Metabolic and Mental Health
5 Health Benefits I Gained from Performing Long-Term Fasting
I explain the physical and mental health benefits of long-term fasting based on years of experience, observations, and reviews.
Purpose of the Article
This story highlights the value and health benefits of fasting for healthy individuals based on my experience and reviews. This is not health advice. My goal is to create awareness and give perspectives to interested readers by sharing my findings from the last few decades.
Fasting sounds controversial to some people, but there is no controversy about it. Throughout history, billions of people benefited from fasting.
Now, distinguished scientists and medical professionals embrace fasting, creating customized protocols for those who need this intervention method. I firmly believe that fasting will be a mainstream therapeutic intervention in the next decade or so. We cannot hide its benefit as it is apparent.
Unlike misconceptions and allegations, methodical fasting has nothing to do with starvation.
Starvation and fasting are two different cases. The difference between starvation and refraining from food via deliberate fasting has various biological indications.
For example, when the body is in starvation mode, it attempts to utilize its precious muscles as a source of energy. Whereas, during fasting, the body protects the muscles via various mechanisms such as excessive growth hormone and alternative energy like ketone bodies.
In addition, during starvation, we feel extreme hunger and craving. However, during the fast period, many people whose bodies are fat-adapted do not even feel appetite due to the appetite-suppressing effects of ketosis. Besides, fasting allows us to differentiate between physical and emotional hunger.
Of course, if we fast for an extremely long period, like more than two weeks, the body can go into starvation mode. So far, I have tried two to ten days of fasting and did not experience any starvation signs. I gained many benefits that I explained in the subsequent sections.
However, as a caveat, long-term fasting is not for everyone. Even though many healthy people (especially those who are fat-adapted) can do it for several days, people with underlying health conditions need guidance and support from qualified healthcare professionals.
For example, it is not possible for a type I or even type II diabetic patient to fast without medical supervision. The side effects are well documented in the literature and could be detrimental to health and well-being.
Why and How I Started Fasting
Even though many people fast for religious reasons, I was not attracted to this idea in my younger years. I falsely associated fasting with starvation and unnecessary stress for the body. I had no clue about the hormonal effects of fasting on the body and brain.
I also thought that humans need to eat frequently to get energy and keep their metabolism active. However, I struggled a lot until these assumptions were validated as false.
In the early 1980s, the frequent meal concept was attractive to me. In addition to three meals, I supplemented them with three snacks. However, my body was not happy with this choice. Frequent eating did not align with my nature. I had no clue about the detrimental effects of elevated blood glucose leading to insulin resistance.
Finally, the body said enough, and the ramification was metabolic syndrome putting me at the onset of type II diabetes. I am glad this happened earlier, as it was a wake-up call for me. As I was still young and had a curious mind, I found practical ways to solve this critical issue.
The concept of skipping a meal became the catalyst for me to recognize the benefits of fasting empirically. I read a lot about the benefits of fasting in the literature. However, I needed to prove it myself experimentally.
Starting to skip breakfasts and seeing instant benefits paved the way. I documented my experience in an article titled When I Skipped Breakfasts for Two Decades, I Gained Copious Benefits.
Since I gained many benefits from skipping a meal and had no side effects, I tried to skip another meal. Interestingly, I gained more metabolic benefits from this new approach. It became evident that fasting was working for me.
After experimenting and measuring my objective findings and subjective feelings, I created a one-meal eating regimen. It became a healthy lifestyle habit for me. I documented my 15 years of experience in an article titled Here’s What Happened on One-Meal-a-Day After 15 Years.
After skipping a meal and implementing one meal-a-day plan, my body gradually became fat-adapted, and long-term fasting became effortless for me.
The progress inspired me and motivated me to occasionally extend my fasting window from 22 hours to 46 hours. Again, I noticed additional benefits. Then I gradually increased, 3, 4, 5, 6, and finally, 7-day fasting.
I have been using long-term fasting for over a decade successfully. Nowadays, I perform five- or ten-day fasting every three months based on my need and feelings. Therefore, I’d like to share the benefits by focussing on the key points at a high level to give you a perspective.
