Ali's fasting progress.....

Ok. Here goes...

Started intermittent fasting on 4th Dec after my evening meal. Didn't have anything to eat for 48 hours. Just had drinks. Didn't eat again until the evening of the 6th.

My starting weight was 15.10, FBS 10.8

After watching Dr. Jason Fung's video, I realised it was going to take something pretty radical to shift the weight and blood sugar. The insulin seemed to hardly touch it. I was often still in double figures 2 hours and more after food.

What Dr. Fung said was a lightbulb moment. When the body is already insulin resistant, taking more is not the solution. This knowledge had been lurking in the dark recesses in my brain but Dr. Fung dragged it into the light. It's why, taking around 40-50 units a day I felt was the limit I wanted to go to, and that taking more wouln't help.

So I decided to try IF and see what would happen.

Between 6th and 22nd Dec I carried on, eating lower calorie in general and just having some days in between with just drinks. FBS would vary, 8.1, 6.4, but on the food days it would go back up. I lost 5lbs but it didn't seem to be addressing the blood sugar issue very well.

Then I came across a little testimonial from the Anti-Aging Clinic in Budapest, of a woman whose Diabetes was reversed by water fasting. That rang a bell. I had already done research on water fasting in the past and felt it to be a good cleansing regime, but had never tried it.

I came to understand that not only did I need to give my body time to clear all the stored sugar out of my body but cleanse it generally.

Our bodies are awesome healing machines when given the chance. The digestive process uses a huge amount of vital energy. The body cannot heal whilst digesting. That is why healing and cleansing takes place during the night when digestion is finished for the day. But fasting allows the body to go into total healing and cleansing mode.

Whilst no one does it here, there are many fasting clinics all over Europe. People have fasted for centuries. I am reading a little free Kindle book written in 1900 by a doctor who practised fasting for the sick. Whilst the common medical thought then was to force feed people who didn't want to eat 'to keep their strength up', he realised that this was the quickest way to kill someone. When sick, the appetite is suppressed because the digestion shuts down so that the body can get on with healing. It's so blatantly obvious, yet is so ignored. What good does a stomach full of rotting food do to anyone?

So, 23rd Dec I bit the bullet and started water fasting.

FBS 10.0, weight 15.5

24th - FBS 7.6, weight 15.4

25th - FBS 7.7, weight 15.2

26th - FBS 4.7, weight 15.0

The blood sugar actually dropped last evening. It went down to 5, then 4.8. I was a little concerned as because I had been running at higher levels I could go into a hypo overnight. I have a pot of honey by the bed in case, but it didn't happen, and I was still in a healthy level this morning. Whether it will continue to drop I will have to wait and see.

I am not sure how long I will keep going with it. I don't want to end it too early and scupper the whole process. It seems that you let your body be the guide. When the appetite returns, the breath and mouth becomes pleasant and the eyes shine, it's a good indication that the Spring Clean is finished. This is obviously not a good time of the year to be doing this, but I couldn't wait any longer.

I hope this will kill three birds with one stone - the diabetes, the weight and the worms.....

Hi Ali

Got your email and agree a "journals section for anyone who wants to log
their progress in whatever regime they are following" good idea ! Will organise ASAP.

Interesting to read about your thoughts and progress here Ali, and as Eddie said whatever regime we each choose to follow it is helpful to keep a log.

Forums should be all about sharing experiences, exchanging ideas ........we can then make informed choices, we learn, we progress.

All the best Jan

During the day today, my BG has gone down to 4.4.  I have had no insulin since 22 Dec.

Feel a bit under the weather but nothing unexpected.  I trust my body.  It knows what it's doing, even if I don't!

My body has a lot of stored sugar, and diabetic damage to clear out.  And probably not a few dead worms into the bargain.

My legs are aching, particularly the back of my thighs.  My upper back is aching between my shoulder blades, but that's nothing unusual.  I feel a little weak today, and slightly spacey.

One thing Bee taught us when I was on her LCHF healing diet was not to panic.  It's easy to jump to assumptions that things are going wrong when you get sometimes quite extreme reactions.  But the body does what it has to to detox and heal, and sometimes it can be quite intense.

What I found with the healing process is that whilst degenerative symptoms always get worse, healing ones always get better.  Not always immediately, but eventually.  Some of us had reactions that lasted for days or weeks, some even for months.  One lass who had Rosacea found her rash got much worse.  It was pretty horrendous for about 6 months, then suddenly, over a few days, the whole rash cleared up and her skin was restored and beautiful.  She stayed true to the diet and the Rosacea never came back.  It did frighten her though at the time.

I had lots of spontaneous 'twanging' and twitching of the muscles in my back which was weird when I was on her diet. That went on for about 6 weeks then stopped.

So I'm not going to panic now.  I just need to relax and let my body do what it has to.  I do wish I didn't feel quite so cold though.  That's down to enzyme and lymph activity.  Good, but just cold.  Although I can feel the enzyme 'fizzing' in different places at different times, it's mainly in my upper back as that is where most of my issues seem to be congregated.  Linked to my Pancreas maybe, although it seems a bit higher than where that should be.

