The day 5 fast was for a 24 hour period staring Jan 6 at 8:00 pm and ending Jan 7 at 8 pm. I had a really light dinner on the evening of to try and keep the fast light. I did well through the day having two cups of green tea and lemon water. It was a busy day at work but I did not feel under-powered or distracted by the fasting. There was still the craving for food at the usual meal times, but it was more psychological than a real need for nutrition.
To distract myself at noon, I went to the gym and did the treadmill for 40 minutes. I was done at 3:00 pm and did not want to have to muscle through the dinner cravings so decided to take my daughter shopping instead. This was another great distraction helping me avoid the habitual behaviour that occur at 6:00 pm. I did however decide to break the fast at the 24 hour mark as I know that sleep would be challenging based on how I was starting to feel and I did not want to struggle through Friday. I ate vegetable soup. Overall it was a productive fast day that did not feel difficult at all. My weight was down 1 lbs to 190.6.
Metabolic processes are what keeps us alive at the cellular level. Dr. Peter Attia provides an interesting personal study on the effects of food choices on metabolism and how the body uses the fuels it is given.
For all those that don’t believe that we are what we eat, this video may provide personal evidence that daily food choices are important in the overall picture of health and wellness. So sit back and enjoy…this will change your outlook on life!
You may remember this term from biology class. ATP or adenosine triphosphate is the primary fuel needed by all cells and is generated by the body on a continuous basis. ATP is essential for metabolic function and transports chemical energy to all living cells at the molecular level. This stuff is vital for our existence! Think of ATP as a battery. The battery is fully charged when it has three molecules of phosphate ( the triphosphate form). Each time the adenosine looses a phosphate the molecule give up energy and the battery looses some of its charge. And just as it looses energy by giving up a phosphate, it is recharged when a phosphate is added back. So this substance is continuously recycled through the body constantly providing energy and being recharged. On average, the human body contains about 250 grams of ATP and turns over its own body weight in ATP each day! That’s a lot of recharging and discharging of these batteries.
Two main sources of ATP Generation: Glycolysis vs Ketosis
Our primary source of energy is from glucose which is derived from carbohydrates. The process is called glycolysis. This is something that most of us are aware of and recognize that if you are expending large amounts of energy, that eating carbohydrates will help refuel you. The glucose we therefore need to run the body comes from either the foods we eat directly, or from glycogen stores found in the liver. There is also glucose stores found in the muscle cells which is available but to a lesser degree as it is conserved more for muscle function.
Our secondary energy source, and one that we generally do not focus on in typical nutritional and dietetic discussions, is ketone bodies. This process is based on ketone utilization and is referred to as ketosis or beta-oxidation. This energy is derived from our fat stores and produced in the liver. The thing with ketone generated energy, is that it is something we create by not eating. This process does not start to fully activate until after at least 36 hours of fasting. A state that most people rarely reach in our food centric culture. There is another way to reach some level of ketone generated energy use and that is through a ketogenic diet which is a severely carbohydrate restricted diet with low to moderate protein and higher fat consumption (up to 80 percent of calories for those serious about this approach). I will talk more about tis type of diet later, but for now want to focus on fasting to reach this state.
You are probably asking yourself why this is relevant to you and what does it mean for your health. Well the whole goal of fasting and a carbohydrate restricted diet is to aid the body in balancing how it uses energy.
What is Glycolysis?
Glycolysis is the process where glucose is converted into ATP. The following video provides a simplified overview of the process. The interesting thing with this mode of energy production is that the energy yield is very low. For an investment of 2 ATP the process only yields 4 ATP for a net gain of 2 ATP.
You could look at this yield as a 100 percent return which I guess is a good rate for energy production. But let’s look at the fat burning mode next.
What is ketosis?
Ketosis is the metabolic shift from using glucose as the primary fuel for the body to ketone bodies as the primary fuel. The actual process that uses ketones is called beta oxidation.
Ketone bodies are molecules that are created by the liver from fat stores within the body. They are produced when there is a limited availability of carbohydrates or when carbohydrates cannot be used effectively and become an alternate source of energy for all the body systems that normally require glucose energy sources. For example, after an over-night fast, ketone bodies supply 2–6 percent of the body’s energy requirements, while they can supply up to 30–40 percent of the energy needs after a 3-day fast. It is this state of energy production that results in rapid fat consumption and weight reduction. The following video provides a simplified explanation of beta oxidation. The amazing thing about this process is that for the same investment of 2 ATP the process will yield over 120 ATP!
How do these two sources of ATP compare
Now although this is a significantly more abundant supply of ATP compared to glucose use, it is a slower or less responsive process. So when we need quick energy, the glucose cycle is a more readily available and quicker responding cycle. However, as a more efficient source of energy, the ketone path provides an abundance of ATP but is slower to trigger because of the need for fatty acids which are driven through a process described in the next section.
So the best way to compare the two energy supplies is to look at the ketone based supply as the base energy in an electrical grid which is usually a system like nuclear energy. This source takes a long time to ramp up, is very stable once activated, but does not have a quick response time to increased energy demands. The gap that is created from peak energy demands is closed by quick reacting energy sources such as a gas powered plant which can be turned off and on very quickly. This is similar to the glucose cycle.
Next I will talk about influencing the glycogenic/ ketogenic balance to manage where your energy supply is generated.
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.
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 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,
So I have been on a sort of vacation the past 11 days...but this is not just any vacation, I was on a meditation retreat. The practice I follow is Vipassana and is an established program in many countries around the world. Here in Canada we have three centers with the one nearest to me being just north of Toronto.
s called
So why talk about this experience on a blog about intermittent fasting. Well for those who have not experienced this type of retreat, there is a fairly restrictive meal plan as part of the overall practice. First, the program is strictly vegetarian and second, there are only two meal times.
With the vegetarian plan, it is relatively easy to keep a low energy intake and the meals are served at 6:30 am and 11:00 am. You are encouraged to not overeat as meditation is more productive on a partially empty stomach, so in a sense you are almost doing a fast day every day.
As there is only a period of 5 hours where you are able to have a meal, this leave 19 hours of fasting every day!
So in addition to the wonderful benefits I get from doing these annual retreats, I was able to loss another 3.4 lbs effortlessly!
It's Monday Jan 18 and I started my fast the night of Jan 16 at 6:00 pm, Winter is finally settling in as it has been snow flurries all day and the evening temp was down to minus 10 C. I find fasting during the winter harder as I feel more sensitive to the cold so I have managed to stay indoors for the most part. Last night I settled in for a Netflix movie before going to bed.
Yesterday was particularly harder for some reason. I had a mild headache all day and was just not feeling energetic. I slept in in the morning and also had a 3 hour sleep in the afternoon. It was just one of those fasting days where rest and quite seemed to be the right thing to do. I also was doing a strict water fast which may have contributed to how I felt as water only fasting seems to accelerate the process as there is no mid day or small meal to interrupt the depletion of glucose.
My weight going into the fast was 186.8 lbs on Saturday and has dropped down to 185 as recorded Monday morning for a difference of 1.8 lbs. Check out my link "My Progress Report" to see how my weight is tracking. The total length of this fast was 36 hours.
I actually feel really good this morning even before breaking the fast. I am not hungry and really do not want to eat much. My breakfast meat is a juice of parsley, apple and celery. I have planned a lunch of fried cabbage and stir fry with some pork.
Also, check out my post on the fasting process. I am just at the stage this morning to really start fasting but even just going 36 hours is a great benefit to the system.
