Digby Fasting 14 Days

Digby’s Fasting Freedom

First, I’ve been fasting for decades, and believe wholeheartedly in fasting for health. However, anyone who wants to fast, especially those who have any medical conditions or are taking medications should consult a physician. Sadly, too many doctors initially will not be supportive, but if you show determination or explain the fast is for religious/spiritual reasons, they usually will guide you in relation to your specific issues. 

I’m at day 6 of 14 days of a two week fast using mostly water, but 1-2 cups black coffee or green tea in the morning. I’ve been feeling the need for a healing fast to stimulate autophagy*and clean out the body of any undesirable cells/masses which also gives the body a rest from all that intensive digestion work.

Fasting has been a part of human healing for millennia; we evolved this splendid mechanism that allows us to store fat to be used in times of famine; every major religion speaks about fasting as good for the soul and body; the early days of what we understand as modern medicine begins with Hippocrates who said of fasting:

 Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work.  The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.  Our food should be our medicine.  Our medicine should be our food.  But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness.  

And:

The addition of food should be much rarer, since it is often useful to completely take it away while the patient can withstand it, until the force of the disease reaches its maturity. If the body is cleared the more you feed it the more it will be harmed. When a patient is fed too richly, the disease is fed as well … excess is against nature.

The first 1-4 days of fasting are the hardest as the body switches from regular process into ketosis, exactly what our bodies evolved to do, but in modern times with so much processed foods, excess sugar-starch, can be more like detoxing as the body moves from sugar to fat burning. 

Helpful Hint: drink lots of water, seltzer, black or green tea (nothing added) at least 2 quarts; plus, make an electrolyte drink to sip on through the day, to prevent light headedness and/or cramps—basic recipe  1 tablespoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon Nu-salt/NoSalt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 quart water.  I find drinking this prevents most of the unpleasant symptoms of getting into a fast.

Helpful Hint: test your blood glucose and ketones every day or two to see your changes. Inexpensive glucose meters are available at drug stores and online, the most cost effective ketone plus glucose meter I’ve found is the Keto-Mojo.

I am making a graph of my progress that I will post at the end of the fast, but for now I have lost five pounds (yes, that’s some water weight), my blood glucose has dropped, my ketosis is high, and I feel well over all. I don’t do my normal strenuous weight lifting 1-2 times per week, but do walk a 1-2 miles or a some calisthenics for legs, arms, back most days. No exercise is fine, especially for first time fasters. 

I avoid looking at or handling food as much as possible, and usually cook up a bunch of food once a week that my family can easily reheat. This helps me avoid the temptations that handling food can elict. Avoid looking at photos of food or recipes; this seems a common thing that people tend to do which I think is the limbic brain reminding you you are not eating—ignore it!—and remember that most cravings or urges to eat last less than 30 seconds; drink something, do something and they pass.

To be continued.....

* Autophagy -  consumption of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process that occurs in fasting, starvation and some diseases; the destruction of damaged or redundant cellular components within the cell.