What If I Fast One Day Each Week?

yerrag

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
10,883
Location
Manila
Having read a thread or two about the benefits of fasting in this forum, and about the benefits of fasting in the animal kingdom, I have been thinking of fasting myself. What's kept me from doing so is the idea that it puts the body at needless stress levels. As well as the idea that fasting requires expert supervision, as hard as it would seem to me to believe.

But it may be time for me to stop thinking and start acting. In the past, it would be hard for me to fast. It used to be that it would take 3 hours after a meal before my blood sugar goes to a low level. But now, thanks to being off PUFA for a good many years, I find I could go a day without a meal.

But there are many forms of fasting. And I don't want to start off with going cold turkey. I'm thinking of simply having a fruit juice fast once a week. I chose fruit juice because it provides sugar, for one, and that it also provides plenty of minerals, but more on potassium. But I don't see why I wouldn't add a magnesium bicarbonate drink to it, and maybe calcium in the form of milk, and then some salt. Mainly, it would be a fast where all I'm taking is sugar (fructose and glucose) and electrolyte minerals.

I'm hoping this one day a week fast will allow my body to take in alkaline minerals to let my body alkalize after having to eat meat all throughout the week.

I'm sure this is not a new idea and someone can tell me if this has been done before and is quite popular and has a name and a patent to it lol. Whatever the case may be, would like to hear your comments on this idea.

Thanks.
 

dbh25

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
653
What's kept me from doing so is the idea that it puts the body at needless stress levels.
Why don't you start with a 16 hour fast, like 8pm to noon the next day?
And then see how you feel.
 
OP
yerrag

yerrag

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
10,883
Location
Manila
Why don't you start with a 16 hour fast, like 8pm to noon the next day?
And then see how you feel.
That's a good idea. It's betterto slowly wean myself into it than shock my system. Thanks!
 

Glassy

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
243
Location
Queensland Australia
Totally agree. You fast every night when you sleep. This is of course mildly stressful to the body but it’s relatively short and you have glucose reserves for a reason. Extending that fast by hours is a good way to experience how your body responds. It definitely releases adrenaline but it’s somewhat hard to tell how much it also increases cortisol.

From an ease of fasting point of view, I find it’s much easier to do a water fast over a juice fast. For some reason a decent amount of calories triggers a hunger in itself that can’t really be satisfied with juice. There is something rewarding/satisfying about multiday fasts but I don’t think they should be done frequently. When you consciously choose to fast it’s easier to focus on other tasks and not think about eating (juices tend to make you think about eating).

I personally don’t eat until about midday every day (unless I workout in the morning). Occasionally I’ll have breakfast for social reasons but it’s hard to order low a PUFA breakfast. I do it mainly to keep my fat level down but it took me a while to incorporate it again after reading about Peat and wanted to make sure I was feeling too stressed by it. It works for me at the moment.
 
OP
yerrag

yerrag

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
10,883
Location
Manila
Totally agree. You fast every night when you sleep. This is of course mildly stressful to the body but it’s relatively short and you have glucose reserves for a reason. Extending that fast by hours is a good way to experience how your body responds. It definitely releases adrenaline but it’s somewhat hard to tell how much it also increases cortisol.
It's an extended fast through the night and then on till noon if no breakfast is eaten. Lately, I've been successful getting a good sleep without relying on Ray Peat's milk, sugar, salt, and gelatin blend. Taking vitamin C before bedtime works, and having PUFA really destroys sleep. Anything that hinders sleep a no no, such as frequent urination. I've found that if I subject myself to daily excessive acid loads, the accumulated effect would lead to frequent urination that disturbs sleep. Same thing with daily excessive alkaline loads. Sleep disturbance decreases my glycogen stores, and I would have difficulty carrying on a fast.

I experienced accumulated acid loads when I was taking magnesium chloride supplementation (4800mg for 1200mg elemental magnesium) for 5 months. Then I switched to magnesium bicarbonate, on the other end of the pendulum. After about 3 months of daily supplemenation (800 mg elemental magnesium), I was again urinating as much as before.

