So I just completed a 72 hour fast and I was wondering if some other froggies had any experience with it. I found I really wasn’t hungry the whole time it was just the headaches and dizziness. I did take Celtic sea salt and sodium bicarb and lots of water. Any suggestions to decrease the headaches and dizziness?
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I asked an older (75) friend who is doing fasting. She suggests you add potassium and magnesium. She says it's easier to fast than to break the fast (ironically, we meet for breakfast :)
Yeah, I’m definitely going to look into some fasting electrolytes because the Celtic salt wasn’t enough. The hard part is finding electrolytes with no sugar or any sweeteners.
Actually, that’s a great idea to make your own
yeah, even LMNT has something in it to make it more flavorful
It's what plants crave.
Try some bone broth.
See the recipe I posted to OG poster.
No offense but it would be hard to imagine a more obviously absurd, provably incorrect statement.
The body has evolved super powerful drives to make you feed it adequate nutrition and to provide an intense, increasingly miserable sense of gnawing anxiety and burning urgency in the stomach region if you don't, which every single human alive has experienced at some time. Everyone knows they really really find it satisfying to eat when they haven't eaten in a long time, thus disproving the quoted statement.
In my experience, eating is 1,000 or 1,000,000 times easier than maintaining the wrought iron superhuman willpower necessary continue depriving the body of food when it is screaming out in hunger.
I fasted for two weeks. It was not a problem at all. Hunger was not an issue after the first day. After that, it is not about will power the hunger is just gone. My biggest problem was the social connection we have with food. Family did not feel comfortable eating in front of me during dinner time even when I told them it was not a problem for me.
Why that duration? Seems borderline dangerous for high demand organs. Especially the brain, followed by the heart, liver and kidneys.
All I can tell you is I felt great during the entire fast. The first day was hard the second day was much better. By the third day hunger was no longer an issue. I have high blood pressure, During the fast my blood pressure was at 103 over 65. My guess is there is too much salt in my diet. About 4 days into the fast my clarity was amazing. It was easy to focus on whatever I wanted to focus on. In a way I was sad that I ended the fast. During the fast I felt alive in ways I can't explain. I read all the articles about how dangerous a long fast is. Now I am wondering if just maybe a long fast is a way to remove the poisons the cabal is always feeding us. that could be the reason that long fasting is taboo. Starting a fast is hard. The first day or sometimes two days are hard. The third day is usually good. The forth day and forward tends to be amazing. I find it interesting that we are discouraged from getting to that fourth day and beyond.
Wow!
Lucky you. I've read about others who had the same inexplicable experience. (Not just in terms of logic or common sense—it's even inexplicable in the context of survival of the fittest—the organism's hunger drive should steadily increase, not subside, to force the organism to obtain food before it starves to death.)
For me the misery of gnawing hunger began about 5-6 hours after my last meal and never let up, not one iota, for an entire week—instead growing stronger and more insistently torturous with every passing second. Literally all I could think about for 16-18 hours a day was hunger and food. Finally I could withstand it no longer and chowed down (it was super easy :), don't have a clue how I lasted that long.
Are you trying to develop gallstones? Because excessively long fasts are just leaving your bile to sludge up and crystalize in your gall bladder. 3 days is usually what's recommended as it's too short for things like that to start happening and also short enough your body won't start cannibalizing it's own muscle tissue for protein.
Amen.
I'm just reporting what my friend says and what the OP reports 🤷♀️.
Me, my stomach starts growling at me at the 12-15 hour mark screaming "Hey lady! FEED ME!!"
I was not hungry at all. But I do intermittent fasting. But I was exhausted.
I was planning on continuing our regular regimen of vitamins.
https://x.com/makismd/status/1675170885458882560?s=46&t=tVdOXV9PJWSmpYwreAVzMQ
Read this guys comments. He recommended no ivermectin or supplements. I did take my regular meds, but not my supplements except for the salt and bicarb.
If you're not eating only water-soluble vitamins will get absorbed. Without eating fat you'd be wasting any fat-soluble ones that you take during it.
That makes sense. Thank you.
You beat me to it. Potassium, magnesium and a little salt, otherwise you risk headache, migraine, arrhythmia and muscle cramps. Vitamins are less important.
Was talking with the wife about fasting just this morning (right after we made a meal last night with lots of leftovers). Anyway we agreed to do a 24hr fast once the leftovers are gone. Did you start with the 72hr or have you done others?
