At 2.30pm on Sunday, February 25th, I stopped eating for 72 hours until 2.30pm today, Wednesday, February 28th.
Which raises the obvious question: “Why would you do that?”
Why not? I do love to test out my mental fortitude and after all I had read about the benefits of longer fasts, was keen to take advantage of the positive effects.

Why Fast?

We eat at regular intervals each day for many reasons but probably the main reason is because we have been conditioned that way. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are recognised times in the day where most people stop to eat, and as if this wasn’t enough there are also food opportunities in between those meals called ‘snacks’.

But there’s no fixed biological rule saying that we need to eat every 4-6 hours, but we have trained our bodies with these regular eating patterns to feel hunger at these times and because it makes it more of a social event. We have even been told that if we don’t eat regularly all sorts of detrimental things might happen to us and for a long time ‘little and often’ was the mantra. But the human species would not have survived as long as it has if regular eating was a necessity.

Fasting has never really been promoted as it’s a concept thats never going to make anyone any money as is certainly not going to contribute to the sales of the exhaustive supply of snack foods that have become available over the last 5 yrs and is worth billions.

Many foods in our modern diet (particularly grains and sugars), combined with eating constantly, has made our bodies lazy and turned off their ability to run on their own energy stores. Fasting forces your body to function as it was designed to and have the ability to run off different fuel sources. I’ve been experimenting with Intermittent fasting for about 8 yrs now and have tried many different methods but until now the longest fast I did was for 24 hours, usually once a week.

The Health Benefits of Fasting

As is often the case, short term discomfort can bring long term benefits and that is what appeals to me with these seemingly crazy experiments I like to try. But research has shown there are so many benefits to the occasional fast. The body reacts well to acute stress (not chronic which has the exact opposite effect) and comes out the other side even stronger. Stepping out of your comfort zone makes your body thrive and we are becoming weaker a a result of not doing this often enough other parts of our lifestyle, not just nutritionally.

Autophagy (literally means ‘self eating’) is central to the benefits of fasting and it is basically a biological process that plays a key role in the body’s ability to detoxify, repair and regenerate itself. By activating the autophagy process, your body will start to kill off, eat up, or clean out dead, diseased or worn out cells that have accumulated as a result of your lifestyle. However some of these elements are difficult for us to control.

It’s like our bodies built in recycling system allowing us to work more efficiently and to help stave off many diseases, including preventing cancer growth and development.

Not only that, but reduced autophagy (the state that many diets leaves us in) leads to accelerated cell ageing. It’s also pretty amazing how much research has focused specifically on how fasting promotes autophagy in the brain and can be a very effective way to slow down neurodegeneration which can help protection against Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

On top of all of that, periodic fasting helps with reducing chronic pains, rheumatic diseases, high blood pressure, and anything related to inflammation.

Fasting is actually far more beneficial than just stimulating the clearing out of all the old damaged cellular parts and toxins, it also stimulates Human Growth Hormone (which at my age has declined about 40% since I was in my 20’s) which enables our body to start producing some newly renovated cells, HGH is also responsible for maintaining and building lean muscle mass which when you are in your 40’s is not as easy as it was.

Prolonged fasting forces the body to use stores of glucose and fat but also breaks down a significant portion of white blood cells. If you know the role that white blood cells play with regards to our health this doesn’t sound like good news, but the depletion of white blood cells induces changes, that even with a short 3 day fast has even been proven to rejuvenate the immune system with research suggesting starving the body kick starts stem cells into producing new white blood cells, which fight off infection.

Scientists also found that prolonged fasting also reduced the enzyme PKA, which is linked to ageing and a hormone which increases cancer risk and tumour growth.

But you need to get rid of the old stuff before you start bringing in the new so the process of destruction is just as important to the process of creation.

What turns autophagy off? Eating. And it doesn’t take much which is why autophagy is unique to fasting and something not found with calorie restriction or juice detoxes. It’s definitely not a case of more is better though. You can get sick from too much fasting as well as too little. The key is to fast and to feast. This allows for cell growth during eating and cell cleaning during fasting. Life is all about balance.

So now you know why I have spent the last 3 days without food. It sounds strange doesn’t it that stress and self destruction may lengthen our lifespan and there is still a lot that science doesn’t know but the best that can happen is a stronger, younger, leaner and cleaner body which definitely appeals to me.

So… How Do You Fast Then?

• Don’t eat ANYTHING.
• Drink only WATER. Not too much, not too little.
• Do as much activity as you’re comfortable with.
• Sleep as much as you feel you need.

Some say you need to stay as inactive as possible. I just went about life as usual (although it was -8 here in Switzerland so I didn’t walk as much as I usually do) and rightly or wrongly did two bodyweight sessions, one on day 1 and the other on day 3.

Advice also tends towards making sure you spend a week not eating many carbs, reducing your calories a little and trying a few shorter fasts. But I always eat more at this time of year and more carbs so I didn’t really follow the rules there either. The only thing I guess was good is that February is no coffee month for me so that’s no caffeine withdrawal symptoms to worry about.

What Happened During the Fast?

