Guys.
I just broke a three-day fast and let me tell you - it hurt a few feelings. Most of them were in my stomach, but I might be a little traumatized.
This didn’t come out of nowhere - I’d been reading about the benefits of intermittent and prolonged fasting as well as ‘time restricted eating’ and decided to adopt that as a lifestyle. You know, to save money on groceries since inflation hit all the grocery stores.
Kidding.
It’s for health reasons.
At the risk of over-sharing (and a possible HIPAA violation?), I will briefly explain: I’d been
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| Candida overgrowth is a SYMPTOM. |
dealing with severe inflammation, sudden weight gain and inability to lose it, chronic fatigue, headaches - literally a buffet of symptoms since my early forties. Off and on. Doctor after doctor treated my symptoms and they would get better, but always come back. Several months ago, I had a ‘flare up,’ saw three doctors, and since all labs came up normal, they assumed I was not making the effort I said I was making.
Listen, I am the queen of dieting. I know how to lose weight.
This wasn’t about the weight as much as it was a real concern for my own health - all the
weight was centered around my belly and back - I literally looked like a walking lollypop. Belly fat is dangerous - according to medical science, and I had gained a lot of it. It wasn’t until the leg pains, numbness, film over my eyes and heart palpitations that I panicked and forced my current medical team (no, I don’t have a team, just two doctors) to examine the cause. But, again, labs were “within range” so I was dismissed.
I even went to a Functional Medical Clinic and was told I probably had mold toxicity - just by looking at me! Still waiting on the verdict of that blood test and MRI - this was the first medical professional to NOT brush off my concerns, try to treat symptoms and actually wanted to find the root cause.
Then, one late night on YouTube (it truly is a lottery of equal parts bullshit and actual, helpful stuff), I met Dr. Eric Berg. And after watching a few of his videos, I wondered if I had been misdiagnosed all those years.
It was the first time I’d heard of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, mycotoxins and how your entire digestive system works to make sure your body gets the nutrients it needs, produces hormones, and your gut is working right. I spent hours watching his videos - and then I met Dr. Ken Berry and Dr. Jason Fung.
I don’t believe in diets, but I’ve done fasting since I was in high school. But back then we just called it anorexia.
JUST KIDDING. Anorexia is a mental disorder. I know this because it (and it’s fraternal twin, Bulimia) was my preferred method to lose weight up until my mid 30s. Some people deal with issues/trauma using humor and I’m some people. Get over it. Honestly, if I had known about intermittent fasting all those years ago, I might never have had an eating disorder. I digress.
When the KETO diet first came to my attention, I didn’t think it was sustainable. How will people get their nutrients? Doesn’t eating a high fat diet cause high cholesterol and heart issues? Doesn’t your body need carbs and SOME sugar for energy? The short answer is no to all of that, but if you are interested in the science behind it, check out the three doctors I mentioned above.
So, I didn’t start KETO, but instead started eating for fatty liver disease. No sugars, super low carbs, and a few supplements to help with digestion. I did implement time restricted eating - basically, I just made sure I wasn’t snacking during the day, and I was only eating within a certain window of time. In the first week, I lost 2 pounds. It’s not a lot, but after months of not being able to lose ANY weight at all, it felt like I had won a battle. Even more surprising: the inflammation in my body was completely gone.
After that week, I wondered what intermittent fasting would do, so I started a 16:8 schedule the following week. The pain in my legs started to subside and the heart palpitations were gone. So, I upped the fasting period to 20:4 and my brain fog lifted, eyes cleared up, had more energy and felt like a person again. I also lost more weight.
Then, as I was reading Dr. Fung’s book ‘The Complete Guide to Fasting,’ I came upon the myriad health benefits to PROLONGED fasting - which is anything from 48 hours and longer - and the unpopular medical science that backs it all up. Science also seems to back up the Ketogenic lifestyle, btw. It’s crazy how much I’ve relied on the food pyramid, calories in/calories out, balance and “everything in moderation” paradigm to find out that it’s pretty much the lie to keep me buying the foods that weren’t helping to heal my body and are designed to keep me sick and depressed. But I digress.
So, there I was, last Thursday, in my kitchen trying to figure out what to eat for my meal when it occurred to me that I was not hungry. “Should I start a 3-day fast?” I thought to myself … “I should.” I totally ignored my inner reason telling me that perhaps I was not ready and that I needed to store more vitamins and minerals by packing nutrition stores in my body. However, after speaking with my physician and being armed with a multivitamin, electrolyte powder, water and green tea, I committed myself to my first prolonged fast since my mid 30s. Should be a piece of cake.
DAY 1A: Since my last meal was Wednesday, Thursday should have been day one, but I didn’t remember that until the fast was over. Honestly, it wasn’t terrible. Probably because I didn’t CrossFit that day, choosing to do a low impact HIIT workout and two one mile ‘brisque’ walks. I made a low carb, no sugar cheesecake, froze it for later. I slept great.
DAY 1B: It’s Friday. Woke up, took a multi-vitamin, drank a glass of water, went to CrossFit. I had a little more energy during my workout and overall, my mood was almost euphoric. I got a lot of work done, cleaned, looked up KETO recipes to see which ones didn’t require obscure and expensive ingredients. Prepped a bunch of food to freeze for easy meals the following week. Started reading a new book. My stomach was asking for food, but I just drank more water and tea. All the Drs said this would help the hunger subside, but either I’m different or they are lying. I went to bed hungry, did not sleep really well.
