The Aging Games

I know it's been a while since I've done an update. So here we are at the beginning of September already. Things are progressing really nicely. So much better than I ever imagined. I've slowly transitioned to a mostly Carnivore diet , consisting or meat, eggs and dairy with very little veggies and no fruit. I've continued fasting on a regular basis. Basically having just one meal a day on most days (OMAD) and then still doing regular water fasts as I feel the need. My weight continued to decrease slowly but very steadily. I wasn't expecting this at all. I would have been very happy just maintaining my weight under 70kg and here I am at 62kg. How cool is that? Yeah, I'm sure excited.  Here's my latest before and after pic. Hopefully you guys can see the difference. I can tell you that I feel so amazing! I've had to buy a whole new wardrobe. I know, the horror, eh? I've stopped taking all my supplements. My eczema is a thing of the past. My Has

Throughout my life I have spent so many years doing all kinds of different diets; Vegan, Paleo, Keto, LCHF, Atkin's, intermittent fasting, etc. One thing they all had in common was that they all failed eventually. First the weight would stall and then slowly start creeping back up again where I'd eventually just give up and start eating the "forbidden" foods once again. What I've learned since completing my first-ever 10 day Water Fast is that whatever you do, the body will adapt so in order to experience change, you need to mix things up a little. I've been doing intermittent fasting for many years, eating within a 6-8 hour window and even though everyone is boasting about the weight loss benefits of IF, I never personally experienced it. So what am I doing differently now? I'm still following a strict Keto diet as I just feel so much better, lighter and healthier, I now know that this is not enough to bring on continued weight loss. So I've dec

It's been 3 weeks since I've completed my first-ever 10 day water fast , with great success and my weight has been holding pretty much steady since then. I'm sticking to a strict Keto diet to maintain the benefits of the fast and I am a little too obsessively weighing myself every morning. Even though the scale hasn't really moved much in either direction, I did noticed my waist was looking particularly trim this morning. I whipped out the measuring tape and realized that I have lost almost 2 more inches around my belly. Wooohooo! Yes! Happy days! So how does this not show up on the scale? This was a good reminder of how the scale is not always a good indicator of what's actually happening in your body. The pic below is a perfect example of what happened to me a few years back when I embarked on a low-carb journey with weight training, instead of lots of cardio and grazing on "healthy" carbs throughout the day. My weight shot up but my body composition

Who can relate to this? Waking up thinking about food. What should I have for breakfast? Oh I need to do some grocery shopping. Hmmm that Sunday roast at my Mom's was amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about it. What about lunch? Should I cook something or should we try that new bistro down by the sea? I have friends coming for dinner, I wonder what they'd like to eat? Is Jill still a vegetarian?  Oh the 3 pm blues are hitting me hard. Definitely time for a quick snack. Two minutes after the snack. Why did you eat that? Do you have no self control at all? Seriously, who eats 3 doughnuts and 2 kitKats before dinner? But my blood sugar was so low. It was either that or a siesta and I have so much to do. Yum, something smells good. I wonder what the neighbors are barbecuing. I better get started with dinner then. I'll have to make something different for the kids though. Last night, to my shock, horror and surprise, hubby agreed to do a 48 hour fast with me this wee

During my 10-day water fast I learned something interesting. Those pesky little skin tags, you know the ones appearing out of nowhere under the arms and other funky grooves in the body, can actually be caused by insulin resistance . Although experts don't yet understand exactly why skin tags develop, they do know that there's a definite correlation between tags and insulin resistance  and diabetes. So what happens during a water fast to make these little soft fibromas disappear? Well, longer duration fasts can dramatically reduce insulin levels in the body and after a few days even I noticed my skin tags disappearing and shrinking. How cool is that? Truly, the benefits of water fasting are endless. Bonus info : Skin tags often appear on women suffering from PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). Insulin resistance and PCOS usually go hand in hand .

During my research I read about all these people needing little to no sleep while water fasting. Some reported waking up totally refreshed and ready to take on the world after only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Now this got me pretty excited! What will I do with all that extra time on my hands? I know! I'm going to learn Mandarin. I'm going to write a book. I'm going reorganize my closet and throw away all my fat clothes. But then reality set in. Yup, sure enough I'd wake up around 4 am every morning, but definitely not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I felt more like a dump truck just drove over me. I'd spend the next couple of hours listening to the Complete Guide to Fasting on audiobook, until I'd finally drift off to sleep for another couple of hours. This persisted for a whole week after I broke my fast. But why? Why not sleep like a baby when fasting? Why not sleep like a baby after? I just didn't get it. Then I listened to Matthew Walker (I highly recommen

Listening to Dr. Fung and Jimmy Moore's podcast yesterday I learned something new. During my 10-day water fast I was quite confident that other than pure water, you can also enjoy some tea, coffee and even bone broth as needed. I would say my fast was a success as I lost more weight than I could have ever imagined, a long-standing shoulder pain disappeared and I feel energized and very confident in this new tool I have at my disposal whenever I need it. However, what I learned from Dr. Fung  is that this flexibility in a water fast is great for metabolic issues and also very helpful in maintaining a longer fast, however, if your goal is autophagy  then you need to fast strictly on water. In what cases would autophagy be important and the ultimate goal in water fasting? I would say for anyone with more serious health issues, which they are looking to resolve. Please keep in mind that longer water fasts should always be done under the supervision of a doctor.

