Fasting Notes
to keep my mind fresh with my research
things I remember from researching some time ago about fasting and keto that I need to research and fact-check again.
I will edit and mark every line with ☑︎ and link to the resource I fact-checked it with.
Weight (fat) loss
- ☑︎ Short-term fasting on ketosis (5 days or so) is a safe way to lose fat.
- ☑︎ fasting can make you lose around 500g of fat a day.
- ☑︎ Many “traditional” weight loss methods are way harder and can cause your metabolism to suffer (the biggest-loser effect).
- ☑︎ Fasting-induced ketosis makes you lose almost only fat. (losing less muscle or bone mass.)
Positive side effects
- ☑︎ In ketosis, Fat becomes the body’s primary energy source.
- ☑︎☑︎ Fat is a good source of energy for the brain, which can even make you more focused.
- ☑︎ Fasting-induced Ketosis reduces ghrelin (appetite hormone), making you feel less hungry.
- ☑︎ Fasting positively affects the growth hormone
- which is a hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and regeneration.
- the growth hormone also has anti-aging, anti-obesity, and muscle-sparing effects.
- improves sleep quality and improves cognitive abilities such as memory and focus.
- ☑︎ Fasting can increase growth hormone levels by 5-fold. (studies even reported 12.5-fold after a 7 day fast)
- Video by Dr. Eric Berg (DC) “What Fasting Does to Growth Hormone”
- ☑︎☑︎☑︎ Fasting is a good way to heal and prevent diabetic type 2.
- ☑︎ Fasting can help cure depression
- ☑︎ Fasting positively affects the testosterone hormone in men (after the fast).
- ☑︎ Autophagy is activated by fasting.
- Autophagy can be described as a kind of “maintenance” mode, “cleaning” the system.
- ☑︎ Autophagy is a cellular process that involves the degradation and recycling of damaged or unnecessary components, such as proteins, organelles, and pathogens.
- ☑︎☑︎☑︎☑︎☑︎ Autophagy can protect against aging, inflammation, infection, cancer and neurodegeneration
- Inflammation also seems to be the root cause of depression according to this video
- ☑︎ Autophagy can help mitigate loose skin from forming and may even improve existing loose skin.
general notes
- ketogenic eating to reach higher levels of ketosis before you start water fasting is a great and healthy way to mitigate most bad side effects you encounter in the first few days of fasting.
- starting a fast without being in ketosis is harder and bad for the body since you have to suffer through low blood sugars for the first few days. (more muscle than fat loss, low energy, bad feeling)
- Net Carbs
- Fibers are a form of non-digestible carbs. That is why they usually count towards “carbohydrates” on the nutrition label. But obviously these are not the carbs we care about when trying to eat low-carb/keto. so if you want to know what amount of carbs a product you are eating actually has, you have to subtract the amount of fiber from the total amount of carbs listed on the nutrition label. This is what people refer to as “Net Carbs”
- you should drink plenty of water while fasting, 40% of all water the body consumes usually comes from food. So it can be easier to not drink enough and dehydrate when you fast since you need to drink more water than usual.
- you should listen to your body. dry lips for example are a typical sign of dehydration.
- Video “What happens if you Don’t Eat for 44 Days?”
- Video “I Fasted for 5 Days and Walked 7 hours a Day”
Some potential dangers
- keto-flu can be a problem for beginners. What causes it and how to prevent it?
- Listen to your body. If you ever get hungry or feel sick/bad during a fast, you should abort.
- you should always keep your minerals in check. Using the right amount of supplements in the right way is an important thing to keep in mind.
- there are 3 important minerals: sodium, magnesium, and potassium (in German kalium).
- Some minerals are fat-soluble, which means they need fat to be absorbed by the body. These minerals include vitamins A, D, E, and K.
- However, Sodium, magnesium, and potassium are water-soluble minerals, which means they do not need fat to be absorbed by the body.
