Keto Means
Keto Means
Photo: Karolina Grabowska
If you are looking for a hard reset, fasting for three days once every three months is probably good. If you are looking to heal a specific disease or malaise, fasting in excess of five days under medically supervised conditions once may be more effective.
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Read More »The Hangry Person’s Complete Guide to Fasting Going without food for a few days helps me reset my emotional eating, but I had to learn from some mistakes along the way. Image credit: Nataliia Yankovets. Editor’s note: the practice of fasting for health or spiritual reasons has been around for centuries. Some of these practices, however, have similarities with behaviors associated with Anorexia nervosa. If you suspect that your interest in fasting is related to compulsive behaviors, we encourage you to use the screening tool and resources from the National Eating Disorders Association to evaluate the right course of action for you. The first time I considered fasting, the first thought that came to my mind was, “I am literally going to die.” It didn’t matter that I had grown up in a Muslim country and personally observed thousands of people fasting for the month of Ramadan while living perfectly normal lives. “It’s different with me,” I thought. “I can’t even go for four hours without eating.” When the term “hangry” first entered the common lexicon, it immediately resonated with me. Associating an emotion with my desire for food seemed to make perfect sense. You see, I’m an emotional eater and I don’t discriminate against any emotion. It’s like my own version of that famous scene on Oprah, “You get food, you get food, every emotion gets food!” I eat when I’m happy, I eat when I’m sad, I eat to socialize, I eat when I’m lonely, I eat to celebrate, and I eat to commiserate. Of course, I definitely eat when I’m bored. I also fell for the myth that I was such an active person that I needed to eat constantly or my muscles would start breaking down. The irony was, I had always prided myself on my discipline. As a former competitive swimmer and runner, I could get up every morning at dawn to swim or go running in the cold. I could go on multi-day hikes, or convince myself to take cold showers every day — but fasting? There was just no way. So, what finally convinced me? Well, I was a medical researcher at the time and I personally saw the effects of fasting on blood glucose and fat retention. You couldn’t get any closer to the source. I was the one cutting off bits of the tails of mice and rats and measuring the glucose and fat levels in their blood. Seeing results first hand was definitely powerful. Photo of the author with a fat experimental mouse. I also knew that fasting to optimize health has been practiced for thousands of years by most major societies (e.g. Chinese, Greek, and Roman) and most major religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam). These were groups of people that rarely agreed on too much else. Still, as any emotional eater knows — giving up food is a big deal. I was finally convinced to at least try it when I was researching a few diverse topics including gut microbiome health, balancing hormonal function, and optimizing physical and mental function. All the science in these seemingly unrelated topics pointed to fasting as a therapy. The more I researched fasting, the more I realized that the effects of this practice went beyond metabolic and weight improvements. There was extensive data showing that fasting seemed to have wide-ranging impacts across multiple systems in the body. The full list and corresponding research are definitely too numerous to list in an article, but here are the ones that ended up on my favorites list. How Did I Feel? I wouldn’t be writing this article if all I wanted to share were the scientific benefits. The truth is, we are driven to share things based on what we feel from an experience. And boy, did I feel a lot. Here are some of the highlights: 1. Gaining personal power Runners often talk about the feeling of being able to conquer the world after finishing a marathon. This personal power is more than what you would feel from lifting your personal best or solving a hard problem. It’s a feeling that you can only get from sustained mental commitment — when you repeatedly overcome the desire to give up. Fasting does the same for me. It’s a form of training emotional resilience and recharging that power. I wrote about feeling this when I take a daily cold shower. Fasting takes it to a whole new level. It appears that my experience wasn’t just in my head. Participants in studies on fasting like this one also describe experiencing this sense of achievement and pride. Created by the author 2. Achieving mental stillness and sharpness Yes, it is as glorious as they said it would be. It felt like I had taken a limitless-type drug. All the noise in my mind just seemed to cut out and my focus became razor sharp. Aside from that, so much brain space was freed up by not having to think about food every 10 minutes. Note that this only kicked in after about 30 hours or so for me. I was a little foggy and sluggish prior to that. 4. Mastering emotional control A lot of fasting was about wrestling with my internal monologue and learning not to react. When I sat with myself and truly listened to my boredom, frustration, and desires — the intensity of those feelings and their power over me dissipated. I realized that intense feelings (like cravings) do not always represent reality and real emotions (like hunger) build slow. I was left with a sense of calm — the feeling that this too, shall pass. I was reminded that regardless of what is happening in the world, I have the power to choose how I react to my feelings and to affect my own sense of well-being. 