Today I am on the fourth day of a fast which may go for as many as 7 days. My blood sugar was 78mg/dL this morning— lower than the norm of 84mg/dL. Lower-than-84 blood sugars are normal when fasting, and I understand are OK when you are not having low-blood-sugar symptoms as a result.
Between my previous fasts and my keto lifestyle, I had to buy some new clothes, only size XL (1X) after having had to buy 2X clothes before. (Since I shopped a lot at thrift shops, I also had some 3X clothes, if they were cute and not too baggy.) But I noticed my new XL shorts were big on me, and so I’ve recently purchased some items in size L. They all fit! Bad news is, since I’m on disability for my Autism Spectrum Disorder, I can’t afford to run out and replace all my new XL clothes with L size clothes— not when I’m on track to possibly fit in M size clothes soon! (I have not been so slim since my high-school-hell years.)
I must point out that fasting is not about quick-weight-loss. Quick-weight-loss is a crock. It only leads to quick-weight-regain. The keto-and-fasting approach is about making lifelong changes that will provide long-term health improvements. It may make you lose weight, and lose weight easily, but it’s not about quickly becoming slim-and-‘sexy.’
My last 5 day fast— my first fast of that length— started impulsively, when I realized I was not hungry, and not in the mood to cook any food that day. My non-hunger pretty much lasted the first 2 days of the fast. Day 3, I had some hunger, but not enough to make me seriously think of eating something. Days 4 and 5 were easier.
This fast was more intentional. I had a few blood sugar readings which were way better than my previous, not-doing-strict-keto ones, but not as good as the ones just after my last 5 day fast. I had a bit more hunger in the first three days as I had last time.
While water-only fasting is the gold standard of fasting, Dr. Jason Fung allows plain tea and black coffee while fasting, allows home-made bone broth, and allows 1 cup of ‘bulletproof’ beverage per day— in one part of the book, suggesting that the ‘bulletproof’ additions to the beverage be kept down to a lower level than in normal ‘bulletproof’ beverages.
I have made use of a lot of broth during this fasting period. I schedule my broth drinking at my mealtimes, I don’t wait to determine if I am really that hungry before I consume it. (As the fast goes on, if my hunger remains gone, I will try to skip some of the broth helpings.)
I am doing a ‘mini-cheat’ on Dr. Fung’s instructions. He specifies home-made bone broth, and I do have some on hand, but don’t want to use it all up too quickly— being on disability, the ingredients for bone broth are hard to afford sometimes. So I used canned broth, broth powder, and even dashi powder (I have plans to get the fixings for home-made dashi, a kind of fish broth from Japan, very soon.) I’m trying to have at least 1 cup of authentic, home-made bone broth every day, though.
I also am drinking tea regularly, as well as some cups of peppermint tisane (‘herb tea’) in the evenings. I’m feeling fairly well, though I don’t have the energy boost I experienced on my last fast. I’ve experienced chronic fatigue for probably over a decade, so I’m not surprised, but I hope that the combo of regular fasting and keto lifestyle will help me overcome this problem.
Spiritual benefits
As a Christian (Catholic variety) I know that the Bible commends fasting, and that Jesus both did it and advised it. But I’m not sure that fasting done to help your health has full spiritual benefits. But, just in case, I am dedicating my current fasting to the conversion of sinners (God can pick which ones) and to the Holy Souls. I don’t really feel especially spiritual, and perhaps during a future fast I may add daily spiritual practices like going to daily Mass (or watching it on EWTN television) and more daily prayer and Bible reading/spiritual reading.
Selling out?
You may have noticed that I now have Amazon affiliate links on this blog. Is that a sell-out? Well, perhaps. But I’ve noticed a lot of other keto blogs have advertising to the point of making the blog hard to read. I don’t want to do anything like that. But it’s really hard living on SSI disability, and not being able to get things fixed like the plumbing and the electrical outlet to my stove (my stove hasn’t worked for years because of it.) If a few kind people buy through my links sometimes, it would really help. But if you are not so inclined, just ignore the links. I don’t mind. I write this blog because I want to help others who struggle with some of the same issues I’ve been faced with, not because I think I can ‘monetize’ this blog and live high of the hog. (Which reminds me, I need to buy more bacon.)
If you fast, you really should read this book. It gives you all the scientific information you need to fast properly and not get led astray into unhealthy practices.
OK, this is not 'home-made' bone broth. But it does look pretty good as a substitute. You might try it.
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