FASTING. WILL YOU? OR WON’T YOU?

It is about will power, right?

Clenching my jaw and saying "no" to all foods.

No.

But that’s what family, friends and colleagues tell me.

Even now.

Despite my explanations.

And it is two months since I completed 40 days’ fasting.

WHY WOULD ANYONE GO INTO SUSPENDED FOOD ANIMATION?

I can’t think of anybody who would do extended fasting without good reason.

Even “good reason” is insufficient.

Compelling is more like the truth.

Without a compelling reason WHY the fasting water only decision will not change the food consumption behaviour for long. A day? Five days? Ten days? Two weeks? Then life & stuff happens and distractions ride the winning horse .. and fasting is all over until the next time.

If ever.

WOULD YOU LIKE A BIOCHEMICAL WITH THAT?

Think of the body as a toddler.

The toddler was promised a cookie but someone snatched it away.

The toddler throws a tantrum!

This tantrum is delivered by a cocktail of hormones.

When you cut back on food, your glycogen stores — your body's quick-energy stash— run low. The hunger hormone ghrelin jumps up screaming "Feed me!" Leptis is the hormone that usually tells you you're full. Leptin takes a nap. So your body is shouting for food but there is no internal "I'm good!" signal to counter the shouting and calm the temple that is the body.

Fasting is a tiny, demanding, gremlin living inside.

Then there is insulin.

It is the bouncer at the glucose party.

No new glucose enters the body during fasting. So insulin levels drop. Are you a sugar burner?

Then your body will throw a fit because it is used to glucose for energy but now it has to switch gears to burning fat. At this stage the body can feel like a petrol car running on the diesel. This insulin drop can make the fasting adherent feel low in energy, like moving in slow motion, and want to take a nap.

Is that all !

No.

Another hormone, neuropeptide Y (NPY) gets into action to & make that donut across the street look important.

Vital.

This is part of the body's survival system.

It works to make the body eat!

Something.

Anything is better than nothing is the message from the body’s hormones.

This makes sense from a normal life perspective.

Don't eat?

Don’t live!

The body’s hunger mission-control AKA hypothalamus amps up the "starving" signals to make food the brain's entire focus.

That is not all.

The body also becomes a miser when fasting.

Slowing down the metabolism to save energy makes sense when the next expected meal, and the one after that, do not turn up.

Not only is the body fighting the hormonal hunger gremlins, it is trying to make it harder to lose weight! Think of this as running a marathon with lead weights on the ankles.

In short, the body is a sophisticated system designed to prevent you from starving. Complete with hormones the body is designed to make fasting feel as nice as a root canal. The body actively fights to maintain energy stores by increasing hunger and slowing metabolism. It is a wonder we can fast at all!

WHAT I FOUND

The biochemistry & metabolism of fasting is the biochemistry & metabolism of hunger.

It is a systematic, orchestrated system of hormonal agents working in perfect harmony to cause homeostasis.

Homeo what?

Home .. boy (or girl).

Stay there.

And don’t change a thing.

Eat the food when it arrives.

And don’t do anything silly.

When I began fasting my body’s army of usually irresistible hormonal agents had little effect upon me.

Two things immunised me to the army.

Firstly, when I began fasting it was only for an hour. Then another hour. The hourly victories’ surprising effect? Fasting became a profoundly interesting experience. Sure - it was only an hour at a time. But each hour was not forbidding or loaded with distracting thoughts of defeat over a 40 days’ fight to overcome hunger.

Secondly, my blood pressure was 200/125 twenty-four hours before I started. Today it’s 115/70. But 24 hours before I started, I knew that I would be in hospital or a coffin if I did not transform my critical health markers. And I have much to do. Most importantly, I have four granddaughters ?5 years old – 13 years old who will not do well without healthy parents and grandparents. This is my compelling reason WHY. This came up again and again while I was fasting. In hindsight, my WHY was perfect. I never regretted any element or day or night of the experience. Not even the nausea which began on Day 26. Even that was interesting in spite of the nuisance and pain.

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