Four days ago, on Sunday, March 23, I embarked on my very first 24 hour fast. That is, 24 hours with no food. My last meal was on Saturday night. I grubbed on pulled-pork mac n’ cheese, crispy brussel sprouts, two fried chicken sliders, and a grilled chicken salad. Don’t worry, the meal was shared by my dear friend, Rajeev. Still, it was a hefty sum of food, and a part of my gluttony was fueled by “last supper syndrome”– if this is to be my last meal for the next 24 hours, I’m gonna go all-out. So long, keto, hello, carbs galore.
The fast was scheduled to end at 8:48pm on Sunday. I woke up feeling motivated and strong, and not hungry in the slightest. I had already gotten into an intermittent fasting pattern, so I skip breakfast and don’t have my first meal until 12pm. I’m used to teaching morning classes on an empty stomach, so the first half of Sunday, I was totally fine.
I taught a 75 minute breathing and meditation class, then had private clients from 11:45am-3pm with minimal breaks in between. Staying busy is indeed the best way to combat hunger. You get in the work flow and forget the hunger pangs. It’s when I have stretches of unstructured time that the troubles begin.
I had a meeting with my web designer for this website, and I’m very pleased at how this website is unfolding! As of the writing of this post (Thursday, March 27), we are still in beta mode, and you’ll likely not read this post until early April, when the website is launched. Anyway, the meeting lasted for 30 minutes, after which I packed my things and headed to the gym for a hot tub / cold-plunge session. I met up with my friend Rajeev, and we cycled between hot and cold water for almost an hour. That’s probably why I woke up with a cold on Monday… temperature play does wonders for the mood, but one must proceed with caution and moderation, as doing it too frequently or for too long a duration can render one sick.
I hit hour 20 of no food at around 5pm, and that’s when the fasting really got tough. I had a intro call with a potential podcast guest at 6:15pm, which left me with an hour and 15 minutes of unstructured time. I resisted the urge to go home, because I knew I’d be tempted to eat a bag of Catalina Crunch cereal while sitting in bed doing nothing. So I remained at the gym, where I chilled by the fireplace and read a book to distract myself. The intro call lasted about 15 minutes, after which I met up with my friend Allan, who was on his dinner break from work.
After Allan’s break ended, I made a strategic decision to get a 60-minute massage at Happy Feet San Carlos. You can’t eat while getting a massage, so that’s why I did it. Sundays are also my self-care day, so I figured I’d treat myself. The massage was pleasant, for the most part, though it was a male masseuse, which made me a bit uncomfortable. The massage ended around 8pm, and that’s when the real test began. Final 45 minutes of no food, with nothing to do but wait for my 8:48pm timer to go off.
Originally, I had planned on going to bed on an empty stomach and extending my fast to 36 hours. By nighttime, my resolve to fast had depleted to zero, and it was mental warfare. There was no way in hell I would break my fast before 24 hours were up, but it was tough. I ordered Mendocino Farms for my late dinner: chicken caesar salad and a side of curry couscous. Once my food was ready, I grabbed it to-go and drove the five minutes back to my house, where I stomped upstairs to my room, set the bag of food on the floor next to my bed, and waited.
The final 30 minutes were excruciating. I tried to lose myself in a Netflix show, but I kept checking the clock every three minutes. My mind and body were screaming, EAT EAT EAT! I gulped down saliva every two seconds because the smell of my dinner teased me like an endless round of foreplay.
Finally, when the clock struck 8:48pm, I tore open my box of food and gulped it down like a starved wolf. I tried to eat slowly and take my time with each bite, making sure not to choke. I was disappointed by my chicken caesar, which was way too salty and had too much parmesan cheese. The couscous was an absolute delight. By 9pm, my dinner was done. I had broken my fast with a somewhat healthy meal consisting of protein and carbs. Skipped dessert, and went to bed with a full belly.
On Monday, I went on a semi-fast. Taught my morning PT client at 9am, then had therapy 11am-12pm, where we discussed work burn-out and reprioritization of rest. Indeed, I need to open up my schedule so I have more time for “wandering”- stretches of unstructured time where I can read, write, and think to my heart’s content. I guess that’s why it’s easier to be creative when you’re rich. You don’t have to hustle paycheck-to-paycheck, and comfort is conducive for creative flow. But I digress.
I ate my first meal of the day at 12pm: a bowl of chocolate and peanut butter Catalina Crunch cereal with almond milk. Then headed to the Foster City library where I taught a yoga dance workshop for the non-profit I work for, Banyan Tree Women’s Collective. From there, I drove to the gas station where I bought a Celsius energy drink that would fuel me for my next three tasks: 2 classes at Bay Club Santa Clara, and a private dance lesson.
All that teaching led me to 7pm, and this is where I started to notice the mental benefits of fasting. I thought that teaching on what was basically an empty stomach would leave me fatigued, dehydrated, dizzy, and nauseous. I experienced no such side effects. Instead, what I felt was increased mental clarity, focus, and power. My friend and student, Rajeev, praised me on how “on fire” I was during my yoga dance and ballroom fitness classes at Bay Club Santa Clara. Indeed, I felt like Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, while teaching. It felt a little bit like hypomania, except all this was induced by the fast. My veins coursed with energy, and I brought that energy to my private dance lesson with Lauren. We did more choreography to the song, “Sports Car”, by Tate McRae, and I was feeling creative as all hell.
I finally broke my semi-fast with chicken caesar salad at Grill House, though a part of me wondered if I should extend my fast to 24 hours (no meal until 12pm on Tuesday) because I felt so freakin’ good! But I remembered how much I had worked out that day, and I knew my body needed fuel and protein.
Takeaways:
- fasting does improve mental clarity, focus, and energy. Proceed with caution if you have a bipolar diagnosis, because I could easily see this making you hypomanic or manic (there have been some studies that observed a correlation).
- hunger is best combatted by distraction, whether that’s with work, breathing/meditation, spa days, or long walks in nature.
- fasting is a great self-care tool. You’re activating autophagy, or destruction of toxic cells in the body. It’s a great metabolism reset. It’s good for the gut microbiome.
- break the fast mindfully. Eat as if you never fasted. You don’t want to down 2,000 calories and undo the effects of the fast. If you’re on the keto diet like me, stay keto while breaking the fast (low carb, high fat, high protein).
- listen to your body. Oftentimes, we eat when we’re bored, not hungry. If you’re keenly attuned to your hunger cues, you’ll realize that you don’t always need to eat three meals a day, or snack throughout the day. Let your body do what it’s made to do– hunt, eat, fast, and repeat.
My plan is to make Sundays my 24 hour fast day, since that is my least physically intense day. All other days, I will do intermittent fasting, which means not eating until 12pm or 1pm. I’ll go 2 meals a day instead of 3 and snack on protein-rich food if I’m really feeling hungry, or if I have a long teaching / moving day.
Thank you for reading, and if you feel compelled to fast, try it out! You may be surprised at your body’s response to the experience.
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