Four-Day Fast

[AloeSvea]

I have decided to finish my fast on Day 4 mid afternoon, so it will be a 3.5 day fast in fact, or 84 hours, not 96 hours. (It's very common for me to muck around with the end time/day, due to my desire to do something interesting or fun which I can only do in a fed state.)

I'm getting scarily close to complaining openly to my housemates, in a state of high irritation (I haven't forgiven my dear friend I'm living cityside with for waking me up twice in the wee hours, three hours apart), and it's very important I don't do that. And if I finish at 3.5 not 4, I can get to the countryside and my streaming programs, and my cats, so much earlier and easier. And I am desiring an unbroken night's sleep! Or 2, or 3, or more. So, I'm very happy with my decision to end it at 84 hours. And have written my menus for a week ahead and my shopping list already!

 

[Outlier]

This is really interesting, and I appreciate your sharing in such useful detail.

 

[AloeSvea]

OK. Some good data on my poor old blood glucose system. I woke up after a very quiet night in the house, no broken sleep - yay! I watched something on the tele from 9 to 10 last night, during which there was a car crash outside the house, which was a bit of excitement (no one was hurt, but boy did it make a very loud sound). My BG only raised .1 from that . So far so good. My BGs had remained stable at 6.7-7.2 during afternoon of Day 3. Then dropped at 9pm to a more intermediate-hyperglycemic zoned 6.4 (6.5 at the car crash!), so I was pleased enough.

This morning's FBG was a respectable intermediate-hyperglycemic zoned (Oh if only I didn't need to eat!!!!) 6.3, at 5 am. Aslo 1-2cm off the waist, where there is nearly always some fat deposits to spare! Belly/hips measurement 2cm down which makes sense.

Just took a reading nowish and it was 5.8. First time I have seen a 5 preceding any numbers for a very long time! A couple of years? Maybe even more?

My brain isn't foggy this morning - nice and clear, although my body and movements are not so good. If I get up too quickly from the chair, I get a bit woozy - normal for me during an extended fast. The clear head might mean some ketones are swishing about, even with the higher than normal BG. I believe so, matching this feeling with past fasts when I tested for ketones.

I have no physical energy though, apart from light duties, like washing my limited dishes. Having a shower and getting dressed for a city outing is also as much as I can think about to do, energy wise.

Then, I eat!

 

[AloeSvea]

So, five days later in the countryside. Good food, good air, good sleep every night, lots of cat cuddling. Lots of house heat! (All very positive influences on metabolism!) (Should we count hard house and yardwork? In regards to good metabolic influences? Undoubtedly!) Dunno about netflix and streaming programs affect on my metabolism, but I sure love them.

OK. My FBGs and BGs. Hmmm. My lowest BG reading was on Day 4 of fast was 5.4. Three 5. readings in a row was heartening to see how, again, how healthy I would be if only I was a breatheraterian! (able to live on air alone). But alas, this is not to be. Sigh.

The very next day,back in a fed state, my bung-liver signaling spurt out too much glucose in the wee hours, so I woke up to a 8.3, now glycogen and glucagon working badly for me again. (Following day FBG back to 10.1).

So I thought I would give metformin another whirl, this time loading up on B12 and CQ10 at a healthfood store on the way back to the countryside. Probably low affect, as I know from past experiments I am one of the non or weak responders to metformin. (they have identified a gene /cluster for this, which I imagine I have, shared by many around the world and in my own country apparently. Will look up that ref at some stage and post for other's interest's sake...)

Yes, I'm planning a longer fast (6-7 days) in not too distant future (depends on my work sito), to give the lower BGs time to give my poor pancreas and liver a well-earned rest from bung signalling and active malfunctioning.

I will definitely do it in the countryside this time, and learn to not look at the much higher workload piling up while I loll about on the sofa with no energy!
Also, Too many housemates to irritate me in the city. Too much I don't have control over to cause too much discomfort. Cats are easier than people!

Just a note on a mention of heat above - I forgot that when fasting in a cold season (transitional month/autumn in my country) - is highy likely you will be sensitive to cold. As it's harder for the body to keep warm without fuel from food. Ketones or no. My galpal and housemate does not feel the cold nearly as much as me, and when she was anti covid and anti mould treating her house with cold wind blowing through the house for an extended period it was something close to torture for me, as I did not want to be confined in my wee room during the day as well as an early to bedtime. Don't want to experience that again.

So - onwards and upwards. Till the next fast.

 

[MissMuffett]

Great experiment @AloeSvea thank you for sharing. Re the lack of energ, did you take electrolytes during your fast? If not it might be a good idea to include them when you do your next one. I find I need them when I do strict keto for the first few days, but of course you might not, just a thought. What did you eat for your first meal when You finished your fast, did you have any negative side effect? I’ve heard some can have tummy cramps and/or diarrhoea.
Thanks for posting all your comments I found them really interesting.

