Fasting Space

I was sitting there.

it was a gorgeous evening.

Sun is setting. It's
just that golden light.

And, with the spring on the
the fresh green leaves.

And it was so beautiful.

I was having kind of a meditation,
just trying to think

and clear the thoughts
and the thought that came to me.

Now, this might sound
a little dark at first, but the thought

was, you're not really going to be here
that much longer.

Like thinking of mortality and death.

the thought wasn't just not just you.

You know, your friends,
your family were were this passing moment.

It wasn't really a dark
as I didn't feel dark.

It felt like it's just the reality.

Do you think about this ever?

I think especially in the West,

you know, our culture,
we don't think about death a lot.

We try to not to think about it.

We, I think sometimes try to pretend
that we can do something about it.

I know in medicine it feels that way.

We're in an extremely advanced era now,
you know, and we do have incredible

medical technology, especially for trauma.

Right. You know, you're in a car accident.

Now, the probability that you survive

much higher than decades ago.

But we're still on a one way track, right?

so I was sitting there
thinking about this.

Started
thinking about some of the philosophy,

stoicism and things that I've read
that have a focus on death

as a way to enhance and bring meaning

and presence to our life.

I've always appreciated that can be
a difficult dive to do, but worthwhile.

So I thought we'd dive into it today.

I think about,
and especially at the intersection

with fasting
that's bring everything back to health.

Like we're focused on health.

We want to make health
right is a priority.

And health we think life but everything.

I think like a ying yang
I think two sides to things.

Life and death can be hard
to focus on death,

I think as a primary care doctor,
I think about how many visits I had

with people trying to get people
to fill out a power of attorney document,

for example, to try to just spend
a few minutes and help to communicate

to their loved ones what their wishes
would be very hard to do.

Very valuable to do though.

one quote that came to me,
I was thinking of inversion.

So there's a few people
have a quote like this.

The one I picked from Charlie Munger,

American businessman, recently deceased.

Always invert, always invert.

Turn a situation, a problem upside down.

Look at it backwards.

There's a few quotes like this.

Einstein has a quote
that's basically like that always invert.

And then when you search it,
you'll see that people, you know,

like almost any famous quote, people say,
oh, really?

This person said it.

Okay.

A lot of people have have said something
like this.

The way Charlie Munger would use
it would be to say, okay,

it's very hard to have an incredible idea,
run a brilliant business

with a life changing idea,
but it's very easy to destroy a business.

And so it's like,
if we can't necessarily figure out,

like the groundbreaking thing, like,
let's invert it and say, well,

how would we drive this business
into the ground, you know, and like,

let's identify the ways
and then we'll not do that.

then at least we're covering the bases,
we at least won't destroy it.

And then we can go from there.

This can be a very nice way
to think about a health practice, too.

You know, we're in a health landscape
where

there's a man, you just like the ads.

You know, I'm on YouTube.

I'm trying to, you know, do my YouTube
channel and and it's in a health space.

So I think it targets all the,
you know, people trying to sell you

weight loss programs and health programs.

And it's what a mess,
you know, of people trying to sell things.

But it's like, how do we how do we drive
this body into the ground, right.

We eat terribly.

We don't move.

We drink too much,
we never get good sleep.

Or it's like, let's not do that.

So I like that.

So in a health space,
always we're thinking about life.

We say we don't like to think about death.

We'd just think about life.

How do we live better?

Inversion trying to take us the other way.

How do we how do we die?

How do we end this?

And then we're trying
to push back against it.

That'd be the way to mirror.

Munger here.

Here's
the reality of the situation, right?

The reality is that we're mortal beings,

and we have a finite amount of time
here. And.

This can be a clarifying reality
to experience the the philosophy

that I was thinking of, it's
generally a stoic principle, memento mori.

Are you familiar with this?

This is a Latin phrase, remember,
you must die.

So the Stoics, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca,
Epictetus.

Right.

They'll have a practice, maybe
even a daily mantra focusing in remember

that your mortal and that practice
of reflecting on it as a goal.

Not to be a downer, not to be negative,

live more fully, present wisely

in this time that we have.

So that's where I was going with that.

I think meditation, where

I was just realizing that,
okay, we're here in this beautiful moment.

You know, I thought about taking a picture
to share of just this gorgeous sunset,

but then it's like,
then I'd have to leave it

and then I wouldn't be fully experiencing
that moment.

I was like,
that's kind of like defeating the purpose.

Remembering that we're mortal, realizing
what a gift it is.

