Intermittent Fasting Adventures

By Ashley Miers

Over the past few years, I’ve been learning a lot about intermittent fasting, which is definitely a buzz word these days.

Fasting comes in a lot of different forms. There are 24 hour, 3 day and 5 day water fasts (and even longer - not recommended without doctor supervision!). And there is also time-restricted eating - 12, 14 or 16 hour daily fasts where you limit your eating window to between only 10am-6pm (for instance) each day.

Intermittent fasting has all kinds of benefits including lowering/stabilizing blood sugar and improving fat burning and metabolism, but my primary interest is in its ability to induce "autophagy". Basically, when your body is in a fasting state, it goes into "repair mode" and starts killing off weak and mutated cells - which makes your system stronger and more resilient overall. It’s kind of like an oil-change for your body - clearing out junk and debris so that your system runs cleaner and operates better.

Even though I’ve been very interested in the subject of intermittent fasting and all of the promising research, having been pregnant since the beginning of 2018 and then breastfeeding thereafter, I didn’t feel comfortable experimenting with anything more than 12 hour fasts/eating windows each day. Basically, I had been eating between 7am-7pm and not (usually) at night. But that was the extent of my experimentation.

However, with my son closing in on the 2 year mark, I recently decided to commit to a 36 hour water fast followed by 2 days of vegetable juice, followed by a 10 day "detox diet" inspired by Dr. Mark Hyman's protocol (no grains, no dairy, no sugar). And it was an interesting experience!

My Protocol

I started my water fast on a Friday.

I didn’t eat after dinner Thursday night until “breakfast” Saturday morning - which was matcha tea with MCT oil.

I then consumed vegetable juice (no fruit, no sugar) for “lunch” and “dinner” Saturday.

Sunday, I had matcha tea with MCT oil for “breakfast” and vegetable juice for “lunch” and “dinner” again.

And on Monday, I broke my fast with some yummy miso soup, continued consuming one vegetable juice per day, and started reintroducing solid foods in accordance with Dr. Mark Hyman’s 10 Day Detox protocol.

My Experience and Insights

Prior to my recent commitment, I had never done a full water fast. And the last time I did any sort of fast was about 5 years ago when I was living in Nashville. I can’t remember the length of the fast - if it was 3, 5, or 7 days - but it was a fresh vegetable juice fast at the end of which I did a salt water flush (which - the salt water flush - I don’t recommend and wouldn’t do again).

My recollection of that experience was that it was much more challenging than the one I just did. Which was surprising - and empowering - to realize. Fasting is (or can be) just as much a spiritual experience - an opportunity to meet yourself - as it is a health practice. There’s a reason that fasting plays a role in so many religions and spiritual traditions.

What I’ve come to find is that the further I come in my recovery, the more I genuinely like and respect myself. I do my best to live a life of integrity, and that wasn’t the case when I was using drugs and abusing myself. I definitely didn’t feel that I was in alignment or integrity then, and therefore meeting myself - facing myself honestly in the mirror - was a very painful experience.

These days, the more I double-down on my spiritual commitments, the more I discover how far I’ve already come. I’m sober. I completed Kundalini Yoga teacher training. I came out the other side of unmedicated natural child birth stronger and better for it. These are all intense and challenging experiences, none of which I could claim 5 years ago. And what I found in committing to my recent fasting protocol was that the fasting really didn’t feel like that big of a deal after everything else I’ve been able to commit to and complete. I have cultivated a capacity for discipline and patience that I didn’t have before. And that feels pretty darn amazing to acknowledge.

In terms of my experience itself (and the benefits)… Well, i did lose 5 pounds in 3 days (mostly water weight, and I gained it back when I started eating my more regular diet again). But weight loss wasn’t really my motive. So another thing I discovered - especially with having had a history of eating disordered behavior - was that I was actually excited to eat again at the end of my protocol. If I were still struggling with anorexic tendencies, I don’t think I would feel that way. So that was an empowering insight as well.

Another benefit to fasting is that it’s a great chance to reset any negative habits that may have snuck into our routines. For me, these things are relatively minor (I like to eat a coconut yogurt in the evenings - too much sugar; I like having avocado toast or bruschetta on sourdough bread - grains/gluten; etc), but I still don’t like feeling like my impulses are ruling me or that I’m not being very intentional in my choices. Sometimes it’s good to create a pattern interrupt and question what choices we want to make going forward from here. Fasting - taking a break from our normal habits - is a great opportunity for this.

Lastly, fasting gave me an opportunity to listen to my truth, my body, and my mind and to be able to distinguish between them. Was my mind just telling me lies? “Oh, but you really NEED to eat some chocolate, your blood sugar might be too low.” Or was I honoring my truth when - by day 5 of the final 10-day detox phase of my protocol - I realized I was really just over it already and decided to resume for the most part with my normal diet? By that point, I felt like I had proved what I needed to prove to myself during the more intense water and vegetable juice fasting. I was starting not to feel as great, and my body was asking for more substantial sustenance (like some brown rice and not just pure vegetables with a little protein and healthy fat). So I listened, and assessed, and decided to release the need to continue “proving”, to go against my instincts because I thought I “should” try to conform to a certain set of expectations.

Yes, there are powerful lessons in fasting. It’s important to be educated and prepared for the process, but fasting can be a powerful experience for those who feel called to it. Let me know if you try it! Let me know what you learn. :)