Food is as we all know keeps us alive and is the backbone of our existence.
It provides nutrients and substances that provide energy for activity. It gives us materials for
growth and repair. So why is it then that so many people report health improvements
when they don’t eat for a short period of time? Well in today's video I will take you through
the journey to help you understand exactly what is happening in the body and also what
you can expect when you don’t eat for 5 days. And very quickly before we jump into the 5
day journey just a quick reminder that I am now offering the SIBO, organic acids,
stool test and consults via my site, So if you have any health or digestive problems
then consider taking these tests as they will provide a lot of very useful information upon
which you can star making informed decisions……… So during the first day unless you have already
been following a ketogenic type diet your body will be using sugar stores
known as glycogen. This is quite a tightly controlled process and at any one time you
will have approximately 400 grams of glycogen in your muscles and 100 grams in your liver.
If you are very active or you are an athlete then your body may be adapted to store more glycogen
than someone who may be sedentary, but just to give you some idea,
the 500 grams of glycogen stored in a normal person will equate to approximately 2000 calories.
Now during the first day of not eating and fasting your body will not burn
through these 2000 calories. Depending on your metabolism it will use around 70% of
these 2000 calories or roughly 1400 calories and it will keep the remaining 30% for emergencies.
But generally speaking 70% of your stored glycogen will be used up in the first 24 hours or so.
During this initial 24 hour period your body is also likely to begin burning your body fat.
Now if you are fat adapted because you have been following a ketogenic diet then you will
likely see a marked rise in your ketone levels by the end of your first but if you are not fat
adapted then you are very unlikely to see rises in your keto levels because your body will have
begun urinating out these ketones from your body. Also if you are someone who has been following
a ketogenic diet or you are someone who practises intermittent fasting regularly
then your body may start to increase its levels of autophagy or cellular cleansing after 8-16 hours
but for the average person it will be 24-48 hours before autophagy starts to increase.
During the first 24 hours you are also likely to experience some common symptoms associated
with fasting. These include: fatigue, mental lethargy, hunger, cravings, mood changes and
increased urination. These symptoms occur as your body begins transitioning from glucose to burning
fat and ketones for fuel. Some people may also experience sleep disturbances during this period.
As you progress into day 2 you will likely to experience the symptoms from day 1
although by halfway through day 2 many people will experience that their hunger levels start to drop.
Now if you are someone who is fat adapted and usually practices intermittent fasting
then it is usually around day 2 where you will hit a brick wall and find that you feel very
fatigued. If your body is used to running on carbohydrates then it will likely be day
3 before you hit the wall so to speak. During day 2 regarding if your body is
used to burning carbohydrates or fats then you are also likely to
develop some further symptoms ranging from changes in your tongue colour,
rashes across the body because of communication between the gut and skin microbiome and also many
people will start to feel colder as not eating for 48 hours will start to downregulate your
active thyroid hormones. So here many people are likely to experience cold hands and feet.
This is a normal process during fasting and it will not only apply to your thyroid hormones.
During fasting your body will also reduce its hormone sensitivity
to many important hormones from insulin, cortisol and many other hormones. Here your body is
slowing everything down in the absence of food. Now by the end of day 2 if you were measuring the
effects in the body then you would notice some very cool changes occurring. So you would start
to experience some resets in your microbiome as some of the bad flora begin to be removed.
You will also notice that cellular autophagy starts to kick in quite sharply and your body
begins to break down older and weaker cells and it starts to rebuild new ones.
Many people by the end of day 2 will also see a rise in the production of growth hormone
in order to preserve muscle mass and your growth hormone will also help with
improving your immune function as well as boosting your efficiency with fat burning.
By the end of day 2 many people also start to see a rise in stem cell production where your body
will start to produce new white blood cells and these increases in stem cells can also help repair
your intestinal membranes, joints and muscles. Around the same time your stem cell production
increases you will likely see repair and reset processes within your DNA.
So the genes that are turned on promoting inflammation can essentially be turned off
for some people as you hit the end of day 2. For many people they are also likely to see
improvements and downregulations of their hormones by the end of day 2. Depending on the person and
the health of their endocrine system, fasting can help remove defective hormone receptors
and replace these with healthier hormone receptors. What will happen after this
is that the communication between your endocrine system and cells of your body is improved.