I think that's
what I was seeing in this sunset.

Just this beauty and the light
and just the simplicity.

Like for any amount of money,
you know, you can't you can't buy

a beautiful sunset.

I mean, it's
just it's there to experience.

I saw a quote this week.

What was it?

Kierkegaard, I think, said

life is not a problem to be solved,
but a reality to be experienced.

I thought that was so beautiful.

Live more fully,
wisely present in this moment.

Death can help to clarify that.

Life is finite, so don't waste time
on trivialities or grudges.

This is such a beautiful principle
that flows out of it.

Don't waste time on anything,
basically, right?

Like there's not that much to waste.

That's what I was thinking.

Like, we're here for a fleeting moment.

How do we make the best use?

How do we make the best decisions
that really maximize

the things that we care about?

What are the things that you care about?

You know? Family?

Health, right.

They seem to be the top things for me.

So a memento mori focusing on this.

Help us eliminate

wasting of time on trivialities
and things that don't really matter.

Helps us realize, okay,
when we stop this practice of, like,

pretending death doesn't exist,
or especially within our modern context,

being just totally afraid of it
or fixated on it,

like so much of our modern health system
here's the great irony.

We're so focused on avoiding death.

I saw some statistic.

I didn't I didn't look it up here,
but it's some huge fraction.

I don't remember what it is of.

The Medicare budget is spent
in the last year of people's life,

when it's hard to really move
the needle many times, you know,

whereas the things
that really actually help

postpone death, if this is what we're
trying to do, is trying to stay

healthy is like, I want to make sure
that that event is like pushed out.

That's kind of the goal.

That's like really where the investment
pays off, right?

That's how we'll get into fasting, right?

An incredible health practice to help

keep the system,
the bodily system, in good working order.

Death is natural not to be feared.

Absolutely.

Death gives urgency
and meaning to our choices.

Lot of times are paradoxes in life, right?

Like death, we think of
as like the worst part of life.

The worst experience is
what we're trying to avoid.

Yet death is ultimately the part of life

can give context and meaning.

Focusing on mortality
can clarify the priorities.

Isn't that something we need to do?

Strengthen our gratitude?

Absolutely.

That's what I was feeling this week
as I was watching this sunset.

And I think that's
what I was seeing, like.

You have a finite amount of time,

and it was just really helping me
appreciate it.

I was like, how many beautiful sunsets do
we actually get to experience like this?

On a beautiful, crisp
but warm spring evening?

Beautiful golden
light on the in the fresh air.

I felt so much gratitude for it.

And so how do we use that practice
to bring

okay, gratitude, clarify
our priorities, help us live with purpose.

Living with purpose.

Should absolutely be all of our goal,
right?

How do we live with purpose?

And then let's tie that in
then to fasting.

So fasting is a health practice
of which there are many.

I focus and I started this channel

of focus on this channel
just because I feel like fasting,

one of the most powerful health practices
that there is actually

an incredibly clarifying,
powerful state in the body.

Yet it's like the most
neglected in our society

because we have a consumption culture.

Everything focused, consume,
consume by cell, you know?

We've kind of lost touch.

Many cultures throughout history
have had this connection, okay.

And we've kind of lost it.
So I want to focus in on that.

And sometimes people say.

They're interested in a fasting practice
for a health benefit,

but they say, well, I'm struggling
with some motivation.

Well, here is an interesting question.

Fasting is it is it better than dying?

I was having some fun with this
as I was thinking about it.

Here's
my little fasting dinner the other day.

I took this photo.

I think it was two weeks ago.

I did a bit of a longer fast
and was just trying to come up

with a way to represent that fasting
better than dying.

And, you know,
we sat here and we've been talking about.

Death and the reality of our mortality.

I'm going to try to tie in.

We're talking about the inversion, quote.

Munger. Right.

I usually try to focus on fasting
from like the very positive side,

which is like it's
usually not as bad as most people think.

It can actually feel like a rest and
a reset and a rejuvenation in the body.

You feel lighter,
especially as you learn to do it.

Maybe the first couple of times, you see,
I'm not used to this and certainly.

Yeah. Can it be can it be difficult?

Okay. Yes. Okay.

So then let's let's invert
and look at it from the other side.

Can it be terrible.

Could it be a terrible experience.

Well especially if you build it
up in your mind I think it could.

Or if you've had negative experiences
with it in the past,

you were prevented from eating
when you wanted to do it.

See, that's not fasting, okay?