I find acid-base balance to be just as important as having a stable blood sugar to be able to get a restful and healing sleep. And the quality of sleep having and its effect on glycogen stores to be crucial in having blood sugar stability during the day, and with being able to get the benefits of fasting. PUFA intake quickly destroys blood sugar stability.
From an ease of fasting point of view, I find it’s much easier to do a water fast over a juice fast. For some reason a decent amount of calories triggers a hunger in itself that can’t really be satisfied with juice. There is something rewarding/satisfying about multiday fasts but I don’t think they should be done frequently. When you consciously choose to fast it’s easier to focus on other tasks and not think about eating (juices tend to make you think about eating).
I'm okay with water fasting as well as juice fasting. I think it's because both ways of fasting don't disturb blood sugar stability for me. I think it has a lot to do with juice fasting involving fructose being metabolized. But if I were to eat starch, whether it's simple or complex, and without protein, it just gets my blood sugar out of kilter, and I would feel sugar lows and sleepy and/or hungry.

I already consider myself PUFA-free, and expect to not be affected negatively by glucose intake, as my body should metabolize glucose pretty well, and thus not cause blood sugar spikes that lead to low blood sugar from an insulin reaction. But it still does cause my blood sugar to lower, for some reason I cannot explain.

I prefer juice fasting over water fasting though, as I hope the alkaline minerals taken in would help with balancing pH. I'm beginning to believe that acid-base balance as a very important aspect of maintaining our health.
I personally don’t eat until about midday every day (unless I workout in the morning). Occasionally I’ll have breakfast for social reasons but it’s hard to order low a PUFA breakfast. I do it mainly to keep my fat level down but it took me a while to incorporate it again after reading about Peat and wanted to make sure I was feeling too stressed by it. It works for me at the moment.
I'm actually considering just going with this 16-hour fast thing daily. Just eating lunch (or brunch) and a light dinner daily. We'll see.
 

dbh25

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
653
I find the 16 hour fast manageable. I am not hungry first thing in the morning, then it's waiting a few hours until lunch. Going for a walk, hike, etc. is a good activity for the morning. 24 hours seems a psychological barrier for some. People drink tea or coffee in the morning, I only have water. I never liked tea or coffee on an empty stomach.
 
OP
yerrag

yerrag

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
10,883
Location
Manila
I find the 16 hour fast manageable. I am not hungry first thing in the morning, then it's waiting a few hours until lunch. Going for a walk, hike, etc. is a good activity for the morning. 24 hours seems a psychological barrier for some. People drink tea or coffee in the morning, I only have water. I never liked tea or coffee on an empty stomach.
Reminds me of Italians who think nothing of just having only coffee in the morning. Back when I was steeped in the idea of breakfast being what its name says, I thought then how unhealthy that was. But then, I could not survive without eating for 3 hours. Having terrible blood sugar stability.
 

Glassy

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
243
Location
Queensland Australia
It's an extended fast through the night and then on till noon if no breakfast is eaten. Lately, I've been successful getting a good sleep without relying on Ray Peat's milk, sugar, salt, and gelatin blend. Taking vitamin C before bedtime works, and having PUFA really destroys sleep. Anything that hinders sleep a no no, such as frequent urination. I've found that if I subject myself to daily excessive acid loads, the accumulated effect would lead to frequent urination that disturbs sleep. Same thing with daily excessive alkaline loads. Sleep disturbance decreases my glycogen stores, and I would have difficulty carrying on a fast.

I experienced accumulated acid loads when I was taking magnesium chloride supplementation (4800mg for 1200mg elemental magnesium) for 5 months. Then I switched to magnesium bicarbonate, on the other end of the pendulum. After about 3 months of daily supplemenation (800 mg elemental magnesium), I was again urinating as much as before.

