36 Hours

A few years ago, I tried intermittent fasting for about six months. I did it mostly for health and cognitive benefits, which I had read about. Fasting reduces insulin resistance, for one, which is important to me because type 2 diabetes runs on my mom's side and my doctor told me I was at risk. My experience was positive. I lost weight, was running faster and further than I ever had before. I felt generally happier. When I had surgery, I stopped doing it.

In previous fasting, I just started by skipping breakfast, which was a big deal for me. I've always been a 3-meal plus snacks kind of person, and if I didn't have savory food and caffeine within an hour of waking up, I felt nauseated and cranky. The first hurdle in fasting, then, was to survive life without breakfast. At first I felt nauseated and weak, but after doing it for a few weeks, I started feeling fine without breakfast.

After that, I started eating lunch later, with the eventual goal of making my fasts 18-20 hours long. As I got used to that, my next goal was 24 hours. Of course, I wasn't doing this every day. Only once or twice a week, and eating anything I wanted on other days. The first few times I tried 24 hours, I became lightheaded, confused, and weak toward the end. Since then, I've become better at 24 hour fasts. Part of it, I think, was that I was dehydrated and low on sodium. Drinking water with electrolytes during the fast helped with the confusion and lightheadedness.

These fasts were actually easier for me because they weren't primarily religiously-motivated. With religious fasts, such as Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, or in Lent in general, I placed so much pressure on myself: pressure to succeed, pressure to have a "religious experience", pressure to appear joyful and not fasting. With my intermittent fasting, I had no such pressure. It was purely for fun and a learning experience. I didn't even care if I succeeded in fasting for the total hours I had planned.

This past week, I tried a 36 hour fast for the first time. The first time, I lasted 23 hours. I was invited to dinner and didn't want to pass it up, so I ate pizza and chips and beer after 23 hours. Oh well. The second time, I lasted 24 hours, but then I found myself alone in my apartment with all this food, and at my usual supper time my stomach started growling and I gave in. That time, though, I ate more nutritious foods: mixed nuts, lentil and kale soup, a navel orange, and two hard-boiled eggs.

Yesterday was my third attempt at a 36 hour fast. On Tuesday night I finished dinner at 6:30, which means I would not be able to eat until 6:30 this (Thursday) morning. I thought I'd list some joyful and difficult experiences from the day without food.

Joyful:

- After 18 hours, I stopped feeling hungry and became clear-headed, focused, and full of energy. It was almost euphoric.

-The focus I felt was unlike how I normally feel focused. Normally when I'm focused, distractions irritate me, but from about 2pm onward I was intensely focused and nothing seemed to perturb me.

-Normally I get angry driving on my commute home from work, but I found that I was actually driving below the speed limit and other drivers didn't faze me at all.

-I walked 20,000 steps yesterday, according to my phone. I normally walk 10-12k. I wasn't tired from the walking, either.

-After lunchtime, I didn't crave food at all, except that I was excited for it to be the next day so I could eat.

-I didn't notice it until this morning when they returned again after eating, but yesterday I didn't have even the slightest sexual thought. I was so intensely focused, I guess, there wasn't room for any distraction.

-I was happy to attend a social gathering in the evening, because it got me outside of myself from dinner time until bedtime.

Difficult:

-Time went by slowly while fasting. It was both a joy and a difficulty. I had a lot of time to think and to focus, for good and for ill. There was an hour when I focused on negative things. I found I had to occupy my time with other things, such as going for several long walks, taking photos in the woods, and taking a hot bath.

-At 11am I had hunger pangs which lasted until two hours later, before vanishing. I overcame them with a long walk. At dinnertime I took another long walk to prevent the same from happening.

-I became dehydrated in the afternoon because I didn't bring water with me to work. When I got home from work I drank a liter of water with electrolytes and a sprinkle of salt and I felt better instantly.

-I dreaded going to sleep on an empty stomach. Although I fell asleep easily at 9pm, I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I was totally wired, and all I could think about was that I could eat in three hours.

-When I woke up in the middle of the night, I was cold. I had to pile blankets on me even though it wasn't that cold in my room. I also felt weak, and when I got out of bed I was afraid I was going to pass out.

-I laid in bed, trying to go back to sleep, and I soon realized I wasn't going to finish the 36 hours. I compromised, saying I'd wait until 4:30 before eating, making it a 34 hour fast. During the last 30 minutes I prayed the Psalms from the Divine Office, but I don't think I comprehended anything and I frequently stumbled on the words.

At 4:30, I broke the fast. I had an ounce of nuts, oat bran and cheerios with a cup of whole milk, a cup of coffee, a blood orange, a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, two hard-boiled eggs, 3 cups of spinach and Swiss chard, two ounces of whole wheat pasta with a sauce made of beef bone broth, olive oil, and peeled plum tomatoes. I measured everything to one serving size to prevent myself from gorging. I was full and the food never tasted so good. I think you need to fast to enjoy the feast. It's important to have good food around when coming off the fast, otherwise you might eat chips or ice cream or who knows what else.

So, I failed the 36 hour fast a third time, but I learned a lot and had a good time, so I consider it a success.