Renunciation for hedonists
A chocolate croissant on the weekend, no breakfast in the week.
How would it be to apply the rule of quality over quantity to every area of your life?
I didn’t make any new year’s resolutions, just getting through January in Stockholm takes all my resolve. Nor did I have a ‘guiding word of the year’. It’s a thing, apparently. But while I was in the gym, an idea came to me. How would it be to live a life of quality over quantity?
I’d not had breakfast, and I was thinking about what I might have for lunch. I’ve been fasting most days for a couple of years, just eating lunch and dinner. What I’ve noticed is that the more I enjoy the food I eat, the easier it is to go without food. I think it is the secret of renunciation for hedonists!
I grew up in a foodie family. My mum would say, “Some people eat to live, but we live to eat!” Food is such a source of pleasure, growing it, preparing it and sharing it.
So you might think, if you love food so much, why just two meals a day? Why not three, plus snacks? Well, a couple of years ago, I saw a pic of me on my wife’s phone. It was Christmas, and I looked like a little barrel. I should have kept the photo, but of course I made her delete it! Being a foodie, I didn’t want to diet or watch what I ate. It would take the pleasure out of eating. So I tried fasting. It’s really worked for me. I’m back in the jeans I bought 20 years ago.
I’ve noticed recently that if I go to the trouble of making food I really enjoy, then the times when I’m not eating are much easier. Some of it is to do with nutrition. If I eat more fats and proteins, I’m more physically satisfied. But it’s also to do with a sensory satisfaction. The more I enjoy, the more it satisfies.
Fasting has become a way of combining my epicurean nature with my equal and opposite desire to practice simplicity and renunciation!
Fasting feels like a secret that no one had told me. How to lose weight easily, while eating the food you love and saving yourself time and money.
We live in a world of excess. We are undernourished and over fed. But not just with food. What about media? How much do we take in and how satisfying is it? In my work, could I work fewer hours but work with more of a relaxed and focused attention?
What would it mean to apply the rule of quality over quantity in your life?