Key Success Factor for Long-Term Fasting
The key success factor for me to leverage the power of long-term refrain from food was making my body fat adapted.
This means that the body efficiently manages to tap into fat stores to use the stored fat as the primary energy source in the absence of food.
I explained this process in multiple articles. Here is a piece titled Become Fat-Adapted and Trim Waistline in Three Steps.
The key caution for me is to drink enough water to keep the body hydrated and ensure my electrolytes are balanced. If I sense deficiency, I supplement with electrolytes during the long-term fast period.
Noticeable and Measurable Benefits I Gained from Long-Term Fasting
In this section, I only focus on the critical points that made a real difference in my health and well-being under five headings.
1 — Gained an insulin-sensitive body.
As insulin resistance put me in a metabolically disadvantaged position and insulin sensitivity played a pivotal role in defeating metabolic syndrome, I see this as the most important benefit of fasting for me.
When my body became insulin sensitive, I lost visceral fat effortlessly. In addition, I was able to grow muscle and keep lean muscles in the process.
I documented my experience by summarizing the key steps in an article titled Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline.
2 — Leptin sensitivity increased, and hunger pangs disappeared.
When I was on frequent meals on plant-based diets refraining from healthy fats, I used to feel constantly hungry when I was on plant-based diets. Sometimes, it got so intense that I craved food in the middle of the night.
I had the willpower and logic not to eat at night, but my body was screaming. The feeling was so potent that it overrode my intellect and willpower.
My food cravings ended after changing my diet to an animal-based eating regimen (keto-carnivore) and consuming enough healthy fats and bioavailable proteins. The deficiency of fats, amino acids, and other nutrients like minerals and vitamins caused more cravings in my previous diet.
I explained the importance of the leptin hormone for appetite control in an article titled Make the Body Leptin-Sensitive to Lose Visceral Fat With a Simple Metabolic Shift.
3 — Balanced other hormones and neurotransmitters.
When my body got insulin sensitive, all other hormones got balanced. Having a better hormonal balance increased my energy and boosted my mood.
The most critical hormone for me was cortisol, as I suffered from its effects in my younger years, as explained in an article titled Optimize Cortisol to Melt Belly Fat and Keep Lean Muscles with Three Tips.
As hormones are highly complex and critical, I posted an article titled Hormonal Intelligence: Sharpen It to Achieve Optimal Health. In addition, I summarized the key hormones in an article titled Lose Visceral Fat by Understanding the Intricacies of Six Critical Hormones.
Insulin sensitivity also favorably affected my neurological health. The process contributed to balancing my neurotransmitters and increasing BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), improving neurological and mental health.
The biological mechanism for this was entering deep ketosis and managing mild ketosis at all times. I made ketosis a lifestyle habit, as documented in an article titled Here’s Why I Choose Ketosis as a Lifestyle Habit.
4 — Gaining a trim, strong, and healthy body.
Hormonal balance allowed me to lose excess visceral fat quickly. Both intermittent and long-term fasting contributed to the condition of my body to utilize the belly fat and eliminate the excessive amount.
After being fat-adapted during the fast period, I had no problem with weight training, calisthenics, and even jumping on a trampoline. The body simply tapped into the fat stores using fat molecules as an energy source happily.
Losing visceral fat was only one part of the equation of this process. The second part was to gain more muscle mass and keep lean muscles with the hormonal balance and cellular health provided by fasting.
The critical mechanism was an abundant production of growth hormones during the fasting period. The second mechanism was the protective effect of ketone bodies on muscles and reducing inflammation.
Furthermore, as a bonus, fasting allowed me to eliminate loose skin caused by substantial visceral fat loss. The fundamental fasting mechanism to eliminate wobbly skin was initiating autophagy and mitophagy. I documented my experience of gradually reducing loose skin in an article titled Three Tips to Eliminate Loose Skin.
In addition, an insulin-sensitive and fat-adapted body also allowed me to gain six-pack abs after age 50. I documented my experience of gaining abs after middle age in an article titled How To Get Six-Pack Abs Without Destroying Our Health. The process was effortless for me as a by-product of my healthy lifestyle.