5. Obtaining physical awesomeness One of the bonuses of fasting is that food tastes amazing afterward! Even a simple cup of salty bone broth will rival a Michelin 5-star meal. Overall, I felt pretty great — I was a few pounds lighter and my skin glowed. 6. Saving time and money I had not realized how much time and money I spent planning meals, buying groceries, preparing meals, eating them, and then cleaning up after. Fasting for three days frees up at least 15 hours to do other things. 7. Activating a physical and emotional reset Fasting has a unique way of breaking me out whenever I feel stuck. This can be in a physical sense when I’ve been tired for a while and don’t know why; or a mental sense, when I’ve been getting frustrated; or in a spiritual sense when I just haven’t been able to engage with the world. I think of it as a hard reset — a time to cut out the mental noise, flush out things from my body, and tune in to my soul. And it works every time. The benefits of fasting are so helpful that I now do a three-day fast every three months, but I want to share my earlier attempts to give credence to my tips. My Fasting Attempts To say that my journey with fasting has been bumpy would be an understatement. As with most things where actions are tied to strong emotions, my progress was far from linear. Attempt 1 (fast 24 hours) — I thought that if I had a cause that I felt strongly about, it would help me stay strong. So, I signed up to host an Oxfam fundraiser. The idea was that I would fast for 24 hours and people would sponsor me to complete it successfully. I failed at around hour 13. On the plus side, I did raise about $600 for Oxfam. I still feel guilty for lying to my sponsors. — I thought that if I had a cause that I felt strongly about, it would help me stay strong. So, I signed up to host an Oxfam fundraiser. The idea was that I would fast for 24 hours and people would sponsor me to complete it successfully. I failed at around hour 13. On the plus side, I did raise about $600 for Oxfam. I still feel guilty for lying to my sponsors. Attempt 2 (fast for 24 hours once a week) — I have a curious personality quirk where if I failed at something, I would increase the goal. My thinking there is that if you attempt a stretch goal, it mentally decreases the difficulty of your original goal. In this case, it kind of worked and I managed to complete a full 24-hour fast one time. — I have a curious personality quirk where if I failed at something, I would increase the goal. My thinking there is that if you attempt a stretch goal, it mentally decreases the difficulty of your original goal. In this case, it kind of worked and I managed to complete a full 24-hour fast one time. Attempt 3 (Intermittent fasting for 16 hours, once a week) — After I had completed the first 24-hour fast, I came across several books on intermittent fasting (references below) which suggested that a 16-hour fasting window provided the same benefits as a 24-hour fast. A 16-hour fast once a week was actually pretty easy to accomplish but I also did not experience any life-changing benefits after about six months and stopped. — After I had completed the first 24-hour fast, I came across several books on intermittent fasting (references below) which suggested that a 16-hour fasting window provided the same benefits as a 24-hour fast. A 16-hour fast once a week was actually pretty easy to accomplish but I also did not experience any life-changing benefits after about six months and stopped. Attempt 4 (5-day fast) — I went through a period of several life changes and found myself feeling a general malaise. I wasn’t sick but I was tired all the time and feeling emotionally drained and generally disengaged. Several books I was reading pointed to fasting as something to be explored. The fast itself was much easier than I thought (see tips below) but I completely screwed up the re-feeding. — I went through a period of several life changes and found myself feeling a general malaise. I wasn’t sick but I was tired all the time and feeling emotionally drained and generally disengaged. Several books I was reading pointed to fasting as something to be explored. The fast itself was much easier than I thought (see tips below) but I completely screwed up the re-feeding. Attempt 5 (3-day fast) — After the 5-day fast, I knew that fasting would be a part of my life for a while but a 5-day fast was not very convenient since it excluded all social events and disrupted my usual workouts. I also didn’t like the shorter fasts because it didn’t provide the benefits I enjoyed. I settled on a 3-day fast and this time, I nailed the re-feeding and felt amazing during and after the fast.