I find acid-base balance to be just as important as having a stable blood sugar to be able to get a restful and healing sleep. And the quality of sleep having and its effect on glycogen stores to be crucial in having blood sugar stability during the day, and with being able to get the benefits of fasting. PUFA intake quickly destroys blood sugar stability.

I'm okay with water fasting as well as juice fasting. I think it's because both ways of fasting don't disturb blood sugar stability for me. I think it has a lot to do with juice fasting involving fructose being metabolized. But if I were to eat starch, whether it's simple or complex, and without protein, it just gets my blood sugar out of kilter, and I would feel sugar lows and sleepy and/or hungry.

I already consider myself PUFA-free, and expect to not be affected negatively by glucose intake, as my body should metabolize glucose pretty well, and thus not cause blood sugar spikes that lead to low blood sugar from an insulin reaction. But it still does cause my blood sugar to lower, for some reason I cannot explain.

I prefer juice fasting over water fasting though, as I hope the alkaline minerals taken in would help with balancing pH. I'm beginning to believe that acid-base balance as a very important aspect of maintaining our health.

I'm actually considering just going with this 16-hour fast thing daily. Just eating lunch (or brunch) and a light dinner daily. We'll see.

I drink black coffee in the morning with no coffee after noon because it can affect my getting to sleep. Once I’ve gone to sleep though I generally sleep until morning. I worked up to both the taste and the dose. I’m drinking less fluid than I used to and as long as I urinate before bed I generally don’t wake up before morning. Black coffee on an empty stomach can be very stimulating and I have had a few moments where anxiety surfaced it’s ugly head from taking too much.

Getting to sleep on a multiday fast can be difficult and I find I require less of it at night but also find I struggle though the afternoon to complete mental activities. I’ve not done a multi day fast since I started Peating because I’m concerned I will release too many stored PUFAs. With 6 months of minimising PUFA intake, it’s probably less of a concern now but I would not consider myself PUFA free. One thing I didn’t mention was that somewhere around day 2 or 3 I tend to drop a lot of water weight. This obviously goes out via the bladder presumably along with a decent amount of electrolytes. This is accompanied by light headed and dizzy moments and feels like low blood pressure (basically what people call keto flu). I found taking a bit of potassium chloride and table salt helped a lot.

When I was quite overweight, my blood sugar was in the high range almost constantly. I felt lethargic all the time but carrying an extra 50lbs around will tend to do that. The fasting brought my average blood sugar level down considerably and quickly, and I believe it made me more sensitive to insulin. I’ve tried spiking my blood sugar since and I can barely reach the levels of my previous waking blood sugar levels. I seem to be able to process it quicker now. I also take the odd low reading without consciously experiencing any low blood sugar symptoms.
 
OP
yerrag

yerrag

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
10,883
Location
Manila
I drink black coffee in the morning with no coffee after noon because it can affect my getting to sleep. Once I’ve gone to sleep though I generally sleep until morning. I worked up to both the taste and the dose. I’m drinking less fluid than I used to and as long as I urinate before bed I generally don’t wake up before morning. Black coffee on an empty stomach can be very stimulating and I have had a few moments where anxiety surfaced it’s ugly head from taking too much.

Getting to sleep on a multiday fast can be difficult and I find I require less of it at night but also find I struggle though the afternoon to complete mental activities. I’ve not done a multi day fast since I started Peating because I’m concerned I will release too many stored PUFAs. With 6 months of minimising PUFA intake, it’s probably less of a concern now but I would not consider myself PUFA free. One thing I didn’t mention was that somewhere around day 2 or 3 I tend to drop a lot of water weight. This obviously goes out via the bladder presumably along with a decent amount of electrolytes. This is accompanied by light headed and dizzy moments and feels like low blood pressure (basically what people call keto flu). I found taking a bit of potassium chloride and table salt helped a lot.

When I was quite overweight, my blood sugar was in the high range almost constantly. I felt lethargic all the time but carrying an extra 50lbs around will tend to do that. The fasting brought my average blood sugar level down considerably and quickly, and I believe it made me more sensitive to insulin. I’ve tried spiking my blood sugar since and I can barely reach the levels of my previous waking blood sugar levels. I seem to be able to process it quicker now. I also take the odd low reading without consciously experiencing any low blood sugar symptoms.

