Fasting

Dr. Caroline Leaf says Fasting is great for brain health. It causes your brain to release something called BDNF which stimulates brain growth. This helps you to build better and stronger memories. It improves sharpness, clarity and memory. It also causes the release of SIRT1 which improves your ability to focus, pay attention and remember.

Should you jump right into a prolonged fast? I personally recommend you start slow. Start with daily intermittent fasting. Try going to TMAD or two meals a day. This is where you eat 2 meals within a 6 hour window which gives you a daily 18 hour, intermittent fast. Once you’ve done this for a few weeks and kind of trained your body to switch from glucose energy to fat energy, a longer fast won’t cause you to feel weak, have a headache or brain fog. There are 6 critical things to know about fasting. Here's a link to Dr. Bergs video on prolonged fasting.

https://youtu.be/06KgXfwu99c?si=920QBABY5giAnoXp

Note: You should not do fasting if your pregnant, best feeding or have anorexia.

1. Only drink water, although Dr. Berg says tea and coffee is allowed but no sugar or creamer. You may also want to add electrolytes and possibly some supplements if your deficient. When we fast, our bodies become very efficient in hanging on to nutrients, minerals, vitamins, etc but if we are terribly deficient we may need supplements during the fast. Another important thing we need while water fasting is electrolytes. Do not supplement with amino acids. Fasting will jump start autophagy and stimulate healing of your mitochondria. It’s recommended you drink about 2.5 Litres of water per day while fasting. You are releasing tons of poisons, glycogen and other fluids which need to be flushed.

2. Because your body is dumping so much water and fluids you NEED to add lots of electrolytes to your water. If you don’t add electrolytes you can damage your heart, cause muscle weakness, you could faint or even trigger a heart attack. Your muscles need salt and other electrolytes to function properly. You could use a commercial electrolyte solution like Keto Chow, but you can make your own as well. I have a couple of recipes on my website to make your own, which is far cheaper than buying a commercial product.

3. When you break your fast, have a small meal and do not eat sugar, carbs or other processed food as they can cause a dangerous shift of potassium out of your cells and cause a severe imbalance. This can be dangerous. After a couple of hours you can eat a small amount again. Doing it wrong can cause severe digestive issues and cause tiredness. Keto or carnivore is recommended for breaking your fast.

4. Prolonged fasting will increase acidity levels so do not consume Apple Cider Vinegar while fasting or when breaking your fast as this could throw off your PH. Issues with your PH level can cause your heart to pound and cause breathing issues. If your doing a 72 hour or longer fast you might want to take a small amount of baking soda in water, especially if you notice those issues with pounding pulse or breathing difficulties.

5. Dr. Berg recommends sticking with clean keto, I personally think Keto or Carnivore are both great options. If you’re doing this as a carnivore, then of course you would go back to being a carnivore. If you’re not carnivore or keto I recommend starting keto at this point, otherwise you will reverse many of the benefits of the fast you just completed.

6. Be aware of the possibility of “The Dawn Phenomenon”. This is when your insulin levels go up between 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM due to your liver producing sugar. This is a sign you have insulin resistance. Even with a carnivore or Keto diet, insulin resistance can take up to 18 months to resolve, sometimes longer. It’s likely not an issue while fasting, but if it’s something you want to address, some light exercise will help you burn off that sugar. According to Dr. Berg, Berberine or cinnamon can help break insulin resistance as well.