Fasting, a voluntary practice
of exploration in the body

of training yourself to use energy
that is within yourself.

Very positive sort of experience.

But we're inverting.

We're saying, well,

what if you say you want to do it,
but it's very difficult for you?

You say, I feel.

The difficulty, the struggle of it.

I think in many ways
life is about struggle, especially

a life of meaning, like.

We often find meaning through struggle
and through overcoming struggle.

So if the if the ultimate difficulty
in life is dying

and we're confronting death
we're seeing that actually

death is normal and natural
and not to be feared.

Well, where does a fasting practice fit in
and relate to that?

You know, this is how you build, I think

strength, conviction, courage
is to realize.

I'm a mortal being.

And if death even isn't to be feared,
how much less then

are things that are short of that?

And especially then
when I come to fasting, when to realize

not only is this not a negative,
does it help you reframe it?

Not only is it not negative is actually
a life giving practice.

Then we can start to see. Yes.

Okay. So to me this is kind of funny.

I thought about just titling.

The thing is
it is fasting better than dying?

Here's one of my favorite quotes.

I don't know who said it.

The secret to happiness

in life is low expectations,
and I generally think that's true.

You know, many things that we try to do

in our life
don't turn out as well as we hope.

Like we find some new thing. We think, oh,
this is going to be the thing.

This is going to bring happiness,
joy, fulfillment.

And then oftentimes it disappoints
a little bit, especially things

we buy, right.

So here I'm setting the bar
very low on the last slide.

Right.

It's fasting better than dying.

Like that's a low bar.

And I was I was having some fun.

I was thinking about commercials
that I could run for

simple fasting and be like,
check out simple Fasting.

Now with Doctor Z's exclusive program,
it's Better than dying.

So it's kind of a joke, but like,
the reality is you set the bar low,

then you can be very encouraged
when something is better.

So if something's better than dying, us.

Not a bad place to start, in my view.

That's actually like a foundation
that you can build from in

like a really sustainable way.

What I'm, I'm very interested
in finding ways to help people move toward

health practices that are sustainable,
you know, that aren't hyping things

and trying to sell people on things,
but just dealing with the reality.

I think that's why this thought
of like focusing on mortality

resonated so much with me.

It's the reality is a very grounding,
as in like

six feet under grounding,
from from dust to dust.

That's the cycle.

And then in the middle, this beautiful
reality to be experienced and cherished.

And we dive in on it.

Here's the paradox death maximizes life.

I think it does.

Here was a list of ways I thought,
okay, there's a fascinating literature

developing around cancer and fasting.

Are you familiar?

We have telomeres.

Telomeres are these ends on our
chromosomes that are like little timers.

Every time the cell divides,
it chops off the end of a telomere. And.

This is like nature's solution to cancer.

How do you cure cancer?

Like through death?

Basically, there's no reason necessarily

in and of itself
that our chromosomes need telomeres on it.

And basically what happens is like
once you run out of telomeres,

then then the cell dies.

Can't divide anymore anyway.

And so people have said like, well,
what if we could,

you know, freeze the telomeres.

Like couldn't, couldn't
we live much longer if we,

if we didn't have this telomere system
or if we could stabilize it?

Some evidence that fasting does

stabilize telomeres in a healthy way.

I think that's been proven.
But here's the thing.

If A what happens with cancer,
if we if we didn't have telomeres

the cell starts dividing, dividing.

It's getting out of control.

If it can't be stopped
then it can take over okay.

But when it burns through the telomeres
then it stops the cycle.

So this system the solution to cancer
is actually ages and kills us.

Right. What a paradox okay.

And that nature is finding that balance,

maximizing the amount of life
without getting cancer right.

You have to strike the middle path.

A way that death maximizes life.

Autophagy.

Okay, I did the live session I talked
to back in the fall about autophagy.

When we're fasting, would trigger
these natural pathways in the body

that are about burning through,
okay, the excess,

the dysfunctional, the damaged,
and replacing it with something new.

Part of that process is a pathway in
the body called apoptosis.

And apoptosis is the programed cell death
pathway.

Is like an auto destruct
that basically every cell in the body has.

And through complex mechanisms
that can be triggered.

Body has specialized cells that,
especially in this autophagy

state, will go through and look for
dysfunctional cells and trigger

these apoptosis pathways and kill

a dysfunctional cell, basically
blow it up, then call in a stem cell,

replace it with a new healthy
functioning cell.

So there's another paradox, right?