I think getting uninterrupted sleep should be a goal for me, just as you are able to do. I used to think nothing of it before, because it was just natural and effortless to be able to sleep straight through. For me, it is having to get up and urinate that is getting in the way of it these days. I've become more conscious of it lately. I've been able to tie it to disruptions in the acid-base balance of the body.

When I was taking magnesium chloride daily, it took four to five months for me to notice I was waking up so often just to urinate. Then I knew I had to stop taking magnesium chloride, as it is an acid load on the body. But I swung to the other end in my desire to continue magnesium supplementation, and I began taking magnesium bicarbonate daily. In two months, I was urinating heavily again, and my sleep disturbed once again. I confirmed this when I took 3 days off from magnesium bicarbonate, taking magnesium ascorbate instead. After 3 days, my sleep got back to more normal, but not perfect yet, as I was still waking up once to urinate. Note that I was taking large quantities of magnesium: 4800 mg of magnesium chloride daily, and 5000mg of magnesium bicarbonate daily.

Once I got my sleep in order, it was just easy to do the morning fast. I can do a water fast and a fruit juice fast easily. But a vegetable juice fast gives me the sugar low. I think this has to do with fruit being high in fructose, but as to why vegetables give me a sugar low I'm not sure. Perhaps its sugar is predominantly glucose, or maybe it's because the fibers in vegetables require more energy to digest.

My gauge for how well I'm doing, other than feeling, is my blood pressure. My blood pressure goes up easily with blood sugar lows. My heart rate also goes down with blood sugar lows.
 
Last edited:

Glassy

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
243
Location
Queensland Australia
I think getting uninterrupted sleep should be a goal for me, just as you are able to do. I used to think nothing of it before, because it was just natural and effortless to be able to sleep straight through. For me, it is having to get up and urinate that is getting in the way of it these days. I've become more conscious of it lately. I've been able to tie it to disruptions in the acid-base balance of the body.

When I was taking magnesium chloride daily, it took four to five months for me to notice I was waking up so often just to urinate. Then I knew I had to stop taking magnesium chloride, as it is an acid load on the body. But I swung to the other end in my desire to continue magnesium supplementation, and I began taking magnesium bicarbonate daily. In two months, I was urinating heavily again, and my sleep disturbed once again. I confirmed this when I took 3 days off from magnesium bicarbonate, taking magnesium ascorbate instead. After 3 days, my sleep got back to more normal, but not perfect yet, as I was still waking up once to urinate. Note that I was taking large quantities of magnesium: 4800 mg of magnesium chloride daily, and 5000mg of magnesium bicarbonate daily.

Once I got my sleep in order, it was just easy to do the morning fast. I can do a water fast and a fruit juice fast easily. But a vegetable juice fast gives me the sugar low. I think this has to do with fruit being high in fructose, but as to why vegetables give me a sugar low I'm not sure. Perhaps its sugar is predominantly glucose, or maybe it's because the fibers in vegetables require more energy to digest.

My gauge for how well I'm doing, other than feeling, is my blood pressure. My blood pressure goes up easily with blood sugar lows. My heart rate also goes down with blood sugar lows.

Yeah sleep is freakin important. I’d be more inclined to think that it’s some other explanation than acid/base load on the body, but you end up in the same place in that youre finding that if you take too much you gotta get up to pee. You could adjust the dosage or try a different or mix of Mg forms.

Sleep is more important than Fasting and I’d certainly drop it if it stopped being convenient or had unintended complications like that. I did drop it for a couple of months when I started peating to see if it changed anything. I’m also very flexible with it now and when it’s inconvenient to fast I don’t. When I started fasting I became obsessed with counting the fasted hours but over time I realised that in the scheme of things it really didn’t matter.

I think prioritising sleep is a good idea.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom