[99fairies]

I'm planning on fasting for the next 3 days. Today is day one. I want to clean out my digestive system. Any of you fasted before?

Yep—I like week-long fasts. Jason Fung is really great and motivating. You can find his podcasts with Jimmy Moore online (google for them) where he explains how to do it. He recommends using chicken broth. You may need the salt to keep from getting light headed.

I like to use a few cheese sticks as a crutch to ease into a fast so it isn’t a drastic drop, but that is just me. I get yelled at by purists that say I’m doing ketogenic those first few days. Whatever.

Low carb friends has a good forum for this

Be sure to watch for mania symptoms. If I can’t sleep, that’s when I quit

[Carmina]

I fast 2 days a week

[AspiringAuthor]

The digestive system is self-cleaning. There is no solid research supporting fasting, just speculation. Given the importance of routine and ritual for bipolar, fasting is probably a bad idea because it is a big deviation from routine.

Oh, I don’t do it to clean out the digestive system. It lowers blood sugar and insulin, which is a problem with some of the meds we have to take for bipolar. It is good for the immune system too per Dr Fung and good for healing per Dr Furhman (the plant-based doc)

[Carmina]

Check out Michael Mosley too - plenty of evidence supporting intermittent fasting. Nothing to do with 'cleansing' - just establishing a healthier pattern of eating. Can't see myself fasting a week though, that's a lot.

[99fairies]

Carmina...two days a week? You must be tiny!

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by key tones

Yep—I like week-long fasts.

A full 7 days? I think I would loot a McDonalds by day 5.

I am toying with the idea of extending one of my IF days to 48 hours instead of 24. For example - eat 3 meals on Sunday, the last one being an early dinner. Eat the next meal on Tuesday night, 48 hours later. I would only have to sleep on an empty stomach one night (Monday). Tomorrow is an IF day on my 5:2 with the normal routine being to eat only supper. Maybe I will push it into Friday before I eat.

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by Carmina

Check out Michael Mosley too - plenty of evidence supporting intermittent fasting. Nothing to do with 'cleansing' - just establishing a healthier pattern of eating. Can't see myself fasting a week though, that's a lot.

I am doing 5:2 with one meal on the "fast" days. It is supper so I am fasting for roughly 24 hrs (since previous supper). I am thinking about going to a full fasting day; I may try it tomorrow.

EDIT - one concern is he handful of meds I usually take with supper, but sometimes I forget and take them before bed without food.

Oh, out of curiosity, which days? I do Monday and Thursday.

[liveforsummer]

Good luck! I can barely make it through a colonoscopy prep without feeling like I’m starving to death!

UpDown - 5:2 is cool.

Live4 - it isn’t that hard once you acclimate to it. I think it helps to go low carb first to get over carb cravings.

[Sunflower123]

Originally Posted by UpDownAround

I am doing 5:2 with one meal on the "fast" days. It is supper so I am fasting for roughly 24 hrs (since previous supper). I am thinking about going to a full fasting day; I may try it tomorrow.

Oh, out of curiosity, which days? I do Monday and Thursday.

I like this idea. I think I’ll try it.

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by Jennifer 1967

I like this idea. I think I’ll try it.

It's a fairly common 5:2 IF (if you google that you will find lots of info). Some people do multiple "meals" on the fast days but keep the overall calorie count low, like under 600. I prefer eating just the one meal and often go even lower. On Monday I had 345 calories. Here is something counterintuitive - I find it easier to fast after a light meal than after a heavy one. I avoid heavy meals; they seem to stoke the fires of the digestive system to want more fuel as soon as that meal has moved along out of the way.

[99fairies]

The one thing I'm unsure of it that my Night meds can make me hungry. But I will try to just ignore it.

[wildflowerchild25]

I could never fast. I get too irritable and anxious when I’m hungry. Part of the reason I gained so much weight when my hunger was raging due to invega. I can’t just ignore it. Wish I could though, 5:2 IF might help me lose weight. Absolutely nothing else is working.

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by 99fairies

The one thing I'm unsure of it that my Night meds can make me hungry. But I will try to just ignore it.

I am more concerned about a nasty aftertaste and breath that is caustic first thing in the morning after taking meds on an empty stomach. Brushing my teeth/tongue and gargling clears it up.

[AspiringAuthor]

It is interesting about blood sugar - I will read the sources, thank you.

I believe that the main premise is that our ancestors had intermittent supply of food when they were hunters, so we are not made to have the same caloric intake day in and day out. Right? You run out of mammoth meat and go hunt another mammoth, and while you do, you are hungry. Right/wrong?

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by AspiringAuthor

It is interesting about blood sugar - I will read the sources, thank you.

I believe that the main premise is that our ancestors had intermittent supply of food when they were hunters, so we are not made to have the same caloric intake day in and day out. Right? You run out of mammoth meat and go hunt another mammoth, and while you do, you are hungry. Right/wrong?

Feast or famine. Even with a lot of plants in the diet, there were droughts and migrations across arid land. Paleo diets that have you eat every day are not truly representative of how man ate back then.

[99fairies]

First day down, 2 more to go. I went to sleep fine but I woke up at midnight feeling very hungry. It only took about 20 minutes to fall back asleep. Now I feel fine. Not hungry at all. But I'm rarely hungry in the morning.

[Carmina]

Originally Posted by UpDownAround

I am doing 5:2 with one meal on the "fast" days. It is supper so I am fasting for roughly 24 hrs (since previous supper). I am thinking about going to a full fasting day; I may try it tomorrow.

EDIT - one concern is he handful of meds I usually take with supper, but sometimes I forget and take them before bed without food.

Oh, out of curiosity, which days? I do Monday and Thursday.

I don't have specific days, usually on weekdays as I'm more busy but the actual day depends on what I'm doing and how much activity/exercise and food I had the previous day. If I indulge a bit one day or have less exercise I make the next one a fast day. Weekdays I also have less time for exercise so try and do more HIIT things. Weekends I feast more but also have longer to do more lengthy exercise such as walking/cycling or gardening.

[WildcatVet]

My entire life seems to be a fast...I have to force myself to eat everyday...

[UpDownAround]

One thing occurred to me - are wintergreen Lifesavers food? I tend to pop one every now and then on fasting days because my breath tends to be bad when I fast. If I want to be a purist, I guess I could gargle (I keep mouthwash in my desk at work and in a cabinet at home).

[99fairies]

I'm just sticking to water but you can do it however suits you.

[WildcatVet]

Originally Posted by UpDownAround

One thing occurred to me - are wintergreen Lifesavers food? I tend to pop one every now and then on fasting days because my breath tends to be bad when I fast. If I want to be a purist, I guess I could gargle (I keep mouthwash in my desk at work and in a cabinet at home).

*15 grams of carbohydrates, 14 grams of sugar per serving. Serving size is 4 pieces*. Technically food I suppose, but......personally I wouldn't worry about it.