Savvy and I love to fast. We have trained our minds to observe our ghrelin (hunger hormone) & leptin (satiety hormone) dance. Savvy is an aficionado of this topic. She can fast at the drop of a hat. We never eat breakfast (last 3 years) and seldom do we have dinner. A few times, we go on a three days fast of lemon juice, coffee & green tea.

Our excesses consist of almonds & other nuts. Dosa, idly & aloo paranta are a luxury.

The Ayyappa Challenge urges you to go through this interesting path. My guruswamy always skips dinner.

My friend & journalist, Kamatchy Sappani writes about the tribes in Indonesia. They have no system of eating as Westernized minds do. These tribals eat once in 3 days, sometimes once a week. They eat only when they are hungry.

None of the tribals talked about eating 6 meals to stabilize blood sugars.

Hindus are supposed to fast on the 11^th day of the moon (Ekadasi – a forgotten practice).

Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi won a Nobel Prize for discovering the mechanism of autophagy (body eating its own junk) in 2016.

Today intermittent fasting is a buzz word among elite. AYYAPPA Challenge takers have been observing it for over a century.

So, what do savvy & I eat?

During these 41days, we have the regular lunch minus the omelets.

We take tons of vegetables, salads and gorge on fruits. We love the feel of antioxidants in our body.

Stuff we avoid:

i) No fried food – I still crave for this food but for 41 days it’s a strict no. Fried stuff to me is acrylamides (browning) which causes aging, glycation (increase in random sugars) and cancer.

ii) No packaged oil – Double refined is a euphemism for oil devoid of essential fats & amino acids. No wonder, these packaged oils are tasteless and odorless. Chakki is the place to go to.

iii) No leftovers are consumed – Fresh food is prana. As the food deteriorates, prana diminishes. I tell women not to eat the leftovers as they are not the garbage can of their house. Our stomach is not a dustbin.

A leftover is the melting pot of different harmful bacteria.

iv) No packaged food / junk – Takers of the Ayyappa Challenge usually consume home food. Even on their trek up the mountains, idli is the preferred food as it is bland & harmless.

Packaged food is dead-food, protected for consumption using preservatives & colored additives.

Maggi has no other option but to add MSG (mono sodium glutamate). That is the only way they can hijack our brains into meaningless consumption.

Should we succumb to the lures of the MNCs or should we act out of our own volition?

Is the challenge getting tougher?

Any takers? Any comment?

Shiv signing off from S & S Family First – build family to build the nation.