Weight: 74.4
Body fat: 26.5%
BMI: 23.8
RHR: 59bpm
Sleep: 6hrs 4min 
BP: 110/68 @64bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up this morning with no real desire to eat – to break my fast. Although I must, soon, because later I have to drive to Sydney – a 4hr drive – and I don’t want to do that drive whilst still fasting. I wouldn’t necessarily trust my judgement.

It’s been a fascinating experiment, and if you read on I detail what I’ve learned and how it will change the way I’ll approach food, and eating, from now on.

Throughout the fast I’ve dropped nearly 9kgs. That’s almost 20lbs in two weeks. I’m the lowest weight I’ve been in over ten years. And I feel great. I feel as though my body has done a major detox and reboot. I feel alert and strong and full of optimism.

I think the health benefits of this fast are, and will be, incalculable.

I have to admit there were times when I didn’t think I’d make it through. I wouldn’t say it’s been easy, but then again it wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be. I could, if circumstances allowed, easily go for another 14 days.

Why wouldn’t I? Because the whole exercise has really disrupted the family routine. My wife Jennifer, and my eldest son Henry, are good cooks – more than that, they regard cooking as a creative endeavour, and they enjoy preparing meals, then sitting down and sharing those meals with me. (aren’t I a lucky fella?!)

That hasn’t happened these past 14 days.
I miss that.

I miss the community of it – the talking, the laughing, the swapping of stories and things that we’ve picked up from podcasts or news sites or from the books we’re reading. None of that has happened this past fortnight.

Henry has cooked for himself and eaten alone. Jennifer has cooked for herself and eaten alone. There’s been none of the conviviality that goes hand-in-hand with the sharing of a good meal. That energy has been lost. I look forward to it returning now that this fast is finishing.

How to break the fast?

I have to be very careful. It would be inadvisable to have solids of any kind, so what Jennifer and I have decided is to break it with an avocado drizzled with apple cider vinegar, with Himalayan salt and some pepper – then later in the day vegetable soup – celery and broccoli. That should ease me into the digestive cycle again.

The one thing I’m determined to do is not to go back to my old habits. I’ve brought my weight down to where I believe it should be – 75kgs and under. That’s the weight I remember as a younger man being my ideal weight. I’d like actually to get it down to 73kgs and will work towards that.

Basically though, there’s no point going through this past 14days if, in a month’s time, I’m back to where I was when I started. I have to learn lessons from this. One of the reasons I undertook this fast was to regain control of my mind, my thoughts, and I’ve done that. I can’t from this point on be once again governed by the randomness of my actions.

Which means I have to give serious thought as to how I move forward from this point on. What changes I’m going to make in my diet. Here’s what I know so far –

• I’m cutting sugar from my diet, entirely.
• I’m cutting dairy from my diet, entirely.
• I’m cutting fruit from my diet, entirely.
• I’ll reduce my carbohydrates to a minimum.
• I’ll reduce alcohol to a bare minimum, if not entirely.
• I’ll eat more fish.
• I’ll eat more salads, nuts and seeds, and fresh vegetables.
• I’ll restrict my red meat consumption to about 2-3 times a month.
• No more roast potatoes, no more chips, no more pasta or noodles.
• I’ll limit rice to brown rice only.
• No more coffee for the foreseeable future. (I’ll see how long that lasts!)
• I’ll do intermittent fasting in some form, not sure what yet.
• From now on, I’ll eat mindfully, not randomly.

So what have I learned from the last 14 days?

• If you can get past day 3 of a fast, you feel no hunger. It’s still difficult from then on, but hunger ceases to be an issue.
• After day 12 you seem to break through a barrier and you feel stronger and clearer in your thinking. After that, continuing the fast for however long is not a problem.
• Using beef broth or chicken broth didn’t work for me. I did it for two days and I put on weight and felt nauseous.
• Don’t do an extended fast if you’re operating heavy machinery.
• After about a week I developed an aversion to coffee – and I love coffee.
• Autophagy – the process of cell rejuvenation associated with fasting, is a game-changer for me. It’s the reason I would look at incorporating some kind of fasting routine into my life from now on. (see posts day#11 and day#12 for info on autophagy.)
• The social ritual of sharing food with others is very important to me. I missed that.
• I’ve proven to myself that if I set my mind to something, I can do it. I really had no problem with my son or Jennifer cooking or eating around me. I’d vowed not to eat for 14 days and it was as simple as that. I would have disappointed myself if I’d broken that vow. I probably would have disappointed others as well.

