As I write this post, I'm 24 hours into a 36 hour renegade fast. There's no rhyme or reason behind this particular haphazard calorie strike, I simply became intrigued after listening to a KSCO podcast discussing the topic and the arguable benefits to it. My only fasting experience has been the obligatory 12 hours mandated by a physician for a garden variety blood draw. Considering you usually sleep the majority of that time away, I don't think those count.
Mama WÜleur agreed to 24 hours of sans caloric intake and reported no "real" issues other than being a little "grumpy" and safely ended her version at 24 hours and 1 minuet with a plump salted cashew. It's safe to say that cashew along with a tasty concoction of sweet potatoes, onions, feta, and olive oil had been on her mind all day.
Being a lifelong cyclist who has experienced every iteration of being "bonked", I thought I would feel a bit more hypoglycemic and have delusional thoughts of food as the day unfolded. I felt surprisingly balanced even after a tandem mountain bike ride with Olive (on our blue Co-Motion thank you Craig). As usual, my tapeworm announced a couple of grumbles early in the day (10:15am) which made me kind of nervous because I historically fix that problem with a couple of bananas, a half a jar of almond butter, a handful of chocolate covered cashews and 2 yogurts.
Today was different though, I had to push through those moments of perfunctory hunger and remind myself that this dude has more than enough stored calories to sustain life on a typical weekday (or two or five). We read about the health benefits of intermittent fasting and blood pressure, blood sugar, and memory seemed to be the topic of discussion on the majority of sites.
The one benefit that was missing from all of the fasting sites is that your perception of time practically comes to a standstill (in a good way). Mama WÜleur and I both felt as though useless distractions seemed to melt away and take a back seat to everything present. We look forward to our next episode.
-Happy Hungry WÜleurs
Check out this documentary on fasting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms
I now do two 24 hour fast per week. The trick is to start your fast after a big lunch then skip dinner and the next days breakfast. Break the 24 hour fast with lunch. I've been doing this for 10 months and feel great.