Fasting as therapy

[Chris24Main]

Anyone who has been intermittent fasting for a while, and low carbing, should have the experience of all the little infections disappearing...

I'm kind of taking that as read (in this sub-forum), and it should be totally non-controversial, colds just bounce off, skin tags disappear, skin clears up, that kind of thing.

But - I'm pretty sure I caught a stomach bug of some sort over the weekend, some foods just making me feel nauseous, and something not right (you, rather I, get very sensitive to changes in the digestive tract, because it's just so different "on" or "off".. compared to the usual) - anyway; at the end of Sunday night, I figured I should do the obvious thing and just roll into a 36 hour fast - give my stomach and intestine a chance to totally empty.

And who knows - could be entirely coincidence, could be whatever the opposite of phyco-somatic is.. but that worked a treat. No feeling of hunger whatever, and I went through to Tuesday lunchtime - I could feel everything just calming down then I was fine, and totally back to normal on the Tuesday.

Despite the title, I'm not actually suggesting that fasting is a good idea as a treatment on it's own - but for anyone who habitually fasts anyway; ie, someone who can; with no additional consequences and feels comfortable doing it - it's got to be a pretty good treatment for an upset stomach compared to adding more in for the stomach to deal with. Ie, it's a benefit to this kind of intermittent fasting that just comes for free...

anyone else have any experience of this?

 

[Rachox]

I don’t have experience of this myself, it takes an awful lot to put me off my food! However having worked in infectious diseases (a few years ago now) patients with food poisoning (salmonella, campylobacter etc…) were instructed not to eat for several days sometimes. It seems obvious to me that resting the bit of the body that is ill will help it recover, just as putting a broken bone in plaster helps the fracture recover.

Edit for typo.

 

[Chris24Main]

Oh - for sure - I'm really not offering this as some kind of original idea - more that it was kind of a lightbulb moment for me - hang on, I can just go straight into a fast? - and it's clearly (obviously) got to be effective, but more so, it was just easy because of all the days I've fasted for other reasons.

 

[Rachox]

I'm really not offering this as some kind of original idea

Of course, my comment was more my realisation that patients were asked to fast, it was just never referred to as fasting!

 

[Nai nai]

Anyone who has been intermittent fasting for a while, and low carbing, should have the experience of all the little infections disappearing...

I'm kind of taking that as read (in this sub-forum), and it should be totally non-controversial, colds just bounce off, skin tags disappear, skin clears up, that kind of thing.

But - I'm pretty sure I caught a stomach bug of some sort over the weekend, some foods just making me feel nauseous, and something not right (you, rather I, get very sensitive to changes in the digestive tract, because it's just so different "on" or "off".. compared to the usual) - anyway; at the end of Sunday night, I figured I should do the obvious thing and just roll into a 36 hour fast - give my stomach and intestine a chance to totally empty.

And who knows - could be entirely coincidence, could be whatever the opposite of phyco-somatic is.. but that worked a treat. No feeling of hunger whatever, and I went through to Tuesday lunchtime - I could feel everything just calming down then I was fine, and totally back to normal on the Tuesday.

Despite the title, I'm not actually suggesting that fasting is a good idea as a treatment on it's own - but for anyone who habitually fasts anyway; ie, someone who can; with no additional consequences and feels comfortable doing it - it's got to be a pretty good treatment for an upset stomach compared to adding more in for the stomach to deal with. Ie, it's a benefit to this kind of intermittent fasting that just comes for free...

anyone else have any experience of this?

I regularly fast from dinner around 6 pm to lunch or even dinner. My bgs are fantastic throughout, they sit bang on 4.5 to 5 and after doing regular fasts it does not cause too much hunger. I always have a pretty big dinner with an number of eggs.

 

[Jaylee]

With my T1 head on & basal in my body working regardless..

Colds & flu (flu can affect appetite fro me.)
From my reasoning it’s important to eat & get some nutrients down.

Stomach issues. With the aforementioned with insulin onboard, my tendency is to fast. (Till it’s passed.)
However, there is no option other than to take down a few grams dry carbs. Especially following “sick day rules” with basal as during illness BGs can rise.. a slip in the wrong direction on dose can sometimes cause recurrent lows..

Having said that. I sing in 2 bands & fast for 12 hours on a gig day, only breaking it after the show?
Like singing for supper which is normally grabbed at 2am..
The reason being, digesting food can restrict the diaphragm with breath control whilst singing.
Also the possibility of active fast acting insulin on board during a gig could throw me with hypos?
Neither do I drink alcohol during this time…
Ironically, most drummers I work with like to carb up, prior to a show..