The Fat Fast

The Fat Fast:  Please don't take this as dogma, only information that you can use to formulate your own plan and what works for you!

Crazy?  Controversial?  Effective?  Boring?  Interesting?  Dangerous?  Whether or not you have heard of the fat fast doesn't matter.  Let's assume you prescribe to the conclusion that fat doesn't make us fat and you eat a relatively high fat diet already.  Then this should probably come pretty easy to you.  If you haven't adopted a Ketogenic diet then it may seem pretty crazy to do this.  I don't know if going from a SAD diet to fat fasting would be wise because of the carb flu symptoms, but if you are going in feet first and want to get yourself into deep ketosis as rapidly as possible, then a fat fast may be for you.  Many people who eat LCHF are already eating 70% or higher of their calories from fat, a fat fast consists of 90% of calories from fat.  The catch is to eat only 1000 calories, 5 "feedings" of 200 calories each.  It was originally called the Kekwick diet.  Internet searches will include lots of results and recipe ideas (CarbSmart has a whole book dedicated to this) however, for myself I find it much easier to stick to the KISS method and Keep It Simple Stupid.  I have to remember, I'm not eating for pleasure and that if I expand my menu it becomes more pleasurable.  I keep it simple in the morning and put heavy cream in my coffee with one Splenda.  Then during the day I generally have 2 oz of double cream brie lightly spread with my favorite (not sweetened) mustard, the wheels come in 8 oz portions so cutting that into 4 pieces give me 4 meals, pretty simple!  So with the cream and coffee and the wheel of brie, that's one day's food!  Not much, not exciting, but that's not the idea here.  I also really love cream cheese, 2 oz of cream cheese fits into the menu as well, I will put that on a stick of celery with salt and pepper.  While I'm at work in the kitchen it's much easier to grab 1 oz of macadamia nuts, but it's not my favorite way to go as they aren't as satisfying to me.  I just love the creamy texture of the brie and the cream cheese.  Other than those ideas, I might whip 1/4 cup cream at night with a Splenda and some unsweetened cocoa powder to make a "mousse" as a treat.  And there is always 4 slices of cooked bacon to use as a meal, which we always have laying around at the restaurant!

How do I feel and perform during this?  Great.  Nutrittional Ketosis as Dr's Jeff Volek and Steve Phinney (check lectures on YouTube) have coined it gives a mental clarity that I have not really experienced otherwise.  Even after a long day at work the drive home finds me more inquisitive and observant than I would otherwise experience.  I find myself just wanting to get up and "do," it doesn't matter what, just something, boundless energy.  I go for a walk and don't really want to stop, I keep coming up to my destination and keep going to a new one, no big deal to walk 4-5 miles at a clip just for fun.  Before that would have been an insurmountable task and just 15 minutes down the street and back would warrant a great deal of mental convincing.  The only thing I don't care for is the wanting to eat.  I think about food constantly.  I think this comes back to a food and carb addiction and just eating to eat.  It really helps you remember (or find out if you don't know) what hunger really is.  You don't get hungry per se, but you know when your time to eat is coming up.  I find if I can occupy myself it's easier (hence this blog!)  Yes, I'm Fat Fasting right now, started this morning!

I FF'd back in January with good results for 2 days and it helped me break my plateau and reinvigorate my focus to eating when I'm hungry and to satiety.  I believe I lost 3 pounds...  I did notice that I slept differently.  With a virtually empty stomach my mind seemed to want to keep going, not necessarily a restless sleep, but a reluctance to.  Hard to describe really, but I do remember reading that people who fast generally have a hard time sleeping, we'll see if it happens this go around as I chronicle on this blog what I'm going through.

Again, do your own research.  Fat doesn't make us fat.  Insulin is the fat storage hormone, insulin drives fat, sugar drives insulin, carbs are sugar.  It's that simple.