Being able to change anything in the life of a grownup is an undertaking that shouldn’t be taken lightly. With age comes rigidity, and a pull towards beaten paths and comfort. I see it in my parents, I see it in my friends, I see it in myself.

Yet, I can state with pride that over the years I have made a lot of adjustments to my lifestyle. I’m talking about barefoot shoes, time-restricted feeding, breathing exercises, monochromatic displays, blue light reduction, high amount of bodyweight exercises. If there’s a thing that doesn’t require a prescription and doesn’t cost a fortune - I’ve probably given it a try. As may be obvious, the only rule is that there are no rules. If the attempt can be measured - measure, evaluate, act. If not - trial, evaluate, act.

In the past several months I started to play with my feeding window and, consequentially, my eating habits. The process has been unnerving but exciting and very informative, hence I believe it deserves to be inscribed in 0s and 1s here. Before that, though, let me share how I came to the current state of affairs.

One day I was working remotely. It was a day where no 20/20/20 rule could be kept, all boiled water would never amount to a tea, where my buttocks would scream for mercy and my mouth would be dry. Yes, I had a lot of work to do. When the working day needed a conclusion of sorts due to parental duties, I found myself staring at my watch. It showed 16:00. I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I was surprised and a bit worried. I quickly put something together, devoured it and carried on with my day. An hour later, for my amazement, I was happily having dinner with my family. As the next day started to unfold without me missing a beat, I realized that, unintentionally, I had stumbled on to something that could be useful to me. Not only did I not waste time in eating and fighting “the subsequent crash” but I spent a considerable part of my waking time consuming/producing information. To me that means a lot.

So I decided to give this extended restricted feeding window a chance. I went from 16 to 20.5 hours. Implementing it meant that I needed to not have lunch with my colleagues. That made me sad, as I appreciate the conversations we have over a meal. It also meant that I needed to eat cold food. However, I went on with it and albeit confused, my dear co-workers didn’t bother too much with my experiment. This went on for a week. I saw the potential but felt that it was unsustainable. So I dialed it down a notch and started eating at 14.5 hours. That allowed me to have enough space for even three meals and enjoy a guilty pleasure of some sort.

The results from this adjustment are quite telling:

• fitness level has been great - even though my workouts have been getting harder, the progress and injury-free execution has continued
• prolonged stretches of focus work - depending on the day, I see stretches of several hours a day where I can dive deep into matters that require focus and remain in that state. This is my biggest win.
• physique has improved - you know for the ego
• resting heart rate is stable
• emotional state is stable

If I didn’t have my one and only rule to guide me, I’d say that this would’ve been sufficient. Of course, that is not the case with me. So I kept an open mind and I was rewarded with this video. I have explored the essence of what Jessie talks about. Even though I fail to see the connection she makes between some topics, I was curious to play. So I went ahead and implemented the easiest rule of them all - start every meal with a veggie.

Due my new-found eating schedule, that felt quite easy to do. For a while I had no clue if that made any difference to how I felt or not. However, on days where I went for something sweet as the first thing I consumed for the day, I felt an immediate change. Primarily it was about how the blood in my body gets redistributed so that the food that has arrived is broken down and absorbed. I’m guessing that the sensitivity my system has developed towards glucose has increased.

The results from this experiment:

• greater appreciation for veggies - even though I have cut on meat in the past years, I feel fun to munch on a red bell pepper, a carrot or a cucumber. Before it felt boring.
• ability to say no to sweets - sweets are my biggest weakness. They are my drug and I am addicted to them. However, now it seems I have the mental and empirical support to resist excessive sugar feasts.
• stable energy levels post-meals
• less feelings of discomfort in the stomach - I’m one of the lucky ones that don’t have problem in the digestion area but this exercise helped me refine that even further

With all these discoveries about myself, one would say it is a no-brainer to integrate them completely in my day-to-day. I would agree if it wasn’t for the mental aspect of “identity-grade” changes.

Here’s an observation - what and when I eat is my business but others have opinions about that. Why is that? Well, eating is not just tanking up. It is also socializing. It is sharing an experience. So walking the unbeaten path means being an outsider. This pushback from the surroundings could come in the form of reflecting back ones former image to themselves or applying pressure so that the person conforms to the status quo.

Self-imposed pressure to act a certain way and try to fit in can complement the provocative questions and snarky remarks by others. I’m assuming it is related to the social aspect of being a human being. The very human that undervalues the effort that one puts in just to reach another level of personal growth.

In closing, I’d say that self-exploration is a hard but rewarding endeavour. The path that leads to betterment can be as direct or as detoured as one makes it. As they say if you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.