Dear Michael: Thanks for a wonderful article. I have proved every statement in your article by living it. I stop eating everyday by 4pm - no dinner. I do an omelet and an avocado for breakfast and a piece of fish and salad for lunch. I snack on nuts. I am 54, 5'10, and I way about 145. I weighed 220 at one point. I am like a teenager on Ritalin - I have almost freakish energy. My mind works like an advanced computer. At 30, I was a batshit crazy prosecutor, boozing it up and eating crappy carbs. I felt suicidal. My mother bugs the shit out of me about dinner because she is lonely and wants me to eat with her. She can't lose weight and my success irritates her. I do Orangetheory classes, Pilates, and ride my mountain bike. Michael, why do Americans eat so damn much? It is like people are trying to kill themselves with food. I love this quote:
"Our bodies need stress. Just like our immune and muscle systems, our gut needs stresses to help reset, recover, and relax. Our body is created to be Antifragile, that is a system that gets stronger under stress. Ironically, we are weakest and most fragile when we avoid stresses on our bodies."
I so get that. The people that I know who completely avoid stress are so miserable. Another thing..my diet has helped me avoid some of the pitfalls of peri-menopause. I am thinner and have more energy that I did at 20. My estrogen/progesterone levels are lower for sure. I am SO short tempered. I can access my existential anger much more easily. Sometimes I am a bitch. But I feel powerful. Isn't that strange?
I love your findings! It is so interesting how our bodies react. Sometimes harnessing 'the bitch' but toward a positive outcome can be good. And for context. It just might be making you a little disagreeable which means you can challenge the status quo.
I do a phase shift and do lunch and dinner because skipping breakfast is so much easier.
Something to think about. A diet that makes you loose body mass while eating to satiety would have lead to your death a few 100 years ago. (Keto not fasting)
Definitely lots of genetic adaptation around the world, and I doubt any Inuit do well on lower fat diets (just look at obesity rates on reserves that no longer adhere to traditional eating) . However as person of mostly Irish decent (dairy farmers before the english subjugation) I eventually look like I have a wasting disease when I lower carbs below 30%
Thank you for the detailed post and congratulations on the 10 days.
Fasting is my uber-practice, I find a quarterly extended fast not only brings the physical benefits, but for me it is also a reset that is great for my mental/emotional health. For the past 3 years if done 5 to 7 day fasts coinciding with the solstice and the equinox, to lend them a little more significance. My 7 day fast will begin around 20th September. I reflected on my midsummer fast and fasting as an uber-practice here: https://ordinarymastery.substack.com/p/uber-practice
Hello Michael - fascinating article, thanks for sharing. As I get older, I am 56 now, I feel a need to “simplify”. I have been thinking about fasting at least 1 day/week, but I just don’t know how to get started.
I am a runner, and I have consistently weighed 145-150 lbs most of my life. Right now I feel awful because I have not been running due to some personal issues. I felt really awesome when I did a 100 day streak of 10k daily runs. I lost weight, got down to about 127 without much change in my diet. I felt strong and energetic.
I long to return to that state once again. But this diet thing is very confusing. I know there is a lot of science behind it but I don’t know where to start.
Imwouldnt do one day a week but that's just me. I do recommend some longer fasts like 5 to 10 but that takes adjustment. I will always recommend getting into ketosis before any fast though. Basically day one is always the worst as your body adjusts.
Then again, if you do it frequently your body will adjust. Have you read something about one day a week that achieves what you are looking for?
There's a ton out there but also a ton of BS too. Take a look at some of the embedded links in my essay and the podcasts. That's a great start. Here's a decent overview as well.
"As typically happens, my motivation from all this great insight ran face-first into Day 5 which was one of the toughest days. But that’s probably because I thought it would be a good idea to cut out caffeine... It was a terrible idea! I corrected course with a mid-afternoon cup o’ joe, I was feeling great again. As I looked into whether I should try to cut it out, I found indications that coffee actually helps with autophagy while on a fast."
Coffee tastes amazing when you don't eat anything. We don't have the most fancy coffee, but I insist on ALWAYS having good coffee. Right now, it's a local place that roasts their own beans here in Richmond, and the coffee is from Ethiopia... so I simultaneously celebrate both localism and globalism, all in one delicious cup.
And: pardon my enthusiasm to make a coffee joke before finishing your piece! Never again, Satan. Your work is good and deserves to be seen, so I sometimes get in a rush to amplify it, but we're also all here to have a good discussion, and this is a great piece.
