Fasting and Felling with Fosters

Fasting has unearthed unexpected benefits. After a 10 day fast, I had lost approximately the same amount of weight as I had in the first 6 months of a running and caloric restriction campaign. Now, every time I see someone running to get in shape, I want to yell “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!” at them.

But I have found that weight loss is not the primary goal, nor the primary lesson.

So far I’ve completed three extended fasts: a 10 day fast and two separate three day fasts.

Extended fasting amplifies everything. Taste, smell, general awareness, emotion. Fasting takes you on an almost unreal roller coaster ride of emotion, ranging from joy to outright rage. At the point of transition to ketosis (~2 days in), I thrice experienced an unbelievable high and sense of almost perfect calm. Day 6 of the 10 day fast was utterly horrific, a mix of rage and depression coming in waves all day. The other days were all well above average, and on the whole, I just felt relaxed. After day 8, I didn’t even think about food. By day 10, I didn’t want or need it.

Coming off the fast is every bit as revealing as the fast itself. Just as a fast amplifies emotion, the taste and effects of food on your system are amplified.

The first bite of Santa Cruz dark roast organic peanut butter that I had after the 10 day fast was the best bite of food I have ever eaten.

Before fasting I suspected that I had a gluten sensitivity. After fasting I knew it. I could feel it. Intake of gluten produced almost immediate systemic inflammation. I just hadn’t notice it before because it had always been there.

I have been doing other experiments as well to determine the effects of other foods. Refined sugars almost always send me into a short-lived bout of belligerance. And on the whole, I haven’t craved sweets like I used to. I think the body craves whatever it’s currently running on, so when you are fed your body craves carbs, and when you are in ketosis your body craves fats.

Another discovery was the recognition that eating multiple times a day actually ruins food. Food intake multiple times a day actually cheapens the eating experience. After fasting, everything tastes amazing. After a few days of eating, food returns to its normal, bland, underwhelming state. I guess that’s just like anything else. No wonder work is such a fucking bore.

So now, I’m trying to work out a balance. One meal a day my next little experiment this week, starting on Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

In the end, I have a feeling I may just keep ping-ponging between feast and fast. I’ve never had good balance. This evening, after failing seven times to slingshot a rope into what remains of a topped tree on my property line, I gave up, went inside, started a Foster’s oil can, went outside halfway through, and over the course of that oil can and another one cut several smaller trees down with nothing but my pruning handsaw, while also grilling sausages and banging out pullups in the front lawn. After dinner I continued the tree slaughter. Eventually I was told to stop murdering trees and come inside.

I’m pretty sure that the neighbor’s kid now thinks I am a psychopath and Katy is somewhat perturbed by the tree carcasses now littering the yard, but I had a great time.