Journal // 24th June 2024

Jun 24

On this day I…

Dry fasting. Sounds weird when you say it.

Now, I’m used to fasting, whether it be intermittent or 36-48 hours (which I do once a week, usually on Sunday). Fasting is a natural process that we have forgotten or frankly have no real need to worry about. Yet our bodies, the human body, evolved.

The abundance of food nowadays is just too much, we don’t NEED to eat 4 times a day (Based on breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack). Some of you might disagree with that, which is cool, leave a comment below with your thoughts on that.

But the fact remains that our bodies go through processes that repair, recycle, and remove dead parts (cells) but if we’re always eating we never have the opportunity to do so. Your body needs time to rest.

I don’t mean just sleep. Eating and drinking makes your body work, it uses energy. If your body was allowed to rest, not eat or drink, then that energy could be put to a different use, Autophagy.

“Autophagy is the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components.”

If you never fast for more time than you sleep your body will collect all these dead cells. They’ll sit there in your body like a landfill.

So, am I suggesting that you fast for 24 hours now and then?

Yes, I am.

It’s good for your body and if you want to lose a little weight (fat) it’s also great for that.

But there is a way to get more out of it.

DRY FASTING!

Basically, it’s the same as regular fasting you just don’t drink fluids either.

I tried this for the first time yesterday during my regular fast. It wasn’t as easy and I doubt I’ll do this every week. Though once a month might be easily doable. And maybe, once my body gets used to it every few weeks then every week. Who knows.

From what I understand, dry fasting gives you up to three times the benefits of regular fasting.

So, this morning, My normal cuppa tea was the first liquid since 02:44 Sunday morning. (I had tea when I got home from work. Bartender) Around 27 hours. So according to Dr Eric Berg (YouTube) that is equivalent to an 81-hour fast.

My longest fast so far has been 108 hours (4.5 days). I did this due to fascial injuries that made it painful to eat so I figured I’d just fast. But if I can get the benefits of autophagy 3x faster with dry fasting then I’d only need 36 hours.

A day and a half of dry fasting.

Burn fat, clean out the crap, repair, fight off diseases and other unwanted shit, and of course, get those Ketones going strong. (Ketones being the best fuel for your brain).

Let’s not forget that during all this you will produce new stem cells which can replace any damaged cells in your body, and new brain cells. Your brain will operate better (ketones remember) and you’ll have more focus.

The fact is, there is no downside to fasting. (I’m not a doctor. Consult a professional if you have doubts). Our bodies evolved to do this. It’s more natural than stuffing our faces with tons of processed food.

A side note: If you’re interested in fasting, but don’t want the hungry pangs, reduce sugar and carbs. Frankly, sugar and cards are why you have hunger pangs. Once I stopped consuming added sugar products and reduced my carbs by half my hunger went away.

This however led me to discover something else. We have become attuned to eating at set times of day, Morning, afternoon, evening x2. This is because we have been doing that since birth and our brains have built synaptic responses to those times of day.

You had breakfast before school, you had lunch at a set time at school, your parents made you eat dinner at a set time and then you had a snack later. You followed this trend into your after-school, College University, and then into work, always eating at relatively the same time every day. Your brain gets used to it. Your brain expects it. And when it doesn’t come your brain wonders why.

This was something that I discovered when I stopped eating 3-4 times a day. I would only eat once, around noon. But as I was usually busy the rest of the day I never realised. It was during COVID lockdowns that I started to feel this need (not hunger) to eat.

At 12, I’d eat as usual. Then around 6 pm, I’d feel the need to eat again, and then around 9 pm the same feeling. It’s not hunger, just my brain not getting its usual food satiation.