There once was a boy a lot like other boys.

He played sports, games, played with his friends, watched TV and surfed the interwebs.

He finished high-school, and went to University.

There he studied, played sports, partied and had a great time. He would cram for exams with friends, eat bad food and drink lots of coffee.

He lived with friends, got a job, worked, came home, dated girls and hung out at home with his buddies.

They watched hockey (we’re talking about Canadians, eh?) and drank beer and ate chips and other crappy food. They would eat out a lot.

He liked to swim and run and bike, and so he did an IronMan race, which had the added benefit that he could eat a lot more food. (Pastries included!)

Then he met the girl. They moved in together and sure, although he had developed some poor eating habits over the years, he ate healthy.

I mean, he would eat vegetables and fruits that have antioxidants!

Then one day he had a pain in his big toe. It really hurt at 1 in the morning and only felt better if he cut it off held it high in the air over his head.

Its hard to live like that and so the boy went to the doctor who told him he had a gout attack! You know, that thing old people complain about? ¹

Say what?

It was hard to run. That big toe was not quite the same afterwords.

So the boy, worried that this would get worse or be a problem again – I mean he ate healthy and was struck down by an ‘old persons’ problem and he was young!

Anyways, the boy, he took matters into his own hands. He decided not to eat.

You see not eating allowed his body to flush out his blood, to clean out the gout.

Not eating was great! After a few days hunger was no longer an issue (though it sure was cold.)

Not only that, but sleep was more restful and he needed less!

And a funny thing happened. The boy noticed just how much food had transformed from something that gave him energy into a habit.

He noticed how often a cracker here, a cookie there and “a glass of orange juice ’cause I’m procrastinating” happened. (What, oj is healthy food!)

Food had become a habit. He was amazed at how big that habit had become and that the habit… was holding him back.

But back to the fast. After 15 days without a bite of food, his body kindly asked for something to eat.

And so the boy gave it food. And he found that while eating much less food then before he was able to sustain himself for the day.

Strange. He was more or less the same person. Minus 10 or 12 pounds.

So he ate and slept less yet felt more rested and was less tired during the day.

And this is the story of how a boy transformed his relationship with food.

The End.