Fasting: I Challenge YOU to Join Me On My Next Fast [And Short Intro to Why Even Bother Fasting + Ketosis]
I'm sure you've seen all those click-bait titles like "666 Reasons Why You Should fast on 6th Day of the 6th Month of the Year". And surely you clicked on one of those. I even glimpsed titles like that here on Steemit. I won't do the same thing. Though I will give you a quick briefing on why you should do it, all based on facts [and inspiration], mostly from Dom D'Agostino and people like him.
Quick Rundown On Why To Fast
Let's start with the biggest health benefit. And that's cancer prevention.
Assuming that you don't have cancer already, by doing a so called purge fast you can eliminate (or purge) any precancerous cells that are in your body. On top of that, a 3-day fast can effectively "reboot" your immune system and basically cleanse yourself. The great thing is that you are also likely to go into Ketosis.
What's Ketosis you ask? That's the state of your body when your brain starts to consume "ketones" (derived from fat - stored or ingested) for energy instead of glucose. So basically you become a fat-fueled machine [which by the way is also the best thing you can do to increase your endurance]. Long are gone the days of having to eat something all the time just to raise your levels of glucose in order to avoid brain fog.
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Some other benefits of Ketosis include - better use of oxygen, increase (or at least maintain) strength, fat loss and body re-composition.
So how often should you fast? Dom suggests that you fast at least twice per year to have best benefits for purging. Tim Ferriss, after going through Lime Disease, fasts every month for 3 days and every quarter for 5 days.
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Some Other reasons
And here are some not-so-scientific reasons and why I think you should really give fasting a go.
- You can do it. Yes, you can. You might think it's crazy and you could not go more than 8 hours without eating ... But you can. If you can't you are a slave to food. Don't be a slave. Increase your willpower and prove yourself that you can do anything.
- Your stomach will shrink so (at least for few days) you'll be less likely to over-eat. Overeating is a big problem of mine as I was thought to "always finish what's on your plate".
- Food will taste amazing afterwards.
- You'll do something on a biblical scale.
- You'll get more aware of your body, eating patterns and how much you need.
- You might stop craving foods that are not good for you once you get them out of your system. Though for this the length of time fasting is important and depends on what's the 'substance' you no longer want to crave.
The Challenge
So now that you have some background on why the hell you'd even do something like this, let me challenge you.
Yes, you.
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I want you to perform a fast with me. It doesn't have to be at the same time as I do.
But you have to fast for at least 24 hours straight. The day, setting, etc. is your choice. But do it by the end of this month. And if you write about this in the comments below, or you write your own post telling others about your experience and about this challenge [post] you'll get my FULL POWER Upvote. HOW EXCITING. :D
But on a more serious note, and more importantly, you'll do something good for yourself.
There are many ways to fast, some good, some not so good. But as I'm challenging you only for a 24 hour fast then there's no need to sweat it. Though I'll most likely go for a 3-day one if circumstances allow. If so, I'll write about a good way to do that so others can follow suit.
A suggestion that'll make fasting easier - have your last meal during the lunch and don't eat until the next one. Or have your last dinner (your last supper ;) - told you fasting is biblical :D ) at 6 PM or so. Sleep helps a lot with this. And make your last meal count. As in, make it something good and healthy. But don't overeat.
Also, make your meal something healthy with few carbs. Make a ritual out of it.
My Own Experience
When I first did a planned 24-hour fast I found it quite easy. I actually did it for 28 hours and would do a few hours more if I wasn't going climbing. But I have an advantage. I did intermittent fasting before [having a period of 16 hours without eating] and on top of that my food tends to be rich on fats. That means I usually eat just twice a day. So even if I am not consciously intermittent fasting I tend to actually do it. And also I am pretty sure when travelling there were times when I didn't eat for some time, or ate very little.
But, I really enjoyed this conscious fast. Especially as I made a ritual out of the last and first [out-of-fast] meal. I cooked something really nice for myself on both occasions and I sat down in peace to eat it.
God it was good.
And now I just want to do longer fasts to get more health benefits out of it.
So let me know if you're joining up.
About the Author;
Hi, I am Joe and I love freedom.
Freedom of all sorts, social, financial, emotional, physical, freedom from your stuff or place.
My biggest passion is to show that it is possible to live life being free, work towards my freedom, and help others obtain their own versions of freedom.
I also love exploration and experimentation (of all senses).
My articles are about all of this (Freedom, exploration, experimentation)
as well as my own transparent and authentic experiences.
I do a staggered IF where I do a 24 hour fast a couple of times a week.
I will have an eating window from 12pm to 6pm one day, then from 6pm to 10pm the next day. Since all my meals are very low carb, the ketosis helps me avoid hunger pangs quite well. I actually have to set alarms on my phone to tell me that I should eat.
I've done 3 and 5 day fasts in the past, my last 5 day fast with hourly finger stick blood sugar readings and heavy (for me) exercise. It wasn't until the last day, during a 3 mile hill walk, that my BG went below 70 and I had to call it off. I had wanted to win a bet that I could walk 100 miles while fasting but I only made 45 because walking 20 miles a day was just too much time out of the day!
