I just finished a
7 day fast and thought I’d share my experience. It was much easier than I thought, although not without “hiccups.”
I agreed to this upon the suggestion of my husband, GeorgeN, but not enthusiastically. I was aware of the benefits of fasting, but
7 days seemed, well, extreme. I committed to 5 days, agreeing to
7 if I felt okay. It’s over now but I could have easily gone longer.
My
fast consisted of morning coffee, bone broth, tea, water, and sparkling mineral water as well as my usual supplements. I maintained basically the same activity and work out routine. Per my activity watch, my daily steps were slightly reduced because I was writing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, and other sedentary Christmas activities, but I still maintained full days, in fact the book (discussed later) advocates staying busy to keep your mind off the fact you’re fasting.
Although fasting is supposed to help prevent Alzheimer’s, my motivation extended further. A recent gynecological exam found a mass indicating a possible cancer diagnosis (results of imaging still TBA). Being familiar with the work of Dr. Thomas N Seyfried who wrote “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer” my husband suggested doing an extended
fast. Dr Seyfried’s research concludes that fasting can limit and prevent growth of cancer tumors that are glucose-dependent. By lowering blood glucose and elevating blood ketones, you target the tumor’s energy metabolism. I wanted to get my Seyfreid glucose ketone index down to the goal of less than 1.
Anyone can
fast, but no one should attempt a multiday
fast without at least reading up first (some should have medical supervision). I did not just jump into this. I’ve been (unintentionally) working up to an extended
fast like this through my Alzheimer’s prevention efforts:
**I have been practicing intermittent fasting, going about 16 hours of fasting a
day, no eating from after dinner until lunch. My insulin has lowered to levels that my reaction to visual and olfactory stimuli has been reduced, although not completely eliminated. This intermittent fasting discipline has also helped me get used to dealing with feelings of hunger. FYI, my last blood test in June had my insulin at 3, glucose at 80 and HbA1c at <4.2, IGF-1 at 75.
**I’ve been in mild ketosis for almost 2 years now, eating a low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat diet. Being in ketosis teaches your body to “dig down” to the harder-to-reach fat “storage tank” instead of the readily accessible glycogen “sugar” stores. It’s easier to
fast when your body isn’t craving carbs to fill the sugar stores.
**I’ve been working on my gut biome since May after being administered antibiotics and pain killers for my foot surgery. I approached this by eating raw veggies, fermented food, taking probiotics and some supplements. My thinking being that in addition to the advantages of a good gut biome, bad bugs asking to be fed create feelings of hunger.
**At our ApoE4.info get together at the Ancestral Health Symposium this past August, I attended an informative presentation that provided some very compelling information on the many health benefits of fasting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Tfxmiydcw . The benefits seem to be especially beneficial as one reaches later years.
**Just before starting the
fast I read the book “The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-
Day, and Extended” by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore for pointers on effective fasting and what to expect. I will refer to this book throughout my write up as “the book.”
Day 1
Morning ketones 1.0, glucose 98
Performed strength workout without issue, but this was like any other workout
day since this was the first
day of my
fast and I always workout before eating.
Felt my usual hunger throughout
day, but the book said feelings of hunger are not really hunger pangs, i.e you don’t really have to eat, but rather the desire to eat is a hormonal occurrence and it comes in waves. This was true for me, the hunger didn’t grow with time, in fact I went to bed with no hunger
The book cautions against store bought broth so we made bone broth in the slow cooker which we kept going throughout the
fast and it smelled so good! Luckily, my pre-
fast “training” has acclimated me to “powering through” olfactory and visual stimuli.
I had a blood draw in the morning, the lab results:
Test ------------------Pre-
fast Result-----Acceptable range
Glucose, Serum-----91 mg/dL-----------65-99
Insulin------------------3.1 uIU/mL--------2.6 – 24.9
IGF-1 -------------------59 ng/mL-----------46-172
Magnesium----------6.1 mg/dL----------4.2 – 6.8
Estradiol --------------12.3 pg/mL--------<6.0 – 54.
7
Day 2
I woke up feeling “normal” as far as hunger and energy, but the book said
day #2 is typically the toughest, so I put a bit of coconut oil in my coffee as a preemptive measure (the book allows a small amount of fat if you need help. And yes, I know coconut oil isn’t advised for ApoE4s, but we have some left over in the house and it’s got to go.) This was only
day I did this on the
fast. But hunger really wasn’t much of a problem during the
day,
day 1 was toughest in that regard.. In fact I almost forgot to eat some bone broth for lunch before heading out the door because I wasn’t hungry
As the
day progressed, however, I did have a little bit of light headedness, waned energy, lack of focus, and irritability.
Day 3
Morning serum ketones
7.4, glucose 43, major difference since
day one, wow the fasting was working! Reached Seyfreid glucose ketone index goal of 1 or less, Yay! BP 112/68
But my energy in morning was even less since the end of
day 2, really listless, so I started supplementing twice a
day with magnesium, potassium and sodium along with some bone broth to recharge my electrolytes. I felt much better after that, even to the point where I felt like I was on a gentle mental stimulant. I went on to a normal
day full of activities.
