Hunger

One of my friends is studying economics hardcore. This winter he was focusing on global hunger and aspired to fast or consume a Very Low Calorie diet for 30 days, to have some first hand experience with hunger. I got really excited- what an awesome idea! Then he never did it, on the basis of he is not insane, or something. So, because I approve of disrupting the casual excess and comfort my life affords me, I decided not to eat this past February, with the caveat that fasting was my third priority, after school and health. I did a liquid fast of perhaps 300-400 calories per day, and after a few days I started missing deadlines and making a lot of small mistakes that took a lot of my day to correct. For various reasons I drove 75 miles 3 times, once to help my parents move. It was while I was moving furniture and boxes for 4 hours in their attic on the hottest Feb 6th Oakland has ever had that I decided my fast had to be over. I thought I was properly hydrated but I must have been delirious to think I could eat a bowl of ravioli comfortably. One thing I learned is my body is an amazing faster, and when it realized there was no food coming it just coped without making me hungry or anything.