IF YOU WANT TO UNDERTAKE A FAST ~

If you now want to undertake a fast, here’s what I advise you to do:

• Read up on all the legitimate medical literature on fasting, like Dr. Fung’s book and others, and really do your homework. Don’t rely on fringe or quack advice – be advised by the science. Get this wrong and it could have serious consequences for you.
• If you’re on medication check in with your doctor first.
• Take it slow. Start out with a 2 day fast – for instance, have Friday dinner be your last meal until breakfast Monday. See how that goes. I’ve done multiple fasts in the past, the longest prior to this being 6 days. That gave me some degree of foreknowledge as to what I’d be facing.
• Plan your fast so that you’re not doing anything physically taxing or requiring you to be super-alert. You’ll probably feel listless and a bit foggy-headed. If you’re doing a long drive, or you’re having an important business meeting, it’s best you’re not fasting.
• Expect to be hungry – very hungry. Remember, the hunger pangs don’t really leave you until day 3 or day 4 of a fast.
• If you’re finding it really tough have some miso soup or broth. Be kind to yourself. This isn’t an exercise in self-mutilation.
• Weigh yourself regularly. I’ve found that checking your weight is kind of like a validation of how you’re going. It gives you a sense of achievement. It’s like a pat on the back – an attaboy!
• Break your fast carefully. I remember I once broke a 4 day fast with roast duck. I was sick for a week!

I’m posting before and after shots of myself below. I’ve tried to match angle and light, to give an accurate comparison. I don’t know about you but I think I look better in the before shot!

I also post a screen shot from my FitBit app that recorded the weight loss in graph form.

After all that I’ve been through, would I do it again? Yes I would, but I’d probably next look at doing a 28 day fast. I’m serious. But then again, I’m crazy…

Weight: 74.8
Body fat: 26.8%
BMI: 23.9
RHR: 59bpm
Sleep: 6hrs 32min 
BP: 105/61 @67bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I look back, I was quite daunted by the prospect of not eating for fourteen days. I was genuinely not sure whether I could stick it out. That’s one of the reasons I decided to make my fast public – I figured it would be harder for me to bail if I had people watching me from afar.

The other reason I decided to go public is because I wanted to provide good solid medical information about fasting for those that might be interested. I’ve done that in the posting of excerpts from Dr Jason Fung’s book, The Complete Guide To Fasting.

And over these past 13 days I’ve had a wonderful response from people around the world, contacting me telling me that they’re going to undertake a fast, some telling me that what I’m doing has been inspirational. That’s enormously gratifying.

Bu I have to say, at the outset I was scared. And the last time I felt that kind of fear was before I walked my first Camino, in 2013. And now, looking back, I realise that the way I’ve gotten through this fast is the way I got through the Camino – by increments.

In my Camino memoir book, The Way, My Way, I talk about the power of increments. That you can achieve great things, seemingly impossible things, by approaching it incrementally. You look at a map of Spain and you think there’s no way I can walk across that country. No way.

Then you look at the map again and you look at the next town ahead of you – a day’s walk. I can do that, you say to yourself. And you do it, then that night you look at the map again and you see the next town on your route and you say I can do that. And after thirty days you’ve walked 800kms across Spain!

The power of increments.
As I say in my book:

I could never get over it. I would stand on a hill and look into the distance and see a village. And then I’d set off, and within a few hours I was actually walking into that village. The power of the small step. A lot of small steps gets you extraordinary distances. If you keep taking those small steps.  I began to think of what else I could achieve, through small steps, Through increments. If I ate a little less each day, I could lose weight. If I did a little more exercise each day I could get fitter. If I spent a little less each day I could save more. You don’t have to take big strides. Little steps are fine, but just keep taking them. And then you find you’ve walked across a country.

