A book, a diet, a lifestyle I have been revisiting over the years...
The Warrior Diet.
This has always impressed me as a manageable synthesis of all the truths about nutrition I have learned over the years. Reprogramming the metabolism, breaking free from the cycle of feedings we have accustomed ourselves to. Living a lifestyle more in tune with your body's feedback over the stimulation of the senses. The plan? Relatively basic. Eat nothing but fresh, raw fruits in the morning. Fresh, greens and vegetables in the afternoon, and after a stimulating workout, the evening meal can be of whatever quantity and quality your body tells you it needs. I'm not starving, I eat throughout the day...it's just fruits, vegetables and lots of water. Keeps my body from triggering the starvation/ storage reaction.
It also teaches you the benefits of HUNGER. Not simply for food...
Living on the edge of hunger and controlling it, just as you would want to control other passions, desires, cravings....puts you on edge, and GIVES you an edge. Senses are sharper, clearer, and your brain is more alert. Your activity level and the force with which you go after tasks is increased. You have rewards to look forward to...that evening meal, which keeps you goal oriented and focused.
It is the easiest way to experience what the gospel means when it's trying to teach you to overcome your physical body and have it submissive to your spirit. Its parallels in the moral discipline realm are staggering. That same edge, created by hunger, but kept at bay and focused is also the source of strength, confidence when applied to morality. There is a hunger, a craving...always present but kept at bay, and focused toward a goal. It gives you real power and transforms you from a weakling, complaining that you're hungry, into...well,...a machine. Fueled by the very thing that others would consider is robbing you of strength. Lesson is taught in Matthew. Even for great men, those stubborn 'devils' "goeth not out but by prayer and FASTING"- which is not simply to skip a few meals and call it a fast...but the lesson is to FAST, to subdue the body by the spirit, and when you FAST in all areas of life, (diet, fitness, morality, entertainment, etc) then you will experience what I'm trying to describe...a power.
What it has taught me is to not be afraid of hunger. To recognize it, control it and use it.
So the lesson to be conveyed to others, younger men who will one day be in my situation, it to not be afraid of physical cravings, but to recognize it, control it and use it.
Because, to be brutally honest, the one secret question on a lot of peoples' minds is how can someone do it? How can a man be asked to go for years at a time (whether on missions, deployments or whatever the case is) and not give into baser temptations. The world has conditioned us, just as in our diets, that it cannot and should not be done. We need 3 square meals a day to be healthy, right? Wrong. Dad taught me:
You either control yourself....or find yourself controlled.

(I kinda went off on a tangent there)
Back to the original point of this post: It works out well for me...except for today. I had my usual minimalist fruits and salad throughout the day, but then the unexpected delays at work caused me to miss the dinner hours at the chow hall. I guess I will have to fast completely until tomorrow morning, since the only other options are the water or diet Cokes in the fridge...