I am a huge fan of diets. The stricter, the better. If you don’t believe me, check out one of my previous posts, The Water Diet: Lose That Baby Weight Fast! And that is not the only diet that has found its way into our house. This one is perfect for anyone in the busy medical profession. It is called Intermittent Fasting.

You may have heard of it. In one form, it is the practice of skipping one of the three daily meals that have been set in place by natural law since the dawn of time. Blazing forward on the wings of rebellion, this diet relies on the overlooked truth that forcing your body to fast rather than constantly fueling it with energy supplying calories, makes your body appreciate and better appropriate the calories it gets when it gets them.

You can see why this is perfect for medical professionals. When medical students, residents, and attending physicians sign on for their various levels of training and employment, there is a clause in each contract that prohibits them from taking care of themselves. One of the bullet points under this clause limits and in some cases eliminates time provided for lunch. In accordance with this clause, doctors have evolved into the knowledge of which granola bars fit best in which white coat pocket.

But this creates a new wealth of problems, such as the pen shortage that naturally follows when pocket space is otherwise occupied. Now, on the brink of despair, health conscious doctors welcome the rise in popularity of Intermittent Fasting.

Some call it a diet. Others, a lifestyle. We call it salvation for our food budget. I strongly encourage all medical families to learn more about the practice. But I must warn you of one side effect. If your medical spouse has chosen lunch as the meal they will skip, and is fortunate enough to stumble into a schedule that suddenly allows him or her to come home for a lunch break, it can be hard to remain strong in the face of empty time slots. Lunch has been a time honored tradition until now. You may experience a sudden spike in your electric bill. What else could we expect but for our spouse to come home, open the refrigerator, and stare into the frigid truth that there is a complete absence of food?

If you do the shopping for the household, it is best to be prepared for a relapse into three meals a day, lest you watch as your spouse turns their disheartened gaze to the floor, closes the refrigerator, and resigns himself to the fate of a granola bar once again.