Same deal with this fast. The prospect of not eating for 2 weeks seemed impossible, but I discovered that if I just focused on not eating that day, and that day only, then not eating for one day was do-able. And then I’d wake up the next day I’d do the same. And now here I am, 13 days in, and I’m almost at the finish line. I’ve almost walked all the way across the country.

So here’s the last excerpt from Dr. Fung that I’m going to post. It’s a series of Q&A’s. If you’re interested in doing a fast, I highly recommend you read his book – here’s an Amazon link:

The Complete Guide to Fasting – Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting

*****

Will fasting make me cranky? 

Interestingly, this has not been a problem in our Intensive Dietary Management Program, despite years of experience and hundreds of patients. Similarly, members of religions that embrace routine fasting are not known to be cranky. For example, nobody would stereotype a Buddhist monk, who engages in fasting almost daily, as a cranky guy. 

I think that when people become irritable when they don’t eat, it’s because they expect to be cranky, so they act out their role in a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we normalize the idea of fasting in their minds, they forget to become cranky. Will fasting make me tired? No. In our experience at the Intensive Dietary Management Program, the opposite is true. Many people find that they have more energy during a fast—probably due to increased adrenaline. 

You’ll find that you have plenty of energy for all the normal activities of daily living. Persistent fatigue is not a normal part of fasting. If you experience excessive fatigue, you should stop fasting immediately and see your doctor. Will fasting make me confused or forgetful? No. You should not experience any decrease in memory or concentration during your fast. On the contrary, fasting improves mental clarity and acuity. Over the long term, fasting may actually help improve memory. One theory is that fasting activates a form of cellular cleansing called autophagy that may help prevent age-associated memory loss.

Does fasting lead to overeating? 

The simple answer is yes, you will eat more than usual immediately after fasting. However, the amount of food eaten above the baseline on nonfasting days is not enough to offset the preceding fast. A study of thirty-six-hour fasts shows that the meal taken after the fast is almost 20 percent larger than usual, but over the entire two-day period, there was still a net deficit of 1,958 calories. The amount “overeaten” did not nearly compensate for the fast. The study concludes, “A 36-hour fast … did not induce a powerful, unconditioned stimulus to compensate on the subsequent day.” 

My stomach is always growling. What can I do? Try drinking some mineral water. The mechanism is unclear, but it is believed that some of the minerals help settle the stomach. I take medications with food. What can I do during fasting? Certain medications may cause side effects on an empty stomach: Aspirin can cause stomach upset or even ulcers. Iron supplements may cause nausea and vomiting. Metformin, often prescribed for diabetes, may cause nausea or diarrhea. 

 What if I have diabetes? 

Special care must be taken if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes or are taking diabetic medications. (Certain diabetes medications, such as metformin, are used for other conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome.) Monitor your blood sugar closely and adjust your medications accordingly. Close monitoring by your physician is mandatory. 

If you cannot be followed closely, do not fast. Fasting reduces blood sugar. If you continue taking the same dose of diabetes medications, especially insulin, during your fast, your blood sugar may become extremely low, resulting in hypoglycemia. This can be a life-threatening situation. You must take some sugar or juice to raise your blood sugar back to normal, even if it means you must stop your fast for that day. You must closely monitor your blood sugar during your fast. If you repeatedly have low blood sugar, it means that you are overmedicated, not that the fasting process is not working. 

Can I exercise while fasting? 

Many people assume it will be difficult to exercise while fasting, and sometimes those with physically demanding jobs worry about fasting while working. Yes, exercise demands extra energy from the body. However, the process of using stored food energy during a fast remains the same. 

The body starts by burning glycogen, the sugar stored in the liver. Since there is extra demand for energy during exercise, glycogen runs out sooner than otherwise. But your body generally carries enough glycogen for twenty-four hours, so it can sustain a fair amount of exercise before running out. However, endurance athletes, such as Ironman triathletes, marathoners, and ultra-marathoners, do occasionally “hit the wall.” 

Glycogen stores run out, leaving their muscles essentially running on empty. Perhaps there is no more indelible image of hitting the wall than the 1982 Ironman Triathlon, when American competitor Julie Moss crawled to the finish line, unable to even stand. But even when our glycogen runs out, we’re still carrying vast amounts of energy in the form of fat, and during fasting, our body switches from burning sugar to burning fat. 

