My fast to completion officially came to an end. I wasn’t
expecting for it to be so short. But it is not surprising either. I started out
with a low body fat percentage (visible abs) and overall with a BMI that
classified me as underweight. Additionally I proceeded the fast with an active
lifestyle: Working, walking, ice skating and body-weight exercises.
Why did I end the fast?
Given the cold weather I was doing the fast in, it was no
surprise that I quickly used up my reserves. But I trusted my body to tell me
when to stop the fast. First indicator was that my tongue cleared up. It was no
longer coated in white and my breath became much less offensive.
Additionally I noticed a feeling in my throat. I was first
thinking it is increased thirst. But it was not relieved by drinking more. So
from what I have read, this is the beginning of real hunger. I also had the
desire to eat, even though I was confused at first. Because this came so early
in the fast and I had expected to go for a couple of more days. But I guess my
body went through the issues he had to heal and decided that I should better
start eating again. I guess that is a good sign with me weighing 51kg at 173cm
after the fast. With a considerable amount of muscle left, it indicates my fat
reserves are low.
How did I break the fast low carb?
So I broke the fast, but not in a hurry. I purchased celery
and white cabbage to make a juice out of it first. Over the course of 5 hours I
drank about 500ml of this fresh juice. Approximately half celery juice, half
cabbage juice. It is incredible how good and how sweet even this combination
tasted. So the end of a fast is a good point to start on a low sugar diet. Your
taste-buds are so sensitive you will get a lot of satisfaction from much lower
amount of sugar.
Next morning I continued with a green smoothie with spinach,
coconut, flaxseeds and avocado and one date. I made a big shake and took it
with me to work. I drank about 100ml each hour. It was a whole avocado in total
and about 300gr of spinach.
On the side I drank some diluted sauerkraut juice to
repopulate my colon with good bacteria.
I think the most important point of breaking the fast, is to
keep the amount of food low. And then it might work with almost any food.
The great advantage of breaking the fast low carb
Many people experience uncontrollable hunger after the fast,
when they start drinking fruit juices and eating fruit. This is to be expected,
because of the huge insulin spike and blood sugar fluctuations. I experienced
the same thing after my first two prolonged fasts. It can be a torture to stop
yourself from eating when you mind screams at you to dig in. You have basically
cut yourself off from the fuel supply you were using during the fast. Insulin
inhibits the use of fats and ketones. Therefore your body is immediately thrown
into other metabolic pathways. And those need time to properly restart and
build all the necessary enzymes.
Breaking the fast low carb is very different. I experienced
no such thing as cravings or hunger. I felt very content with the first sips of
the juices. The celery and cabbage juice has probably 5-8 times less sugar than
any fruit juice. And given I drank it so slowly, it probably did not cause a
considerable rise in blood sugar.
Also the smoothie on the next day was very satisfying. I was
not craving more. Instead I was happy that it kept my stomach engaged and
working on digesting it. I did not even finish all that I prepared, even though
it was only about 800kcal for the day. Would it have been a smoothie of 800kcal
of bananas you could be certain, to find me drinking it within one hour and
ravenous immediately afterwards.
If you consider the metabolic side, I am actually not
changing much from the fasted state. I am utilizing the same metabolic pathways,
just that the digestion has to be restarted and the energy is coming from fats
that originate from outside the body. From there it is the same thing. And body
tissue and proteins that were formerly broken down are now coming partially
from glucose and partially from ingested protein.
I am glad, I discovered this way of breaking and entering
a fast!
Any issues?
The breaking of the fast this was not without problems.
Immediately after my bowels started to move again, I experienced some pain. But
I would guess this is not so much related to low carb foods as it is to the
hardened feces that formed in my large intestines and that I still did not
pass. The pain might be caused by the contractions of the bowels in combination
with those stones of waste. So nothing really bad happened and I attribute that
to the fact that I was easily able to keep my portion size small. In addition I
spread my portions throughout the day instead of having a few big meals.
In another post I will explain why I am now more fully in
ketosis than ever before and why I will continue to eat a high fat vegan diet
for as long as it is suitable. (Summer with all the fresh fruit available here
in Germany might be an exception) There are different levels of ketone
adaptation.