- ☑︎ You need to balance fasting with refeeding and nourishing your body. Just like you can overtrain with exercise, you can over-fast.
- the most healthy way to do a fast for losing weight is doing a few days of fasting followed by short breaks. This allows your body to rest and does not ever put you at risk of mineral depletion or refeeding syndrome.
- ☑︎ ending your fast healthy is important. after longer times of fasting, the refeeding syndrome can even be deadly.
- ☑︎ You should end every fast with a light low-fat meal without carbs.
- a light meal that is easy to digest and does not cause a sudden spike in blood sugar or insulin levels.
Clearing up common misunderstandings
- Video “Is Ketosis Dangerous?”
- ☑︎☑︎ “Starvation mode” is a myth, fasting does not trigger it or anything like it.
- ☑︎ “yo-yo effect” is a misunderstanding of destroying your metabolism with some bad “traditional” weight loss methods.
- no, you are not starving yourself while fasting, under the right conditions the body is very capable of using the resources it has available.
- Myth “Eating fat causes heart disease”
- Myth “Eating fat makes you fat”.
Motivation
- Reddit describes a “Woosch” effect.
- The name we give to a very common occurrence where you are eating right and doing everything you are supposed to do but no weight loss happens for several days and then all of a sudden, you lose 3-5 lbs. in a single night.
- Video “Willpower is for Losers”
- if you want to archive something and actually want manage to archive it, it should require as little willpower to do it as possible.
- you can put yourself in a situation where the things you want to do require way less willpower to archive.
- an applied example might be. only buy ketogenic groceries, that way you will not have to use constant willpower to NOT eat something with sugar or carbs at home. Because you will not have the option.
Experimental Research
- Carb Blockers?
- In general, these are supplements that are supposed to make it harder for some bodys enzymes to break down carbs in digestion. Practically converting these to Fiber.
- Some spices like Cinnamon and Kurkuma make it harder for the body to digest carbs, practically making some amount of carbs you are eating non-digestible. Need to research what amount.
- White Kidney Bean Extracts
- Video by Dr. Brian Yeung (ND) “White Kidney Bean Extracts: A Natural Carb Blocker”
- supposedly only would have any noticeable effect if you are eating high-carb meals, because only a smaller percentage of the total carbs can be blocked. Meaning if you already don’t eat low carbs, the amount of carbs blocked might be negligible. This suggests that this sadly might not be a solution to “cheat a little” while on the ketogenic diet.
- The addition of soluble fiber to the diet can slow the absorption of refined carbs
- Video by Dr. Thomas W. Clark (MD): “Carb Blockers- Pt 1” “Carb Blockers- Pt 2”
- Video by Dr. Ahmet Ergin (MD): “Block The Side Effects Of Carbs”
- says berberine is the most effective carb blocker.
- interesting reddit comment
- it has proven to keep me in ketosis on a few cheat days when I ought to have gone out by calculation. That, and that alone, is why I occasionally use carb blockers. Not a replacement for being strict.
- ☑︎ At best, they appear to block 50–65% of carb-digesting enzymes. It’s important to note that inhibiting these enzymes does not necessarily mean the same proportion of carbs will be blocked.
- ☑︎ One study examining a strong carb blocker found that even though it could inhibit 97% of the enzymes, it only prevented 7% of the carbs from being absorbed. This may happen because carb blockers don’t directly prevent carbs from being absorbed. They may simply increase the amount of time it takes for the enzymes to digest them. On top of that, the complex carbs affected by carb blockers make up only part of the carbs in most people’s diets.
- TLDR: Overall sadly non of these seem to be helpful in a ketogenic diet.
Some resources
- MD peer-reviewed articles about Fasting and Keto https://www.dietdoctor.com/
- https://www.youtube.com/@WhatIveLearned
- https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting
- https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/you_need_electrolytes/
Research To be Done
- Effects of Uric Acid
- Uric Acid will increase temporarily when loosing weight and fasting.
- Does Uric Acid cause weight gain? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27283495/