Following a very low carbohydrate diet, or ketogenic diet, trains your body tissues to burn fat. Similarly, exercising in the fasted state trains your muscles to burn fat. Instead of relying on limited glycogen stores, you can use almost unlimited energy from your fat stores. Muscles adapt to use whatever energy source is available. 

When we deplete our glycogen through fasting, our muscles learn to become much more efficient at burning fat. The number of specialized fat-burning proteins is increased, and the breakdown of fat for energy is enhanced. After training in the fasted state, muscle fibers show increased available fat. All these are signs that the muscles are training to burn fat, not sugar. 

Does performance suffer? Not really. In one study, a three-and-a-half-day fast did not affect any measurements of athletic performance, including strength, anaerobic capacity, and aerobic endurance. However, during the period when you are adjusting to the change from burning sugar to burning fat, you may notice a decrease in your athletic performance. This lasts approximately two weeks. 

As you deplete the body of sugar, your muscles need time to adapt to using fat. Your energy, muscle strength, and overall exercise capacity will go down, but they will recover. This process is sometimes called keto-adaptation. Very low carb diets, ketogenic diets, and training in the fasted state may all have benefits in training your muscles to burn fat, but your muscles do need time to adapt.

Weight: 75.4
Body fat: 26.3%
BMI: 24.0
RHR: 59bpm
Sleep: 7hrs 3min 
BP: 126/72 @64bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend Marie who lives in the Basque country contacted me a few days ago, and told me about an extended fast she did whilst in an elite German medical clinic. She said that on day 12 of her 17 day fast, her energy returned, as did her clarity of thought.

Well that’s what’s happened to me.

Yesterday I did the strongest bike ride I’ve done for ages – 40mins/15.5kms/485cals. The figures weren’t as good as I was doing two weeks ago, but they’re the strongest this week.

Overall I’m feeling good – very good. Clear-headed, solid. I feel like I could go another 14 days, easy. It seems like I’ve passed through some kind of barrier, and I’m now in open waters.

Stats: I dropped 0.6kg in the past 24hrs, my percentage body fat strangely is remaining stubbornly constant, my resting heart rate has gone up a bit, and my blood pressure remains low, which for me is an achievement because I have hypertension.

The feeling of hunger is still no longer an issue, however the idea of food taunts me. Jennifer made a beautiful fried rice with chicken and cabbage last night for dinner, then sat beside me and ate it. I would have loved to have had some, but of course that wasn’t possible. But the idea of tucking into a bowl of that beautiful fried rice was very tempting.

Yesterday I learned that an important meeting I had scheduled in Sydney on Thursday has been brought forward to Tuesday morning. Early. We live in Mudgee, four hours drive away, so that means we’ll have to drive to Sydney Monday afternoon.

Monday is day#14 of my fast, and I’m not going to do the tricky drive whilst fasting, so I’ve decided to break my fast on Monday at lunch time. This will cut short my 14 day fast by half a day. I don’t see it as a big deal – I’ve done what I set out to do. Sometimes life intercedes in the best laid plans.

Now for more from the esteemed Dr Jason Fung, from his book The Complete Guide to Fasting. It’s an excerpt that continues on about autophagy, which for me the most important aspect of fasting –

*****

For people with chronic inflammatory and/or neurological conditions, fasting can help accelerate autophagy and the body’s clearing-out of old, damaged tissue. The body engages in “housecleaning” all the time, but when it gets a break from the constant digestion of large amounts of food, it may be able to focus more energy on repair and restoration. 

This is why the strongest stimulus to autophagy currently known is fasting, and why fasting alone, unique among diets, stimulates autophagy—simple caloric restriction or dieting isn’t enough. By eating constantly, from the time we wake up to the time we sleep, we prevent the activation of autophagy’s cleansing pathways. 

Simply put, fasting cleanses the body of unhealthy or unnecessary cellular debris. This is the reason longer fasts were often called cleanses or detoxifications. At the same time, fasting also stimulates growth hormone, which signals the production of some new snazzy cell parts, giving our bodies a complete renovation. 

