I did a 5-day dry fast, and decided to describe the reviews and results here. After my first successful experience of fasting for 11 days without food or water, I began to repeat this practice from time to time in my later life. True, I no longer fasted for such a long period, but mostly did short abstinence, most often dry fasting for 36 hours, sometimes for 2-3 days.
I want to say that the more often you practice dry fasting, the more you get used to this procedure, and after some time the desire naturally arises, I will say more - just the need, to make another round, but for a larger number of days. So for a long time I had the idea of fasting like this for 5 or 7 days, but there was no time or opportunity for this. And finally, everything worked out so well that I had a good opportunity to fulfill my desire.
And now I will tell you about this whole event in detail, how and what happened, how I felt, what thoughts came to my mind on an empty stomach,
how many kilos of live weight I lost, there will be photos and videos, so make yourself comfortable, the fasting diary begins .
Dry fasting: what is it, why is it practiced?
What is dry fasting anyway? Why bother with nonsense when there is an abundance of all sorts of different products on store shelves for any budget... In my opinion, this is when a person voluntarily refuses to take any food and liquid for medicinal or other purposes for some time.
You may be thinking - what kind of fool refuses voluntarily even water, and even for a long period of time? But this also happens! Moreover, the number of volunteers is steadily growing every year, since it has been scientifically proven that the body is its own best doctor and hunger activates this doctor.
But medicine is powerless against many diseases or is not as effective as we would like, at least that’s what I was told by a practitioner who cured gout with the help of therapeutic fasting.
That is, a person who had real health problems, who was treated by doctors, and, as he said, was regularly scammed by people in white coats for money, but there was no visible effect or at least any sign on the result, he had to search for a long time another more effective solution to your problem.
Based on personal practice and observations of my well-being, I came to the conclusion that if you are going to do a one-day fast, then you don’t need to change your usual schedule in any special way. At least that's how it goes for me.
If this is your first time deciding to get such an experience, then perhaps you should take a day off so that you can lie down and relax if the need arises.
But if there is a persistent intention to commit execution on one’s own body and deprive it of food for several days, then for this process it is already necessary to create certain conditions and change the existing daily routine.
It is best to spend this time outside the city, in nature, in a calm environment. Put everything aside for a while. And in my opinion, solitude and isolation from communication with other people will only be beneficial. This time must be devoted only to yourself, your loved one.
For a long time I could not find such an opportunity, but a fortunate combination of circumstances allowed me to do 5 days of dry fasting. My wife and daughter were going to stay with their parents for a week, I took the household to the capital city, and I myself returned to our estate in anticipation of the upcoming action.
Yes, yes, I’m a landowner and I have serfs, a joke, of course, but that’s what they often write to me under videos on YouTube, so I decided to predict events. Because many people don’t know, don’t understand, and misinterpret for themselves the phrase “family estate,” imagining something from pre-revolutionary Russia. In fact, it is something completely different. But this is a topic for a completely different note, so I will only say that in recent years I have been busy creating my own Family Estate. But somehow I got a little distracted from the main topic, so I’ll continue.
In my opinion, the time of year for the implementation of my idea was very successful - spring! It’s no longer cold outside, as it is in winter, but it’s also not hot, like in summer, so you can spend most of your time outside the house.
The air is fresh and filled with moisture from the melted snow, you can breathe easily and your mood is naturally elevated, nature is waking up, you can feel renewal in everything, the beginning of something new.
And I think that having entered into resonance with the surrounding Life, having caught this wave of rejuvenation and flourishing, this is the best time to renew yourself, to cleanse your body with the help of fasting.
Apparently it’s not in vain that during this period, the Orthodox celebrate Lent, which lasts 49 days!
The benefits of dry fasting for healing and cleansing the body
The same Yoshinori Ohsumi who received the Nobel Prize
Well, what does science say about fasting in principle?
Japanese Yoshinori Osumi received the Nobel Prize in 2021, explaining why fasting helps renew and rejuvenate the body. I won’t go into abstruse terms, but I’ll tell you what the essence is, in my own words. Those who want to understand this issue in detail can easily find relevant information on the Internet.
When a person stops eating, a process called autophagy starts in his body, this is when the body begins to “eat” cells that have become obsolete and have spent their time. That is, it processes them and uses this “garbage material” back into business - to obtain nutrients and build new cells.
But in order for this process to start, you need to temporarily stop stuffing food into yourself, for at least 12 hours, then a special hormone “Glucagon” is produced and rejuvenation begins. Sit back and transform from a grandmother into a blooming maiden, no rejuvenation clinics are needed
We have such a wonderful body, it knows how to put itself in order! We just need to give him the opportunity for this, and not interfere with the fulfillment of the self-renewal program inherent in us by nature. By the way, this effect has been known for a long time since ancient times:
- and in various religions there are fasts that prescribe abstinence from food;
- and Herodotus testifies that the Egyptian people practiced fasting for 3 days per month;
- and many famous people did this: L.N. Tolstoy, Newton, Byron, Socrates and other famous comrades.
Preparing for dry fasting, without water
I drank water and that’s all my preparation for fasting
Before doing a one-day fast or a 36-hour fast, I do not do any special procedures in terms of cleansing the body. I don’t even change my diet at all, I just go on a fast and that’s it. After it ends, I also just start drinking water, eating fruits and other foods that are familiar to me.
But before fasting for five days, it is already desirable to somehow prepare your body, lighten and unload it, so a couple of days before the start of the “dry fast”, I try to eat only “light” food - raw fruits and vegetables, I drink those prepared with my own hands, fresh juices.
Some people do additional cleansing procedures in the form of enemas, but I don’t really like this kind of thing, so I avoid it in every possible way and don’t practice it. But everyone has a different state of the body, so you need to look at your own well-being and, based on this, decide whether auxiliary cleansing with an enema is needed or not.
