Fasting is about knowing what you need and taking control of it.

All of us, at one point or another, have found ourselves hungry and craving french fries. But did you know that hunger and cravings are different things? Hunger is a biological message, while cravings are a psychological need – and the junk food industry, peddling highly processed food, has put a lot of effort into convincing you they’ve got just the thing to satisfy your craving. 

So if you have a problem controlling unhealthy cravings, fasting might be a solution. But fasting is neither a diet nor a lifestyle. Rather, fasting is a mindset – it means going without. It’s learning how to gain strength by saying no. 

The key message here is: Fasting is about knowing what you need and taking control of it. 

By going without, you actually break the cycle of consumption and, in that space, give yourself time to reflect. Do I really need that burger? That fifth cup of coffee? That tenth scroll through Instagram?

Yes, even Instagram. It may seem unrelated, but in taking a break from the instant gratification of social media (or whatever else you use to feel a momentary escape), you’d be practicing what Cameron Sepah, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, calls “dopamine fasting.” Imagine how much stronger and calmer you’d feel if you could resist the pull of phone alerts and endless scrolls to focus on a task that requires all your concentration. 

You wouldn’t be giving up social media entirely, of course, because fasting isn’t about quitting something forever. Rather, it’s about self-control. A great example of this is oxygen fasting. Sounds crazy, right? But athletes do it all the time – they train in low-oxygen environments to build up lung capacity. Many forms of yoga, too, extol the benefits of breath control. 

It’s important to note that although fasting can be uncomfortable, it’s not about suffering. With the right mindset, fasting can be a joyous experience because you achieve a sense of power and control. Then, as you continue to practice fasting, it just becomes . . . well, normal.