This quarter’s trend: Intermittent Fasting!
with Adam Brunell
What is intermittent fasting?
Well it’s pretty simple, it’s a period of time occurring at intervals in which no food or calories are consumed. You’re essentially switching between times of feeding and times of fasting. This can vary from person to person, as there are a lot of styles out there.
So how does an obscure idea like this become a full blown trend?
- An idea is born
- Pockets of people in different areas start talking about it
- People spread information to acquaintances or coworkers
- Snowball effect continues to build until it reaches international fame
- Traditional media picks it up—Hello CNN, Buzzfeed and all things news!
- Blogs start rolling out, and facts & fiction begin to intertwine
- Your Aunt is on board and you can’t escape it
But this super sonic upward trajectory has consequences. People:
- form opinions quickly. They love it or hate it, whether or not they’ve tried it.
- become cynical towards new ideas in the future
- become reactionary instead of inquisitive
So let’s challenge those misconceptions by counteracting them with research I’ve done:
Fasting is a lifestyle choice, not a diet. And really, it’s not as extreme as it sounds. Think of intermittent fasting as a “feed” state and a “fast” state. Regardless of the style of intermittent fasting, they all follow these states. Most people may already be doing it, they just aren’t making the conscious decision. For example, if you work a normal 9 to 5 job where you need to commute, this means that you’re waking up early in the morning, getting ready, and then immediately leaving. There is no time for breakfast or coffee. Once you get to work, you may have a cup of coffee, but still haven’t eaten anything. This could continue until around lunchtime. And there you go, intermittent fasting. Now a conscious person doing intermittent fasting will schedule their meals during the day so they are purposefully fasting for a certain number of hours. This doesn’t mean one is intermittent fasting and the other isn’t, but one person is making a lifestyle choice consciously.
What did we learn?
Trends come and go. Just remember to try things for yourself before you form an opinion. It’s easy to disregard something like intermittent fasting before doing it for yourself. If it works for you, great! If not, then that’s alright. Be conscious about the decisions that you’re making every day. They may seem insignificant, but life is long and hard. These small decisions add up over time. Go out there, be healthy, be conscious, and above all else, be well-informed.