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Read More »Emotional Obstacles and Tips The biggest roadblock to fasting for me has and always will be emotions. If you are an emotional eater too, here is something important for you to know — the most intense emotions will occur early (around eight hours) and will slowly dissipate. After the first 24 hours, things will only continue to feel easier. A sense of euphoria and calmness sets in after about 30 hours of fasting for me. Until then, you may feel a range of intense emotions. Here are some tips on how to deal with them which will also continue to serve you well after the fast. 1. Dealing with boredom Boredom has been the emotion I have had to manage the most during fasting. It was confronting to notice how frequently I automatically reached for something to snack on at the slightest sign of discomfort (probably every 10 minutes). After 24 hours, I was never really hungry but missed the texture of food and the act of chewing. Fasting made it glaringly obvious to me that food was my way of fulfilling my dopamine addiction. Created by the author On the plus side, looking for distractions to my hunger helped me identify activities in life that really engaged me. If it could distract me from my incessant urge to snack, it was a keeper. Tips to try: Favorite activities — Have your favorite books or TV series queued up. Take this as an opportunity to indulge your attention on anything else other than food. Strangely enough for me, back-to-back work meetings with serious data analytics also seem to work well. New activities — I love coming up with a long list of new activities to try. Some will work and some won’t. Here are some new activities that I discovered as a result of needing distraction during a fast: Spanish language learning, online games with my brother, Dual-N-Back app, and chess. Sit with it — Novel, right? But trust me when I say that the ability to simply sit with your boredom is a game-changer in building discipline and focus. 2. Dealing with cravings One of the best things I learned from fasting was the difference between cravings and real hunger. Cravings were often an emotional response to wanting a certain pleasurable mouthfeel or taste while real hunger was a physical response to needing fuel. Cravings tend to be sudden and intense while real hunger builds much slower. For a fast of under five days, both feelings will eventually pass. Tips to try Distinguish between cravings and hunger— To identify if it is a craving, ask yourself if you would eat anything right now or if you only wanted to eat that thing you are craving. If you are truly hungry, you would eat anything and not just the thing you were craving. Tune into the location of the feeling in your body — This may seem like an odd thing to do but if I feel a strong craving, I often try to feel where that need is coming from in my body. If it’s coming from my mouth rather than my stomach, then it’s a craving. Somehow, this simple act is often quite effective at dissipating the craving. Give yourself an easy out — If it feels completely unbearable, tell yourself you can eat again in exactly one hour. In my experience, the intense craving will usually pass. You can use this trick as many times as you need. Flavored teas — If you really must satisfy your oral fixation, have a few different types of flavored teas available. As long as no sugar is added, you are fine. 3. Dealing with motivation It should come as no surprise to you that you will want to give up at various points. You’ll be swayed by your strong cravings or you will miss the sensation of eating food too much. Remember that a healthy human can last for as long as 8 weeks without food if there is adequate water intake, so you are unlikely to die. Tips to try: Fasting buddy — Just as with working out, it helps to have someone else do it with you to keep you motivated. It’s even better if they live with you. Environmental design — It helps to not tempt your willpower by having snacks and cookies lying around. Put visual reminders of food away. Keto pee strips — I found this to just be a fun thing to do. It was motivating to keep going as my pee continued to change the color of the strips. You can get these strips for under $10 at most chemists. Created by the author Fasting for over 2 days — This seems counterintuitive but most people (including myself) experience the more pleasurable benefits of the fast such as increased mental focus and lack of hunger after 2 days of fasting. If you stop earlier, you’ll experience all of the crappy bits without being able to enjoy the fun parts. Giving up — It is actually OK to break a fast sooner than you planned. If my attempts are anything to go by, you’ll know that I failed many times. It’s important to stop if you feel sick. Sometimes, early attempts simply give you more information to help you improve on future attempts. 4. Dealing with stress or sadness I deal with these two feelings in a similar way during a fast. This is because they both relate to the need to soothe myself or suppress an emotion by eating. The two main ways I deal with this is to allow emotional expression and also to soothe myself in other ways. Tips to try Heat — Taking a hot bath or sitting in a sauna is a great way to soothe the body and our emotions. It’s a great shortcut if you don’t feel like doing emotional labor. It also helps me sleep better during a fast. Massage — Getting a massage causes the release of oxytocin which will help you feel good. It’s also a nice thing to look forward to during a fast. Journaling — Note that this is not journaling to record what happened in your day but rather as a way to listen to yourself. I will often write the questions down as well. For example, I may start by writing down, “Why are you so upset?” and see what I am inclined to write. Tell yourself you will destroy the papers after. It’s