In triple digit territory now, which means the storm has been braved. It doesn't take serious effort any more to stay fasted right now (assuming you have a healthy amount of fat to lose it shouldn't at least). It really becomes a matter of how I'm feeling and how I'm performing mentally, to which I can say I have no complaints at the moment for either.
The hunger pangs are mostly gone, and the shift now is on highly intense focused work. I feel primed to get a lot done, and went through an enormous amount of material today. Best of all, the clarity has been highly essential in producing breakthrough moments in problem solving some heuristic obstacles I was having. I've been able to think more logically, visualize better, and arrive at deeper insights that have led to solutions.
Today, @primal-buddhist shared with me a relic called The Fasting Cure. It had some strong empirical analysis, which actually parallels a lot of my experience as far as physical and mental performance is concerned. The medical advice is naturally quite suspect given the time period - advocating for a milk cleanse and other unsubstantiated theories, so I wouldn't read super far into that aspect of the book. I'll give it enough merit not to try to a persimmon when breaking the fast as it suggests. I found it insightful, despite its age and flaws in certain areas.
I may consider going for longer than 7 days. If I'm feeling great come Monday morning I probably will. I have a decent amount of fat to lose...at least a good 15 pounds before I'm getting into risky territory, might as well kill two birds with one stone. I entered this with the intention of just doing a cleanse and improving work productivity for a bit, which by all accounts has gone well, but getting to my ideal body weight with really low effort sounds perfect so why not?
I'm not going to extend it just yet, still will wait and see, but 80% chance we're going for another week come Monday if I feel as good as I do now.
I'll have some community engagement ideas I'm exploring, I'll probably talk about them on Sunday. It would be awesome to have others fasting and seeing the tremendous benefits of this amazing unpracticed natural process, so I well intend to push it as much as possible on steemit through commitment rewards and so forth.
Any questions, concerns, topics you want me to talk about as always feel free to bring them up in the comments.
all the best ~
Extended Reading
Dr. Jason Fung
- Fasting Blog
- Book - Complete Fasting Guide
- Book - Obesity Code
- Youtube Video - Why Fasting Doesn't Cause Muscle Loss
- Interview - 160 Quesitons Answered
Dr. Valter Longo
Dr. Rhonda Patrick
Communities & Resources
Zero -Fasting App
Subreddit for Fasting
Fasting Archive
Reminds me how everyone only focuses on the food and medicine part of Hippocrates quote:
good comparison, it's a real travesty that the uninformed perception of fasting is that of a dire last resort mechanism or diet crutch rather than arguably the healthiest thing we can do for our body, on the same magnitude as exercising and meditation/stress management.
I find it so amazing we have this natural house cleaning process that renews us and makes us stronger. Only in the last century or two in the over abundance of food and easy access to it is it rare for most people to have to go several days on an empty stomach. It hasn't helped that we've been fed so much misinformation in the form of 3 square meals a day, misunderstanding of starvation mode, etc
That said thankfully it isn't mysticism anymore, there's legitimate scientific rigor supporting it. There's still a lot we don't understand, yet we know it works wonders and the benefits can't be understated.
I whole heartedly agree! My partner and I recently cured ourselves of an infection and adjusting our diet proved invaluable. However, for me, my intuition was that I felt like 3-4 days of fasting could have provided the same relief as a week or 'proper' diet. The body is the only thing that heals itself. Aiding the body by removing impediments or providing the right building blocks for growth are all you can really do. At the end of the day, the organism we inhabit is all that can do anything for us. Will be amazing when the science of fasting becomes accepted by the mainstream and can be used as an effective adjunct with or instead of conventional treatments.
Lol @ a milk cleanse.
The longest I fasted was 4 days. 96 hours, water only. I actually gave away or tossed out all the food in my condo, and had my friend lock me inside. Haha.
Needless to say, I knew I was going to do 4 days, so I didn't suffer hunger pangs. What I strangely missed most, was chewing food.
I have done a few water fasts, with great success. Now, I have been Intermittent fasting for over 7 years... (I know I mentioned that before.)
Will you be posting before/after photos?
Thanks for the updates!
_Rob
I'll consider it next time, I didn't take any photos this time. I'll do another week long one 1-2 months from now. So far I've lost about 5-6 pounds I'd say weighing in at 195 starting around 200, ideal being around 175-180. So I would like to do another to make serious progress like getting down from 195 to 185.