Fast #10- first 3 day fast of the year

I have decided to do a 3 day fast for this one. The main reason is because of how I feel. While I was away on the 10 day retreat, the meal plan was strictly vegetarian and what I found was that I was eating a lot of grains and breads...in fact much more than I usually eat on a regular basis. My diet is generally leaning to the paleo side with minimal grains and a balance of meats and veg.

I have been back for a week and I found it hard to manage my cravings and appetite. I was craving carbs more than usual! This caused my weight to pop up to 185.6 over the week for a gain of 4 lbs!

So to get away from the carb cravings I am doing a 3 day fast.

My last meal was Thursday evening and the first full day was Friday Feb 5. I found the first day very hard with cravings, a headache and finding myself very tired. I laid down for 2 hours when I got home from work and still slept deeply through the night.

The second day (Saturday) started out much better and I started the day with a martial arts class. The rest of the day was low key. I felt better through the day but still needed to rest and took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I was in bed around 10 and although slept reasonably well, I was dreaming a lot.

The third day (Sunday) started early with some home repairs for about 3 hours in the morning and a long walk with the dog. Was feeling a bit light headed at times but was keeping my activities to a minimum. It was also the most restless night for sleeping. I was awake every hour and although I was able to fall asleep each time, the sleep was fitful with active dreams.

I was also monitoring my ketone levels using ketone strips. The following list summarizes the level of ketones at various stages through the fast.

Hours into fast      Ketone Level (mg/dL)
      8                                 negative
      16                               negative
      24                               negative
      48                                  trace
      56                                    5
      66                                   40
      72                                   40
      80                                   40

This trend verifies the time it takes to transition from use of glucose stores to the conversion of fat to ketones. The fat burning cycle doesn't really kick in until after the first 48 hours or 2 days into the fast.

Weight at start of 3 day fast was 185.6 and at the end of the fast was 178.6 for a fasting loss of 7 lbs! I broke the fast with a green parsley celery drink.

Diet Drinks are not Helping your Diet

Diet pop is no substitute for healthy alternatives

Why do we drink artificially sweetened beverages? For most of us who do, it's not for the great taste...but its more as a poor substitute for sugar sweetened drinks. I personally don't drink them but have tried the odd diet drink only to find the experience less than satisfying with often a chemically taste left in my mouth. Even a natural sweetener such as stevia is less than desirable from a taste perspective.

But we drink diet beverages with the hope that the reduced calories will benefit our weight loss goals and reduction of real sugar in our diets. Well let's take a look at this belief.

What Really Happens When Drinking Diet Beverages

Neurotoxin

A sweetener such as aspartame is 200 times as sweet as sugar. Once in the human body, aspartame breaks down into phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol. Methanol is a wood alcohol poison that, when heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, converts to formaldehyde. Aspartame is also an excitotoxin that builds up in the brain, and can excite brain neurons to the point of cell death. Aspartame was introduced as a sweetener in around 1983 and is the most commonly used artificial sweetener.

Tricks your Taste Buds

Even tough artificial sweeteners are not sugar, they do have the effect of tricking your taste buds into thinking you are consuming sugar, or more accurately a carbohydrate. This initiates a very similar response resulting in the release of insulin in the blood stream. This can have the same metabolic effect by increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, increased blood pressure and potential heart disease.

Increased risk of metabolic syndrome

Some studies also indicate that diet drinks can increase your risk of metabolic syndrome which include symptoms such as visceral fat accumulation, heart and blood pressure issues, and diabetes. So the result of diet drinks could be weight gain leading to obesity or a persistent resistance to weight loss efforts. There are studies that suggest diet sodas will result in more weight gain than drinking sweetened sodas.

Water is the best alternative

The sole purpose of consuming liquids is to hydrate the body. For this reason there is no need to have any other substance other than water. But we don't drink just to hydrate, it is enjoyable whether its a sweet soda, fruit juice, or a hot beverage.

So to increase your success in weight management, think about what you are drinking and reach for water more often. We will rarely avoid all these less desirable drinks, but drink responsibly and your health goals will be easier to achieve,