Sunday 2.30pm Ate last meal
Weight:57kg

Day One: Monday
6.30am: Woke up, had the remainder of San Pellegrino left from last night. Weight: 56.7kg
7am: Had to prepare breakfast for the rest of the family and make packed lunches which was no big deal today as I wasn’t hungry at all and I don’t usually eat until 10.30am anyway.
8.30-9.30am Bootcamp with mainly bodyweight exercises but a few with added weight. It was -8 outside this morning so we took the indoor option. Like I said, the advice is not to take part in any ‘formal’ exercise, but so far my day is just as it usually is so I ignored this. Took sips of water throughout the workout and probably only drank 250ml of water.
12.00 pm: The first sign of hunger as I felt (and heard) my tummy growling but it wore off quickly after 2 cups of warm water. I debated putting a slice of lemon in there but then decided not to and I didn’t want the signal of taste to stimulate my body into digestion mode.
2.30pm: 24 hours into the fast and I’m feeling good. It’s strange because I’ve done a lot of 24hour fasts (usually one a week), and I’m always happy when the time is up and I can eat again but this time it’s different. Because I know I can’t eat for another two days, my body is not asking for food. I’m intrigued to find out what ‘real’ hunger feels like.

4.00 pm: I actually went food shopping! How inconsiderate for my family to continue eating throughout this time (totally inappropriate for children by the way, just in case you thought that was a serious comment). I bought some things I would break my fast with and even seeing and smelling all the food didn’t make me want any. I’ve always had a strong determination to do any challenge I set my mind to, and this one is no different.  I even made a banana bread (which I love) and prepped carrots and hummus for the girls after school snack.
7.00 pm: Still not hungry, it’s the strangest thing. Probably had about one and a half litres of water so far today. You have to be careful not to drink too much.
8.00 pm: Time feels like it’s moving slower…it’s very productive not eating, I’ve got so much done!
10.30pm Bedtime

Day Two: Tuesday
6.30am: Woke up after a really good sleep but feeling a little shaky. Had some warm water and just sat for 10 minutes. After about half an hour I felt ‘normal’ again. Weight:55.6kg
10.30 am: Despite not eating in over 44 hours now, I’m still not hungry. No discomfort really, though my brain feels a little fuzzy. I wonder if this is from the toxins coming out of my damaged cell matter and getting dumped into my bloodstream? I don’t feel tired or lethargic either.
2.30 pm: 48 hours in. 24 hours to go!
7.00 pm: Really hungry around dinner time but I still prepared dinner and sat with my family whilst they were eating it just to be sociable. I like to challenge myself!
8.00 pm: The fasting and hunger are not so noticeable when you’re busy so it’s been a good opportunity for me to be really productive.
9.00pm Had an epsom salts bath which really knocked me out so I went straight to bed afterwards around 10.00pm.

Day Three: Wednesday
6.30 am: Woke up feeling a little shaky again and made the decision not to do Bootcamp today…. but then I felt ok and changed my mind thinking I would just do as little or as much as I could. Weight:54.6kg
8.30-9.30am Bootcamp. I actually surprised myself and functioned pretty much as usual which I found quite strange considering I had no glycogen left in my muscles. Even threw a few burpees in there! Slightly excited about eating again later today and happy I started the fast at 2.30pm which isn’t that long to wait now.
12:00 pm: Time feels like today is going really, really slowly. Weird not having those interruptions of food but I think I am starting to anticipate it now so my mind is preparing and I’m getting impatient. So, I’m writing this blog to keep myself occupied.
2.30pm IT’S OVER, I DID IT. 72 HOURS WITH NO FOOD. But what happens now? how do you end a fast? The first thing I had was some lamb bone broth.

How to End the Fast “Safely”

‘Refeeding’ is the process of steadily introducing food to your body in such a way that you don’t totally crash your system. The biggest risk is something called refeeding syndrome, where your reintroduction of food spikes your insulin to such a degree that it causes a potentially very dangerous situation. It’s often a concern on fasts five days or longer, and when you’ve lost a lot of body weight.

To prevent this, you must steadily reintroduce foods to the body over one to two days, steadily moving up the chain of how hard to digest something is, ending with meat. Some say that you should re-feed for as many days as you fasted.

But what I find strange is that a lot of advice on fasting suggests that you should start with fruits and vegetables since they’re easily digestible. Vegetables make sense, but fruit? Most fruits have a fairly high glycemic index, meaning a larger spike in your insulin. I don’t eat much fruit anymore anyway so stuck with some green vegetable soup.

I will also be repopulating my gut micro biome (the healthy bacteria that live inside your gut) in the next few days with some greens powders, sauerkraut and kefir which are all great sources of probiotics.
Next thing on the list will be dried coconut flesh since it is very low glycemic and it is high in fat, which is the only macronutrient not to spike insulin.

What’s Next?

All in all this was a very positive experience. My mental strength was tested yet again which I believe is always going to stand me in good stead for other challenges that come my way. There were hardly any downsides, and the few downsides were hopefully totally steamrolled by the positives. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for my glycogen and water weight to be replaced and how the re introduction of food will feel.

Like I said, there are an incredible number of health benefits from fasting so I’ll definitely keep doing intermittent fasting every day (fasting for 14-16 hrs each day and having an 8-10hour eating window is my preferred method). And I’ll most likely repeat a 3 day fast like this one every 3 months.

Disclaimer: As with all self experiments on your body, they are not suitable for everyone and if you are in any doubt then consult your GP before undertaking any kind of fasting.  For example they are not suitable for pregnant women or children.

Let me know of any experience you have had with fasting or if the benefits it brings appeal to you.