Today I am starting my fourth 5-day water fast of 2016.
Once a quarter for the year.
The main reason I do it is for health, but there are many others.
Health Benefits
It
helps regenerate the immune system, promotes longevity by reducing
degenerative conditions, allows the body to thoroughly “clean” its
cells, and it is a cancer fighter.
Cancer fighter?
Yup.
I
hate to say it, but we all have cancer cells in us, slowly growing from
year to year, waiting for the right conditions to potentially ruin our
lives.
The good news is, just like everything else, cancer needs a fuel source to survive in our bodies.
Fasting
restricts a major fuel source for cancer, sugar. Without that fuel
source, those cancerous cells, and all of the tiny tumors in our body,
shrivel up and die.
Sounds like a great preventative measure to me!
Hungry for a few days to help prevent cancer later in life?
Sold!
Cancer is a mother f***er.
In
case you are wondering, I understand that I still may get it, but at
least I will know I did everything to prevent it. There is peace of mind
in leaving it all out on the field.
I
don’t understand the mentality of people that say, “well, I’m gonna die
from something!” and then proceed to treat their body like dog poop.
Makes no sense to me. Life is difficult, aging is going to be hard for
everyone. Why wouldn’t you give yourself the best opportunity to thrive?
Be very wary of people that don’t care enough to try. You only get one
life. This is not a dress rehearsal. Act accordingly.
Other Benefits
1. Time
So much glorious time!
I
don’t work out during fasting weeks. I do a lot of stretching, foam
rolling, and dog walking (my dog loves fasting weeks). I don’t get the
boost of energy I hear some people getting after the first three days. I
feel weak, I feel light-headed when I stand up, so I don’t want to push
it. If I did anything, it would be light weights, minor calisthenics,
but not much more.
Working out time:
4 runs.
60ish minutes per.
20 minutes of total drive time per.
20 minutes of dressing, undressing, showers, etc. per.
= 6.75 hours
5 lifting sessions
80ish minutes per.
20 minutes of dressing, undressing, showers, etc. per.
15 minutes of smoothie making/eating per.
= ~ 9 hours
Food Prep + eating time:
~ 20 minutes of prep/eating for breakfast + lunch.
(I still need to make dinner for my wife and daughter, so that doesn’t count).
+
the time it takes to get back in to whatever project I was working on
after I have been up making food and eating. I will say at least 15
minutes per meal, not including snacks, = 45 min per day.
= ~ 7 hours
Total Time Saved: ~22.75 hours in 5 days!!
That is 2 full work days saved in just 5 days.
Think about the productivity!
I can get so much done, it’s unbelievable.
Granted, there is a little brain fog later on in the week, but I have an enormous amount of time to work!
I can get so much done!!!
2. Mental strength
How
many of us let our stomachs lead us throughout the day? I’m hungry, my
blood sugar is low, I need nourishment, blah blah blah. Once you realize
you don’t need to listen to your stomach you can take even more control
of your day. You can skip lunch and power through because you have
tested yourself already. You are a trooper. You don’t really need it,
you have just conditioned yourself to think you need it.
It
also shows you that you eat when you aren’t hungry at all (which is
where most of us pick up the extra pounds). This helps you distinguish
between real hunger and eating when you are supposed to (12 for lunch, 6
for dinner, etc) or eating because you are bored.
3. Religious strength
Fasting
is a major component in all of the major religions. In fact, I thought
fasting was only for religious reasons when I was younger. It sounded
crazy to me. As I got older and learned all of the health benefits, it
made me appreciate the religious factors even more. Rejuvenating the
body? Building the immune system? Reducing cancer risks? And slowing the
degenerative aging process? It’s incredible. Scriptures were written
thousands of years ago, before modern science, before labs, before
anything we would call credible by today’s standards, and here is this
gem at the heart of many scriptures, fasting. I think it’s amazing, but
that may just be me (which I am okay with).
Living Blog (10/24/16–10/28/16)
I will be editing this blog throughout the week, updating how I am feeling, what is difficult, what is easy, etc.
Please follow along this journey of mine, and ask any questions you like.
Have a great week.
Facebook
40 Hour Check-In
Didn’t
start getting hungry until about 10:30am on day 1. I do intermittent
fasting periodically, so it is no big deal up to this point. In fact, I
don’t expect it to be much of a deal at all. I have done this before,
many times for 24 hours, so I am used to it.