But since I try to stick to a healthy, raw food diet in my daily menu, and not burden my gastrointestinal tract with harmful foods, I think that I already have a more or less clean intestine and therefore, I repeat once again, I don’t take an enema before going on a 5-day fast. did.
On the day before the start of dry fasting, I gave myself a fasting day, did not eat anything, but only drank clean water and birch sap. Just at this time there was active sap flow and there was an opportunity to collect it. I drank as much as I wanted and when I wanted. This was all my preparation for the upcoming event. This preparatory, introductory day went quite easily, without any painful sensations or ailments.
The next day, when I went to my estate, I purposefully did not take any food with me, so that nothing edible would distract me or tempt me with its appearance during fasting. It didn’t confuse or seduce, as they say, the eyes don’t see - the belly doesn’t growl. And when I arrived home, I also tried to remove all the water from view: the jug from the table, the kettle from the stove.
Field Bragg technique
American doctor Paul Bragg fasted every week for 24 to 36 hours at intervals of 7-10 days, drinking only distilled water. At the same time, the man was actively moving and taking walks in the fresh air. Bragg looked great and was in excellent athletic shape even in his old age.
Bragg advised starting with a three-day fast in conditions of complete calm. These days you may feel slightly dizzy, so you need to make sure you can lie down in advance. Also during this period it is not recommended to watch TV, read, listen to the radio or talk on the phone. It is necessary to exclude physical activity and, if necessary, not even leave the house, sleep more. At the same time, Bragg did not recommend using enemas, calling it unnatural:
I don’t believe in any kind of violence against nature, and the use of enemas, in my opinion, is mostly unnatural. The same applies to taking any type of laxative. The intestines have their own sanitary and antiseptic agents, and the remaining food that was in the intestines before the fast begins will be neutralized before the end of the fast. The excretory system of nature is perfect if its natural work is not interfered with. When you finish your fast, start eating foods that are well-balanced in volume, moisture, and viscosity. And you will see that your intestines will begin to work better than ever because at least fifty percent of your diet has become natural, consisting of raw fruits and vegetables in the form of salads. Eat more greens and vegetables. Meat and fish should not be eaten more than three times a week. The need for proteins will be satisfied through nuts, seeds and vegetables. The bread you eat should be dried until the starch turns into sugar, which is easily digestible. After fasting, it is good to eat sprouted wheat grains - this is a very healthy food.
Bragg died at the age of 95 from a windsurfing accident. According to legend, when pathologists opened his body, they found organs like those of a young man.
Dry fasting reviews and results, how much weight you can lose in 5 days
I talked about the results of dry fasting in my review, I recorded the video in parts during the fasting process, so what I missed and didn’t say in the video, I described below, day by day, in color and detail.
Last time I described my experience of an eleven-day fast, readers liked this diary of a fasting person. Therefore, I will use my past successful experience and write everything down for you day by day, and if you are interested in reading about therapeutic fasting, about my first experiment in such a long fast, you can read it here .
Fasting diary - 1 day
First day of dry fasting
The first day without food and water passed almost unnoticed and quickly, with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. I had been waiting for this event for a long time, and I plunged into it with enthusiasm, thoughts of food did not enter me, sometimes my mouth became dry and I wanted to drink, but these moments were borne quite easily.
The weather was wonderful, sunny, the birds were singing, it was warm, it was spring, and I spent almost the entire day outside: I walked, wandered, walked around my area, along the streets of the settlement, through the forest, watched nature awakening, “stood” for a long time, looking at an anthill revived after winter. In general, I was happily idle
At some point, tired of walking, I sat down on the ground and after a while, to the left, a meter from me, the earth began to move and for the first time in my life I witnessed a mole making his signature piles of earth.
It was very interesting to watch this process; sometimes it seemed that an underground inhabitant himself was about to appear on the surface of the earthen mound!
It’s a pity I didn’t have my phone with me, and I couldn’t photograph this interesting sight. At some moments I could even hear the sounds made by the mole, but I was never able to see him himself, and I got tired of waiting for him to finally crawl out and show himself in all his glory, and I went on a walk.
I had enough strength and energy that day, but taking into account the experience of previous hunger strikes, I still tried to act in “economy mode” - I didn’t get up suddenly, didn’t run, didn’t jump... so I didn’t experience dizziness, any severe fatigue or ailments.
I didn’t feel sick, I didn’t have a headache, and I felt generally good. The only thing is that my back began to ache a little, perhaps from walking a lot and being in an upright position. After doing a short warm-up, everything went away, sometimes a specific, familiar from school, taste of ink from a fountain pen appeared in my mouth.
On this day I did not communicate with anyone: neither in person, nor by phone, nor on the Internet, and also did not read books or watch videos, I spent the whole day alone with my thoughts, and I want to note that I liked it, and I I noticed how the dance of thoughts in my head gradually began to slow down and calm down.
I’ll try to give one figurative comparison in order to better convey my feelings that I had on the first day of dry fasting...
In everyday life, doing some business, solving issues and various tasks, being in communication with people, receiving streams of various information from all sides, you are as if on some kind of carousel: everything around flashes, spins, spins, changes quickly , people and events merge into one continuous round dance.
And suddenly you get off this carousel, step aside and distance yourself from all this action, you may even stagger and feel a little dizzy, but gradually you calm down and slow down, the speed and rhythm decrease.
So during this day I noticed how my mental leapfrog and rapid jumping of thoughts from one topic to another gradually ceased. And by the evening I was already observing more of what was happening around, one might say contemplating what I was doing with some kind of physical or mental activity.
I remember this day most of all and left the most positive impressions, so I can recommend everyone to sometimes arrange such a day off for themselves, go out into nature and be alone with themselves! And dry fasting helps to “ground” well, returns thoughts and sensations to yourself, to your body, and automatically adjusts you to the “here and now” state.
In one day on the water and the first day of dry fasting, my weight decreased by 2.4 kg.
