24 Hours of Fasting: What I Learned

I didn’t think I could do it: 24 hours of fasting. No food. Only water. I wouldn’t be credible if I suggested to healthy seniors that intermittent fasting was good for anti-aging and health if I didn’t walk my talk.

First off, I have to confess that if it wasn’t for this blog and our book War on Aging, I never would have tried to go without eating for four hours, let alone 24. Here’s why:

Why I Was Reluctant to Fast

1. I don’t need to lose weight.
2. My BMI is 18, on the low side of healthy.
3. I love to eat, especially snacks between meals.
4. I’m impulsive and follow the See-Food Diet (I see food, I eat it). I’m not sure I can fast…
5. I love to cheat on diets, always have. (I will figure out an easier way to get it done.)
6. I’ve had low blood sugar on occasion, so I use that excuse to eat every 3-4 hours.
7. I’m usually afraid of fad diets and internet hype. (Just Google “Intermittent Fasting.”)
8. I may be addicted to eating. I keep doing it.
9. I hate to be deprived of anything, ever!

Why I Wanted to Fast for 24 Hours

On the other hand, I can’t afford to ignore the science and research that points to the health benefits of short term fasting. As a 74-year-old senior who lifts weights with a trainer three times a week, I want to build muscle and lose body fat. It’s not about weight, it’s about body fat.

The last time I got measured by a body composition scan, my body fat was 29%, which is high for someone as low in body weight as I am. What I have is visceral fat around the abdomen, which is bad for health. And that 29% was after working out for two years with a previous trainer.

I know that it’s harder for seniors to build muscle, most of us simply want to keep what we’ve got. But with training there’s no reason not to strengthen the muscle fibers, even if they don’t grow bigger.

Here are all reasons that made sense for me to fast. I want to:

1. Decrease body fat
2. Maintain skeletal muscle mass
3. Decrease blood glucose levels (I had a ‘pre-diabetic’ reading at one time)
4. Decrease insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity
5. Increase lipolysis and fat oxidation
6. Increase growth hormone levels
7. Decrease food related stress (I obsess over what to eat and when to eat, making me always hungry)
8. Decrease chronic systemic inflammation
9. Increase cellular cleansing and autophagy
10. Decrease irritable bowel symptoms
11. Decrease sugar snacking habit

I know that most of these bullet points need some explanation, and I will follow up with a post, but it’s taken me a long time to read and research the nutritional and cellular interactions involved.

My 24 Hour Fast Was Easy

I thought I’d get hunger pangs around noon of the first day, as that’s when I have lunch. But I never did get any signals that I was hungry at all.

After dinner the night before, I stopped eating at 6:30 p.m. This itself was new behavior, as we like to nibble on snacks in front of the TV. I went to bed a little early. I woke at 4 a.m. as is my habit, and then forced myself to have artificially sweetened coffee without any milk or cream. This was a major shift in habit for me as well, but it was easier than I expected.

The next challenge was to not eat the rest of the day until dinner at 6:30. I went to my usual Pickle Ball group and played for two hours, then did errands and came home at lunch time. This is what I do everyday, as we skip breakfast habitually.

I don’t skip calories completely, however, as I have a fruit smoothy with Collagen powder when I take my medicines and vitamin supplements. So on my fasting day, I delayed taking my pills until dinner time.

What was challenging for me was thinking about food. From lunch-time on I thought about what I’d like to eat. I had to remind myself that I was fasting and would have to wait another 5-6 hours. In fact, I found myself counting out how many hours left.

To not be too obsessive, I had already planned out some chores that I could do in town. Getting out of the house meant putting distance between me and the kitchen. It helped the time go by quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to pick up some things at the grocery store and start preparing dinner.

Here again, fasting helped me not snack through the preparation process. I often overeat as I taste things before sitting down to a meal.

Fasting Gave Me Freedom and Control

In fact, it was a great relief to not worry about food during the fast. I simply crossed off eating and food for that day. After dinner when I broke the fast, I kept to the new practice of not eating before bed, something I hadn’t been able to do before. All in all, I had a sense of freedom and being in control. I can choose when to fast, for how long, and when to not fast.

The next day I was very proud of my experience, and best of all, my gut felt well-rested. I wanted to continue fasting, with another 24 hours of abstinence. But I resisted. I will eat normally and healthfully for a few days and I might try it again to see if it will be as easy as it was the first try.

I followed the suggestions in Brad Pilon’s book Eat Stop Eat: The Shocking Truth that Makes Weight Loss Simple Again. This is a well-written book by a nutritionist and health expert. If you want to understand the science behind the practice of 24 hour fasting, Pilon does an great job of writing in simple language for non-scientists.

What Happens to Your Body During a 24 Hour Fast

Here’s an excerpt from Medical News Today that explains how fasting works inside your body.

What happens during fasting?

By Scott Harris

Whether a person is fasting or not, the body still needs energy. Its primary energy source is a sugar called glucose, which usually comes from carbohydrates, including grains, dairy products, fruits, certain vegetables, beans, and even sweets.

The liver and muscles store the glucose and release it into the bloodstream whenever the body needs it.

However, during fasting, this process changes. After about 8 hours of fasting, the liver will use the last of its glucose reserves. At this point, the body enters into a state called gluconeogenesis, marking the body’s transition into fasting mode.

Studies have shown that gluconeogenesis increases the number of calories the body burns. With no carbohydrates coming in, the body creates its own glucose using mainly fat.

Eventually, the body runs out of these energy sources as well. Fasting mode then becomes the more serious starvation mode.

At this point, a person’s metabolism slows down, and their body begins burning muscle tissue for energy.

Although it is a well-known term in dieting culture, true starvation mode only occurs after several consecutive days or even weeks without food.

So, for those breaking their fast after 24 hours, it is generally safe to go without eating for a day unless other health conditions are present.

What do you think? This is intermittent fasting, a topic that is getting a lot of interest from scientists. It is far easier to do than severe calorie restriction. And when eating once a day, your body refuels so it doesn’t get deprived as in longer fasts.