The following is not medical advice, it's simply my view from Windy Hill.
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Just coming off a 6 day water only fast. Started Sunday at 3pm and now starting to to come off it with my first food Saturday evening around 5pm. That's 18 plates worth of food missed and 144 hours of my life energy invested in body healing...
So here's the background...
I've been intermittently fasting off and on for over 15 years, usually from Sunday night to Monday night or Tuesday morning. Historically Mondays were busy work days, so it was easy to miss meals and just fast, using the extra 3 hours for productive work, including attending a Monday night men's Bible study.
So I'm accustomed to missing a meal or two and my body doesn't object or complain. I think it's an easily trained response of mental over physical knowing "I'm in control, and not my body".
Periods of fasting also show up in every major religion. For Christians, fasting is mentioned in the Old Testament and of course, Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, along with multiple New Testament references for us as believers to include prayer and fasting as part of our Christian walk.
I've read and investigated much on the health affects of intermittent fasting and extended fasting. Research indicates significant physical and mental health benefits from both. Among many, one major highlight is helping to control insulin and Insulin Resistance, which when IR is high, diabetes is diagnosed.
Intermittent fasting can include a daily schedule of not eating for 12 to16 hours per day, so that means healthy eating during the remaining 8 or 12 hour window, and no food in the 3 hours before bedtime. Additionally, intermittent 24 hour fasts are relatively common and safe.
An extended 5 day or 7 day fast is on the upper end, and about as long as recommended for a medically unmonitored fast.
Fasting experts highly recommend fasts for everyone except pregnant or nursing women, and indicate that up to a 7 day fast is likely safe for most healthy adults.
The longer the duration - the better for health benefits, although any fast of longer than 7 days should have medical oversight to make sure blood markers remain healthy through the fast.
After the first 24 hours of not eating, the body moves from using digested food for energy to using stored body fat, converting it to a higher form of energy usable by the body. Ketosis is that state of fat burning, which is what people try to achieve with the Keto, Palio, Carnivore and similar diets, which are typically low carb, high protein with healthy fats.
Extended fasting...14 days...20 days...even 40 days have additional proven health benefits based on research, to jack up the benefits for resetting or rebooting the body. There's evidence of cured systemic health issues such as diabetes, some cancers, mental illnesses, auto immune diseases, high blood pressure and other chronic illnesses are documented. (Read da' books!)
The process that generates many of the disease related health benefits is called "autophagy" - Latin for the body eating itself.
At a summary level, during a fast the significant energy normally used by the body to digest food is redirected, and triggers the cells into cleaning themselves by consuming bits and pieces of old cell parts floating within the cell. Done all over the body, the results are an overall cleaning of the body at the cell level. One additional result per research is that beneficial stem cells are released, helping to restore damaged cells back to normal.
The autophagy process is reported to include destroying some types of cancer or pre-cancerous cells, other causes for inflammation, and free radicals within the body.
THIS action and it's long-term benefits are my highest motivation for doing an extended fast.
It's the body healing itself.
So fasting...whether from 12 hours or up to 40 days provides benefits. For me, they are powerful motivations to see it through to the end.
My 2025 fast adventure...
I mentioned intermittently doing 24 or 36 hour fasts in the past, typically on Mondays. I also did my first extended 5 day fast about 18 months ago.
My desire now is to make it an annual thing, so I am targeting the week before Thanksgiving as my fast week moving forward.
Historically, I have gone from 180 pounds to over 195 between Thanksgiving and New Year's. It's a combination of less outside activity and high availability of calorie dense food during the holidays. It then takes me to April to get back to 180-ish. During the warmer months, I often skip lunch while working outside, and every missed meal helps with reducing caloric intake!
My experience has been extended fasting results in both physical and mental benefits.
Physically, I lose weight from burning stored fat. Also I consider it a body cleansing and reboot process. On this fast, I did not experience excessive hunger, in fact after the first missed meal, the craving for food ceased. This generally happens when I fast.
It was a water only fast, so ahead of normal meal times, I filled up on water, which abated the hunger urge.
I mark my weight on a graph on the closet wall, and have been taking the measurement every day, for the last 5 years.
I have the data!
Plus about 6 months ago I started to record my activity level for the previous day. It's subjective and just for me, so I judge rather strict, since it merits a gold star on the graph. And just getting out of bed does not earn a gold star!
So over 6 days, I went from 185 to 173, so about 12 pounds down...
Granted some of that weight is hydration related, but I've been fairly regular on water consumption throughout the fast.
What nearly derailed me was the caffeine headache that started Monday morning and lasted through Tuesday morning. Nearly 24 hours of level 8 pain throbbing in my head. I was nearly comatose on Monday (no gold star) and was in bed by 7pm.
Sadly, it's an indication that I've been consuming too much coffee. And I've not yet decided if I'll start again after the fast. There's some research based benefits associated with coffee/caffeine, but I suspect excessive caffeine is not providing even more benefits! But the pain when I stop, and knowing I'm dependent on it are strong motives to quit.
Physically during the fast I had less energy. I remained active and productive (caught my biggest bass of the last 5 years while fasting!). But I could tell I didn't have much reserve and tired more quickly. But that's all good and expected!
Periods of fasting are for body healing...
Mentally, this fast has been a major success. The Ketosis process mentioned above is amazing to experience. The brain is operating on a modified high energy source, and thinking is clearer and the ability to focus thought is enhanced.
The best I can describe it, for me at least, is that time seems to slow down and thinking is focused and in the present. I can think on a topic and stay focused without other thoughts trying to crowd in and hijack my mind.
And much of my "monkey mind chatter" is silenced.
It's a bit like the Matrix, where Neo experiences the world in periods of slow motion, seeing and responding to everything happening around him with thoughtful response, rather than reaction.
It's an enjoyable experience for sure.
I'm calmer now and less reactionary. More thoughtful, and feeling more in control of my actions. The world events are out there and not in my head.
The other area to mention is gaining additional control over eating. After this much time invested in not eating anything, I'm more thoughtful of what I'll allow into my body.
It's easier now to say "No" to high processed garbage, salt, sugar and obvious bad carbs like cookies, crackers and bread.
Although I still plan to eat a smashburger on a good brioche bun Saturday evening, I remain highly selective on which of the obvious carbs I choose to eat.
This post barely hit the high points on fasting, and there were additional nuances experienced, but this is long enough for now. I'm off to get some Kiefer to restore my gut biome and start my return to eating...and tonight, the first meal after 6 days will be that grass fed Angus smashburger hot off the griddle! (Update: It was spectacular!)
I'm in a calm, peaceful state of mind, and if there were no other benefits from fasting, that by itself is worth a missed meal or two...
Let the adventure continue...with calmness...
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