5 — Obtaining better neurological and mental health.
Even though metabolic health is important to me, my neurological and mental health became more concerning to me as I got older. Seeing millions of aging people living with serious neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, concerned me a lot.
When I read about the remarkable benefits of fasting in preventing neurodegenerative diseases, my motivation for fasting significantly increased. Therefore, I made fasting a lifestyle habit and a hobby to reap the benefits.
The key contributors of fasting to neurological and mental health are giving the brain an alternative source of energy and reducing inflammation. The by-product of fasting ketosis plays a critical role in this fine balance.
In addition, the autophagy and mitophagy initiating features of fasting play a critical role in clearing garbage, such as biological toxins, damaged cells, and harmful proteins from the brain.
After starting to fast intermittently, I significantly improved my mental health. Long-term fasting made the improvement even more noticeable. My patience and stamina increased, and my irritability disappeared. I woke up fresh, in a good mood, and full of energy. More importantly, my anxious thoughts and brain fog disappeared, and I never felt depressed.
Conclusions and Takeaways
In addition to contributions to my cellular, endocrine, immune, and metabolic health, fasting also changed my brain chemistry.
Humans have been fasting for centuries for religious, spiritual, and cultural reasons. However, the health benefits of fasting were recognized via scientific studies. I read overwhelming amounts of information on the health benefits of fasting.
In addition, I came across many healthcare professionals like cardiologists, oncologists, nephrologists, endocrinologists, dermatologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, neurologists, rheumatologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists exploring the therapeutic benefits of fasting.
Instead of the word fasting, they usually use the term “time-restricted eating” or “fast mimicking diets” in the literature. Some health clinics use fasting in combination with ketogenic diets. I summarized my findings in an article titled Keto Diets and Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle Tick the Boxes of Health Goals.
Even though it might work for some people and there might be exceptional situations, frequent eating did not work for many other people in my circles and me. My body was not designed to eat six meals a day. Therefore, it thrived in a single yet nutritious meal daily.
Furthermore, recent prospective research has “demonstrated a significant increase in disease risk with a high meal frequency as compared to a low meal frequency.” Therefore, some healthcare professionals use fasting as a therapeutic tool.
Anthropological studies indicate that humans evolved with time-restricted eating as our ancestors had to deal with famines. Many religions and cultures learned the value of time-restricted eating and made fasting an essential practice.
With scientific and technological development, unfortunately, we started consuming food too much and too frequently. This behavior indicated noticeable consequences such as increased metabolic diseases and obesity. I firmly believe that we can prevent obesity collectively.
Understanding the role of insulin gives relevant clues to the importance of time-restricted eating. Insulin resistance is a known cause of metabolic diseases. We know about it, but little talk about it. The good news is the new generation of healthcare professionals has started talking about it.
Excessive food and frequent eating coupled with a sedentary life are associated with metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, fatty liver, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders.
Of course, fasting might not be for everyone and requires medical supervision for patients suffering from the conditions mentioned earlier. In addition, there are also known side effects that become a deterrent factor.
Since I felt those side effects in the beginning, based on my experience and literature review, I provided seven tips to reduce the side effects of fasting.
As Some people also feel sleep problems when they start intermittent fasting and ketogenic diets, I also posted an article sharing my experience. Here is the link: Improve Sleep in Ketogenic Diets and Intermittent Fasting in Five Steps.
To conclude, I see time-restricted eating and long-term fasting as paradigm shifts in healthcare. The primary shift is that healthcare professionals do not give more to patients, like medication or food for their healing process but offer less to them by abstaining from food (aka fasting).
In addition to fasting, my two other health weapons are exercise and meditation, as I explained in a recent story titled Here’s Why and How I Fast, Move, and Meditate Daily for Decades.
I am inspired to notice that some people even can reverse their diabetes with supervised fasting and exercise, as I documented in a recent article titled Here’s How a Mature-Age Couple Reversed Diabetes and Trimmed Their Bodies with Lifestyle Habits.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
If you are a new reader and find this article valuable, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
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Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
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