- Is Fasting Safe? (for most people, yes, but it's worth checking with your doctor)
- Peter Attia's Fasting Protocol: The Nothing Burger
- TL;DR Eat keto for one week, then only water for one week, then keto again for another week
- When you transition off keto, do it over the course of a few days, with low-glycemic carbohydrates like legumes, grains, sweet potatoes, etc.
- When you're on keto, you're training your body to be VERY EFFICIENT with the few carbohydrates that you feed it (less than 20g/day), so if you dump a bunch of sugar into your system, it will VERY EFFICIENTLY store it as fat.
- Some general thoughts
- Effects
- Improved Insulin Sensitivity
- Attenuates proinflamatory cytokynes (signaling molecule that promotes inflammation)
- Improvements to blood pressure and lipid profile
- Appears to improve outcomes for Alzheimer's disease (in rats)
- Longevity? (in rats)
- Fasting Tracking iOS App
- Pretty neat; shows you what's happening in your body, and let's you visualize your progress.
- Start fasting after dinner and end it with lunch. This way, you don't go to bed hungry the first night, and since you're breaking fast at lunch, your body will kick off it's normal (8-12 hour) eating window (search for info on time-restricted feeding for more details). If you break fast with dinner, you will have an insatiable urge to snack right at bedtime.
- Supplement with sodium (I drink a bit of salt water; maybe 2g?) and magnesium as necessary (I take Slowmag). This helps with headaches and water retention. I also take a multi-vitamin, but I don't know if this is strictly necessary, or how it affects the fast.
- Decide if you wanna try Hard-mode (Coffee and tea only) or Hardcore (water-only); there's some debate about the effects. I find it hard to completely give up coffee, but I'm an addict.
- Deplete glycogen early to speed the process of getting into ketosis. You need to use up the stores that live in your muscles/liver. I like to do some strength training right after my last meal, then some cardio the next day. After this, train as normal, but expect a considerable decrease in performance. Don't go too hard. I find it helpful to just focus on technique (both in the gym and on the mats). If you aren't feeling it that day, just rest. Listen to your body.
- Meditate in the mornings right after you wake up! This is where I've gotten the most transcendent feelings. I really like the "Waking Up" app, for guided meditation. Jackie's recommendation; it's been mind-blowingly good. Even if you only do a 10 minute session, you will feel it. I also like to stretch or read in the early morning. Those quiet moments are really peaceful to me.
- Try to work in some strength training; allegedly, it really helps with muscle retention. In general, though, you won't lose much muscle; your HGH levels will skyrocket during the fast, which will signal to your body that it should not metabolize muscle for fuel.
- The re-feeding period is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. As important, if not more so, than the fast itself. Do your best to eat healthy.
