Some people eat to live, and others live to eat. I fall into the latter camp, which is why I’ve been both confused and fascinated by the fasting trend that has flooded the health and wellness movement in the last few years. To temporarily deprive oneself of food in service of a larger goal — for some, weight loss; for others, metabolic health or mental clarity — is the kind of challenge that borders on unreasonable. To me, fasting ranks just below ice baths in terms of appeal. 

In late fall, after all the Halloween candy has been consumed and the fall décor removed from store clearance aisles, we step on a conveyor belt heading straight for Christmas. Even those hangers-on who kept their rotting pumpkins on their porches through Thanksgiving finally pull out the twinkle lights and decorate their trees. Christmas music blasts in every store. Eggnog and cookies are consumed at will. For many people, the span of weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas is a blur of planning, partying and shopping. 

Last September, my family was gearing up for our first “leaf season” (and apple season, and hayride season, and football season) in Haywood County. As recent transplants from another state, we had heard about how beautiful the mountains are in early fall, and we were looking forward to experiencing it.