12 hrs a day, every day you'll get the same results. Just go to bed earlier so you don't eat in the evening at all.
So much easier... Then everything else in moderation.
So I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for about two years now and I have a 19 hour fasting window and a five hour eating window. I’ve accidentally done almost a 24 hour fast because my eating window opens at three and sometimes I’m out and I don’t get a chance to eat. Let me link you the sodium bicarb information. Give me a second to find it.
https://x.com/parasitedetox/status/1950031445709176955?s=42
Here is the sodium bicarb information.
Thank you fren!
I would recommend if this is your first time to do a smaller fast first or start with a few days of intermittent fasting. One of my friends did it and was able to work the whole time they did the 72 hour fast, but I was very dizzy and basically a couch potato so I wouldn’t do it when you have a big event scheduled, instead do it over a long weekend.
I did it and it wasnt difficult.
But, I messed up by eating too much too soon, stuff i keto on, but it shocked my system. I was hungry as a bear. Ended up with some cramping, some diarrhea x 2 days. Felt like crap(ing) lol
My advice is to restart slowly...
Good luck
Thanks. I just had some chicken broth and now I’m having some yogurt with salt in it and water in it, another hour i’m gonna start doing nuts.
Great! Reset that metabo into keto.
I initially read "going nuts"...which is feasible!
Not sure what your diet was before but it could have possibly been due to withdrawal from caffeine, sugar, etc. When my gym members start the 8week challenge, thats the biggest 2 complaints during the 1st week. Hopefully with reseting your diet now it won't happen in the future.
I did have black tea so I don’t think it was the caffeine; but I think you’re right, it was definitely the sugar withdrawal. I didn’t even think of that.
Work you way back from 3 meals a day to 2. When you get yourself adjusted to this schedule over the course of a few months, shift from 2 meals a day to 1. Take several months to adjust yourself to this until it's perfectly normal and you only get hungry around the time for your one meal.
Once you're well settled into a single meal a day, fasting is simple and easy any time you want to do it. No headaches, no dizziness, no struggle whatsoever. Your body actually APPRECIATES the break and allows it to use all that energy once dedicated to digestion, to take care of other tasks within the body.
I started with 48 hour fasts years ago. There was definitely some hunger pangs that first night I skipped dinner. The second day was easier but knowing I was going to have dinner later that day seemed to ease the psychological suffering.
I did three of those and then tried my first 72-hour fast. It was surprisingly much easier than I imagined. By day three, I really wasn't hungry at all and only ate dinner that night because I had planned on it. After three of these, I realized I could easily do 96 hours. My next fast I planned to do 96 hours, however on day four I was soooo NOT hungry, I just extended it to five days.
I then did another two five-day (120 hours) fasts. After this, I then did three 7 day fasts. Most recently a few months ago, I did a ten day fast.
The longer the fast, the easier it was in all cases. I really don't feel the need to go beyond ten days. I'm sure I could, I just don't want to go beyond. Feels unnecessary to me so I won't.
Moral of the story. When your body/brain is accustomed to food/calories every 4-6 hours, a fast is far more challenging and many people I've spoken with get these "glucose lows" you speak of, causing headaches, dizziness, sometimes nausea when they're accustomed to three meals a day, and even snacking in between.
By training your body into one meal a day, and even a meal every other day, which I often do, the glucose lows never arise. I've spoken to a few people who also eat only one meal per day and they agree when fasting, they never have any of the "glucose low" symptoms you faced.
I could go on and on for hours about the benefits of only eating one meal a day. You can sniff around on the internet for information about this. All I can say is, I've felt great eating only once a day for nearly ten years now. Never skipped a beat. My shift was artificial as I had to deal with an angry client 12 hours per day for 5 days and was unable to get away for lunch that week, fhus forcing me into only eating once a day. I was "hangry" those first couple of days, but quickly adjusted to it. By day four however, my body/brain had adjusted and I soon realized I really only needed to eat once a day.
That was early in 2016 and I've never looked back. Now I pretty much just eat when I want to. No planning, no strategizing, no worrying, etc. My body signals me when it's hungry, for whatever and whenever it wants. I'm fully convinced my body is a kajillion times more brilliant than all the accumulated human knowledge (really nonsense) ever compiled.
There's no such thing as "experts" on the topic of food and diet. You are the one and only "expert" for you. Your body always knows best. Because you've gotten yourself accustomed to 3 or more meals a day, it takes some time for your body to readjust to fewer meals. It's a lot like "coming down" from an addiction. Cold turkey is brutal and results in all sorts of unpleasant bodily reactions.
