ran through my mind as I performed each task.

Where were the YaHee kicks that I'd envisioned and the leaps into the air? This was not exercise and it was mind dulling boring. I began to realize how the masters of this art developed their great discipline. They didn't shoot themselves in order to avoid steps one through fifteen.

Needless to say, Qigong is no longer in my list of must do activities. Perhaps, on a different day with a different instructor, I'll really learn the art. Until then, my exercise will remain running upstairs for more coffee and riding my bike to the drug store to pick up a pack of cigarettes.

Sources:
Fragrant Qigong:Qigong Association of America