Hi, Reddit. Here we are closing in on the end of both Lent and Ramadan, and I am on Day Four of a weeklong liquid-only fast and feeling a bit spacey but fine. My first book has just been published. It's called The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without. For many years I have been a book editor and book publisher.

After Trump's term ended I felt the need to purge myself, and so I undertook a weeklong fast, something I now do on a regular basis. In the middle of that first fast, I became curious about what was happening to my body, and that led to me doing some research. This became an all-consuming (ha!) project, and I ended up interviewing doctors and religious leaders, philosophers and activists, and reading many books and articles.

I learned about anorexia mirabilis ("holy anorexia"), cachexia, hunger strikes and the amazing history of fasting celebrities. I learned fasting may provide us with a kind of cellular reboot, and that something called the "faster's high" is real--after a few days, your body releases all these cool chemicals (orexin-A, endocannabinoids, serotonin, etc.). And once upon a time, long before David Blaine, beginning in the 18th century and on up through the first part of the 20th century, people paid good money to watch other people not eat (Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" captures the tail end of that era). U.S. presidents used to regularly declare National Fasting Days--Lincoln did so at least three times, once right after the Union defeat at Vicksburg, when he called for a national day of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer."

We fast all the time, whether we know it or not--the act of holding back is a kind of fast that allows room for creation, as the philosopher and activist Simone Weil wrote. People as varied as Cesar Chavez, Mark Twain, Catherine of Siena, and Achilles were fasters.

And fasting-as-protest is regularly in use all over the world--activists for civil rights, for the environment, for all sorts of things, have used hunger strikes. In ancient Ireland, there were "stomach duels" between accusers and the accused, and fasting was seen as such a powerful spiritual weapon that there was a fine for illegal fasting!!

Proof

I'm stepping away, but I'll be back to answer any more questions. Thank so much for your interest!

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