Dry fasting - day 2
Got sick on the second day of fasting
The next morning I woke up with a sore throat and fever, apparently I had been out too much the previous day, somehow managed to catch a cold and got sick. Although I must say that this surprised me greatly, since I had not had a cold for a long time, and besides, I thought that it was unlikely that I would get sick while fasting.
At least, when I previously did a long fast, then on the 10th day, I was in the cold for a long time in the winter, on the street, without a hat, with my clothes open, and after that there were no consequences in the form of illness, but now I am convinced from personal experience that on the first day of dry fasting it is quite possible to catch a cold.
Although it may well be that this was not a “new” disease, but an old sore that had been sitting in me for a long time and the body, taking this opportunity, finally decided to deal with it. After all, how many times has it happened when, feeling the primary signs of illness, I immediately took pills, not allowing my body to solve the problem itself, since I had to go to work and, as always, “no time to get sick.”
So, I spent almost the entire second day in bed, my temperature was 38-39, it was raining outside, I couldn’t do anything in this state, and I didn’t want to.
And if being sick is generally an unpleasant experience, then fasting in the process is doubly unpleasant!
My throat was sore, my mouth was dry, I couldn’t drink, and if I involuntarily swallowed, it was an unforgettable sensation. When I got up and went outside to get some air, I felt weak, but it was not possible to figure out whether it was from fever or fasting.
Somehow the day passed, but quite often the thought began to haunt me to give up everything and at least drink some water. And I think that water fasting would make it easier to get over the disease. All the same, I could do some rinsing, drink plenty of fluids, and at a high temperature I could sweat properly and recover faster. But once I started dry fasting, I had to endure and force myself to continue what I started, find the necessary motivation and generate encouraging thoughts.
Both on the first and second nights, my sleep was even more or less normal, I went to bed around nine o’clock in the evening, and woke up around six or seven o’clock in the morning. By the way, I didn’t have any nightmares, otherwise I read that other starving people have such problems, but no, everything was fine with me.
Weight decreased by another 1.9 kg.
Dry fasting - day 3
In the morning, my condition still left much to be desired, but the temperature dropped a little and that day was already between 37 and 38. I felt a little better, but my throat still reminded me of its presence with painful sensations.
My back began to hurt very much in the lumbar region and along the spine, I think this was caused by the fact that I had to lie in bed a lot. I tried to do some kneading and stretching exercises, but I didn’t have the strength for such activities, and I quit this activity.
Although I had a fever, I was tired of being at home. Walking and walking on the street was also not enough for me, but I really wanted fresh air. I opened all the doors in the car wide open, threw back the seat and fell into it, rejoicing in the cool breeze blowing across my heated brow. Time passed, I lay there and thought that I needed to record a video note about my fasting, while I was in the process, while the memories and sensations were fresh, I was wondering what I would say.
I'm studying to be a blogger on social media. project “One Family” by Igor Kolpakov, cool and free training, I recommend (thanks to him, in principle, this diary and this note appeared).
By the way, initially I did not intend to record a video report during the fasting process itself, and at first the feeling that I still needed to do something at the end of the day, come up with the text of my story, write it down, in general, the feeling of some kind of obligation, was noticeably annoying and did not let me relax.
Then I decided, okay, if it works, I’ll record it, if not, then no. Maybe someday, after fasting, I’ll shoot a video and tell you my impressions. But unbeknownst to myself, I was returning to thinking about the future scenario.
Apparently the blogger in me has not only been born and grown, but has also begun to determine my lifestyle, dictate my terms . Apparently this comrade could not allow such an unusual topic for material to go “by the way” and not make a story about it. In general, I gave up, did not resist the overwhelming desire to share what was happening here, and in the evening I made a mini-video report.
My mouth was dry, my throat was stinging and it was a little difficult to speak, but having done the job, I went to bed happy, but that night, as well as the next, there was no longer any normal sleep. I tossed and turned, trying to find the best and most comfortable place in the bed, but I fell into a shallow and fitful sleep only in the morning.
Weight decreased by another 1.6 kg.
Dry fasting diary - day 4
Working in the garden while fasting for the sake of health
When I had insomnia at night, thoughts about what I could eat now would come to my mind like uninvited guests - I fought against such provocation, drove them away, but sometimes I still began to think about this topic
And I noticed such a thing that if I now got into my hands, for example, a piece of fried chicken, I realized that I didn’t want to eat it at all. But when I imagined a juicy, plump apple, from which juice splashes out when you bite into it, this image directly excited my mind, I wanted to eat it very, very much!
Some piece of pizza or fried potatoes, rich borscht or even a vegetable salad did not evoke much desire, I wanted juicy fruits, and when I thought that it would soon be the season and I would be able to gorge myself on watermelons, I realized that it was time to end such ideas :)) otherwise it will be very difficult to continue a dry fast, so I recommend not to allow such thoughts if you decide to fast!
And remove everything from the table, otherwise everything we see immediately makes us want to eat.
I must say that on the fourth day my condition had already become much easier than on the second and third days, but this cold sore mixed up all my cards - it was not entirely clear why it hurt here, and it itched there, because colds or due to fasting. But if you put aside the temperature, sore throat and back pain, you could still notice certain changes in your condition.
Even on the previous day, my movements became slow and smooth, unhurried, the sharpness disappeared, and where to move, if you suddenly want to get up quickly, your heart begins to beat vigorously, tinnitus appears and the image before your eyes temporarily becomes darker. Therefore, knowing in advance the consequences of such excessive activity, I behaved more measuredly than I was used to in ordinary life, became a sort of leisurely sloth and moved more slowly.
The thoughts of giving up the whole fasting idea had already passed, there was joy in the fact that half the journey had been completed, but more and more often another thought began to come, when the remaining time would pass and what to do with it.
Since I was already feeling better, I went for work fun! First, I went into the greenhouse and spent some time there preparing the beds for planting. No, I didn’t swing a shovel there, but sat quietly and peacefully, loosening the ground, picking out weeds, then took the pruning shears and headed into the garden.