Since it triggers both the breakdown of old cellular parts and the creation of new ones, fasting may be considered one of the most potent anti-aging methods in existence. Autophagy also plays an important role in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of amyloid beta (Aß) proteins in the brain, and it’s believed that these accumulations eventually destroy the synaptic connections in the memory and cognition areas. 

Normally, clumps of Aß protein are removed by autophagy: the brain cell activates the autophagosome, the cell’s internal garbage truck, which engulfs the Aß protein targeted for removal and excretes it, so it can be removed by the blood and recycled into other protein or turned into glucose, depending upon the body’s needs. But in Alzheimer’s disease, autophagy is impaired and the Aß protein remains inside the brain cell, where eventual buildup will result in the clinical syndromes of Alzheimer’s disease. 

Cancer is yet another disease that may be a result of disordered autophagy. We’re learning that mTOR plays a role in cancer biology, and mTOR inhibitors have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of various cancers. Fasting’s role in inhibiting mTOR, thereby stimulating autophagy, provides an interesting opportunity to prevent cancer’s development. 

Indeed, some leading scientists, such as Dr. Thomas Seyfried, a professor of biology at Boston College, have proposed a yearly seven-day water-only fast for this very reason.

Weight: 76.5
Body fat: 26.5%
BMI: 24.3
RHR: 57bpm
Sleep: 7hrs 16min
BP: 118/62 @61bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten days in and I’m going hard core.
No coffee. No broth.
Nothing but water and tea for the remainder of the fast.
Another five days.

I didn’t have my usual double espresso yesterday, nor this morning. I’ve been expecting headaches and twitches and frothing at the mouth, but that hasn’t happened. I have had the occasional episode where my eyes rolled into the back of my head but on those occasions I wasn’t with anyone else so there was no social awkwardness.

Stats: weight has come down a bit – about half a kg in the last 24hrs. Body fat, strangely, has risen a bit. Don’t get that. Blood pressure is down, and I might have to take myself off my medication for high BP if that continues, which is a good thing. RHR has come back down to 57bpm.

In the last 24hrs I’ve only had water and tea, and that’s all I’m going to continue to have until the fast ends next Tuesday morning.

How do I feel? Once again, pretty good. I don’t feel hungry at all, and yesterday there was a lot of cooking going on in the kitchen and it didn’t bother me. I made Jennifer a coffee this morning and had no desire to have one myself – on the contrary, I’m starting to think that at the end of this fast I might continue my coffee ban. That also would be a good thing.

My cognitive processes seem fine – I have no problems with my writing, and I interact with others okay, although this morning I did forget Jennifer’s name, which was embarrassing. I had to go get our Marriage Certificate to remind me. (joke)

Other than that, there’s not much more that I can tell you on day#10 of the fast. Other than I’m looking forward to it ending, because I miss the communal ritual of eating with my family. That for me is the worst thing about fasting – that absence of sharing, over a meal.

Now, for some Dr. Fung…. The various types of fasts ~

*****

Most definitions of fasting allow noncaloric drinks only. This means that water, tea, and black coffee are all allowed during fasting, but sugar, honey, fructose, agave nectar, and other sugars are prohibited. There is some disagreement about artificial sweeteners like stevia, aspartame, and sucralose. Since there are no calories in these, technically, they could be allowed. 

However, the use of chemicals in these artificial sweeteners defeats the spirit of fasting, which is to cleanse or purify the body, not only from unwanted sugars and fats but also from chemicals and other artificial agents. The same argument applies to artificial flavors, such as those in Crystal Light or Kool-Aid, and to bouillon cubes. 

The water-only fast is a traditional and classic variant—all other beverages and additives are not permitted during the fasting period. It’s important to note that this fast generally includes zero salt. Without salt, the body cannot hold onto water, and therefore there is some risk of dehydration. 

Some variants of the water-only fast allow you to drink salt water, although it can be difficult to get down. However, the body has a remarkable ability to retain salt when it is not readily available in the diet. This means that as long as the water-only fast is limited in duration, your salt requirements will be fairly low, and salt deficiency shouldn’t be a problem. 

