today's video is all about extended fasting I'm going to be sharing with you
my experience completing a 72 hour or three day fast in this video I'm going
to be taking you through the three days and sharing with you the highs and the
lows I'm also going to talk about the benefits of prolonged fasting if it is
safe for women and things you need to know before you get started hey guys
welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name's Kait I'm a health coach
and I post videos on a high fat nutrient-dense way of eating if you like
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coach Kate to start your free trial today alright so I started this 72 hour
fast probably three or four times over the last month and honestly the mental
component to fasting is the hardest part and I'm definitely going to talk about
my experience with that more throughout this video the longest fast I had
completed before this one was 48 hours and honestly you can get a lot of
benefits from a 48 hour fast 48 to 72 hours is actually when you get the most
benefits from fasting any longer than that and you start to get diminishing
returns good morning guys today is the first morning of my 72-hour
fast I started last night just before 6 o'clock and right now it is just past 9
so I'm about 15 hours in just getting started I'm expecting today to be a
little bit difficult just because this weekend
I didn't eat what I usually eat I had a couple of cheat days I hate that word
but basically I just did not stick to my regular diet and if you're new around
here I usually eat an animal-based diet so it's mainly carnivore about 90 to 95
percent animal products meat fish eggs other animal products and then a few
keto friendly plants here and there so I Vacarro olives sometimes some other
vegetables things like that but yeah this weekend that's not how I I had some
more carbs some other foods that I normally wouldn't eat a lot more sugar
than normal and I just know that after days eating like that I don't feel my
best I'm sometimes a bit more hungry so especially today it when I'm fasting but
I'm going to push through I know that once I get past that point where I'm
really struggling it gets a lot easier but my plan for this fast is to only
have water and electrolytes I'm really gonna try to not have any coffee I
always say that I'm not addicted to coffee but that's what coffee addicts
say really though I only have one cup a day some days I don't have any but I
might need it as more of a mental thing than anything else we'll see I'll try to
get through today definitely without having a coffee
what is fasting our bodies are always in one of two states we can be in a fed
state or a fasted state when we are in a fed state this means our body is
digesting and absorbing the food from our last meal and either using it
immediately for energy or storing it for later when we are in a fasted state we
have finished digesting and absorbing our food and now our bodies start using
our stored energy first from our glycogen stores and then our body fat
when you are fasting you are not eating anything and usually you're only
drinking water I'm really hoping that recording this is going to hold me more
accountable because I have tried to start this 72-hour fast three times this
past month and given up ah it's such a mental battle and I'll talk about that a
bit more later on today or tomorrow when I really start to struggle but hold me
accountable hold me accountable okay so electrolytes the main - you need
to worry about when you're fasting are sodium and potassium the amount you need
will vary depending on how active you are where you live what the climates
like this and that for sodium I have sea salts from SEL squared this is a really
high-quality salt and then I have light salt this is a salt alternative that
uses potassium instead some other brands out there are entirely potassium with
very little or no sodium I was not able to find a brand that was all potassium
and no sodium so this one has sodium still in it so I had to do a little bit
of math to figure out how much sodium I was getting with the potassium and then
how additional sodium to add as well I also
have these electrolytes from element E so these have I think 1000 milligrams of
sodium 200 milligrams of potassium and then 60 milligrams of magnesium
significantly less potassium Indy's and sodium so I can't just take these I
either need to take this and add some of this as well or yeah that's what I need
to do if I'm taking these I need to add some more potassium I also have a
magnesium powder and just the magnesium capsules the main two are sodium and
potassium though I have a liter of water in here I put some of this in I put two
packets of this and in this bottle there's two thousand milligrams sodium
two thousand potassium so I'll drink this this morning and then I'll fill it
up again later this afternoon and that will get me to my goal for the day
what's the difference between extended fasting and intermittent fasting
intermittent fasting is really popular right now especially in the low carb
community and intermittent fasting basically just means you have a fasting
schedule you cycle in between periods of fasting and eating between the fasted
and fed state the most popular variation is sixteen eight and this is when you
fast so you don't eat anything for sixteen hours every day and then you eat
all of your food for the day within an eight-hour window intermittent fasting