If being in an upright position for a long time was uncomfortable for me, weakness appeared, but in a sitting state the sensations were quite satisfactory.
Therefore, I found a work that was not burdensome in terms of physical activity and leisurely, one might say meditative, I sat and cut out the annoying young shoots of willow, which are diligently trying to occupy all the free space in the garden.
When I got tired of this activity, I went to my home to lie down and rest from the labors of the righteous. I tried to read a book and then watch a video on YouTube, but I didn’t have enough for such entertainment for a long time, fatigue quickly appeared from them, soon the next day of fasting came to completion, the finale awaited me.
During this day, the weight decreased by another 1.2 kg. I’m writing about weight, it’s simple, you have to measure it in something! And for those who want to lose weight, this metric will probably be interesting
Dry therapeutic fasting - day 5
That day I felt that I had completely recovered, my temperature returned to normal, my throat stopped hurting, but my swollen tonsils were getting in the way, hanging around somewhere and causing extremely unpleasant sensations.
The mood was positive because it was the final day of fasting! I felt quite cheerful and at times it seemed that I had enough strength and energy to go do something, but this feeling was deceptive. For example, I’m sitting on the second floor of the house, reading, and I have a desire to go outside and do something useful for the household. I’m trying to assess how capable I am based on my feelings, and it seems that it’s quite...
Satisfied with this situation, I go down to the first floor, go out onto the veranda, begin to bend over, put on my shoes and get dressed, and I feel that that’s it - the battery is dead. The “engine” begins to knock loudly, weakness appears, the head is spinning and there is only enough power to go out, sit on the porch and breathe fresh air, admiring the surrounding nature and enjoying the singing of birds.
In the swamp, in the forest, very close to our estate, cranes sometimes screamed, I must say that these are beautiful and unusual sounds, it was a pleasure to listen to them, you definitely won’t hear this in the city.
By the way, I noticed that when you are at home, even though you constantly open the windows and ventilate them, you just have to go outside, and within 10 minutes you begin to feel much better and recover faster!
On the previous day, I had already begun to prepare for the upcoming exit from fasting and collected a 20-liter bucket of the last melting snow, and now that it had melted, I began to drive the resulting melt water through a filter and set it aside until the right moment.
Time passed quite quickly and now the cherished minute had come. All the past days I had been imagining how I would drink in cool, life-giving water, but then I took a glass of the long-awaited liquid in my hand, began to drink and felt that because of these swollen tonsils I was practically unable to swallow and I don’t feel any pleasure at all from the fact that I can finally get drunk.
Somehow I drank the first glass and realized that I didn’t really taste the taste of the water, I started drinking the second glass and felt that pure water had its own special taste, which was difficult to describe in words and it should be noted that it was unusual and not even very good for me. I liked it. Maybe this feeling was due to the fact that it was melt water, or maybe because the taste buds after dry fasting reacted differently to water. I don’t know, but what happened next was something that really surprised me.
After the second glass of water, I realized that I didn't want to drink anymore! I haven’t drunk for five days, I’ve just been waiting for this moment and here you are, such a turn. I waited about 20 minutes and decided that I still needed to add fluid to my body and drank a couple more glasses, but with the thought “I have to,” and not with the desire “I want.”
In the first hours after the end of the hunger strike, I drank about 1.5 liters of water, and then, since it was already late, I went to bed. And then a surprise awaited me again... I thought that after drinking water I would sleep soundly, but that was not the case. Again, as in previous days, I lay with insomnia almost until the morning.
During this day, the weight decreased by another 1 kg!
Fasting, results after 5 days without food and water
Result of 5 days dry fasting
- in five days my weight dropped from 74.5 kg to 66.4 kg, that is, I lost 8 kg 100 grams;
- according to my wife’s observation, the color of my teeth has improved, they have become whiter;
- when I started doing exercises after finishing the fast, I noticed that my stretching itself had improved significantly;
- For the following detail, I apologize in advance, since it will not be very pleasant to read about it; on the third day of fasting, when I coughed heavily, two pea-sized pieces of some substance flew out of my throat.
Their texture was like pieces of hard cheese, but they had one distinctive feature - they smelled very unpleasant, or rather, terrible, they just stank disgustingly! Now it has become clearly clear to me what waste products are in the body and why people’s breath may not smell fresh in the morning. And if such rubbish is located inside, on the walls of the esophagus, then no toothpastes or rinses will help, it is necessary to cleanse the body from the inside
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When I decided to go on dry fasting, I set myself a couple of goals that I wanted to achieve, but at the moment I’m not ready to tell you whether I was able to do it or not. Perhaps later I will share my thoughts on this topic.
How I fasted for 5 days and learned a lot about lipid metabolism
In the comments to my posts about calorie restriction (, ), the idea was voiced a couple of times that it would be nice if I provided research data on multi-day complete fasting. Well, I'll try. I will say right away that there are a lot of enthusiastic reviews on the Internet about how long-term fasting has helped someone (, ,). There are many times fewer negative (or at least neutral) ones. I think this is not only a matter of the mega-benefits of fasting, but also a reporting bias
- those who have become worse from fasting are not particularly eager to share their experience: not only is it unpleasant to talk about your failures, but there is also a risk of offending the religious feelings of fasting adherents, who will tell you that you did everything wrong and are generally lying .
The most balanced, in my opinion, scientific article on the issue of fasting was written back in 1982. Her abstract clearly outlines the main points, some of which I noticed in myself:
Early weight loss with fasting is significant, averaging 0.9 kg per day during the first week and slowing to 0.3 kg per day by the third week; Early rapid weight loss is mainly due to a negative sodium balance. Metabolically, the early phase of fasting is characterized by a high rate of gluconeogenesis with amino acids as the primary substrates. As fasting continues, progressive ketosis develops due to the mobilization and oxidation of fatty acids. As ketones rise, they replace glucose as the primary energy source in the central nervous system, thereby reducing the need for gluconeogenesis and reducing protein catabolism. Hormonal changes are observed, including a drop in insulin and T3 levels, and an increase in glucagon and reverse T3 levels. Most fasting studies have used obese people, so their results may not always apply to thin or healthy people. Medical complications observed in fasting include gout and urate nephrolithiasis, postural hypotension and cardiac arrhythmias.