Juice fasting permits the consumption of juice as well as water. Since juices naturally contain sugars and calories, this is not technically a true fast, but the word is often used in this context. Results of this fast will vary depending upon the type and amount of juice consumed. Fruit juices tend to be very high in sugar and therefore will often not produce as good a result as other, stricter fasts. 

“Green” juice fasting has recently surged in popularity. As you might guess from the name, this involves juicing green leafy vegetables, like spinach and kale. The resulting juice contains far less sugar than the juice of sweet fruits like oranges and apples. In addition, leafy vegetables contain little actual juice, so the leaves are often ground up and blended with the juice, which provides fiber and nutrients. Celery is often juiced in this mixture, too. 

The “fat fast” is a newer variation of fasting. Relatively pure fats, such as coconut oil, cream, and butter, are allowed during this fast, so it, too, is not a true fast. Fat is normally not eaten in isolation—we rarely drink a cup of olive oil or eat a pat of butter by itself—but some people feel that eating fat this way helps reduce hunger and makes fasting much easier. 

The popularity of “bulletproof coffee” has helped this trend. To make coffee “bulletproof,” you add fat in the form of coconut oil, medium-chain triglycerides (MCT oil), or butter from grass-fed cows. The high fat content of the coffee gives this drink a substantial number of calories (400 to 500 per cup, depending upon the recipe), so this would be more accurately termed a meal replacement. However, virtually all of the calories are derived from fat. 

Weight: 77.0
Body fat: 25.5%
BMI: 24.4
RHR: 58bpm
Sleep: 5hrs 15min (1hr53) + (3hrs32)
BP: 129/61 @62bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This makes no sense.

I’ve dropped only a marginal amount in weight over the past 24hrs, and my body fat has remained pretty much the same. The only thing I can put it down to is two portions of broth I had yesterday – about 1 cup, or 250mls of turkey broth in the morning, and about 300mls of chicken broth in the afternoon.

I would have thought both broths had minimal calories. There are no solids in them at all. But I put in a lot of salt – Himalayan salt. Maybe it is water retention. If so, it pisses me off – if I can use that term in the context of water retention…

A dear Camino friend in the Basque country, Marie – she is a highly experienced chiropractor but also something of a naturopath – posted on my blog overnight, and I put that post in here below because it’s relevant, and Marie is a highly esteemed health professional.

She said she attended a world renowned health clinic in Germany some years back and went on a strict fast, no coffee or supplements of any kind, and after day 12 she made a huge breakthrough and felt wonderful. (see below)

So I have decided I will not have coffee anymore – only tea.
And no more broth.

That aside, how do I feel? Pretty good, really. I feel no hunger at all, and in fact when I had the second portion of chicken broth yesterday it made me feel nauseous. I don’t think I will miss the broth for the remainder of the fast.

What I probably will miss though is the coffee. But I feel that if I am to completely detox, I need to detox from coffee.

When I did my 40mins on the bike yesterday I felt a real lack of energy – I did the slowest session ever: 40mins/14.3kms/403cals. I just had no power in my legs. Prior to the fast I was doing 19kms+ over 40mins.

Sleep last night was difficult. I had a total of 5hrs15mins only.

I woke up at about 1am, and didn’t go back to sleep for some 2hrs40mins later, with the aid of melatonin. I spent the time working out the third act of my new screenplay, then I read. I’m currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula le Guin, regarded by many as a masterpiece. About a third of the way through I can see why they’d think that.

Anyway, this is what Marie posted on my blog overnight:

To make thing short :on 2003 I was diagnosed with severe burnout and depression. My MD wanted me to take powerful drugs which I did not feel taking. So I looked for an alternative and check into the Buchinger Clinic in Germany, one of the top ten clinics in the world.

I was treated only with fast, no médecines, no supplements, no coffee allowed. And walking, swimming, yoga and art therapy. It was tough but on the night of day 12 something happened in my brain, like if someone had switched on a light bulb. No more foggy brain, good humor, and I started to laugh again.

Physically I was feeling great, started to run, gaining strength. So when my husband asked me to come back I stupidly obeyed. Day 17 I decided to stop to have time to do the transition to normal eating. But I should have kept going.

