Water Fasting: The Low-Food Diet

Like most Xennial women, I’m no stranger to dieting. I’ve been dieting my whole life, and after 30-something years, I consider myself a pro.

In my 20s and 30s, I called Asia my home but I never quite fit in. It wasn’t my blonde hair and blueish eyes (or my American angst) that made me stand out amongst the crowd, it was that I was larger and heavier than anyone around me. I became obsessed with weight loss like never before.

There was the ABC diet, the egg diet, the nothing-but-orange-juice diet that morphed into the fruitarian diet. No, I had enough sense to know that a bread-tarian diet wouldn’t work, though it did cross my mind. The problem with these diets was that it took effort. You still had to make conscious decisions and tell yourself one thing was ok when another wasn’t. You also still had to make things to eat, and that took time. lol. 

So when I found out about the lady who claimed to be a “Breatharian” and lived on air alone (which turned out to be a lie, by the way, she drank and ate at night), lightning struck: the low-food diet. 

Quite simple, on this ‘diet’ I would eat as little as possible, aiming for zero nibbles a day. All the water, tea, and coffee I wanted, and an occasional lemon spritzer from the sandwich shop on the corner. (Once I found out it was a can of Sprite and lemon juice, I had to nix it, though. Sugar is the enemy!) I walked the half mile between my apartment and my bookstore, ate close to nothing, and my clothes fit better. It was so easy. 

But then I moved back to the US and oh, boy, was the food in America good. Addictively good. So much salt and sugar and oil — the magic combination McDonald’s found to be best for its menu — and I couldn’t stop eating. 

When I did eat in Asia, it was fruit and vegetables, tofu and rice, curries and light broth soups, and the occasional small portion of meat. Now in the US, my diet was standard American (commonly referred to as SAD — standard American diet) and everything in huge portions. My family would make fun of me for taking half my meals at restaurants home with me; plates were so big and overfilled with food that there was no way I could eat it all. Over time, my stomach stretched and eating everything on my plate was easy.

What I was doing with my low-food diet was essentially water fasting. Water fasting involves consuming only water, typically for a period of 24 hours to several days. The practice restricts all other food and beverages. Historically, it has been used for spiritual awareness in various cultural and religious contexts, especially in Hindi, Buddhist, and Christian cultures. More recently, it has gained attention in the West for its affects on physical health. 

Americans have particularly latched on to water fasting, and influencers use fasting as a money maker. Who could imagine that a diet based on nothing would produce an over $400 million industry. There are apps, supplements, books, workshops, and personal guides who make their money on yes, selling you nothing. 

Back to my journey, though, I’ve hit a point where I weight too much to do the things I want to do. I’m aging fast and my health is noticeably declining, and the extra weight makes everything worse. It’s time for change, and yup, we’re bringing fasting back.