A paean to fasting, in all its forms (full or incomplete, long-term or short-term), was written in 2014 by Valter Longo, the creator of the “Fasting Mimicking Diet” (FMD) and also the head of the company promoting it. His article describes fasting in an entirely positive way:
Fasting has been practiced for thousands of years, but only recently has research shed light on its role in adaptive cellular responses that reduce oxidative damage and inflammation, optimize energy metabolism, and strengthen cellular defenses. In eukaryotes, chronic starvation partly extends lifespan by reprogramming metabolic and stress resistance pathways. In rodents, intermittent or intermittent fasting protects against diabetes, cancer, heart disease and neurodegeneration, while in humans it reduces obesity, hypertension, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, fasting may slow aging and help prevent and treat disease while minimizing the side effects caused by chronic dietary interventions.
At one time, I became interested in the topic of fasting thanks to a book written by Upton Sinclair more than a hundred years ago.
It's called The Fasting Cure, and it's publicly available here. Let me say right away that today I am quite skeptical about it. Also, a few years ago, I was intrigued by the story of the Scot Angus Barbieri, who fasted for 382 days (yes, more than a year!), and lost weight from 207 to 82 kg. True, he died in 1990 at the age of 51. A clinical report on his fasting is published here - he did not fast anyhow, but while lying in the hospital under the supervision of doctors.
After I read all these interesting stories, it was almost impossible not to try this business for myself. I began to explore the world of ketogenic diets, intermittent fasting, multi-day fasting, etc., etc. The intrigue was intensified by various studies showing the benefits of different calorie restriction regimes, as well as the harm from their excess - how can you resist?
Around the end of 2014, I decided to start doing intermittent fasting. Considering my eternal dislike for breakfast, everything was easy. All you had to do was hold out without food until lunch - and here they were, the cherished 12-14 hours of fasting (from 23:00 to 13:00).
The next stage was a longer-term fast. Here the stars aligned with my schedule of long-distance flights (once every 1.5–2 months) and my dislike of airplane food. Coupled with the scientific evidence that food intake affects circadian rhythms, and the resulting suggestion that to combat jet lag it is better to not eat until the morning in a new place, a 36-hour fast loomed. Have dinner the evening before your flight, and don’t eat until breakfast (or even lunch) at your new place.
After 6-7 such flights I wanted more. The next milestone was a three-day fast. That is 3 days on one water. This was more difficult, but it was possible. And about six months later, it was decided to take it to a new height - a week on the water.
But this time I wanted to see if any objective positive effect would be visible - what would happen to markers of inflammation, hormones, glucose, cholesterol. To do this, I decided to donate blood before and after fasting.
Imagine my surprise when I received the “before” results and saw that over the last 2 years of these experiments my cholesterol had jumped significantly, and the “bad” cholesterol had increased by 60% (see table: the blue column is the “before” ):
Well, okay, I decided, after fasting he should definitely return to normal, and then we’ll see the dynamics. And I prepared to fast for 7 days. As the title says, I only lasted 5. I felt sooooo bad. Especially after the 3rd day, and each subsequent day only got worse. I had no energy, I didn’t sleep well, I was extremely irritable, and I finally learned what “brain fog” was.
At the same time, I followed all the recommendations: I drank 3–4 liters of water a day, added electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium) to it, but I did not feel any better. Therefore, having passed the tests on the morning of day 5, I decided to stop this self-torture.
But then a new surprise awaited me: the tests got worse. Triglycerides jumped, “good” cholesterol decreased, and “bad” cholesterol increased:
To say that this was a surprise is to say nothing.
Over the next few days, I scoured the Internet looking for anyone with a similar experience. And in the end I found it. It turned out that there are many of us, and we are called “hyper-responders”: Hyper-Responder FAQ The term, “hyper-responder” has been used within the ketogenic / low carb, high fat (keto/LCHF) community to describe...
In short, hyper-responders are those who, when switching to a low-carbohydrate diet, experience a significant jump in cholesterol (by 50–100%). According to various estimates, such people range from 5% to 33%, and many of them have at least one e4 allele of the famous apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene, which correlates with elevated blood cholesterol levels and has also been identified as a major risk factor for Alzheimer's. .
But why does the body react this way in hyper-responders? No one knows for sure yet, but there is a hypothesis that since the bulk of cholesterol is produced by our body endogenously (and does not come from outside), then when external, dietary cholesterol decreases, the body tries to compensate for this decrease by increasing the production of its own, and in hyper-responders a priori increased endogenous cholesterol production.
But this was not the most interesting discovery. The author of the above website cholesterolcode.com, Dave Feldman, developed (and tested) a very interesting hypothesis: the level of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood reflects only your diet over the past three days and nothing more. Moreover, it reflects inversely : the more dietary cholesterol and fat you consume during these three days, the lower the blood values will be.
Therefore, it is not entirely correct to draw long-term conclusions based on your single values of cholesterol and triglycerides - you need at least several points - and 3 days before the collection you did not deviate much from your usual diet. By the way, this is even more true for IGF-1 - because its level in the blood is even more labile than cholesterol or triglycerides: drinking alcohol can reduce it by 15% in a matter of hours. And increase your intake of a hearty protein dinner or physical activity the day before the test.
Returning to Dave Feldman's cholesterol hypothesis, here is a graph of fat eaten (yellow, inverted) and cholesterol 3 days later (blue) from Dave's own multiple measurements. Note the high degree of correlation:
By the way, here is his full presentation (25 minutes of pure time), I highly recommend it:
Dave’s hypothesis is indirectly confirmed by my experience - since I didn’t eat anything for 5 days, there was simply nowhere for external cholesterol to come from. This means that the increase in its level was caused endogenously. I synthesized it myself.
