“It’s all in your head.”
When I was growing up, these were the words I would hear from my dad when I was faking sick (so I didn’t have to go to school). Either he knew what was going on through my head, or he had no sympathy. Either way, I had to go to frigging school.
I shouldn’t have stayed up all night playing WWF wrestling on my Playstation.
When it comes to the common flu or cold, my dad was as tough as nails. I think it’s because he grew up poor as dirt; sharing a bed with his brother to keep warm at night and using the outhouse like it was nobody’s business.
If you are fasting (and conquering the fast), then you have to adopt his mindset.
You have to adopt my mindset.
If you can’t get through it on mindset alone, then I’ve put together a few strategies that will help you kick hunger in the balls, conquer it, and give it a knuckle sandwich…just don’t eat it.
The Hot-Drink Method
I know when I’m eating low calories, I crave everything. Some people crave everything while fasting. Who cares, this trick is dirty and it works.
Basically, if you feel like you’re going to go crazy and are going to eat something, even though it’s not time (usually happens with full day fasts), then you need to resort to something else.
Enter: a delicious, hot drink.
My personal favourite is the JMax Hot Chocolate (which I will give the recipe below since I’m such a gentleman), but coffee or tea works too.
Sometimes, if cravings are crazy, then I’ll have 2 or 3 of these hot thangs.
The JMax Hot ChocolateTM
- Boiling Water
- 1 Spoonful of Cocoa Powder
- 9 Drops of liquid stevia
The BCCAs Method
If you’ve ever done a full day fast, you know that you will get hunger spikes around times that you normally eat. Your body knows when it’s used to eating and will definitely let you know. This is thanks to a little hormone called Ghrelin. The good news is that if you don’t eat after this Ghrelin spike, then your body will spike another hormone: Growth Hormone.
Everyone knows how badass Growth Hormone is for fat loss, so I’ll leave it at that.
If this hunger spike makes you feel like you’re going to die or go nuts, then maybe BCAAs are for you.
BCAAs are a calorie free nutrient that will trick your body into thinking that you ate a little bit, and the hunger will subside. Taking BCAAs at times that you would normally eat will help decrease the hunger spikes.
The I-Will-Think-About-You-Forever Method
Don’t get all lovey dovey.
Before we get all lovey dovey and someone tells me that they stood at my door with their hands on my waist and kissed me like they meant it; let’s just keep it PG.
During your hunger spikes, you can just sit there like you are a third party and analyze it. Ask yourself questions like, “am I actually hungry, or is this just a signal tricking my brain?” Sit there and feel what it’s like to not eat. Don’t think about food, just think about your body and picture it working. Soon, you will notice that the hunger abruptly decreases.
It’s weird as hell.
Think about what the difference is between cravings and the feeling of hunger.
This method might be a little crazy and only reserved for the scientific crowd, but it’s kind of cool to reach out and listen to your body.
Think about what the difference is between cravings and the feeling of hunger. – Tweet This Quote
The Keep-Busy Method
Intermittent fasting gives you laser sharp focus.
It freakin’ rocks.
Take advantage of this and keep busy. Get work done, do a puzzle, call a friend, or read a kick ass book (may I suggest Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle?…)
Pretty self explanatory.
The Sleep-it-Off Method
My buddy Tim inspired me to invent this one. It makes me laugh out loud every time I think about this story.
Last year, I had a bunch of classes with Tim, so we’d sit together. One day, he didn’t show up until our last class (6 hours after the first one). He sits down, and here’s our conversation:
“Tim, you’re pretty late, Dude.”
“Ya, I tried that fasting thing you’ve been talking about on your blog…”
“That has nothing to do with why you’re 6 hours late. Dumb excuse, Man.”
“No, you don’t get it. I didn’t eat, so I felt all tired and shit and ended up falling back asleep for like 5 more hours. I think my body needs food or else I have no energy.”
Yes, this conversation literally happened. It’s good to know that the starving kids in Africa never suffer since they are just sleeping all the time.
All jokes aside, this conversation got me thinking. If you just sleep in on the day that you are fasting, and then take a nap in the afternoon, then it’s like it never happened.
It’s like sleeping on a long car ride and magically waking up at your destination… and everyone loves magic.
Summing it All Up
So basically, I wrote this post to give you a few ways to make fasting more enjoyable.
If you can’t be tough as nails, you might as well pretend you’re tough and cheap shot hunger in the balls.
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