So easing your way back to eating once a day is the best prescription in my estimation. Basically you're going from 4-6 hour fasts (3 meals a day) to 8-12 hour fasts (2 meals a day), to 24 hours fasts (1 meal a day). Once your body has adapted and adjusted to this, I've found any length of fasting to be simple and effortless. I don't even give it a second thought.
And full disclosure, I drink coffee during all my fasts. It's what I enjoy and I frankly could give a rip whether some "fasting expert" says that's breaking the rules or not doing it right or whatever. I enjoy my Kona coffee and that's that. If it "counts as calories" according to the "experts", c'est la vie. I'm quite convinced I could fast just as easily without the coffee but I don't see any point whether I'm somehow getting 5-10 calories a day from three cups of coffee....pffffttttt!!!!
Add to all the above, what and how you BELIEVE you will react and be affected by fasting also plays a massive role in your experience. The great news is, you get to CHOOSE how you BELIEVE fasting will go for you.
I did my first fast not worrying about the glucose lows. And so it was for me. Take it for what it's worth. You're the boss. You're the only expert. What you say goes!!
wow, that’s amazing. I can’t even imagine doing a 10 day fast.. but I believe you when you say you didn’t get hungry because I really didn’t have much of an issue with hunger pains after the first day. And honestly, it was a little hard to eat that fourth day. Your body must’ve felt amazing after 10 days because you really gave time for your body to rest and recycle and get all the bad stuff out.
I do like your idea of the one meal a day. I think that is closer to what our ancestors did.
Thanks for your inspiration post friend.
If you think about it, you're doing a 23-ish hour fast every day of your life. Really gives your body a chance to manage other tasks. Digestion is the hardest job our bodies are required to do every day...
My late husband and I often found ourselves doing unplanned 72 hour fasts when we followed a ketogenic diet. I think that a lot of eating was just habit. When we broke the habit we simply forgot to eat.
Sit on the ground in th sun with at least 60% of your body exposed, Cold shower or cold bath, exercise or do some type of manual labor, or read bible. The sun is rejuvenating and calming. The cold shower or baths, along with exercise will force your body to start eating itself and balance out its glucose levels, it will get you over the hump and the last day should be downhill
Chicken or beef broth to start back and maybe a couple of poached eggs.
Eggs is an excellent idea. I’m gonna put some in the sous vide right now.
When you say "I took Celtic sea salt," how much did you take?
When I fast, and I've gone longer than 72 hours, I only drink water with sea salt, roughly 9-10 grams/liter. It ends up being a lot of salt and a lot of water, because I drink plenty and don't measure it. I never got a headache or felt dizzy.
Sea salt has all the electrolytes you need. Electrolytes are just a fancy word for minerals in water, and sea salt has the full selection of every mineral that the body uses.
Don't know about the bicarbonate, though. I suspect that's causing the headaches, so I'd remove that. But it could be lack of (sea) salt, if you're not getting enough. That can leave you faint, especially if you're drinking a lot of (unsalted, or very low salt) water or other beverages.
Another potential issue is if, before fasting, you were on a carb-heavy diet. That will definitely leave you with low energy, including faintness and potential dizzy spells, regardless of what else you do during the fast. To solve that, you'll have to retrain your body to be less carb-dependent, and to burn more fat instead. That will take time, but is worth doing as it will increase your vitality immensely.
I did a third of a teaspoon of bicarb and the third of a teaspoon of Celtic sea salt, three times a day.
The dose of sodium bar carb is .1 -.2 g/kg.
So my dose was 5 to 10 g so I asked AI how many teaspoons that was. My dose ended up being 1/3 of a teaspoon three times a day. I might’ve done a little less because I did a heaping fourth of a teaspoon.
If you look at that sodium bicarb video above, it tells you what the dosing is in there.
I'd say it's the lack of salt that gave you headaches and dizziness.
Definitely going to do more research before I attempt this again and find an electrolyte made for a fasting.
IMO, you might work yourself up to a very low carb routine before starting another fast. I've been no carb / carnivore for over a year now, and never felt better since being a teenager. I'm now in my 50's.
This is the guy I follow. https://darkovelcek.wordpress.com/introduction/ He'll tell you throughout many of his posts, that sea salt is the only collection of electrolytes you need. I only drink salted water now, and I go through at least 6 heaping teaspoons daily, dissolved in water.