FBS this morning still 4.4, although it went down to 3.8 last night.  Weight 14.13.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma, not sure whether to continue with the water fast or swap to juicing.  It seems that in very overweight individuals and those with degenerative conditions or who have taken prescription (or recreational) drugs over the years, the rapid release of toxins can be overwhelming.  

Whilst water fasting is the fastest way to detox, juicing and smoothies is less intensive, but takes longer.

Part of me wants to keep going to starve the darn worms and really clear the sugar out of my body, but the other inner voice tells me there's a lot of toxic gunk floating about in there and it could do more harm than good.  Perhaps doing a bit of each with a day or two of juicing and a day or two of water might be a better option.

Legs were very uncomfortable all night and middle of upper back between shoulder-blades is quite painful.  The body revisits and retraces past issues as it heals, and I have had problems there for years (haven't a clue why. It's a bit high up for any organ involvement although an acupuncturist once told me that the shoulder-blade area is linked to the small intestine meridian, and I undoubtedly have damage there due to the past gluten issues).

Thanks for this recent update.

I think at times our inner voice is worth listening too.

Does weight loss need to be a race?
Taking things more slowly but gradually may well be worth taking into consideration.

Just my thoughts .............

All the best Jan

Hi Ali, good progress so far but I think it would be wise to introduce some juice or something nutritious as well as your body won't cope for long periods on water alone. I agree that you know your own body though but if you start getting aches and pains, please listen. Good luck & keep posting updates.

Ali, I had a friend who once did a 40 day water fast (for prayer) she sustained herself by drinking the water from the veggies she boiled for the family, the nutrients that would have gone down the drain went to her, she also had the occasional juice, but not often. I don't know if this is any help or not.

Listen to your inner voice, you'll know what to do.

Thanks all for the encouragement.  I had a green juice this morning and some homemade vegetable soup this evening.

I downloaded Dr. Ehret's Mucusless diet book from Amazon.  It's very interesting.  Another one written around 1900.  He 'gets' disease.  He understood what makes us sick.  That we get clogged with mucous and toxins, preventing areas of the body from working properly.  I can see that.  I've felt very clogged for a long time.

He healed his own 'incurable' 'Bright's disease' through a fruit-heavy natural diet.  Fasting with just water or fruit and veg juices helps clean the body out. How long it takes depends on the age and degeneration in any individual.  He set up the Mucusless Diet to help others clean their bodies out.

I'm afraid he wasn't an advocate of lots of meat, starch or fat.  Neither did he believe - when the body is clean - that it needs anything like the amount of food people eat nowadays, simply because their bodies are so clogged the nourishment can't get through.  Clean bodies absorb, and use nourishment far more efficiently.  They also don't get sick....

He set up a sanitorium in Switzerland, but sadly died in 1922 at the age of just 56 when he slipped on wet, oily ground and fell backwards and cracked his head.

One thing he said that really resonates with me is that drugs can never be eliminated from the body until it is put into healing mode.  Paul C. Bragg confirmed that when he said that it wasn't untill he was going through a very long fast after years of shorter ones that he expelled a heap of Mercury from Calomel he'd been given as a child.

Joe Cross of 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' fame is a great advocate of green juicing.  Many seem to have benefitted from it.

Back on juices, soup, had a bowl of broth last night.

Blood sugar went back up, even though I was virtually only drinking veg and a little bit of fruit. Seems only water will lower it to normal. I had to have some insulin yesterday to bring it back down.

Weight loss has stopped or slowed right down. I got down to 14.11, but was 14.12 this morning which was odd considering how little I had yesterday. I'm in a cleft stick. If I eat normally I can't lose weight. Only eating very, very low calorie or drinking water seems to be able to shift the weight.

Water fasting seemed to liberate quite a lot of toxins, hence all the pain in my muscles and back which has thankfully cleared now so I obviously can't do too much of that for too long. My poor body is so clogged, it has trouble getting rid of the toxins.

Hi Ali!

Would you like me to move this thread into the 'Members journals' forum for you?

Ok Paul. Ta.

Here's another video from Dr. Fung. All the big fat lies we are told about Diabetes not being curable.

He openly admits he treated his patients badly in line with Medical thinking for 20 years. Thankfully for them, he saw the light. Makes me even more determined to keep the fasting going.

https://youtu.be/FcLoaVNQ3rc

>.>.>.>.>.

Hope things are going well for you Ali - look forward to hearing from you soon  

All the best Jan

Yes @Alib, are you still on the fasting diet ?

I don't think fruit or vegetable juices are allowed during fasting days, especially fruit juices which are high in sugar although vegetable juices can be as well. I can see where your blood sugars would go up. Only tea, coffee, cream, water, and bone broth are allowed.

The Fasting guidelines can be found here: http://intensivedietarymanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Fasting-Guidelines.pdf

Hiya. Yes still fasting.

I realised that when I had the back and thigh pain before I probably wasn't drinking enough water, so I restarted the water-only fast last Thursday.

On my 6th day today.