is practiced daily if you want to know more about intermittent fasting
specifically I do have a whole other video on that topic and extended fasting
is generally fasts that are longer than 24 hours going without food for these
longer periods of time result in additional benefits that go
beyond what you can get from shorter fasting windows and because these fasts
go for longer periods of time you don't need to do them as regularly you can do
an extended fast every month every six months even once a year and still
reap maximal benefits now let's talk about why you might want
to do an extended fast I have an article that I'm going to cite titled the five
stages of intermittent fasting and prolonged fasting that comes from the
life apps website which is a fasting app by twelve hours you've entered the
metabolic state called ketosis in this state your body starts to break down and
burn fat by 18 hours you've switched to fat-burning mode and are generating
significant ketones within 24 hours your cells are increasingly recycling old
components and breaking down miss folded proteins linked to Alzheimer's and other
diseases this is a process called Auto Fujii by 48 hours without calories or
even with very few calories carbs or protein your growth hormone level is up
to five times as high as when you start at your fast by 54 hours your insulin
has dropped to its lowest level point since you started fasting and your body
is becoming increasingly insulin sensitive by 72 hours your body is
breaking down old immune cells and generating new ones to summarize the
benefits number one is ketosis extended fasting
will allow you to get into a deeper state of ketosis when you are fasting
ketone bodies generated by your liver partly replace glucose as fuel for your
brain as well as your other organs and this is the main reason why people
experience mental clarity when they're in ketosis ketones are a cleaner burning
energy source number two is a Tov G at offer G is when your body cleans up and
recycles damaged cells this can reduce your disease risk strengthen your immune
system and increase longevity at Offutt e has also been known to help prevent
loose skin which is beneficial for people who are in the process of losing
a lot of weight at offer G usually starts between the 18 to 20 our fasting
mark and maximum benefits are usually experienced
between 48 to 72 hours number three is blood sugar regulation
if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic extended fasting can be extremely
beneficial studies have shown that occasional fasting can help reverse type
2 diabetes with participants getting off their insulin entirely but please know
that if you are currently on any medication for your blood sugar or
insulin before you start any fasting routine make sure to talk to your doctor
your need for these medications can reduce so quickly when you're fasting
and it can be dangerous if you are still taking the same amounts of these
medications when you don't need them number 4 insulin sensitivity fasting
allows you to become more insulin sensitive which is the opposite of
insulin resistant if you are insulin resistant your body is not responding to
insulin the way it should basically your cells are rejecting
insulin so you will always have high levels of insulin circulating this can
make it hard to lose weight this can cause fatigue and this can also increase
your disease risk insulin levels raised when we eat so if you're not eating if
you're fasting they start to lower and you begin to reverse insulin resistance
number 5 hunger hormones reset ghrelin the hormone responsible for signaling
hunger becomes entrained to normal eating times and once you start fasting
it's levels and secretion change you might expect that the longer you go
without eating the more and more this hormone would increase but that's not
the case one small study from the European Journal of endocrinology
concluded in a fasting condition growth hormone insulin and glucose do not
appear to be involved in ghrelin regulation in addition we found the
ghrelin is secreted in a pulsatile pattern the variation of ghrelin
independent of meals in fasting subjects supports
previous observations that it is the brain that is primarily involved in the
regulation of meal initiation our hunger cues are more based on routine than
actual hunger and they can actually be significantly impacted by a lack of
sleep which is something I talked about in a previous video so once you break
and extend it fast a lot of people find they are really in tune with their true
hunger and of course fat loss is the benefit of extended fasting and yes this
is partly because you're not eating so all of your energy is coming from your
fat stores and yes part of the water you lose during this extended fast is going
to be water weight which you will gain back when you start eating again but as
I just mentioned if you are insulin resistant it can be hard to lose weight
and fasting reduces insulin resistance so the benefits of fasting as it
pertains to fat loss are not only short-term but long-term as well alright
we are almost 48 hours in 48 hours is my fasting record so almost half a beat not
that it should be a competition but it's a competition with myself also yes I am
wearing the same hoodie I was wearing yesterday this is one of my at home
comfy lounging around hoodies that I wear for several days when I'm at home
and then I switch to another one anyway his point is don't judge me update on
the fast earlier today I was struggling a little bit I was just feeling really
