More about Fasting Benefits

There are so many reasons to at least occasionally do a longer term fast (3 days minimum) and regularly use "intermittent fasting" as a healthy habit.  In this blog post, I will talk about the benefits I personally get when I fast, and about the proven health benefits for almost any healthy person.  Then at the end I will give a short update of my fasting experience this time around.

PERSONAL REASONS

1. Nutritional Reset.  Something about fasting gets me thinking about food.  In a good way.  It motivates me to make better food choices going forward.  I need to reset every so often as I find less than healthy habits tend to creep into my diet.  Fasting is also great for kicking the carb cravings to the curb.

2. Recognizing hunger is not a mandate.  We get hungry and we think we need food, STAT.  Truth is, most of us have plenty of food stored right in our bodies.  That's why if you don't feed your hunger immediately it goes away for a while.  This is your body using stored food to take care of the hunger temporarily.  The self-control required to fast successfully is a real confidence booster.  It feels good to know that I am not a slave to my appetite.

HEALTH REASONS

1. Weight Loss.  You can lose about a pound a day when you fast. Of course some of the weight loss is water weight and will come back quickly when you refeed.  However some of it is fat loss, and if you make better choices going forward it will stay lost forever.

2. Immune system benefits.  Just google "fasting and the immune system" to see the research.

3. A whole host of other health benefits...  you can use google to research this too...

• Decreased insulin levels
• Increased insulin sensitivity
• Decreased blood glucose levels
• Increased fat burning
• Decreased inflammation
• Increased cellular cleansing

Today is day 4 of my 5 days which I will end tomorrow at dinner with a salad or wait until Thursday morning depending on how I am feeling. 

What have I consumed during this fast?

I have mainly been drinking water but I did drink a cup of coffee with milk and 2 tsp. of sugar each morning, about 8 ounces of veggie/fruit juice at about hour 53... I was feeling sick in the night and I am guessing it was about the time my glycogen stores were depleted, but my body had not yet kicked fully into ketosis.  The juice did the trick and I was fine after that. I had another 4 ounces of the same juice yesterday before I rode my bike to a shopping center about 15-20 minutes from home.  Then today another 6 ounces of juice.  

How have I felt?

I have felt okay, but not super. I feel better if I stay busy and active, which I haven't done today.  :-(
The first two days are the most difficult for me as I am really hungry and get irritable.  I did not get headaches this time though.  I would say on average I have had slightly less energy, but some of that may be because now that school is out I have nothing I HAVE to do and I am enjoying the freedom to do nothing.

What's next?
Mark has done a 3 day fast along with me and we both plan to break it by eating low carb for a few days to extend the benefits of ketosis.  On Monday all bets are off as we are having a yummy BBQ with friends.  I do think that I will go back to intermittent fasting (at least one or two 24 hour periods a week) which I haven't done with regularity in quite a while.