Week 5 of the liquid diet regimen. I’m now so bored with the choices, often I don’t even care if I eat or not. Last night, I opened the fridge door, surveyed my options apathetically, and shut it again. Another cucumber-yogurt smoothie? How about a mug of hot broth laced with truffle oil? Total meh. Later when I finally felt the stirrings of true hunger, I whipped up a low-carb shake of cocoa, stevia, peanut butter and coconut milk. This diet is heavy on sweet things, which I quickly lost my taste for, but at least something like this provides a decent quota of calories and protein, so I can forget about eating for a while.
Believe me, this is a strange state of affairs for someone whose daily life once revolved around the preparation, consumption and sharing of meals. At first I viewed this development in mundane terms — I’m indifferent to food at present because it is unappealing — but I gradually realized there’s a much grander way to look at it: temporarily at least, this experience has released me from my attachment to food. (I call it attachment rather than addiction, because the relationship has never been unhealthy, just intense!)
It’s also provided me with a new window into the ascetic practice of fasting. (Intermittent fasting has also become popular as a health and weight-loss regimen, of course.) Untroubled by bodily yearnings, adherents describe a blissful, superhuman state of clarity, confidence and serenity. (Fasting supposedly changes brain chemistry, increasing levels of catecholamines, neurochemicals such as dopamine which elevate mood and reduce anxiety.)
Maybe I’ll never reach blissed-out fasting nirvana, but I do recognize that my current apathy is probably for the best right now, if the alternative is to be racked with unquenchable cravings. Never thought I had an ascetic bone in my body, but maybe I do.
Linnetontheleaf 
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