富蘭克林（Benjamin Franklin）曾說：「人類在廚藝進步之後，吃下去的食物量，是天生所需的兩倍。」

這句話若有爭議，大概只會出現在「兩倍」這個數字上。依我的觀察，或許是三倍，甚至五倍之多。

以我自己為例，二十年前的食量比現在多出三至五倍，那種被食物綁架的日子，至今仍歷歷在目。

我們必須正視自己是如何一步步成為食物的附庸，也必須看清餐桌上的飯與麵是如何日復一日擾亂血糖、改寫代謝。結論幾乎可以預言，若持續下去，我們終將臣服於病魔的糾纏。

醫學院有解剖學、生理學、生物化學與病理學，卻沒有「身體學」。這個名詞，是我在熟悉並驗證身體運作後的想像。

我把人體比喻為「進化的極品」。這個結論，來自我親身驗證過的身體能耐：當我們徹底讓內在清空之後，才猛然意識到：原來身體能做到這麼多。

這裡所謂的清空，不是外力介入的「洗刷」，而是讓身體日復一日，自行清理囤積。我們唯一能做的，就是暫停進食，好讓它不必再分心處理食物。

 

「身體學」的核心談的是身體的邏輯與價值排序，它沒有「行程表」，只有此刻必須優先處理的事。

當身體不必消化食物時，會傾全力處理廢物。這個原理，若僅停留在紙上，容易似懂非懂；要突破想像的框架，唯一的方法，就是親身經歷一次七日斷食，最好是多次的練習。

連續七日斷食，是認識身體的門檻。因為在那段時間，消化系統全數退場，廢物清理的成果清晰可見；同時也讓人第一次真正體會身體藏汙納垢的實力。

為什麼現代人必須將斷食落實於日常？因為我們幾乎都吃熟食。富蘭克林所指的廚藝，幾乎等同於熟食文化；而熟食帶來的毒素囤積，正是「身體學」的重要課題之一。

既然熟食已是現代生活的常態，我們就有責任認識它的缺陷，並學會規避。嚴格說，熟食的最大問題，不只是囤積，而是耗損。

 

談到「耗損」，大多數人停留在抽象思辨。其實只要想像一天勞碌後的疲倦，或連續多日睡眠不足的空乏，就能接近那種感覺。

另一種形容是「流失」，水龍頭沒關緊，日夜滴漏；油箱破裂，燃料不斷外洩。

吃熟食就是在耗損生命，胰臟與肝臟的工作量就在詮釋生命的流失。白話的說，大量吃熟食，就是在大量折壽。

吃一頓飯，像拆解一台電腦；吃一頓大餐，像拆解一輛汽車。必須調動大量「工人」，啟動大規模物流。這，就是消化的代價。

透過斷食，我們才真正領悟身體的能量分配。當身體乾淨、暢通，它的訊號會變得清晰，要什麼、不要什麼，一清二楚。

日子一天一天過去，壽命卻不必隨之流失。我在斷食中領悟：生命其實可以透過「逆向複利」儲存起來。

 

經驗顯示，八成的人拒絕斷食，因為他們執著於每日三餐。結果是，把腸道的有限空間，經營成垃圾囤積場，造成更大的耗損與流失。

自體免疫疾病的源頭，在於腸道囤積與腸漏，腸道成為毒素與腐敗菌的溫床。數百種自體免疫疾病的症狀，不過是不同程度的能量耗損與生命流失。

人們以為吃下去的食物就是補給，事實上，對不諳斷食的熟食者而言，腸道多半處於混亂與多重吸收障礙中。食物只是過境，營養根本無法利用。

若我們投資時間與金錢去吃美食，卻換來生命的耗損與流失，甚至加速退化與老化，那麼，吃的意義何在？

不能吸收，不只是因為廢物與毒素的阻礙；菌相惡化也會形成惡性循環。免疫系統與粒線體失去優勢菌叢的訊息，也是耗損的一種形式。

 

生命，就這樣在環境的引導下，不知不覺的流失。治本之道，必須先停損，讓身體恢復治理權。

在這份「生命流失」的分析裡，我衷心希望，讀到這裡的你，能意識到：斷食，不只是選項，而是現代人的必修課。

 

（我的目標不再是完成更多事情，而是讓自己有更少事情要做。）

 

Life — Drained Away, Just Like That

Benjamin Franklin once said, “After the improvement of cookery, the human race eats twice as much as nature requires.”
If there is any controversy in this statement, it would only be about that number “twice.” From my observation, it might be three times, or even five times as much.