How could this hypothesis be tested? It’s very simple - eat “from the belly” for a couple of weeks. What you won't do for science! Purely for experimental purposes, a kilogram of mascarpone and a box of oatmeal cookies were purchased. Over the next 2 weeks, my 5 kilos lost during 5 days of fasting were quickly replenished by daily consumption of ~3000 kcal. And tests confirmed that the suffering was not in vain. Triglycerides returned to their original values, and “bad” cholesterol dropped by almost a quarter:
What conclusions did I draw from all this? First, you need to be overweight to fast. If you are initially thin, then you will simply have nothing to starve (my 84 kg with 15% bodyfat is close to the minimum, especially considering my weight loss rate of 1 kg/day). And secondly, different people can have very different responses to fasting. And it is advisable to test these answers BEFORE any significant fasting adventures. Suddenly you are also a hyper-responder.
As a result, I gave up all these diets and fasting. No, I am still sure that sugar is evil, and that you should not abuse carbohydrates, especially “fast” ones. This is the surest way to shorten your life or get Alzheimer's.
But in addition to observing these truisms, for myself personally, to put it mildly, I have not seen any particular benefit from fasting or diets, and so far I do not see any particular harm from their absence - below are 3 more points for measuring biomarkers without any diets:
Yes, a new unpleasant signal is beginning to appear in the tests - high insulin, but there is a hypothesis that this may even be a consequence of my periodic fasting in the past, and not my current diet. In any case, I will deal with it separately.
This was my experience. As part of the fight against reporting bias
I decided to share it.
Exit from dry fasting
The first two days after finishing the five-day asceticism, I drank melt water. On the third day I started drinking juices. In contrast, after not eating anything for several days, I found them very sweet.
Mostly I made juice from carrots, sometimes from pumpkin and cabbage. I tried it from apples, but although it was very tasty, it was too sour and it gave me heartburn. I also ate a teaspoon of pine pollen twice a day.
Coming out of dry fasting, and water fasting too, is a very important process, because you can do such things, just mom, don’t worry!
On the fourth day I started drinking oat kvass, beet kvass and rejuvelac (cabbage kvass). I brewed and took herbal decoctions: linden blossom, mint, currant leaf and others that we have in our home preparations. This was my way out of fasting.
That is, after finishing 5 days of dry fasting, I spent 9 days on water and juices, so in total I spent 14 days without solid food. Then I did another dry fast for 36 hours, so to speak, to consolidate the result. After that, I spent another day on water and juices, and the next day I started eating fruits.
Thus, my cleansing spring epic turned out like this:
- 1 day on the water;
- 5 days of dry fasting;
- 9 days on water and juices;
- 36 hours of dry fasting;
- 1 day on the water.
That's a total of 17 and a half days without food.
. And in those 9 days that I was on water and juices, at some moments I felt like I had a surge of energy. But it was not physical strength that I could go and lift the car with one hand. No, it was something else! It was precisely the energy of life, when there is a desire for activity, some kind of activity, a feeling of charge and emotional uplift.
And I must say that these days I worked quite actively, continuing to improve the garden. That is, he walked, bent over, squatted, stood up, cut bushes, carried branches. I did other, light chores around the house. My physical strength returned gradually, sometimes I felt dizzy if I stood up abruptly, but overall my condition made me happy, and the level of endurance and the ability to work “for a long time” pleasantly surprised me.
My wife looked at me and was surprised that a person could go without food for so many days and not lie without strength, not barely crawl like an exhausted amoeba, but was able to function quite energetically and productively.
I have learned from personal experience that the more often you practice fasting, the cleaner your body becomes, the easier it is to tolerate the absence of food, the more comfortable you can feel during periods of abstinence. And most likely, we, with our hypertrophied need for food, being real food addicts, eat much more than what we need, unnecessarily loading our body and forcing it to continuously process everything that we stuff into it.
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In general, another “click”))))) I wanted to try a 5-day complete dry fast (no food, no water, no contact with water). At the same time, finish off the remaining problems in the area, clean up what hasn’t been cleaned, and improve the condition of the skin. Before this, I had the experience of a 5-day fast on water and 1 day of full Ekadashi (no food, no water, but contact with water is allowed - i.e. 1 day of partial = mild dry fasting). Complete dry fasting began on 04/19/2011, 18.00. At lunch I took a shower, scrubbed my body (sea salt + olive oil + lemon juice), washed my hair (white clay + lemon juice + water), made a face mask (white clay + lemon juice + water). At 16.00 there was the last meal. And at 18.00 - last contact with water, brushed my teeth. During all 5 days of complete dry fasting, I breathed only through my nose, exchanged several phrases a day in order to prevent excessive loss of water from the body =)))) The solution came just after 3 months of my raw food diet (I came out of complete dry fasting on April 24, 2011, at 18.00), so the data for the 3rd month of the raw food diet will not be entirely “clean”, because part of the weight will return due to water =) 1st day (04/20/2011) M=51.5 kg Waist – 65 Hips – 90 (Leo – 50 .5, right - 50.5) Chest - 83 Feeling: normal Mood: calm, peaceful Thoughts: internal dialogue has decreased, there are practically no thoughts about food and water Hunger: no Thirst: no Sleep: slept normally at night, went to bed at 23.30, got up at 7.50 Changes: - tummy is seething - plaque on teeth - slight bad breath - in the evening slight weakness, drowsiness - if I get up suddenly, my eyes darken for a short time - ulcers in the mouth (3 pieces) - lips are all dried out, I couldn’t resist and tore them off from them the entire dry part - second slightly painful sensations in different points of the head, periodic, in the second half of the day Actions: morning exercises for 30 minutes, a walk in the forest for 1.5 hours (hugged with trees, refueled with