 

[jpscloud]

Fascinating insights @AloeSvea, thanks!

 

[AloeSvea]

Great experiment @AloeSvea thank you for sharing. Re the lack of energ, did you take electrolytes during your fast? If not it might be a good idea to include them when you do your next one. I find I need them when I do strict keto for the first few days, but of course you might not, just a thought. What did you eat for your first meal when You finished your fast, did you have any negative side effect? I’ve heard some can have tummy cramps and/or diarrhoea.
Thanks for posting all your comments I found them really interesting.

Ah, for me, lack of energy is about lack of fuel from food. Even with fat stores.

I've seen in a loved one what electrolyte imbalance looks like during a dehydration, up close and personal (my baby! back in the day) And when I'm no food fasting, I really don't believe that is the issue. Really really really important during a no food fast to be hydrated up the wahzoo.

For a longer fast, the next one all things being equal, I plan to water only for a couple of days (for autophagy), then do some bone broth in order to keep on going as it will be the middle of winter if I do go ahead mid year. Have a few jars of homemade bone broth in the freezer for just such events. Bone broth has plenty of minerals and salt in it, so that should be good, methinks. Good point re the minerals and salts though Miss Muffett - quite right about how important they are for good health and life, for sure.

I never have any problem with refeeding after a fast. I know it can be an issue for some, but not so for me. I just eat the LCHF fare I normally do - meat and veg, konjac root products as pasta substitutes, cheeses and creams. I don't have tummy probs.

Toileting during and post a fast is another issue! And to do with first having waste products, then not having, then having them again when refeeding. No surprises.

This time I ate a lot, as in a couple of dinner servings, as I had been planning to go out, and felt I needed the fuel. But, I'm not getting any younger, I discovered, and I just was not up to going out, and went to bed early, sleeping very soundly as it were, and planning my social life for when I return to the city. In a fed state natch.

 

[BarbaraG]

Just come across this. I wonder, have you considered doing shorter but more regular fasts? I have started inhaling all information from The Fasting Method, which is Jason Fung’s setup. When combatting IR, they ask people to fast regularly, several times a week. It could be 3x24 hours, or 3x36 hours, 3x 42 hours or 2x48 hours. The idea is that the frequent repetition of fasting periods of 24+ hours will progressively force insuring down.

An alternative is to do a 66-72 hours fast every week. But if your fast is longer than that, you should leave longer in between before repeating it.

 

[TheSecretCarbAddict]

+1 on @BarbaraG's recommendation. I've just completed my first week of alternate day fasting (42h fasts) and found it relatively straightforward to follow. While I can't really comment on my IR status, I can definitely see a stabilising effect on my BG levels.

 

[erikame]

Last year I tried “partial fasting” to cleanse my liver. On my doctor's advice. The first day I drank only green tea and water, the next day I added raw fruits, vegetables and herbs. But on the 3rd day began such weakness, dizziness and also tachycardia. So now I can fast only for 24 hours)

 

[TheSecretCarbAddict]

@erikame, your post reminded me that not all fasts are equal. I was listening to a podcast with Ben Bikman, and he distinguished between calorific fast and nutritional fast, basicly saying that to treat conditions like Insulin Resistance (IR) it is more important to follow nutritional instead of calorific fast which can make things easier for most. What's the difference between the two? Calorific fast is your water fast where you don't consume any calories. In nutritional fasting, you are allowed to consume limited calories but of the right type - so for Insulin Resistance it should be OK to consume some fat - bone broth, or cream in your coffee as impact on blood glucose / insulin is negligible. Another nugget of wisdom I found in Dr Fung's The Complete Guide to Fasting was that it is easier to get into fasting if you have first adapted keto style diet as it means that your body is already adapted to using fat for energy (something a fast forces) and it is less of a shock to the system.

 

[AloeSvea]

Just come across this. I wonder, have you considered doing shorter but more regular fasts? I have started inhaling all information from The Fasting Method, which is Jason Fung’s setup. When combatting IR, they ask people to fast regularly, several times a week. It could be 3x24 hours, or 3x36 hours, 3x 42 hours or 2x48 hours. The idea is that the frequent repetition of fasting periods of 24+ hours will progressively force insuring down.

An alternative is to do a 66-72 hours fast every week. But if your fast is longer than that, you should leave longer in between before repeating it.

I'm an old hand at fasting, and all kinds of fasting. I found a regular regime that worked well for me, which is sunrise to sunset five days a week, and I've been doing that for a few years now.