No issues this time apart from slight chilliness, which is normal, and a little lightheaded if I get up too quickly. It's great not to have needed any insulin. BG is 3.8 today.

I have lost around 20lbs since I started this in December. I am going to keep going with the fasting to at least 10 days or even more unless anything happens to suggest otherwise. A long fast needs to be broken carefully with small amounts of fruit/veg juice over a few days, then salad or cooked vegetables/soup.

My body seems to be working hard to cleanse itself (my feet no longer smell, hurrah!), and the worms seem to be quietening down.

I read of a man, well over 400lbs in weight, who actually fasted for several months under supervision, got down to around 180lbs and his diabetes was gone. His GTT came in normal.

I have realised why fasting benefits the body.

The reason why fasting (and Intermittent Fasting, albeit slower) works is actually very simple. When you are digesting food you are in Anabolic (building up) mode. When you are not digesting, your body is in Catabolic (breaking down and repair) mode.

If you are in an Anabolic mode much of the time by eating three meals plus snacking, apart from a few hours respite during the night the body is not in Catabolic mode long enough to clear the toxins and debris from all the hours of eating. Waste matter and toxins build up and start to cause health problems.

When fasting, either by not eating for a day (or more) or at minimum extending the hours of no caloric intake, the body has more time to complete its housekeeping, breaking down unwanted fat, toxins, dead cells, pus, waste matter, etc., even apparently, tumours.....

The body cannot digest and heal/detox/repair at the same time. Digestion uses a huge amount of vital energy. Fasting enables the body to catch up and establish a far better cleansing regime.

Who decided that humans have to eat three times a day or more anyway?

Do so many people now get Diabetes smply because their bodies cannot process the sheer quantity and types of food they consume?

Quoting Ali " Who decided that humans have to eat three times a day or more anyway?"

I do wonder when three meals a day first entered our daily lives. Having said that there are those who get by on two meals a day and then some who prefer eating smaller portions spread over four maybe five meals.

Good to hear you are doing ok Ali ....just take care

All the best Jan

Eating 3 meals a day is a fairly recent concept:
http://www.alternet.org/story/152486/there_is_no_biological_reason_to_eat_three_meals_a_day_--_so_why_do_we_do_it

Maybe the blood sugar goes up on one meal a day because they are pigging out...

All that data is only subjective. It depends very much on what they were eating. And likely only a few were tested.

If people pig out on one meal, that would shove their blood sugar through the roof, too.

Ali, have you managed to stop insulin altogether ? Do you ( or did you ) take any basal ? Great progress so far and your results speak for themselves. How are your energy levels ?

Hi Mo.  Haven't taken any insulin at all since Last Wednesday.  I started the fast Thursday morning.

Blood sugar is a little higher this morning at 4.7.  It was 3.6 when I went to bed and most of the day yesterday.  I was a bit lightheaded and very tired and had a bit of a headache all day yesterday.  Must have had a bit of dawn phenomenon this morning..... :0)

I feel weak today.  But that is normal in some people.  Others maintain enough energy to walk every day, but I never had much energy to start with.

This really is cleaning my body and my blood out.  My feet no longer smell.....

From what I am reading, it is not advisable to go any longer than 10 days without professional support.  But you can have an interim of say, juices, smoothies and salads for a week or more and then do another bout.

My intention is not just to lose the weight, but cleanse my body, rid it of the darn annoying worms (that are probably only there because my body has been so filled with sugar and garbage) and reverse the diabetes.  It has been working overtime at it which is probably why I'm weak at the moment.

I am sure my insulin resistance is improving.  When my blood sugar was down to 3.6 yesterday I had a Rooibush tea with a spoonful of honey in the evening.  An hour later it was 4.8.  An hour after that it was 4.1.  If I had any sugar before, it wouldn't come back down without any insulin, and then not for hours. Sumptin's 'appenin'.  :0)

PS. As from today I've lost a stone and a half....

That's amazing progress so far. So, how long do you think you'll need to continue with the fasting ? Will you continue to do a week or so, introduce some juicing, then back to the fasting ? When will you decide ( if ever ) that you can go back to "proper" food again ? will it be the weight loss or a certain HbA1C or something else ? I admire your determination :-)

I'm going to try to get to 10 days (Saturday) and see what happens.  If things are improving I might keep going a little longer, but if not, I will probably have a break of a week or two on juices, smoothies and soups and then do another bout.  I just don't want to eat anything that will revive the worms. :0)

I wouldn't go beyond my weight loss capacity.

When you fast, you basically live off your own tissues. Fat makes up something in the region of 90% of the loss, a little protein from muscle turns into glucose for the few processes that need it, plus any unwanted toxins and matter gets consumed.

In a controlled setting with support, after a few days appetite usually recedes, and appetite suppression continues until the body is ready. Then appetite returns.

Starvation is when appetite is present but no food is available. Fasting occurs whilst body reserves are available, starving takes over once they are exhausted.

Whilst obese people can fast for some time, it's not quite so easy for those who are underweight. They can fast and will often appear cadaverous for a short while, but once the body is cleansed and eating resumes, weight is gained quite quickly and usually to a much more healthy level.