Sir Christopher on 14/10 Fasting

Hello to all our readers!  This is the newsletter for August, the month when my wife and I were married 66 years ago.  We are still together, and care for one another – in both the senses of caring: liking, and looking after.  Cherishing loving relationships is an essential feature of healthy ageing. 

So is fasting.  It is important to give the body a rest from the seemingly constant task of consumption and digestion.  Some people like to follow the 5:2 plan – three meals a day from Monday to Friday, and nothing at all over the weekend.  But that’s not my cup of tea.  I practise daily, overnight fasts from 6.15 pm to 8.15 am (fourteen hours) with no sweets or snacks during the evening, of course.  But I also need to control my habitual greed during the day.  This is the routine that works for me: rule 1 – no second helpings; rule 2 – the ‘fasting window’ of 14 hours; and rule 3 – inviting my wife to serve me a sensible helping of each dish, to avoid a natural tendency to overload the plate.  It works for me, and amuses guests!  My objective is to reach (and maintain) a healthy BMI.  Google it.

‘All shall be well…’ I advised last month, quoting a medieval Christian mystic, called Dame Julian of Norwich; ‘Sin is behovely…and all manner of thing shall be well.’  My Indian friend calls this idea The Lotus Perspective, since the beautiful lotus plant grows in mud and strives to find the sunlight.  So do we, and so should we.  Never forget that sin and wrong, ill health and poverty (our muddy lives!) provide us with opportunities to do good.  So pick up the litter in the streets – and don’t just deplore it.  Remember the lotus!

Top tip for August: eat turmeric!  Apparently it is even better for you if it is dissolved in milk (almond milk in my case, as a vegan).  And design your own fasting regime.  And enjoy it!  All good wishes.