Read his intro, and if it makes sense to you, then read more of the posts that interest you. He gets into some very eclectic stuff about quantum healing and energy fields that doesn't speak to me or have a practical application (and he's totally awake to, and on board, with Q), but everything he's said about diet has been proven true in my experience.
We've done weekend fasts with just clear soup twice a day, and we are intermittent fasting daily - just two meals per day with no snacks.
I'd like to do a five day total fast. We tried last weekend and couldn't do it. Props for completing one.
You probably drank too much water and you need to take potassium. Also why the baking soda? You probably too alkaline now. Don't take any more. Finally, the fast is done so start eating protein and fat. Beef and eggs and sardines are all important. BUTTER is important. you can eat other meats sometimes too . Eat some organ meat like liver sometimes. You will only poop once maybe twice a week because your body uses all the nutrients so less waste to be eliminated. Get out in the sun and go for a walk (not run) each day . I did the fast and the other things here and went from a size extra large to small in about 5 months. Stay away from seed oils and sugar, both poisons!! Also was in pain constantly. I have zero pain now. I look and feel 20 years younger! Oh yeah, eat fermented stuff too like sauerkraut good for digestion.
Thanks friend, good advice. Look at the bicarb video above and tell me what you think after you watch it.
Try dry fasting. Treat it safely, have water near by. You should edge into it like someone starting intermittent fasting.
Start with 12 hour sessions and build up slowly until you can do a 24 hour one. Dry fasting is basically 3x water fasting. A 24 hour dry fast is equal to 72 hour water fasting. It hits the fat stores harder. You should taste water at some point of time during the dry fast.
Don't do this and run a marathon. A recovery day would be a great day for testing dry fasting. Your body will adapt as you try this out.
Interesting. I’ve never heard of a dry fast before.
It is done for Ramadan over 30 days. A lot of research studies on it because a billion people are doing it.
I usually doing once or twice a month for 16 to 20 hours. The rest of the time I try to water fast for 16 hours or so.
Ramadan is I think 20 hours of dry fasting for 30 days in a row.
I know a few at my work, strangely they're no thinner than I am so they must really pig out when they do eat.
Next time you fast make this. I call it Greaterade powder.
1/2 C Celtic Salt
1 3/4 tsp Potassium Chloride (Nu Salt)
1/2 tsp Magnesium Glycinate
Combine all of it an put it into a grinder until it's dust. 1/2 tsp per quart of liquid is all you need. I think you are dehydrated and that's why the headaches. Just water ain't gonna cut it. You NEED the salt on a cellular level to let the water into your cells.
Now, the reason I call it Greaterade is because it makes a great sports drink.
Recipe for 1/2 gallon
1 Cup of fruit juice of your choice. The OG Gatorade was OJ.
1/2 C sugar or honey
1/4 C lemon or lime juice (2-4 lemons or 3-5 limes juiced)
1 tsp Greaterade powder
Remainder of the 1/2 gallon water
Dissolve the powder and the sugar in some of the water over a low heat. Once dissolved add a few ice cubes. You do not want to pour it hot over the lemon/lime juice as it will destroy the enzymes you need for rehydration. If you use honey make sure the water is not hot to dissolve it for the very same reason.
Mix everything together in a pitcher and add water to round out your half gallon.
This recipe is for heavy duty sweating, like at the gym or in the garden. You can cut the sugar and powder in half for every day hydration.
That is great thanks, saved!
Do you know how many mg you used? And which form of magnesium and potassium? I definitely needed more potassium. I didn’t take any. I did take magnesium but I think not enough.
Says it in the recipe:
1 3/4 tsp Potassium Chloride (Nu Salt)
1/2 tsp Magnesium Glycinate
And no I don't know how many mg. Volume measurements are fine for this small batch. If you want to scale it, I'd weigh out the ingredients thrice individually and take an average and round that to the nearest number divisible by 3.
Thanks, I also realized the links to the products she used are in the video. Looks delicious with pineapple juice for times when you are not fasting.
I'd like to do that on Friday and through the weekend. Perhaps Lemon water with electrolytes like LMNT would help.
You need a lot more electrolytes than what mere sea salt will provide, especially if you're sweating and peeing a lot.
I did have black tea so I don’t think it was the caffeine; but I think you’re right, it was definitely the sugar withdrawal. I didn’t even think of that.
Black tea contains a lot of caffeine. Nobody should eat sugar unless they want diabetes.
It was just plain black tea, no sugar and actually I do tea with milk and no sugar every day.