I was feeling that the process was not finished and this same year I came back for a ten days fast and a third time for a week of detox and others medical treatment like the cleaning of my blood.

BTW in Buchinger, they think that we don’t need supplements, neither salt. Or coffee. Because it is interfering with the the way our body is working thru the fast.

Here is the next excerpt from Dr Jason Fung’s book, The Complete Guide to Fasting. This is about ketosis, and ketogenic diets –

*****

You may have heard of a ketogenic diet—it’s been quickly growing in popularity in the last several years and is known to be helpful for a wide range of health problems, including obesity. As it happens, a ketogenic diet and fasting have several features in common. 

A ketogenic diet gets its name from ketone bodies. These are substances the body produces during fat-burning; they’re what fuels the brain when glucose is scarce. A ketogenic diet helps shift the body from burning glucose to burning fat, which results in the creation of ketones. Of course, fasting causes the body to burn fat, too—and that means it also results in the creation of ketones. 

Body fat is composed mostly of triglycerides, which are molecules made of one glycerol backbone to which three fatty acids of varying lengths are attached. During fat-burning, the triglyceride molecule is broken down into the glycerol backbone and the 3 fatty acids. The fatty acids are used directly by most of the organs of the body, including the liver, kidney, heart, and muscles. 

However, certain cells are not able to burn fat, including the inner part of the kidney (renal medulla) and red blood cells. To supply the glucose those cells need, the liver uses the glycerol backbone to manufacture new glucose molecules. More importantly, though, the brain cannot use fatty acids, either.

Ketone bodies produced during fat-burning fill that gap, and the brain becomes powered mostly on ketones, which supply up to 75 percent of its energy needs. This dramatically reduces the brain’s need for glucose, enabling adequate glucose production from glycerol. 

In this way, triglycerides provide energy in the form of fatty acids, ketones, and glucose—enough for the entire body. So, yes, the brain still requires glucose to function normally during fasting, but we do not need to eat glucose. We can manufacture enough glucose to power the entire body simply from body fat.

This is a normal situation. This is the way our body is designed to work. 

Weight: 78.6
Body fat: 25.5%
BMI: 25.2
RHR: 56bpm
Sleep: 7hrs 15min
BP: 153/80 @61bpm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s Sunday morning here in Australia and I should be eating pancakes!
Blueberry pancakes.
Thick buttery blueberry pancakes.
Whaaaa.
Instead, my Sunday morning breakfast consists of 2 x double espressos only.

My stats today are interesting. I’ve dropped 1.0kg again in the last 24hrs. I didn’t have any bone broth during the past 24hrs. Just water, tea and coffee. My RHR (Resting Heart Rate) has come down to 56bpm. My BMI (25.2) is now hovering just about normal. (Normal is 24.9 and below). My BP (blood pressure) though is up.

How am I feeling?
Not hungry.
A bit lightheaded.
A bit ordinary – to be honest.
I’ve yet to get to that energy boost and clarity of thinking that evidently comes with an extended fast. But then again, I’m only on day#6.

Eight more days to go.

I usually do 60mins on my bike on a Sunday but his morning I didn’t feel I had the energy to go a full hour, so I dropped it down to 40mins.

I’ve been getting some blowback from my family, and from some people on social media, about this endeavour, so I thought I would reference the expert. Here, according to Dr Jason Fung, author of The Complete Guide to Fasting, are some of the benefits of fasting:

Fasting’s most obvious benefit is weight loss. However, there are a myriad of benefits beyond this, many of which were widely known before the modern era. 

It was once common for people to fast for a certain period of time for health benefits. These fasting periods were often called “cleanses,” “detoxifications,” or “purifications,” and people believed that they would clear their bodies of toxins and rejuvenate themselves. They were more correct than they knew. 

Fasting: 

• Improves mental clarity and concentration 
• Induces weight and body fat loss 
• Lowers blood sugar levels 
• Improves insulin sensitivity 
• Increases energy 
• Improves fat-burning 
• Lowers blood cholesterol 
• Prevents Alzheimer’s disease 
• Extends life 
• Reverses the aging process 
• Decreases inflammation