Yesterday I did my first ever full day fast! It was actually longer than 24 hours because I finished dinner around 10pm on Monday and only ate breakfast this morning around 9am. Anyway, I'm sure you guys are curious as to why I chose to fast:
1) I have been eating wayyyyy too much since winter and especially over Christmas and CNY. Just felt like my body needs a bit of a break from food.
2) I was inspired by my friend who fasts 3 days every 6 months 👀. That's pretty damn insane.
I was not crazy enough to attempt to do a 72-hour fast so just 1 day was enough :) It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, maybe that's a sign that I have really been well fed recently? So once you stop eating for around 8 hours your body starts burning fat (ketosis) instead of carbs and any glycogen stores. Accompanying this is a whole host of other benefits such as removing toxins. If you're interested just do quick googling and read up widely (just make sure you don't attempt fasting if you have low blood sugar or other health problems)!
But here's a rough breakdown of how I felt throughout the day:
10am: I felt weird not having breakfast but that was alright because I had a heavy dinner the last night
12pm: My lesson just ended and this was probably the hardest part cos my friends were eating and I was smelling their food. It definitely made me hungry.
5pm: I had a 3hour class so honestly I was doing pretty well since my brain wasn't thinking about food at all.
730pm: This was probably the hardest part because I felt weird while walking home (it's hard to describe, just feels very strange, I wasn't particularly hungry though). Reaching home and seeing the snacks on my dining table was very enticing, but I didn't eat anything. I remembered feeling quite tired and yawning a lot at this point.
10pm: I was occupying myself with work and chatting with my flatmate so it was still alright. I went to bed at 12am.
6am: I woke up very early this morning which is always shitty, and I definitely felt a bit light-headed when I went to the toilet. But this could also be due to the cold (it was -3C this morning my goodness) or just a lack of oxygen in my room. Anyway I managed to fall back asleep and woke up at 8+ still feeling alright.
845am: I cooked some scrambled eggs and sipped some tea before having food. I was being conscious not to overeat or eat too quickly, so that actually made me savour my food and tea more!
And that's how it went. Honestly even though a lot of studies talked about the benefits to one's mind, I didn't feel a boost in my cognitive performance. I was trying to be mindful and noticed how often my brain drifted to food even though I was trying not to think about it. I guess the biggest benefit is that my taste buds and sense of smell definitely felt sharper when breaking my fast this morning. Maybe fasting really made me a little more mindful. I did feel pretty good today after having food, although other factors like the super sunny day definitely made it better too.
Would I try it again? Probably. Maybe a 2-day fast? I'm gonna take it slow though. Don't worry I won't do anything too crazy :)
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