Speaking for myself, twenty years ago my food intake was three to five times greater than it is today. The days of being held hostage by food are still vivid in my memory.
We must face the reality of how we gradually became subservient to food, and see clearly how the rice and noodles on our plates disrupt our blood sugar and rewrite our metabolism day after day. The conclusion is almost predictable: if we continue on this path, we will inevitably surrender to the grip of disease.

Medical schools teach anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and pathology—but no subject called “Body Studies.”
This term is my own invention, born from familiarity with and verification of how the body works. I see the human body as “the ultimate masterpiece of evolution.” This conclusion comes from my own lived proof of the body’s capabilities: only when we completely empty it from within do we suddenly realize how much it can truly accomplish.

By “empty,” I do not mean an external scrubbing or cleansing, but allowing the body, day after day, to clear its own accumulated waste. The only thing we need to do is to stop eating—so it no longer has to be distracted by processing food.

The core of Body Studies is about the body’s logic and its hierarchy of priorities. It has no “schedule,” only the next most urgent task.
When the body does not have to digest food, it will devote all its strength to clearing waste. This principle, if only read on paper, is easy to half-understand; to truly break past the limits of imagination, there is only one way—personally experiencing a seven-day fast, and better yet, doing it more than once.

A continuous seven-day fast is the threshold for truly knowing the body. In that time, the digestive system withdraws completely, and the results of waste removal are visibly clear. It is also the first time one truly experiences the body’s hidden capacity for storing filth.

Why must modern people make fasting a part of daily life? Because nearly all of us eat cooked food. Franklin’s “improvement of cookery” is essentially the culture of cooked meals—and the toxin buildup caused by cooked food is one of the central issues in Body Studies.
Since cooked food is now the norm in modern living, it is our responsibility to understand its flaws and learn to mitigate them. Strictly speaking, the greatest problem with cooked food is not just accumulation, but depletion.

When people talk about “depletion,” they usually stay at the level of abstract thought. But simply imagine the fatigue after a long day’s labor, or the emptiness after several nights of insufficient sleep, and you will be close to the feeling.
Another metaphor is “loss”: a faucet that is never fully turned off, dripping day and night; a fuel tank cracked and leaking without end.
Eating cooked food is consuming life itself—the workload placed on the pancreas and liver is the very definition of life being drained away. Plainly put, eating large amounts of cooked food is cutting years off your life in large amounts.

Eating a meal is like dismantling a computer; eating a feast is like dismantling a car. It takes a massive mobilization of “workers” and a large-scale logistics operation. This is the cost of digestion.

Through fasting, we finally understand how the body allocates energy. When the body is clean and unblocked, its signals become crystal clear—what it wants and what it rejects are beyond doubt.
The days pass one after another, but our lifespan need not drain away with them. I have learned through fasting that life can, in fact, be stored up through a kind of “reverse compounding.”

Experience shows that 80% of people refuse to fast because they cling to the ritual of three meals a day. The result is turning the limited space of the intestines into a garbage storage yard, causing even greater depletion and loss.

The root of autoimmune diseases lies in intestinal buildup and leaky gut—where the gut becomes a breeding ground for toxins and putrefactive bacteria. The symptoms of hundreds of autoimmune conditions are simply varying degrees of energy depletion and life loss.

People assume that the food they eat is nourishment. In truth, for cooked-food eaters unfamiliar with fasting, the intestines are often in a state of chaos and multiple absorption impairments. Food merely passes through; the nutrients are hardly utilized.
If we invest time and money in gourmet food only to receive depletion and life loss in return—accelerating degeneration and aging—what, then, is the meaning of eating?

Poor absorption is not only due to the obstruction of waste and toxins; a damaged microbiome creates its own vicious cycle. When the immune system and mitochondria lose the guidance of beneficial microbial signals, this too is a form of depletion.

And so life is quietly drained away under the influence of our environment. The fundamental solution is to first stop the loss, and let the body regain its authority over itself.

In this analysis of “life being drained away,” I sincerely hope that by the time you reach this sentence, you will see that fasting is not merely an option—it is a compulsory course for modern humanity.