amazing what comes out when you know that no one will ever read it. 5. Dealing with irritability or frustration I tend to be a highly active person and the initial stages of fasting can make me irritable since I don’t feel great physically and can’t work out the way I would like. Tips to try Hot yoga — Hot yoga also has the added benefit of suppressing my hunger, focusing my mind, and soothing my body. Go easy if you are not a regular practitioner. Walks — Gentle hikes outside in wide-open spaces tend to help with my need for movement while also providing a mental distraction with things to observe, dogs to play with, birds to spot, etc. 6. Dealing with loneliness Fasting can sometimes feel isolating. After all, you’re likely to be planning to be mostly by yourself since you can’t socialize through food. In the beginning, I also didn’t want to deal with the questioning from friends so I didn’t divulge that I was fasting. Tips to try Go on a date with yourself — I discovered the art of going on a date with myself when I first started fasting. I would create a nice environment, turn my curiosity inwards, and learn to actively engage with myself. I would ask myself questions like, “What are you still passionate about?”, “What has been making you happy lately?” or “What is still important to you?” Plan an activity with friends— I enjoy planning board games when I’m fasting. It satisfies my need to be social while being completely absorbing. An activity seems to work better than talking to a friend since it distracts my mind and doesn’t require me to talk about why I’m hangry. Physical Obstacles and Tips While the emotional aspects of fasting are the toughest for me, there are definitely some physical ones too. Here are some tips on those. 1. Sleep One of the most physically challenging things was that it was hard for me to fall asleep on an empty stomach. Even if I was tired, my hunger pangs would distract me from staying asleep. Tips to try: Melatonin — I generally tend to resist taking sleep aids but melatonin actually has the added plus of being an extremely strong antioxidant. It’s also been found to be highly effective in combating inflammation and restoring tissue function. You can purchase melatonin at any pharmacy for under $10. I usually take 1mg an hour before sleep and up the dose as required. Magnesium — I occasionally also supplement with magnesium though I find melatonin to be more consistently effective. I take a complex which has multiple forms of Magnesium and follow the recommended dose. Magnesium is available at most pharmacies for $10-$25. Bright early morning sunlight — The earlier, the better. Sunlight is known to help you reset your circadian rhythm. Try getting at least 20 minutes.
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Read More »Meditation — Often when you can’t fall asleep, it isn’t that your body really needs food, it’s that your mind is obsessing about it. Meditation addresses the “mental” hunger. 2. Hunger pangs This is when your stomach gets the dull, achy feeling. As with cravings, the feeling will eventually pass if you wait for about an hour or two. Tips to try: Apple Cider Vinegar — This is hands down the best thing for settling my stomach. I usually have two tablespoons in a warm cup of water. Sometimes I add it to apple cinnamon tea to make it taste better. It’ll settle the acute pain in your stomach after about 20 minutes. Be warned that the taste is quite strong. Ginger tea — Ginger has been an Asian remedy for settling the stomach for centuries and works remarkably well if you use the actual root instead of tea packets. What not to do: Too much caffeine — Caffeine is extremely effective at suppressing hunger but also affects your sleep. When I first started fasting, I would drink caffeine constantly to not feel hunger. It worked, but kept me up and also had the nasty side effect of irritating my stomach. You can have caffeine while fasting, just go easy. Small snacks — When I first started fasting, I used to “cheat” a little by having some pieces of seaweed or having some miso soup. I figured they were pretty low calorie so it should still be OK. The problem with this was that it made me ten times hungrier. Your taste buds do not like to be teased. Don’t do it. Artificial sweeteners — Even though they have zero calories, studies have found that artificial sweeteners actually cause you to feel more hungry. 3. Physical fatigue or achiness The switching of fuel sources in your body won’t feel great but there are some things that can reduce the discomfort: Tips to try: Eating a generally low carb diet the week before — I found that the switching of fuel sources was far less uncomfortable when I ate a generally low carb diet for a week prior to fasting to prepare my body for it. Warm water with Himalayan Sea Salt or electrolytes — Most of us get our electrolytes from our food. Low electrolytes can cause your body to be achy or feel crampy. While most healthy bodies are capable of restoring the balance of electrolytes on its own, I did find that taking salt made me feel better. Lots of water — Drink lots of water. 