With my metabolism there is no way I could cycle genuine no-food fasting week in and week out day in day out on a regular basis. I need food for fuel (surprise! ), and the changes that would entail to what I could and could not do in an unfed state would make practical parts of my life (work! shopping! physical work! Being with other human beings!) untenable. People are very different in this way, and due to my being an old hand at it, I know what I can do unfed (not a lot!)

As in above, I realised I can't fast in a shared household, due to being Ms Grumpy Pumpy in the last days, and a day or 2 following. Next time it will be isolated in the countryside, with the bonus of my cat and streaming programs, and my bone broth in the freezer. I don't growl at the cat!

As for bringing down insulin resistance. Sadly for me my BG system must be quite damaged, and at stages of my metabolism which I can't affect readily. LCHF/keto and intermittent fasting is not a path to remission for me, but a way to be as healthy as I personally can with the damaged system that I have. I'm at the stage of my life, and my T2D where it's about keeping my kidneys and CV systems functioning as well as I can for as long as I can. Especially now I have the challenge of being partially disabled.

 

[RayCox]

Last year I tried “partial fasting” to cleanse my liver. On my doctor's advice. The first day I drank only green tea and water, the next day I added raw fruits, vegetables and herbs. But on the 3rd day began such weakness, dizziness and also tachycardia. So now I can fast only for 24 hours)

How can you fast if your eating fruit veg

 

[RayCox]

I am going to fast from 7pm to 12 midday can I have a coffee with cream when I wake up.

 

[TheSecretCarbAddict]

@RayCox - it depends on your reasons for fasting and what you want to get out of it. If it is to give your body a break from glucose, then taking some fat (which includes cream) in your drink should be fine. If it is something else, it might not be. Coffee by itself is generally considered a fasting liquid.

 

[RayCox]

@RayCox - it depends on your reasons for fasting and what you want to get out of it. If it is to give your body a break from glucose, then taking some fat (which includes cream) in your drink should be fine. If it is something else, it might not be. Coffee by itself is generally considered a fasting liquid.

Thanks

 

[AloeSvea]

I am going to fast from 7pm to 12 midday can I have a coffee with cream when I wake up.

I'm all for the idea you design your own fasting/periods without food based on your health goal/s, and how you are during a fast (I hesitate to say 'knowing one's limitations' - too negative?)

For instance, if you have insulin resistance based T2 (which most of us do), and you are producing heaps of your own insulin, in all likelihood due to out of whack signals, or plain old in response to the food and drink/glucose levels, you might want to give your ol' pancreas a break from churning the insulin out. (Want to know how much insulin you are producing? Get the tests which I don't know anything about, or, order a C-peptide, and discuss in here what is a lot of insulin vs normal etc?)

Or, you may want to 'just' lower the glucose and the insulin, and then the small amounts of nutrition you are getting (bearing in mind tea, coffee and herbs also have a calorific content and therefore will have albeit a very minor insulin response) will not interfere with your goal of massively lowering your insulin and glucose.

I've done plenty of fasts drinking cream in my coffee and having bone broth - especially winter time fasts. (Fasting can drop your body temperature. Feelng particularly cold can be a real experience from fasting.) And I found the bone broth to be very restorative, which is what nutritionists and fasting folk say about it. Especially in relation to that ol electrolyte issue. (Making your own bone broth is a big deal btw! But I think many well populated places commercially produce it.)

And cream is just lovely! (I would say, as I always do around dairy - as long as you are dairy tolerant as an adult, and enormous amounts of folk, most folk, in the world are not, being an adaptation.)

But of course - fasting is a brilliant way to see in yourself how you are responding to certain foods! And cream could be one of them. A very good reason to do a cream with coffee fast/period of not eating.

 

[AloeSvea]

A bit over two weeks later, after the first day of a 3.5 no-food fast, I have 1cm off my waist measurement, and several cm off my hip (belly) measurement. It seems to be stable.

My fasting BG is still unhealthy, anything between 8 point something and 10 point something. 8 ish if I don't eat an evening meal (happening quite often this week, due to my sunrise to sunset eating window, and as this is the darkest time of the year where I am in the southern hemisphere - I find myself without access to food and darkness is rapidly falling, so when I go home I make myself a herb tea and go to bed pretty early.)

Not sure what changes I will make to my regimen, and when.

 

[David 53]

I fast every week on a Monday.I call it my Rishi fast. I normally stop eating by 19.00 on Sunday and resume eating at about 08.30 on Tuesday. I drink green tea, black coffeee, and water during the fasting. It works for me and has been approved by my gp. My blood glucose levels typically drop to 5.5 during this time and I have found that I have better control in the periods of eating provide I keep to a relatively carefully controlled low carb diet. Since doing this after Xmas and with regular exercise ( mainly walking), I have approx 1.5 stone.