energy)))))), evening stretching 15 minutes Toilet: in the morning 1 time “seriously” =)))) and 1 time not so much. In the evening again in small ways. Day 2 (04/21/2011) M=50 kg Waist – 61.5 Hips – 90 (left – 50, right – 50) Chest – 82 Feeling: I’m a rotten cucumber Mood: peaceful or passive, I can’t tell =) Thoughts: then emptiness, then oranges appear =) Hunger: physically – no, mentally – yes Thirst: physically – no, mentally – yes Sleep: slept normally at night, although I went to bed earlier at 21.30, got up at 7.40 + 3 hours in the afternoon (from 11 to 14 ) Changes: - the tummy is seething, in the first half of the day it was in the abdomen area that it burned the most, both inside, somewhere in the organs, and throughout the entire layer of skin - there is much less saliva in the mouth - there is more plaque on the teeth - a faint unpleasant odor from mouth - the whole tongue is coated, white coating - the ulcers in the mouth are still there, but they don’t hurt anymore - weakness - trembling in the body when I stand or walk (the coolest thing is my hands: they tremble like an alcoholic’s, very specific and distinct) ))) ) - if I get up suddenly, my eyes go dark for a short time - heavy head - internal heat, but the temperature is normal (it looks like the process of thermonuclear combustion of unnecessary cells has begun) - little air, stuffy (I lay all morning with the balcony wide open, the temperature outside It was +5, I was stuffy, but I still covered myself with a blanket, because... without it, it became cold outside, despite the heat inside) - rapid heartbeat Actions: jelly - almost all day smeared on the bed, only slightly oscillating movements from side to side... like jelly =) I started doing exercises, but realized that I could easily collapse from powerlessness, or even pass out completely. A quarter of the day I lay on the floor, opposite the open balcony, goodoooooo))))) Toilet: for the whole day 5 times in a small way: 2 times in the morning - the urine is dark yellow, 2 times at lunch - the urine is crystal clear, transparent, 1 time in the evening - the urine is transparent, almost colorless (they don’t give the body water, but it also pees, from the bourgeoisie!))))) I hope these are the products of the breakdown of old cells) Day 3 (04/22/2011) M = 48.5 kg Waist - 60 .5 Hips – 88 (lion – 49, right – 49) Chest – 80.5 Feeling: close to normal, but not quite there yet, I walk almost “not drunk”, I don’t break joints, my eyes don’t get dark when I take a vertical position Mood : calm with a hint of joy that I survived yesterday’s condition =) after an evening walk - slight irritability. Thoughts: oranges!!!)))) Hunger: it seems that the transition to internal nutrition has occurred, because... health has improved, i.e. an acidotic crisis is coming, a sucking sensation appeared in the stomach, many people quit on the 3rd day for this reason, but I decided to hold out for 5 days! I miss the tastes....((( Thirst: no Sleep: went to bed at 21.00, woke up at 7.10, in the second half of the night I often woke up, but quickly fell asleep again, slept with the balcony wide open, under a light blanket (windows on the balcony wide open, temperature at night 0..+2C), I had strange dreams: I wanted to buy beer and wine, but all the stores didn’t have what I was looking for =) later I had a dream that they fed me stuffed peppers, I didn’t like the taste, it was kind of bland , then I remembered that I actually didn’t need to eat this, because I’m on a raw food diet, and I’ve also been on a dry fast for 3 days. I also had a dream that I was running away from someone with 2 some people, we had to dive deep under water to hide. And.. I learned to breathe under water!!! If you take a shallow breath, then air comes in without water =) there were no thoughts even that here it is, the long-awaited water =) what a bungler, otherwise I would get high in my sleep, yeah, it’s time to start lucid dreaming =) I slept for 1 hour during the day. Changes: - terrible plaque on the teeth, ran my fingers over them, removed the white consistency, it is already visible to the naked eye - bad breath has become more noticeable - the entire tongue is still covered with a white coating - salivation has become even weaker, but in the mouth nothing was dry - the lips were slightly dry, but not fatal, it was slightly scratched =) - the head was slightly heavy - the lumbar area hurt at night, but in the morning everything went away - out of 3 ulcers only 1 remained, it doesn’t hurt, woohoo =) - 2 meters from I smelled the smell of apples (whole!) without seeing them =) - the first half of the day - chills, very cold, the second half - internal heat, again the balcony was plowed, stood near the open window for about half an hour... not enough air and coolness.. thoughts about an ice bath or, better yet, an ice hole - in the evening something strange happens in the abdominal area: the stomach, and the liver, and what else do we have on the left? In general, everything is somehow in action and creating something, not a very pleasant, nagging state, slightly painful. - the pain in the left knee joint has worsened (it has been hurting me periodically for the last 3 years) - 2 times a day there was a pain in the ears for 5-7 minutes Actions: mostly bed rest + a 5-minute parody of exercises)))) in the evening I decided to take a walk - 5.5 km on foot: shortness of breath, rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, every 400 meters I stopped to regain my breath, I breathed easier when I leaned forward, you bend over and freeze, 4 inhalations and exhalations and then we move on. The smells of the city, the people, the cigarettes, the perfume were irritating; in general, the whole people were irritated, it felt like everyone was not talking, but screaming like crazy. I saw meat in one of the stalls where they prepare shawarma - a gag reflex appeared.. A little later I saw chips on advertising stands - the urge to vomit... Even later I saw an advertisement in burgers - the urge to vomit... Thoughts about oranges, lemons, grapes (for some reason, large red ones , although I always liked small green ones more), watermelon and melon. But I hope that thanks to the walk I will sleep well... despite all the troubles along the way, there is still more air outside. Toilet: 5 times a day: 2 times in the morning - urine is clear, almost colorless, 2 times in the afternoon - urine is clear, almost colorless, 1 time in the evening - urine is clear, almost colorless Day 4 (04/23/2011) M = 47.5 kg Waist – 60 Hips – 88 (lion – 49, right – 49) Chest – 80 Feeling: normal Mood: first half of the day – peaceful, second half of the day – irritable-incomprehensibly-hysterical-tearful, I