[Haruchunja] From Today, I Decided to Rewrite Myself <2>

Editor's NoteRewriting oneself may sound difficult and monumental at first, but great things often start from small steps. The first step in rewriting is to truly know yourself. It is important to understand from your own experience?not just from what others say?what you eat and how you move when you feel good or bad, when your mood lightens, and when your heart breaks. The author especially believes that when it comes to health, "ignorance is disease, knowledge is power." From exercise, diet, and lifestyle habits to managing chronic illnesses, the author actively listens to their body to find personalized answers. Sensitive people need to take even more meticulous care of themselves. To those frustrated about how to live the rest of their lives with a fragile self, the author emphasizes that it is still too early to give up and that there is a way to change life without being reborn. Word count: 1020.

Intermittent fasting, which involves maintaining a fasting state at regular intervals, is known as a recommended eating method for modern people living in an era of excess. Methods include maintaining a 16-hour fast daily, alternate-day fasting, or fasting one or two days a week. There are frequent reports of people successfully losing weight or recovering their health through intermittent fasting. When fasting, our body focuses more on repairing existing cells rather than creating new ones, and through this process, unnecessary fat is lost and health improves.

Professor Kim Juhwan, author of Resilience, also recommends intermittent fasting rather than obsessing over the types of food. It is practically difficult to determine what foods are good or harmful through research. Even if a study shows that eating more than 100 grams of red meat daily increases the risk of colon cancer by 17 percent, variables such as whether the person often drinks wine with meat or eats fewer vegetables make it hard to trust the accuracy. However, it is provable that maintaining a fasting state for more than 16 hours is beneficial to health.

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Until now, I only searched for and thought about adding things that are good for health, never considering what to remove. Simply eating less of what you shouldn’t eat changes your body. Without knowing this, I was easily swayed by advertisements and misinformation, spending money and effort only to eat more. Sick people tend to be more gullible. When someone said, “I drank vegetable juice for six months and my atopy was completely cured,” I was the type to click the purchase button immediately. Of course, it might have worked well for me by chance, but it might not have. Fixing bad eating habits should come first. Avoid eating when you’re not hungry, foods not made from natural ingredients, excessively sweet or spicy foods, and fried foods as much as possible.

However, if there are too many things you must avoid eating, it causes stress. Also, the rebound effect of suppressing cravings only to binge uncontrollably later cannot be ignored. Therefore, allowing yourself to eat what you want occasionally while usually maintaining a slightly empty stomach through intermittent fasting might be the most sustainable and stable health method for life.

－Kim Sunyoung, From Today, I Decided to Rewrite Myself, Bookie, 17,500 KRW