One
thing that I always forget about fasting is being cold. Because your
body is not working hard on digesting food, or recovering from workouts,
it is colder than I am used to. What is funny is, my wife is always the
cold one and I am always looking at her like she is crazy because I am
hot and she is sitting there with a blanket. Last night, our roles were
reversed.
The
first issue I had was dinner. I do all the cooking so I am looking at
this beautiful stovetop of freshly made raviolis and homemade tomato
sauce, it smells amazing, I know it tastes amazing because of the looks
on my wife and daughter’s faces. Ugh. I am hungry.
Still
sleeping well. I expect it to get worse the longer I am fasting. This
should be my hardest day. Between 48–72 hours, when your body is most
likely transitioning in to ketosis is the hardest.
Headaches, body
aches, still hungry, feeling a little weak, etc. By the time I hit the
72 hours mark (noon on Wednesday 10/26) I should be good. Then I will
have 48 hours of solid ketosis to go in and reset my system, shrink
cancer cells, and detox my body.
There
is one little hack I started doing this fast that I have not done the
others. Granted, it is putting something in to my system other than
water, but it is nothing too significant. On the first and second
morning I drink a glass of water (duh) with baking soda and lime juice.
In my mind, part of detoxing is getting all of the “crap” (pun intended)
out of my system so it can heal. Well if I am not eating, then what is
going to move all the waste out of my system, especially by day 2? The
baking soda and lime help pull water in to the upper intestines where
food may still be waiting to pass, activates that region, then helps
flush it out (in to the toilet in case that was not clear). It is a
little cheat, but I think it will help in the long run. Just wanted to
be clear about everything I am doing so you may have a reference for
your potential fast.
67 Hour Check-In
Sleep last night was rough.
I feel weak and mentally out of it.
Drinking
a ton of water during the day seems to help, but you can’t do that at
night. I had to curtail my water intake a few hours before I went to bed
to make sure I didn’t pee all over myself or have to get up 20 times
during the night.
Not good sleep.
I
can feel my heart beat all night, which is not very comforting. I took
my HRV (heart rate variability) yesterday morning. It was low (6) and my
resting heart rate was about 10 beats faster than normal.
When I got up
this morning both were back to normal, which was comforting.
Honesty,
I almost got up and ended the fast last night multiple times. If I feel
the same way tonight that I did last night I will call it quits. It
doesn’t feel right, and I don’t want to take any chances.
I have done this before and felt better, I am not sure what the difference would be this time.
If
I do bow out, I think it is important for you all to understand how
vitally important it is to come off of a fast slowly. I mean really
slow. This is something that I have not done well the last three times.
Once I start eating, everything tastes so fricken good, I eat WAY more
than I should. Keep in mind, I get full very easily because my system
has been shut down for almost a week, so I am not eating a ton of food,
but definitely more than I should.
This
time I will be coming off of it with a cup of bone broth, some juice,
and then easily digestible fruits and carbs. A little white rice, or
some pasta. Things that are higher in carbs but easy on the digestive
system.
Remember,
you entire digestive system has been turned off, meaning it can’t
process anything initially. You need to warm the engine back up.
Whatever you shove in your face at the end of this will just sit in your
gut. Be cognizant of that.
Another check in at 90ish hours.
Update
I failed.
I had to pull the chord at about 73 hours.
I was having palpitations and tried to offset it with some calcium, Vit D3, and magnesium, but it didn’t feel much better.
Not sure what happened. I have done this before and this may have been my worst experience.
In
spite of my frustration, I do feel very good. I just wish I had gotten
to remain in ketosis for the 48 hours I was planning on. There are many
benefits to a 72 hours fast, but I was really looking for the full 120.
I
may mix it up a little next time, start the supplements earlier, maybe
add some exogenous ketones in the beginning the ease the transition.
I
also may need to come to the reality that my palpitations and
arrhythmia will limit my fasting the same way it limits my running. I
have done the full scope of tests with a cardiologist, knowing that I
will need an ablation, but without being able to catch the arrhythmia on
a monitor, and not having anything visibly wrong with my heart in other
tests, I just have to deal with it.
If
you are a practitioner of fasting and have any suggestions I would love
to hear them. Please don’t hesitate in contacting me. The more feedback
and insight the better.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Be healthy!