want to escape the city, I NEED TO GO TO NATURE! !!! I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN THE CITY ANYMORE!!! IT'S JUST A PRISON! Thoughts: confused Hunger: no Thirst: no Sleep: went to bed at 23.15, tossed and turned for 1-1.5, then fell asleep, but woke up very often all night, had calm dreams, I chose something from fruits and vegetables, but nothing didn't eat. Woke up at 6.45. During the day I slept 2.5 hours. Changes: - salivation has decreased even more, but the mouth and throat are not dry, there is still no thirst - everything is fine with the stomach, yesterday's nagging sensations have passed - plaque on the teeth and tongue began to gradually disappear - slight bad breath - pain in the left knee joint, compared to yesterday, has decreased - in the mouth there is 1 ulcer still in place, painless, but the size is the same - at lunchtime my ears were blocked again, I felt that something was in the way, I used my fingers to scrape out a lump of wax from both ears with a diameter of 5 -6 mm - it’s very difficult to sit, stand, walk: the abdominal muscles are literally overstrained to keep the body in an upright position, the lower back doesn’t really like the whole thing either - in the middle of the day we exchanged a few words with MCH in ICQ, and I’m practically empty freaked out.. got angry and burst into tears... my nerves are on edge... my nerves are getting worse))) Actions: morning exercises for 10 minutes, walking 2 km in the morning (oh, in vain.. in vain... all this is hard... but compared to yesterday there are still improvements yes) + 3 km in the evening in the forest Toilet: 4 times a day: 2 times in the morning - clear, almost colorless urine, 1 time in the afternoon - clear, almost colorless urine, 1 time in the evening - clear, almost colorless urine P.S. Yo-hoho, today I bought a juicer, tomorrow I’ll have something to go out with normally...))) After lunch I was drawn to the classics, especially my favorite Beethoven, I haven’t listened to him for a long time. Symphony No. 9 - that’s my mood... and I want to run... run away from here... I fell into the forest again on the edge of Moscow... I can’t in the city... I’m suffocating!!!! I took a walk through the forest... there were people everywhere... I went deep into the depths... I sat down almost on the ground, leaned my elbows on a dumped case and sat there for an hour... I came home... I was roaring excitedly again... I was already in my 2nd hour of this abnormality... I want to go to nature... I caught myself thinking: There’s already so little water in the body, and I’m also expelling it with tears...damn potbelly stove. I WANT IRGI AND BREWED HERBS!!! I’ll do it at the exit with at least 40-degree water. Just as creepy as you want. Day 5 (04/24/2011) M= 45 Waist – 60 Hips – 88 (left – 49, right – 49) Chest – 80 Feeling: sleepy Mood: calm Thoughts: about going out Hunger: no Thirst: no Sleep: Went to bed at 1.45 , got up at 6.05. Changes: - plaque on the teeth has decreased - plaque on the tongue has decreased - bad breath - weakness, drowsiness in the morning - hard to sit and stand (the whole torso with all the internal muscles hurts terribly) - pink (!!!) discharge))) a little later, menstruation came - the ulcer in the mouth decreased - the pain in the knee joint completely disappeared, the joint seemed to be lubricated and now it’s like clockwork...))) this is in the absence of water) The lymph node there has cleared up. The joint has become very flexible, if such a thing can be said about a joint =) Actions: walk 6 km, stretch for 5-7 minutes, lie down a bit Toilet: 3 times a day: 2 times in the morning - urine is clear, almost colorless, 1 time at lunch – urine is transparent, almost colorless. More on the output and results a little later =)
Why is dry fasting necessary, my opinion?
Someone goes on a fast in order to lose weight, as one person wrote in a comment under my video, he wants to fast for 6 days to lose weight, this, of course, can be the goal, but this effect will happen by itself and you shouldn’t get hung up on it.
Someone refuses food and water in order to cleanse the body and give it the opportunity to engage in self-healing and cure some ailments, yes, I agree that fasting is a good tool to achieve such a goal! Moreover, we, like crazy people, constantly eat and eat all day long, so it is very good to periodically give our body the opportunity to rest from the constant process of digestion.
There is another purpose for which it is worth practicing fasting. I don’t want my words to seem pompous, but I’ll still say this: this goal is spiritual growth.
Hunger cleanses the mind very well, clarity of thought appears!
And therefore, during fasting, in my opinion, it will be very good if you concentrate on your inner world, pay attention to what is happening inside you; This is a good opportunity to understand yourself and resolve some issues.
It even seems a little blasphemous to me to look for ways to distract my consciousness, my thoughts, with some external “stimulants”: films, games, maybe even books. As one person wrote, for example:
During dry fasting, I played a computer game and this was a very good way to “kill time.”
Yes, this is probably also possible, but in my opinion, it is much more correct to use this time to think. How often in our everyday life, at high speeds, do we have such an opportunity? And during fasting there is such an opportunity, while the body is self-cleaning on the physical level, you can start “cleaning up garbage” on the mental plane.
But there is one thing that I noticed from my own experience - it becomes difficult to be alone with yourself for a long time! For example, after three days I begin to have some kind of hunger for information; I want to read, watch, hear, communicate and share my feelings with someone. Perhaps in order to be in solitude for a long time, you need a richer inner world, or a higher level of spiritual development.
Therefore, I believe that for an “ordinary” person it will be enough from time to time, freeing himself from work, to do a short dry fast for 36 hours in order to give the body a break and sort out his thoughts by spending some time alone. It is best to do this in natural conditions, in nature, than in a technocratic artificial world, in the city - the information background is not the same.
In the evening we simply went to bed “empty” and spent the next day without food until the next morning, a total of a day and a half. You can get drunk at night, of course, because the next day you will be hungry)) but I think our body doesn’t really need to digest food at night; at this time it is engaged in restoring the body.