Nice one. Nice to hear that it's easy for you to get into Ketosis. And yes, it makes "hunger" management so easy :). I barely noticed it for 1 hour of my fast but once that went I'd be able to do much longer.
And that's an interesting appraoch to IF. Do you have any particular reason behind the time intervals?
Yea man, 20 miles a day is a lot :). (Timewise). People do that when they do stuff like El Camino or the Apalachian Trail in US (I'm guessing you're from US).
What amazing timing! I did a 3 day fast 3 or 4 months ago, and was planning to do another sometime before the end of the New Zealand summer - ie before the end of Feb. I wrote a post about my previous experience and then never got round to posting it. Just yesterday I was saying to @triddin and @baerdric that I would post it today!
My one covers different aspects to yours, so i think they will be quite complementary. I'll link to your post in mine.
Last time I fasted Thu to Sat, and broke the fast Sunday, so was planning the same again. Unfortunately we have a lot of family birthdays in January, so have got some family get togethers, so I'm thinking first weekend in Feb. A bit later than your time frame.
I sort of IF, but very loosely. I make sure I fast at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, sometimes more, but then am not very strict on spacing within that. I want to tighten that up a lot before starting the water fast. The last 2 days I've increased the 12 hours to 14, so that's a start.
Nice post, I replied there :)
This is something I currently wouldn't do, because I'm quite certain I would get a major headache which lasts for a couple of days. It's just not possible with work and everything!
I am, however, moving to a more vegetable based diet and trying to cut back on sugars even more than I already have. It's a bit problematic to do anything too much out of the ordinary though, as I have my boyfriend to think about aswell.
I do find it fascinating how people are able to do this. I always wonder whether you won't miss out on important vitamins and minerals during these fasting times.
Hi @playfulfoodie,
So let me address some of your concerns.
@Headache: That's pretty simple to fix, drink water with added salt (himalayan or any other salt with actual minerals). Also, don't eat sugars/carbs before you begin. Let's say at least 24 hours. But if you tend to eat lots of carbs, give yourself a longer window of adoption. You can also add eating pure fat like MCT oil or coconut oil during your longer fasts. But the salt will do the trick with headache and cramping.
@sugars and veggies: Nice, way to go :).
@bf: Why can't you do anything more extreme? I'm sure your boyfriend will support you in anything you want to do and try and think it's good for you.
@Vitamins: Not if done correctly. For longer fasts it's important to add some vitamins (especially C) and fat to make it a smooth ride and not lose any muscles for example. But Intermittent fasting will do you no harm. So maybe you can start wth that (not eating for 14 hours).
Thanks for the detailed reply! I had no clue water and salt would help with such a headache, it's a good thing to know. I would probably have to cut back on carbs a bit, before trying something like this. Not eating for 14 hours sounds do-able without many drawbacks though.
I might try this in a couple of months when I have a bit more room to experiment with things like this. I'm having enough trouble as it is to try and get to the end of my contract at work, so until then, I'll play it safe :-)
I currently do a 16:8 IF each day (on odd occasions I have done 24 hours), and am fully #keto (<20g net carbs/day) for my diabetes and it's fantastic.
I applaud anyone who's doing even the littlest bit to improve their health and trying to get other people there too.
You, sir, are a hero.
Just some observations about your post:
You were probably taught?
Secondly you have 5 tags on your story. This means due to a current bug when you have more than 4 tags, that it only uses the first tag.
If I may suggest you may want to change your tags to something like: #fasting #health #keto #paleo. Paleo is there because that seems to be the banner under which all LCHF/keto lifestyle and health related topics seem to accumulate on steem.
It's difficult finding the right 4 tags, I know. I wish they'd fix the bug.
That is amazing. For how long are you doing that? And is that a modified-Atkins you're doing or more of a pure Keto? I am curious, tell me about your breakfast :).
And thank you. I appreciate that. I love helping people with their life, health, etc. but I also know different things are right for different people (due to different circumstances, goals, etc.). So I guess the best thing is to just lead by example and hopefully people will join on some of the experiments and find something ideal for them. (Or another approach is to lead them individually, but not many people would even reach out, or think they could).
And thank you for pointing out the bug. I wasn't aware of that. Last few weeks I had very little time for Steemit due to moving to a new country, full time job, etc.
Yea, sorry for the typo :). I'm turning into a 'native speaker' and can't spell anymore :D.
Again, thank you for your help. I'd upvote you more times if I could :). But I'll make sure to check out your blog/comments during the weekend when I'll have more time. :)
LCHF based pure keto (<20g carbs/day) à la: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto
Breakfast looks like lunch, pretty much. I eat it at 12pm when everyone else is eating lunch. Little bit of protein, vegetables / salad (minus starchy, or super sweet), add in extra fats (olive oil, butter, avocado, mayo etc). Perhaps some salty (sea, or himalayan salted nuts). Whenever I can I sub in a piece or two of bacon and/or eggs, but it's hard when at work and eating out with the boys.
I'm usually pretty brutal with the subbing of high carb ingredients with low carb, or at least getting them to take it out completely when I order. Sometimes you get looks but most time the staff are like "whatever".