Death of the cell brings
life to the body and health.

And so fasting interacting
with both of these things, these cancer

telomere pathways, cancerous cells
a dysfunctional sick cell

can be killed through apoptosis
pathways, natural killer cells.

So we have a physical
and a philosophical impact.

Physically death in

parts of the body bringing life and health
philosophically

as we're contemplating
death, help us focus on the beauty

and the presence
and the experience of life and living.

So these are kind of bringing us right

into like broader stoic
sort of principles.

So Stoics sort of principle
live in harmony with nature and reason.

This is totally the zone we're sort of
in, right?

Reflecting on the natural cycle.

Fitting into it in a way that is.

Is not struggling. Right.

A lot of stoicism and philosophy
in general coming to accept reality.

Big core of stoicism practice virtue
like wisdom.

So I call this little session
the wisdom of fasting.

Okay?

In a culture
that is just drowning in consumption,

drowning in blood sugar, struggling
with weight and metabolism and health.

I say my perspective
is that to encounter fasting,

which is a practice
that can move directly at that space.

Burn through blood sugar naturally without
any cost or medicine or basically risk.

They can help empower you
to use the energy that is within you.

Extra body fat, the philosophic
as much as scientific purpose.

It's there to power the body
in the absence of food.

So to create for yourself space
where you can use that, say it very wise.

I think it's an exceptionally wise thing
to do.

Practice a virtue of courage.

Okay.

We're heading
right at that space today. Right?

If you can look at death
and see it as natural

and not to be feared, okay,

or to face it with courage

to move toward it without looking away,
and use it as an object

that can bring joy, meaning,
and beauty to your life.

Okay, that's like living with courage.

And in a consumption culture
where you can be criticized

or looked down upon
if you're not eating like other people.

Everybody wants conformity, right?

Someone else eating they don't want.

They say,

you got to eat, to write, to, to say,
this is not what I'm doing right now.

That can be a type of courage.

even when we're alone.

You can feel that pressure, right?

Oh, I'm not acting the way
the culture says.

I need to act.

How about temperance? Right.

So part of a consumption culture.

Is more of like a hedonism, right?

Is like seek continuous enjoyment, right?

To push back against that and say,
you know what?

I don't have to be seeking
some external gratification.

Finding contentment, temperance,
more about finding contentment

within ourselves.

Absolutely.

This can help us move
into that sort of space.

View obstacles
as opportunities for growth.

To me,
this is like a core stoic principle,

and this can be absolutely
a way to practice that.

When we invert,
we look at fasting from the other side.

We see it as an obstacle.
We see that it is difficult.

We recognize the reality of it,
at least for some people

at some times,
and see it from the other perspective.

Sometimes it's not.

Sometimes it's easy, sometimes okay,
but sometimes

we come from the very other perspective.

See is an obstacle, okay?

Human beings overcome obstacles,
especially when we approach them

in a very thoughtful,
dedicated, courageous sort of fashion.

And even more
so when we come together to try

to overcome an obstacle together.

Things that seem insurmountable alone

become less insurmountable
when we work on it together.

Develop inner peace through detachment
from external outcomes.

Big stoic principle, big thing
I want to try to help people

do on the channel and in the work
that I'm doing, more important to me

that we develop an inner peace

than have any specific health outcome.

What if someone loses
all the weight that they want, but they

they're stressed out by it
and they hate it,

and it hard to say that would be better.

For example.

I'll tell you this sort of practice
memento mori coming to peace with death,

an exceptional practice
to help develop peace in the rest of life.

If you can come to peace, ultimately,
with the fleeting nature of our existence,

okay can definitely help to put things

in perspective
with the rest of our experience.

So here's a centering principle
quote from Marcus Aurelius.

You could leave life right now.

Let that determine what you do
and say and think.

That will be my encouragement for you
for the week.

Spend some time
contemplating these thoughts.

The reality of the fleeting
and passing nature of this moment

that we're experiencing here
on this beautiful place together.

Let that reality help
to put in perspective the challenges

that we experience.

We all have stress and difficulty.

Let's not waste time on trivialities
and things that don't matter.

And let's use that reality
to center ourselves

on the health practices that actually
bring life and vitality and health.

These are the things,
ultimately, that will help push death out,

maximize life without fearing

the ultimate trajectory that we are on.

That's the paradox blend them together,

maximize life and health and vitality.

I hope these thoughts are helpful to you.

I hope you have a beautiful week

and I will see you back here next week.