Moving into day 3 there is usually a sharp rise in ketones as your body is now utilising fat for
its energy and as I said before if you are someone whose body has been largely carbohydrate adapted
and not fat adapted before you went into the fast, then it is during day 3 you are likely
to hit the wall and not feel particularly great. So all of the symptoms we discussed during day 1-2
are likely to get worse for some in day 3. During day 3 your body will likely see
a continued rise in autophagy, stem cells and also growth hormone production. Towards the end of
day 3 into 4 a lot of the unwanted symptoms will start to dissipate and as the stem cell, autophagy
and growth hormones increase you can expect prolonged periods of energy and mental clarity.
For many who are carbohydrate adapted, like most sensible people should be, they will noticed that
the high urine ketone levels during day 1 and 2 will usually drop on day 3 as your body starts
to become more efficient in burning fat. As you move into day 4 you will undergo
and experience the most of your autophagy and cell cleaning benefits which you will
have seen between 48-72 hours and you will now have forced the body and brain into
being efficient and fuelled by ketones and fat. It is between day 3 and day 4 that many people
experience that euphoria when they feel their energy levels increase
and their mental clarity is often tack sharp. Hunger and cravings should also be minimal.
Now it is at this point I would suggest that most people should break the fast. They will
have undergone the vast majority of the autophagy benefits, they will have seen cell cleaning,
hormone improvements, insulin improvements and also positive microbiome impacts.
But the problem with some humans is that they always have to push things to extremes….and
these people generally believe a little of this is good therefore a lot must be incredible.
Continuing the fasting for many beyond the 72-96 hour point they may start to
experience negative effects such as constipation and gut issues. As they
continue to abstain from foods containing fibres their microbiomes may take a significant hit.
As you will have heard me say many times your colon will generally have 600-1000 different
species. And these help with everything from fermentation of fibre and breakdown of your
food. So if you continually starve these bacteria above and beyond days 3-4 then the numbers of
these bacteria will start to reduce quite quickly and when you eventually reintroduce food you may
experience many unwanted digestive issues. It is why so many people who carry out extended fasts
really struggle with digestion. So quite simply if you are embarking on
extended fasts beyond 72-96 hours then don’t. Your body will already have received a lot of
the benefits you were striving for and you should absolutely stop the fast if
you are starting to experience heart palpitations, increased hair loss, passing out or dizziness,
extreme pain in the body, high levels of vomiting or Diarrhea or if you are losing too much weight.
People for some strange reason use fasting days as a badge of honour. You are not a big man or woman
by doing a 10 or 30 day fast over someone who has seen the same benefits in 72-96 hours. It is far
more beneficial as demonstrated in the literature for you to do short sharp fast intervals then
pushing your body to ridiculous extremes in the search for some unrealistic optimal health.
So let's say you are going for the full 5 days. That is a popular number when people are fasting
by day 5 as I said before you would have already seen the big
improvements in terms of autophagy and stem cells. On day 5 if you have got to this point you will
have seen your blood ketones drop as the body is continuing to transition and become more and more
efficient with fat burning and ketones. If you are someone who is lean then day 5 and beyond is
when you will begin to lose your lean body mass. Now if you have carried out a 72-96 hour fast
correctly then the main benefits your body will have undergone are increased levels of autophagy,
increases in growth hormone which will help boost your immune system and help the body undergo
repair and you will also have seen a boost in your stem cell production.
Do not believe the madness that stem cells, autophagy and hormone changes have a linear
effect…..i.e. the more you do the more these processes increase and the more benefit you will
experience. For many the risks of prolonged fasting will outweigh any benefits. It is
why you see so many people and ex vegans backed into corners where they will no longer be able
to tolerate fruits and vegetables because they have just destroyed their digestion and health.
There are 2 other things that I want to mention at this point.
If you have done a 3 or 5 day fast then you want to allow yourself 1-2 days of reintroducing
foods. If you jump back into foods right of the bat it will cause a lot of problems for some.
So my advice would be to start with liquified meals such as smoothies and soups
and then just start increasing solids from there. Also a strong word of warning for those
considering extended fasts beyond 48 hours. You should be doing this under the guidance
of a suitable qualified professional and also the following people should not go
near fasting because of the known risks: So pregnant women, nursing mums, children,
type one diabetics, those with a history of eating disorders, high performance athletes
and also those with a low body weight. You should also reconsider fasting if you are on medications
before consulting with your Dr. Anyhow, if you enjoyed this video then
be sure to check out this one up here because I'm sure you will find it equally interesting
and the only other thing that is left for me to say is remember to look after
your body because it’s the only place you have to live. And i'll see you next time.