Fasting?

Is it for you? My experience with a 72 hour water fast.

I’ve read a lot of information over the years about how beneficial fasting is for a person’s health.   I’ve also read a couple of books about it.   Traditionally, we have always heard about the “religious” side of fasting.  Many religions all over the world (including new-age types) will promote fasting as a method to “find yourself”, “find God”, and so on.  My goal with this fast wasn’t to find enlightenment, but I wanted to see if there were any noticeable health benefits.  That being said, I did gain a greater understanding of the role fasting plays in religion, because it made me realize how we are supposed to “feel” when we deny ourselves something, if that makes sense.  If we can resist eating food, it stands to reason, we can resist many other things/pleasures we *think* we “need.”  This is, in essence, what the purpose of a religious fast is, in my understanding.  Denying ourselves something for a greater purpose. 

I practice “intermittent fasting” at all times.  I typically eat one meal a day and once in a while I consume a small snack sometime during the day (that is rare though).

I have completed several 48 hour water fasts and those were pretty easy.  I’ve always wanted to try a 3 day (72 hour) water fast but always chickened out after the second day, but this time, I was successful.  Was it worth it?  I’m not sure.  

I am 60 years old.  I am male.   I don’t (to my knowledge) have any underlying health conditions.  I’m not on any OTC drugs.  I’m not on any prescription drugs.  I only drink water every day and never consume alcohol, juice or anything like that.   I provided this information as kind of a base-line in case someone was wanting to try doing a water fast.  I’m thinking (and I am NOT providing any kind of health advice!  I’m only sharing my experience) if a person is not somewhat healthy to begin with and is used to drinking other beverages besides water, is on medications, etc that they should *not* try doing a fast without speaking to a *trusted* professional before attempting it.   That being said, here is what I experienced:

Day one:  Pretty easy.  I was able to perform my usual routines without any kind of side-effects.  I didn’t get tired and I felt pretty much “normal.”  This makes sense since I usually only eat once a day (one “real” meal every 24 hours) anyway.  

Day two:  I didn’t start feeling that gnawing in my gut until late in the day.  I drank lots of water and I was amazed at how many times I needed to go to the bathroom.  This has been typical with my other 48 hour fasts as well.  I was still able to do chores around the house and didn’t feel antsy.  Nothing I was experiencing inhibited me from feeling “normal” for that day.

Day three:  Ok, so this is when I really did start feeling the fast.  I was fine for the first 3 or 4 hours of the morning and then I could feel my body longing for carbs. I felt a bit irritable and antsy/nervous. If I did anything too quickly, I would get a bit dizzy and lightheaded.   It was very uncomfortable and a bit scary at times.  This is the day when most avid “fasters” say that your body starts begging for energy and will start burning fat instead of carbs.  I truly believe that is what was happening.  My body was trying to transition from using carbs as energy to stored fat.  Something that was surprising to me, is that my urine was still vivid yellow in color.  For anyone who knows, typically yellow urine means that there are water soluble vitamins (like B vitamins) that are being eliminated from the body, along with poisons, etc.  I was very surprised that my urine wasn’t clear or very light yellow considering the amount of water I had been drinking.  As I approached the “breaking the fast” hour, I had a very unusual experience:  I didn’t want to eat!  I was almost “scared” to break the fast.  It was a very strange sensation.  I was hungry, but not hungry at the same time. It was fascinating. 

So… it’s been a couple of days since I broke my fast.  How do I feel?  Well… it’s kind of tricky.  Something changed in my body for sure.  I find myself getting hungry much earlier in the day then I did pre-fast.  I have been feeling a bit light headed as well.  I believe this is possibly because I haven’t been eating the same portions once a day that I used to.  I have also been very careful with re-introducing heavy proteins back into my diet, as well as I’ve been sticking to mostly plant-based protein for a few days (beans!), though I did eat a very small portion of fish and a small portion of chicken.  

All in all, I feel pretty good.   I did feel incredibly energized after my first small meal after breaking the fast.  I had an amazing amount of energy.   I have not felt sleepy at the same time of day that I did pre-fast (usually early evening is when I would start getting drowsy if I was relaxing), and my quality of sleep improved, along with having much more vivid dreams! The most significant change I have noticed is that a few aches and pains I was having are gone and/or almost gone!  I believe these pains were being caused by inflammation.

So… I know this post is a bit different from most I submit, but I feel this is important.   We *must* be in complete control of our health and our health care to the greatest extent possible. We *must* begin learning how to listen to our bodies so we can avoid going to the “doctor.”  As always, when we are able to care for ourselves in any way at all, it creates for us a greater amount of liberty.   If you are considering fasting, I would recommend being very careful and not pushing yourself too hard (especially if you are older).  Again, I am NOT providing medical advice.  If you choose to fast for health, do so at your own risk.   Personally, I am going to start doing a 3 day fast about every 5 weeks or so and I really want to try 4 days next time because after 3 days that’s when I was really starting to notice the changes mentioned by those who use fasting as part of their health routine. 

So is fasting worth the trouble?  I’m not sure.  Only time will tell.  And if I stop posting completely, you will know for sure that fasting was not a good choice for me.  Haha.   Sorry to be macabre.  Thanks for reading!