Dear Michael: Thanks for a wonderful article. I have proved every statement in your article by living it. I stop eating everyday by 4pm - no dinner. I do an omelet and an avocado for breakfast and a piece of fish and salad for lunch. I snack on nuts. I am 54, 5'10, and I way about 145. I weighed 220 at one point. I am like a teenager on Ritalin - I have almost freakish energy. My mind works like an advanced computer. At 30, I was a batshit crazy prosecutor, boozing it up and eating crappy carbs. I felt suicidal. My mother bugs the shit out of me about dinner because she is lonely and wants me to eat with her. She can't lose weight and my success irritates her. I do Orangetheory classes, Pilates, and ride my mountain bike. Michael, why do Americans eat so damn much? It is like people are trying to kill themselves with food. I love this quote:
"Our bodies need stress. Just like our immune and muscle systems, our gut needs stresses to help reset, recover, and relax. Our body is created to be Antifragile, that is a system that gets stronger under stress. Ironically, we are weakest and most fragile when we avoid stresses on our bodies."
I so get that. The people that I know who completely avoid stress are so miserable. Another thing..my diet has helped me avoid some of the pitfalls of peri-menopause. I am thinner and have more energy that I did at 20. My estrogen/progesterone levels are lower for sure. I am SO short tempered. I can access my existential anger much more easily. Sometimes I am a bitch. But I feel powerful. Isn't that strange?
I love your findings! It is so interesting how our bodies react. Sometimes harnessing 'the bitch' but toward a positive outcome can be good. And for context. It just might be making you a little disagreeable which means you can challenge the status quo.
I do a phase shift and do lunch and dinner because skipping breakfast is so much easier.
Thanks for your wonderful comment!
Something to think about. A diet that makes you loose body mass while eating to satiety would have lead to your death a few 100 years ago. (Keto not fasting)
True. Yet Keto was the way the Innuit lived for thousands of years becasue they ate primarily blubber and got all the calories they needed.
Definitely lots of genetic adaptation around the world, and I doubt any Inuit do well on lower fat diets (just look at obesity rates on reserves that no longer adhere to traditional eating) . However as person of mostly Irish decent (dairy farmers before the english subjugation) I eventually look like I have a wasting disease when I lower carbs below 30%
Thank you for the detailed post and congratulations on the 10 days.
Fasting is my uber-practice, I find a quarterly extended fast not only brings the physical benefits, but for me it is also a reset that is great for my mental/emotional health. For the past 3 years if done 5 to 7 day fasts coinciding with the solstice and the equinox, to lend them a little more significance. My 7 day fast will begin around 20th September. I reflected on my midsummer fast and fasting as an uber-practice here: https://ordinarymastery.substack.com/p/uber-practice
Great insights and a nice article!
Hello Michael - fascinating article, thanks for sharing. As I get older, I am 56 now, I feel a need to “simplify”. I have been thinking about fasting at least 1 day/week, but I just don’t know how to get started.
I am a runner, and I have consistently weighed 145-150 lbs most of my life. Right now I feel awful because I have not been running due to some personal issues. I felt really awesome when I did a 100 day streak of 10k daily runs. I lost weight, got down to about 127 without much change in my diet. I felt strong and energetic.
I long to return to that state once again. But this diet thing is very confusing. I know there is a lot of science behind it but I don’t know where to start.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Imwouldnt do one day a week but that's just me. I do recommend some longer fasts like 5 to 10 but that takes adjustment. I will always recommend getting into ketosis before any fast though. Basically day one is always the worst as your body adjusts.
Then again, if you do it frequently your body will adjust. Have you read something about one day a week that achieves what you are looking for?
Hi Michael - I just thought of 1 day a week as a starting point. I haven’t read anything about it at all.
There's a ton out there but also a ton of BS too. Take a look at some of the embedded links in my essay and the podcasts. That's a great start. Here's a decent overview as well.
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/stages-of-fasting
I was with you right up until "caffeine fast."
Oh, my fast from Caffine was problematic and I added it back in!
Mike! Don't scare me like that any more!
lol. This is why you don't stop reading!
From the essay:
"As typically happens, my motivation from all this great insight ran face-first into Day 5 which was one of the toughest days. But that’s probably because I thought it would be a good idea to cut out caffeine... It was a terrible idea! I corrected course with a mid-afternoon cup o’ joe, I was feeling great again. As I looked into whether I should try to cut it out, I found indications that coffee actually helps with autophagy while on a fast."
Humble apologies. My caffeine defenses went into overdrive immediately and took my mind over!
I know right! I'm doing the fast again right now and splurged on some super nice mexican beans that are magnificent.
Coffee tastes amazing when you don't eat anything. We don't have the most fancy coffee, but I insist on ALWAYS having good coffee. Right now, it's a local place that roasts their own beans here in Richmond, and the coffee is from Ethiopia... so I simultaneously celebrate both localism and globalism, all in one delicious cup.
And: pardon my enthusiasm to make a coffee joke before finishing your piece! Never again, Satan. Your work is good and deserves to be seen, so I sometimes get in a rush to amplify it, but we're also all here to have a good discussion, and this is a great piece.