Fast Day 1 – 5PM Pacific Time

It has been another beautiful day in Santa Rosa ( 75 degrees and no humidity).

I am officially into my second day of fasting. Exactly 28 hours now. Feeling fine, maybe a bit light headed. I am having no trouble drinking (must drink 40 oz of water per day).

I went out to the courtyard today and met some of my fellow fasters. Here is a description of two of them.

1) One of the men (about 35 years old) is an orthodox Rabbi teaching at a seminary in Israel. The students are American boys spending a year in Israel before college. He just completed a 21-day water fast. I don’t know what he looked like before, but he is thin now and said he lost 41 pounds. Not sure of the medical issue that brought him here. He went from a 38 inch waist to a 32 inch waist and had to purchase new pants.

2) The second man I met today is a 48 year-old Russian man who lived in Israel for 8 years and then moved to Seattle. He was told that he needed bypass surgery . Instead he has decided to be treated here with a change in diet (vegan) followed by fasting.

Be back tomorrow morning.

Fast – Day 1, 8 AM Paciifc Time

I am going to begin each day with a review of the physiological state of the body for the particular day of the fast and then get more personal with how I am feeling.

Physiology of Fasting Day 1

Definition of Fasting

The voluntary abstinence from all food and drink, except water, as long as the nutritional reserves of the body are adequate to sustain normal function. This is a state of relative physiologic rest. (Joel Fuhrman, MD. Fasting and Eating for Health. 1995 St Martin’s Press, 8-9)

The human body has been designed to fast safely because of biochemical changes that occur when fasting. These changes allow the body to fuel itself by burning fat reserves and conserving its vital tissues.

Glucose is normally our primary form of energy. Most of this is extracted from the food we eat. During the day the liver stores excess sugar in as glycogen that can be used between meals. This energy source is exhausted within the first 24 hours of fasting. So during this first day of fasting the body is still using its glycogen stores to produce glucose for energy. When this store runs out, the body then begins to utilize muscle tissue to make glucose because glucose can be manufactured from the amino acids in our muscles. This typically occurs during day 1 and 2 of a fast. If a total fast continues, however, to avoid continued utilization of muscle tissues the body adapts and the liver begins generating large quantities of ketones from the body’s fat stores. This is the key that makes fasting a therapeutic process. But more on this over the next few days as I enter that phase.

Personal Status

For those of you who have fasted for religious reasons (Yom Kippur, for example) haven’t you sometimes felt – “if only I could drink some water today it wouldn’t be so bad?” Well that is exactly my experience right now. Its not too bad because I can drink as much water as I desire.

So I am feeling fine at this point. Trying to drink as much water as possible and I am busy working on my computer, keeping up with e-mails from work and catching up on my writing.

A doctor does rounds everyday between 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM to check vital signs and does a history and gets a urine sample.  Pulse and blood pressure were fine and I did lose 1.5 pounds already.

Last night I watched a movie “We are Marshall” – nice movie. Today I get to follow all of the last minute baseball trades with the deadline today at 4 PM ET.

I have two lectures to go to here at True North, one at 10 AM and the other at 2:30. I also have treatment scheduled for 2 PM for my chronic stiff neck.

I will be back later with my evening update.