DAY 2: Saturday. I woke up because my stomach made a noise it had never made before. It sounded like Audrey Junior from ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ (film). The hunger ‘pains’ started immediately as the rest of my body woke up. I was dizzy and a little nauseated. At this point, I probably should have stopped, but I’m not a quitter. I texted my physician, he suggested bone broth or coffee with full fat butter (and if that didn’t work, I would need to go ahead and eat). Dr. Fung - in his book - also suggested the same. So, I bought beef & chicken bones to make broth and coffee (I don’t usually drink coffee anymore). I went through my kitchen and tossed all the food in my house that had ANY sugar or sugar alcohols. Watched YT videos of other fasters. Tried to keep busy, but ended up in bed, curled up in the fetal position waiting for God to take me, because the food withdrawal was real. Don’t remember when I fell asleep.
Day 3: Sunday. I actually slept well and woke up refreshed. My hunger pains were gone. Until I remembered that this was the day I could break my fast, and then Audrey Junior woke up to try and coerce me into eating sooner than my normal time. I eat later in the afternoon, so I decided to cook a fresh but small meal. Homemade pasta sauce with no sugar added (they add sugar to the bottled sauces, plus preservatives to extend shelf life), vegetable noodles, and garlic ‘bread’ - no flour, no sugar. I paced the house, cleaned things that weren’t dirty, did my laundry for the second time in three days, sat down, stood up, tried to watch a movie … and then it was time to eat. I was so excited as I plated my food (foodie terminology). It smelled so good. And then I remembered the ‘refeeding’ guidelines outlined in Dr. Fung’s book - basically, you can’t go H.A.M. your first meal out after not eating for 3-days (or, in my case, more). It took me 4 hours to ‘refeed’ myself on broth, an egg, nut butter … up to the meal. And when I finally ate the entire (small) plate of pasta and garlic bread - which was soooo yummy … I didn’t feel so great. I couldn’t move comfortably. I started rethinking my latest life choices. It seemed like the food stayed in my stomach forever, probably because Audrey Junior was trying to save it just in case I was going to fast again.
MONDAY: Let me tell you how I felt during CrossFit. It was their annual Christmas in July - 12
days of Christmas workout. It took me 41 minutes and I had to shed weight on the last two rounds. However, I never felt like I wouldn’t be able to finish, my body kept going. Six weeks ago, I would not have made it past the ninth round. I also would never have been able to sit down and write a blog post in a single sitting. Haven’t been able to do that in years. Yet, here I am.
Hurt feelings and all, I regret nothing.
Challenge accepted and executed.
Now, during the ‘darkest times’ of my struggle, I watched YouTube videos of others who have done prolonged fasting to see if it was relatable to my own experience. It was not. Their experiences seemed easy - everything you want to see and hear to be motivated to try it out or to keep going. Most said they weren’t hungry, didn’t miss food (except the social aspect of it) and never hit ‘starvation mode.’
I wanted to call bullshit, because they all looked at their first meal after three days with tears in their eyes, salivating over their plate like a dog waiting for leftovers. It reminded me of the time my girl friend gave me a spoon of her homemade icing after a year of no sugar. I literally cried in her living room as I ate it. No shame.
As an aside, there is a chapter in Dr. Fung’s book called “How to Beat Starvation Mode.” I hadn’t gotten to that part yet, so … yeah. Unprepared.
All that said, I am glad this experiment is over. There are some actual health benefits for your body in fasting for 72 hours (and even up to a week and more) - so I will probably attempt to do this again next month and will continue to do intermittent fasting and follow a modified ketogenic ‘diet.’ It works for me currently. And it feels great to finally see RESULTS!
Speaking of, I lost 7 lbs in four days to add onto the weight I had already lost. Maybe I'm being prematurely excited, but slow progress is better than no progress.
A word on the keto diet. I have noticed the headlines demonizing this diet as well as
intermittent, short-term and prolonged fasting. But if you listen to Dr. Pradip Jamnadas, a cardiologist & Dr. Robert Lustig, endocrinologist (lectures are on YouTube), - they all say the same thing - less carbs, no sugar, fasting can be beneficial- for your health. It requires you to ditch the processed foods in favor of more whole foods - which hurts the pockets of the food industry but saves your health.
I certainly didn’t want to believe THAT science, until a few months ago when I had my ‘come to Jesus’ moment. There is no weight loss pill or vitamin/mineral supplement that will take care of the underlying condition that is preventing you from being healthy. And no supplement that is better for you than eating your vitamins and minerals. I wanted to believe in carbs and cupcakes, but I guess I will have to learn to make my own cupcakes without carbs or sugar and hope they will taste as good as the garlic ‘bread’ I made the other day.
This is not an endorsement or dietary advice. This is based on my own experience due to medical and health necessity. If anyone reading this is interested in the Keto and intermittent fasting, Dr. Berg, Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Ken Berry have YouTube channels. Dr. Fung also has a few books out - including ‘The Obesity Code’ which is also a great read. Do not try to medically diagnose yourself. As always, if you are on any medications or have underlying conditions, consult your physician before going on any diet and exercise plan.
