The fast I chose
Giving up donuts for the sake of cholesterol didn’t bring me closer to God. But it did teach me something about sacrifice.
I haven’t consumed alcohol, grains, dairy, legumes, or added sugars since January 1. Instead, I’ve been filling my plate with vegetables, meat, nuts, and fruit. (Oh, and eggs. So many eggs—scrambled, fried, hard-boiled. It’s a small miracle that I don’t dream about eggs, I’ve consumed so many.)
Perhaps you recognize this particular mode of eating as paleo, that scientifically dubious theory that our bodies haven’t evolved quickly enough to tolerate all the refined carbohydrates and sugars we consume, and that we should focus on the sorts of foods our paleolithic ancestors would have hunted and gathered.
The particular iteration of paleo I’ve been following is called the Whole30—participants commit to following the restrictive elimination diet for 30 days. This meant to give people firsthand data on how their bodies respond to different foods.
