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Lindsey Melden's avatar

Love this. The fast, the devil card!!! That is so perfect.

I wonder if somewhere between gluttony and self-control is...contentment?? I don’t love that word, but like a peace with things as they are? I don’t know just something that came to mind while reading. But I also still feel itchy around the word control, so that might just be work I still need to do.

Definitely going to check out that app!

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Katharine Strange's avatar

I like that idea of contentment. "Control" is definitely a tricky concept--I felt some resistance to the term "self-control" as I was writing but couldn't come up with anything better. It feels similar to parenting--when do I push my kids because I know they are capable of more and when do I accept their limitations? It feels like compassion is an important ingredient, too...

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Diana Lee's avatar

Fasting, despite it's longstanding history in many spiritual belief systems, feels like diet culture to me. Since I'm middle aged I'll be getting my first colonoscopy in a few months and prep for that involves fasting. Otherwise, I don't see myself fasting ever again in my life. Mainly because it's not a good fit for my chronic health issues, but also because it feels too close to the way I used to deny myself the right to eat because I'm fat.

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Katharine Strange's avatar

Yeah, diet culture definitely complicates fasting. Jesus and Buddha didn't have that shit to deal with, haha. Food is freighted with a lot of meanings apart from simple nourishment. I wonder if there's an equivalent practice that doesn't involve food?

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Tom Pendergast's avatar

I do think fasting is Type 2 Fun! Now I only do it very occasionally, but when I do, it’s a chance to step back from my eating patterns and seeing them as separate from me, and something that I don’t have to be so wedded to.

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Katharine Strange's avatar

why does it feel like I'm stepping onto a conveyor belt that ends with me running a marathon?

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Lindsey Melden's avatar

😂😂 fasting & marathons are type 2 fun LOL

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Tom Pendergast's avatar

there are worse conveyor belts to step onto!

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