I had some waves of hunger and a desire for our “ritual” of dinner but drank cinnamon tea (appetite suppressant according to the book) and sparkling mineral water and it all passed.
Day 4
Morning ketones 4.6, glucose 41, feeling fine.
Also had a morning bowel movement, the book said that even though you aren’t eating, there’s still waste in the body, but without eating, the system slows down, so not unusual for the delay.
I’d been stepping on our “fancy” Withings body composition scale first thing every morning and have been noticing an elevated heart beat. I do have tendency to have light-headedness/heart racing upon standing up when losing weight. Also the book says metabolism increases during fasting, maybe that was why. But I wasn’t concerned because the elevated heart rate did not sustain and according to my activity watch my resting HB was at mid-50s. Regardless, this side effect was one of my (few) negative experiences with the
fast.
After our “dinner” of bone broth, I joked, “I’m stuffed.” However, I really did feel full! Nevertheless, from a mental standpoint I would have liked to eat, but not because I needed to. At this point I had a general feeling that the
fast was getting old, even though it wasn’t hard. Perhaps my mental low point.
Day 5
Morning ketones 6.
7, glucose 38
To avoid the energy slump I experienced late
day 2/early
day 3, I was continuing my supplementation with magnesium, potassium and sodium. I should note I was already maintaining my usual supplementation regimen which includes magnesium, so I was adding to that. I hadn’t gotten my lab results yet, so I had no idea what my RBC magnesium level was (should have taken it sooner) and apparently I “oversupplemented” the magnesium. Too much magnesium causes loose bowels and even after 4 days of fasting I still had “stuff” in my system and the magnesium found it! I throttled back on the magnesium, and the negative consequences eventually abated, nevertheless I experienced gastrointestinal distress until the end of the
fast. This was my most negative experience of the
fast, but it was (unintentionally) self induced.
My morning’s scale reading indicated a 6 pound loss since
day one of the
fast. The purpose of
fast was not weight loss, but I was not complaining. Although I am of “normal weight” I am at the upper limit and I have pounds to lose. Especially since, per the above referenced video, fasting tends to target visceral fat (bad fat) with consequent reduction of TNFalpha and IL-6 inflammation markers. This seemed to be reflected in my waist measurement which was ¾ of an inch smaller than at the beginning of the
fast.
I was feeling much better psychologically on this
day because I was
experiencing success.
Day 6
Morning ketones 6.3, glucose 41
Good
day. Went to the gym for my twice a week strength workout class. Did the entire workout without issue, in fact, my coach commented that she could tell I was getting stronger. Ha-ha, she didn’t know I was on
day 6 of a
fast. I did feel I had to rest a little more than usual between some exercises to let the HB settle down, but I did my entire challenging exercise routine without issue, no feelings of weakness, or degradation of strength.
Day 7
Morning ketones 5.8, glucose 64
Last
day, not hungry, feeling good, not even excited about breaking the
fast, I felt I could go on. This was probably the best, easiest
day of the
fast. Go figure.
But as a continuation of the
day before, I really wanted to pop some gum in my mouth to deal with this myuck feeling in my mouth. It dawned on me I was experiencing a common issue when fasting – a coating of the tongue. Lore says this reflects the bad stuff in the body working its way out and ideally one should
fast until the tongue is clear, which could be weeks. Needless to say, I’ll save that for another
day.
I went to get a blood draw in the afternoon for an “after” comparison of test results. They should arrive in about a week, I’ll share when available.
We ate a light dinner, our last meal was dinner
7 days prior. I wasn’t ravenous and made a point of eating slowly so as not to shock the system. It was nice to eat, but nothing special. End of
fast.
Morning after
Morning ketones 5.5, glucose 75
My weight went up .4 of a pound from yesterday, but according to our “fancy” Withings body composition scale, I experienced a total weight loss of 5.5 pounds, a 1.4% drop in fat percentage, a .
7 drop in BMI, and a 1.4% increase in muscle mass since the beginning of the
fast. What I found curious was my Pulse Wave Velocity went up during the
fast. A higher pulse wave velocity score indicates increased stiffness of the arteries. While I had been tracking in the lower range of normal to upper level range of optimal before the
fast, during the
fast I went up to the higher range of normal. My waist measured ¾ of an inch smaller and hips were .1 of an inch smaller.
I usually don’t eat breakfast, and I didn’t even think about it, I wasn’t hungry. I went to my strength class, felt really good and had one of my best workouts. So thus far no after affects.
In looking back on my
fast, I feel the bone broth was key to keeping the experience positive. It was remarkably satisfying and helps keep the electrolytes up. I’m not confident it would have been as easy, or that I would have even stuck with the entire
7 days, with just a water
fast.