tired and sluggish I didn't do a workout or anything this morning I did go on a
pretty long walk for about an hour and then I've just been filming videos and
editing videos a lot of sitting around which is
good and bad I'm probably gonna go for another walk now because it's almost
getting to the time when I would be eating dinner so I want to distract
myself during that time as I said at the start of this video
fasting is so mental within the first day my brain was just coming up with all
the excuses in the book what was the point of even fasting why was I doing
this why wouldn't I just eat this is silly if I do eat no one would even know
literally I had that thought but I can't lie to you guys I can't lie to you this
is holding me accountable I just finished editing a video I'm just
waiting for it to export I'm going to go for a decent walk well this happens and
then I think I'm just gonna come back home take my laptop into bed do the
thumbnail upload the video and do the description all that jazz and then watch
some TV and go to bed tips for starting and extended fast before we get into the
tips I'm going to take a quick moment to tell you about today's sponsor
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electrolytes these are so important some people don't take them when they're
fasting but I find that it makes it a million times easier this is also the
reason why some people include bone broth during their fast even though it
does contain some calories it is very rich in
electrolytes make sure to salt your water and you can also add potassium as
well but make sure to not overdo it with the potassium the upper recommended
amount per day is 4700 milligrams do not go over that salt you don't have
to worry about because any excess salt can just be excreted by the body but too
much potassium can actually be dangerous stay busy this is the hard one because I
know for myself personally I use food as a form of procrastination so when I
don't want to do something I go and I open the fridge taking that option away
I no longer have that excuse and that form of procrastination write a long
list of everything that you could complete during the day and take this
off as you go along if you are at work or you're out of the house this might
even make the fast easier just really try to always be doing something keep
your mind off food set a goal set a timeframe and do everything in your
power to stick to it now of course life happens sometimes something will come up
so use your discretion if it's worth it to continue the fast in these situations
or if you're better off postponing it for now and as I said before our hunger
is more based on routine than actual hunger so keep that in mind when your
meal time comes your stomach grumbles is it actual hunger or is it just your
routine take it easy now I say to keep busy and that is really important but
you don't want to push it when it comes to exercise yes you can still exercise
and do stuff during your fast especially day one you're probably gonna feel
pretty great still going off your energy from the previous day but don't push
yourself too much walking is a great form of exercise that's low intensity
that you can still incorporate if you want to get out if you want to keep
moving have an accountability buddy drink is fast I messaged my friend Jason
on Instagram and that did wonders for holding myself accountable having
someone knowing your fasting someone who is supportive can help to keep you on
track alright we are four hours out from that end of the fast hole this has been
very hard mentally I have felt very unproductive the last few days I've been
trying to keep busy but yeah it has been really really hard I found a lot of
times I couldn't focus on what I was doing so I ended up doing a lot more
walking and just sort of procrastinating walking around the house taking a shower
just doing random things but we are almost there I'm thinking within the
next two hours I'm probably going to make a bone broth it's always important
when you break a longer fast to not go straight into a big meal otherwise your
digestion is it won't be fun let's put it that way so I'm going to have
probably a cup of bone broth I might crack an egg in there and yeah have that
and then a couple hours later I will officially break and end my fast one
question I am often asked when it comes to fasting is if it is safe for women a
lot of the studies done on fasting are done entirely on men which raises a fair
question especially when it comes to women's hormones my friend Christie who
is a science writer shared a post on Instagram addressing this topic she
referenced three studies where women completed a three day fast who are of
normal body weight and they found that it was
unlikely to disturb a woman's menstrual cycle
however in women who are lean so less than 20% body fat one study found these
women did experience a disturbed menstrual cycle if you are a woman who
is abnormal or excess body fat a 48 or 72 hour fast here and there is probably
not going to negatively impact you but if you are someone who is of a low body
weight then an extended fast might do more harm than good if you enjoyed this
video you can check out my video on intermittent fasting which I will link
here you can also catch up on my most recent upload which is here and if you
want to get started on a keto or part of our diet you can check out my coaching
programs here thanks again guys I'll see you next time bye