April 2020. Sunday the 19th, 9.30pm to Wednesday the 22nd 10am
Why the torture?
For me, consistency in pushing yourself and practicing discipline is a fundamental element in personal growth. To be able to abstain from the pleasures of life is a joy in itself, an empowering feeling to say 'I am an autonomous individual who does not rely on anything!' (exaggeration for dramatic effect, but it is something of the kind).
I was first made aware of fasting by Joe Rogan, and then the concept seemed to be popping up all over the show; Tim Ferris, Mikhaila Peterson, Eric Weinstein, a many other podcasts and some of my friends/family had engaged in the practice. I wasn't looking to lose weight or anything, I had heard of some poetntial health benefits that I wanted to explore (this is when I started to explore diet options in general.) I started off light, well, at the time it wasn't light. The practice I adopted was the 16:8 intermittent fasting, where you abstain from eating for 16 hours and eat for the other 8. I did this during a sober period (it makes all forms of discipline that much easier, not surprisingly) from September to late-November 2019. I was amazed at how easy it was, especially once it became routine. The harder aspect of the change up was also adopting a 'carb conscious diet' (self-proclaimed) where I basically avoided all major sources of carbs (treats, rice, bread, pasta, etc.)
Anyways, back to fasting. I soon realised that even I was over indulging in food, eating consistently throughout the day when really, our body did not need that much fuel. It wasn't like I was doing nothing physical either, no no. I was biking around 1 hour a day and going to Jiu Jitsu 4 times a week. I stopped the intermittent fasting late-November, and pulled away from the practice, as I felt like its primary purpose was to lose weight. It was rather restricting in terms of your social abilities; dinner was a real issue and over the summer, I did not want to have restrictions on my diet. I have since decided that whenever I do try a new diet, I want to do a long term fast (and gradually increase the length). I started with a 30hr fast, then a 36hr 2 months later, and then I upped the ante to the 60hr fast a month after that in April 2020 (which is two full days with 3 sleeps). I should note, I continued to drink water/green tea during all forms of fasting (which is chill apparently). Now here we are!
* I would quickly say here that easing into such a practice is ESSENTIAL. You most likely have engaged in a 16hr+ fast in your time without planning to do so, but once you slap a label on something, it comes real and it becomes that much harder. So don’t just jump straight into a 60hr fast!
Scientific benefits
The research is somewhat limited and understudied (from what I could find at least), but here are some potential benefits:
· Slows down cell aging
· Inflammation reduction
· Improves insulin sensitivity
· Regulates blood sugar levels
· Loss of fat
· Ketosis
· Digestive system reset
· Autophagy
· Increase in natural growth hormone
· Regenerates the immune system
Scientific downsides
There certain peoples who should not ever try such, so please research before doing anything (I am no medical pro!):
· Hunger (obviously)
· Dizziness
· Insomnia
· Loss of concentration
· Weightless is short term
* FAINTING
Time Log
12hr
· Just woke up
· Feel as I would everyday (haven’t normally ate at this point)
15hr
· This is when I would normally have my first meal
· Easy enough to push through, especially as I did not do a work out
20hr
· First real urge for food at this point, but still easily controllable.
· Started to feel a bit funny, visuals are getting edgy
24hr
· All hunger has gone now, on the home straight before bed
· First day was pretty easy all in all, as to be expected. Just got to keep your mind occupied and stay out of the kitchen. Outside is really good, walks. But didn’t push them too far.
· Only real point to take notice of was after lying down for extended period and then standing up, my vision could cut for a moment. Nothing too crazy, and I get that sometimes even when I’m not fasting, not often though.
38hr (Just got up on second day)
· Slept fine and as per usual
· Feel pretty shitty, but not that hungry. I feel icky and mostly like a piece of shit. Also lay in bed on my phone which isn’t good, but tried to stay in bed longer to get through them hours.
· Got a slight headache, only a very slight throb.
· Gunna get some vitamin d. That actually sounds dope. I wonder if vitamin d acts as food? Does for plants. Rocking that plant life.
· My vision is different though. Things are a bit blurry. Almost like the first motion of LSD. It is actually like a drug feeling all together, no euphoria though. Everything is bright asf too.
· Yesterday I found the best thing is to keep your mind occupied, so watch a couple movies today, stretch, finish rogan x chris d,elia, couple walks, gardening. That should be plenety.
· I am officially in that unchartered territory. Will check back in tonight before bed, and first thing tomorrow before I eat.’
The Bath (48.5hrs)-writing post bath at 11pm
· So I blacked out post bath which was pretty fucked
o Started with a cold shower
o Bath was nice initially and felt all good, state of mind was fine
o Had just 4 candles lit as my source of vision
§ I think this was part of where it went wrong
o Listened to Eric Weinstein and some bio hacker talking about genetic modification
§ Which sounds dodge as fuck, you should check it
o Got out of the bath and the blackness started to come in on my way to the shower
o By the time I got in the shower I needed to support myself
o I put the cold water on, which made it worse
o Had to sit down, tried to focus on the breath
o Felt nausea, which kinda passed but not entirely, so I thought I need to get out of that room while I felt half decent.
§ The light and the fog was tripping me out quite a lot at this point
§ I knew I wasn’t right yet but needed to move.
o The rest is almost dream like
o I got out, grabbed my towel, opened the door out of the bathroom
o I can remember a sense of death overcome me, like paralysis, I wasn’t on this world
§ The weirdest thing was the attached sense of euphoria!
o I woke up the floor
§ That im pretty sure I made my way down to before I blacked out, luckily
o I was naked and the door was wide open
§ It was lucky mum didn’t see me or she woulda lost her shit haha
o I came back to consciousness and made it to my room, just
o I went back to the floor and lay there too breath.
o Eventually came moveable again
o Felt dazed after that and at a loss for energy, some deep breathing helped
o Sat down, and I think mum knew something wasn’t quite right
o I eventually came right though
o I think it was all because of the hot colds, as I have experienced such even when not fasting
Now, 11.13
· You might think I should have stopped the fast at this point, but I pushed through haha
· My visuals are different, my hands are a bit blurred and wavey as I type on the keys
· My body feels super relaxed
· My heart has slowed down
· Played some guitar which was nice
· Still not hungry, just feel weird
· Pretty tired
· Gunna meditate then go to bed and listen to some music
· The idea of stopping/changing what im doing in the exact moment is hard to execute
o I didn’t want to put down the guitar, now I don’t want to put down the laptop
· I feel my body though, like a meditative state I guess, my touch is very sensitive at the minute
The Second Sleep
· Was horrible
· Slept from 12-2.30,
· then had very bad half sleep half dream state till about four
· Then I Got up to go to the toilet
· I still couldn’t sleep so I put on Jordan Peterson, talking about reconciling religion with science. Point to dominance hierarchy not based on power.
o Then feel asleep an hour or so into that
· Woke up when mum started making noise
· Continued to sleep till 9.15, lay in bed
Woke up to breakfast-9.30am
· Felt the same as day two wake up, not hungry
· Just had my first meal a smoothie which was shit
o Kale
o Carrot
o Coconut yogurt
o Blueberries
o Capsicum
· Meant to ease back into food so I thought a smoothie with essential nutrients was the move and it did full me up
· Honestly feel way better after that one meal
And that was my experiencewith a 60 hour fast. Pretty fucking crazy that I blacked out! Let that be a word of warning, it does not go without risks (don't do hot colds or anything that puts too much stress on your body!)
I honestly like engaging in the long term fasts all in all, mostly becase it acts as a reset (mentally anf physically). Go on, have a dabble! Lemme know your experience.
Churr
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