4. Re-feeding This is one that took the longest for me to figure out. Introducing food again after fasting is also one of the most dangerous parts of fasting. So, it is important to get this right. Tips to try: Go slow — Seriously. Plan what you will eat after your fast. I typically break my fast with a cup of bone broth or kombucha. I then wait for at least an hour before eating a small portion of solid food (I like fruit) and then wait another hour before eating a light meal. The trick is to go very slowly and in very small portions. This is especially important if you are doing a multi-day fast and/or doing it for the first time. What not to do: Eat heavy food or junk food — Your gut microbiome is sensitive at this time. Don’t make it do hard work. Drink alcohol — It might be worth waiting a day or two before drinking alcohol. Alcohol can significantly alter gut bacteria and may undo the good work you just did. How to Plan a Fast If you have finally been convinced to give fasting a try, here are some of the things you will need to think about: Physical safety — Remember that fasting is ultimately a stressful event on your body. In biology, there is a term called “eustress” which refers to beneficial stress that promotes growth. Fasting can be a positive stressor but the line where it shifts from beneficial to harmful is different for each person. None of the advice here should be taken as medical advice. The majority of studies conducted seem to indicate that water-only fasting for under five days is safe for most healthy people but you should definitely consult your doctor before attempting any kind of fast if you have any pre-existing conditions. Mental health and eating disorder safety —Another point at which fasting can easily shift from a beneficial activity to an unhealthy behavior is how closely it can mirror an eating disorder. If you are someone who has a lot of anxiety around food and body image, is prone to obsessive-compulsive behaviors or perfectionism, or who has had a history of eating disorders, please do not attempt fasting unless directed by a medical professional. This article provides better guidance to help you identify if you may be someone who is more susceptible to eating disorders. Type of fast — The next thing you have to do is determine what type of fast you want to do. You can do water only, no food or water, or really low calorie (e.g. bone broth and kombucha). See the reference section below for further details. My go-to is water and beverages with no calories and sweeteners of any kind (e.g. tea and black coffee). Length of time and frequency— The next thing you have to determine is the length of time. This depends entirely on your goals. If you are looking for weight loss, it is probably better to fast intermittently every week. If you are looking for a hard reset, fasting for three days once every three months is probably good. If you are looking to heal a specific disease or malaise, fasting in excess of five days under medically supervised conditions once may be more effective. See the reference section below for further details. Activities — It’s critical to the success of your fast to think about the activities you will be doing during the fast. Obviously, don’t plan the fast for days when you have social events involving food. If it’s your first time, plan to have low physical activity and mental commitment days. I typically plan the fast for when I am anticipating low physical activity but high mental activity. Communication — If you live in a house with other people who are not fasting, it’s a good idea to communicate your intention to them so they don’t plan a full-day bake fest on those days. Trust me, it is hard to fast when other people are eating or cooking. So, plan to take a walk if you work in an office where people eat lunch together or let your spouse know your intentions so they won’t prepare and eat food in front of you. Mental Preparation — You will want to give up before you complete your fast. I’ve listed some tips to help you get through it but at the end of the day, you need your own motivator. It’s not enough to know “why” you want to fast. To combat strong negative emotions, you actually need strong positive emotional motivators. If your “why” is to be healthier for your kids, print out a picture of your desired hiking trip or whatever is required to create a strong opposing emotional hook. Should You Do It? Looking back at my earlier attempts at fasting, it’s clear to me that my first mistake was to approach it as a purely physical quest. I think this is a mistake that most people make. I devoured all the books and articles that gave me all the “steps” I needed to fast. But really, how hard could it be to not do something? So, why did I still fail? It’s because fasting isn’t just a physical challenge. It involved confronting my deeply engrained emotional relationship with food. It was easy enough to endure the discomfort of hunger but dealing with boredom without the quick and easy dopamine hit that food offered was hard. I was doomed to fail when I focused on the hunger without having a solution to my boredom. Created by the author When I finally succeeded, I learned a very important life lesson that has served me well across all other aspects of my life. It was this — your emotions (especially strong ones), are not your reality, and learning to sit with them instead of immediately reacting to them is a powerful and life-changing skill. It transformed my ability to push past obstacles at work as well as my personal relationships. In a society where external events are constantly causing our emotions to sway and we are always pressured to work harder and be more, there is real beauty in knowing that sometimes, doing nothing is the best thing you can do. So, go ahead and fast. Know that fasting isn’t about completion but about gaining knowledge of yourself. It’s a practice of cutting out all the noise so you can tune into your body, your mind, and your emotions. Remind yourself that fasting allows you to train your emotional resilience in a way that very few things in life can. Our emotional muscle is very much like our physical muscles, it needs to be worked regularly to stay strong. How many other ways can you think of to consistently train it? Take the opportunity to experience the absolute calm of not letting your emotions push you around. Watch them rise up, increase in intensity, and then simply leave you. Because all you have to do — is literally nothing. “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” — Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor
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