Dieting on the 17th of Tammuz

I’m on a diet. Specifically I’m on the Keto Diet. For me dieting is the first stage in my process of getting healthy to live a long and fruitful life. The second stage will be transforming to a more normal and healthy lifestyle which we’ll talk about in a future post. While I’m on keto I’m in stage of dieting that takes place every day including fast days.

Am I fasting? Of course I’m fasting. I’m just wondering if the fast will be easier for me now that I’ve been on Keto for almost 3 months and I am already eating a lot less. So did I binge eat last night (or early morning before the fast)? Nope. The last food I ate was Shalosh Seudos. I’m so used to only eating two meals and although I have not committed to intermittent fasting, I do mostly follow it. I have a cup of coffee before davening, and then I have my first meal between 1pm - 2pm and then dinner between 7:00pm - 8:30pm depending on the day. I don’t snack at night anymore and truth is it’s about 2:45pm when I’m writing this and I’m not really hungry. I was up about 20 minutes before the fast started at 4:45am and I drank a lot of water and took a pill that helps me with inflammation, but I didn’t eat anything.

I will most likely break my fast on a cup of water and then perhaps some egg-drop soup left over from Shabbos and then maybe 1/2 hour later I’ll have some salmon and broccoli kugel. I should be ok with that. Funny thing is I’m talking a blood test tomorrow morning after my shiur so I’ll be missing my morning Joe two days in a row.

Why a blood test? Well it will be my first one in about 3 years and I’m going through some other real challenges that I haven’t talked about yet and I also want to check my cholesterol and uric acid since I’ve been eating a lot of meat lately. So there is a lot for me to still learn about my health and the blood test should shed some light. Tzom kal to those who are fasting. May this be the last sad 17th Of Tammuz.