I’m not one for fads. If you saw my fashion sense you’d know that pretty quickly. I say this because it surprised me to find out tonight that something I used to do from time to time 20 years ago has become fashionable – fasting – or as we in the know like to call it, ‘IF’ (intermittent fasting).
Why am I thinking about fasting? Well, my stomach has been ‘off’ for about a month now and I recalled that in those ‘old days’ back in the 90s I used to fast for a day or two to get rid of stuff like this. The guy who turned me onto this was a strange bird I met in the mountains of Chichibu, Japan, who also highly recommended homemade colon cleansing for health. I went with the easier and less messy of the two remedies, I’m sure.
Anyway, I’m going to fast this evening and all day tomorrow, breaking it at breakfast (get it?) Tuesday morning, which will be around 44 hours in total. We’ll see how it goes after that. The reason I’m writing this though, is partly because I wanted to find out if anyone out there has done this sort of thing. It’s also because I’m starving for blog material.
Here’s a quick little documentary that popped up right away in my research this evening. I Wiki’d this guy and he’s still alive 8 years later, which is always a good sign of success.
Oh, and sorry for the bad Joe Friel reference in the title there. It’s all I could come up with.
The Vicious Cycle 
I don’t think I’ve ever fasted for 24 hours or more in my lifetime. I love food too much! 😆
It’s easier than I thought this time (so far), but I do remember it being pretty tough in the past. You don’t realize how much you look forward to food all day!
try DryJanuary first then talk to me… wet february tells me that any fast is followed by lots of eating…
Yeah, I imagine you’re making up for it. I’ve actually cut down on alcohol a lot this year so far and gone back to the old days of ‘waiting for the weekend’. We’ll see how long that lasts.
late to see but love the photo with wine and Ricard in the bicycle basket!
Found on my ride to Paris 3 years ago.
Very interesting video Gerry. Are you saying that the fasting techniques shown are from nearly a decade ago? Is 48+/- hours of fasting still considered beneficial? I suppose those are 2 days not spent on the bike or engaging in strenuous physical training? Thanks for sharing!
I don’t really know much, Sam, but it seems that from my ‘in depth’ research last night on the internet anything over 12 hours could be beneficial. Because it’s a bit of a fad now there are lots of ways to slice and dice it, depending on your temperament, e.g. simply ‘fasting’ every day by only eating within a certain window of time, like 10 hours, which allows 14 hours of ‘fasting’. Stuff like that.
Ah, and no riding while doing this, no. I don’t think it’s out of the question, though.
I haven’t ever fasted unless forced to do so by a stomach bug but have been curious about it. What do you do to avoid the hunger pangs?
Just drinking water, tea and coffee (appears to be acceptable) to keep the hunger away. It’s not that bad and the pangs come in waves, so not constant pain!
👍
Gerry, Very timely video. My wife just brought home “Lifespan: Why We Age- and Why We Don’t Have To,” by David A. Sinclair. I can’t offer more than the title at this point, but fasting is a major topic along with climatic impacts on overall longevity. I’ve found that there is a winter weight increase of 5 or more pound every year and a weight decrease of about 3 pounds every spring. The residual weight gain (helped along by too many 200+ calorie IPAs) is something that I look forward to dealing addressing with some of the tips from the video and book.
Good luck, Terry. This winter I’ve put on a ‘roll’ that looks dangerously permanent. We’ll see what spring riding can do. This article from the New England Journal of Medicine is really great, too: https://www.gwern.net/docs/longevity/2019-decabo.pdf
I’m done my 44 hours and have a plan to down an IPA or two today with some friends. I feel I’ve earned it.
I’m into the intermittent fasting a little bit. 44 hours? Wow, good luck, man!
Every 6 months I do 4 days with only water – I am ravenous at the start of day two, headache and heartburn at the end of day two and could eat a horse. Day three no more hunger and complete clarity of mind, but breath that could fell the aforementioned horse. Day four – a breeze.
Day 5 start with something light and ease back into eating otherwise it’s a dodgy tum for the day
Thanks for the feedback, Pottymouth! I’ve done 4 days as well and I do recall that ‘clarity of mind’ quite vividly. That and a very ‘quiet’ body.
Oh and dizziness hits – you need to do this while you have nothing else to do
How did it go? I’m currently on my first four day fast ever, abut halfway through (day 2). Not that I’m counting LOL.
You’ll be counting the minutes soon, Lee! It went just fine. I find Day Two the hardest, so good luck!