A few days after my first ever 10-day Water Fast I embarked on my first 24-hour fast. Since I've remained in a state of ketosis it was just a natural progression. I wasn't hungry so I carried on without food for 25 hours to be exact. So what exactly is the benefit of doing a short 24-hour fast? As you may have read in my earlier blogs, peak stem cell and growth hormone release takes place after fasting for 72-hours so surely doing anything less than that is just a waste of time. Well, not exactly. A 24-hour water fast can have tremendous cumulative health benefits, especially when practiced on a monthly or even weekly basis. Giving your digestive system a rest  Allowing your body to turn on its self-healing mechanism. Just think of how many hours a day our digestive system is burdened down with digestion every single day. Weight Loss Regularly engaging in a 24-hour water fast can help boost your metabolism, balance hormones and assist in weight loss. Disease Prev

This is a kind of controversial topic among fasting experts. Some believe that fasting should be a time of slowing down and healing and the body should not be overburdened with exercise or with repairing muscles. I think this type of approach makes a lot of sense to people. On the other side, fasting induces a huge surge of growth hormone release , beginning at around 14-16 hours into the fast and peaking at 72 hours. Many athletes train to take advantage of this period for accelerated muscle growth and improved fitness goals. So what does this mean for the average faster such as myself? My approach was to just listen to my body. On the 3rd day of my fast I went on a hike with a friend and I could feel my body not being in top form and I even felt out of breath at times. It wasn't enjoyable so I listened to my body and cut my hike short. On the 4th day, instead of my regular weight training routine, my trainer and I did some Yoga and stretching routines. It felt amazing and I

Keeping the weight off after an intense water fast is definitely the goal for many of us. Thankfully, our bodies will be functioning better, our metabolism would have received a boost and our digestion will be working better, but what more can we do to ensure maintenance or continued weight loss? The first thing we should NOT do is just go back to the way we were eating before. Obviously, that wasn't working. We've also learned the hard way that eating less calories and exercising more just slows down our basic metabolic rate, leading to even more gains down the line. So my goal will be to remain in ketosis (fat burning mode) after my fast through a strict ketogenic , high fat diet. I will continue to monitor my ketone levels to keep me on track and I'm also planning on adding a 24 hour water fast each week. I've been practicing intermittent fasting for quite a few years so I will continue on with just two meals a day, eating within a 6-8 hour window daily and fa

As always there's quite a bit of conflicting information out there about how to break a fast. One thing everyone agrees on is that the fast needs to broken slowly and gently. You also need several days to go back to eating normally. For example, if you do a 7 day fast, you need about 3 days of refeeding. On a 10 day fast, you'll need 4-5 days and so on. How you break the fast will make or break the whole experience. If you go right back to your old way of eating, you can easily negate all the benefits of your fast. One school of thought insists on breaking the fast with fruit, more specifically watermelon and then lots of veggies and more fruit. Since my goal is to remain in ketosis, I will be taking a different approach. I will be eating protein, fat and some low-carb veggies, bone broth and lots of water. I would also recommend abstaining from alcohol for at least a few days so you're not overburdening your liver. Listen to your body. Don't force the food if yo

The day has finally arrived for me to have my first solid bite after 10 long days of fasting. I read that it's important to have something very light to get the digestion going before you'd have a bit larger meal. I decided on organic kefir and a couple of walnuts. Macadamia nuts come highly recommended for breaking the fast but I just didn't have any. For those not familiar with kefir, it's like a runnier version of yogurt but with much more probiotics. About ten minutes later I had to do an urgent bathroom run, which I'd assume is pretty normal. I spent the next few hours contemplating what to eat. I honestly couldn't decide on anything. Was I even hungry? Should I have just kept on with the fast? Reluctantly I decided on a soft boiled egg, a little tuna, some cucumber and feta. I set down to mindfully enjoy every bite. The problem was that I did not find the food enjoyable at all. Quite repulsive actually. I would have thought I'd enjoy anything at al

That's 10 whole days for those of you who are bad at math. :) Wow, what an accomplishment. I can't believe that I had the willpower to stick to this. How did I know it was time to break the fast? Hunger returned with a vengeance last night. Also, weight loss has really slowed down in the last couple of days. I guess my body was running out of things to munch on. Well, I could still think of a few places but we have to trust the system. I woke up this morning very excited and started with some kefir to replenish some of the intestinal bacteria before my first meal. I'm now enjoying a nice cup of matcha tea with extra cream and a bit of bone broth protein (I swear it tastes like hot chocolate, yum!) and thinking about what my first proper meal will be. I still have some broth left so I was thinking of perhaps making some cream of mushroom soup and pretty much sticking to liquids today but the day is still young. Will keep you guys posted.

Today, on day 9, I've experienced the perfect water fast day, which consisted of: 1. Sungazing first thing in the morning 2. Enjoying some morning sun with feet grounded in the wet grass 3. Matcha tea with cinnamom (I used to hate this but what a treat now!) 4. Weight training for 40 minutes (it was the first day I felt like pumping some iron. Listen to your body!) 5. An hour long massage in hubby's massage chair (Hallelujah!) 6. 30 minutes of pressotherapy (for lymphatic drainage) 7. Relaxing hot bath with Epsom salt 8. 35 minutes of infrared sauna (those toxins gotta go!) 9. Skinny dipping in the cold pool (don't tell my neighbors!) 10. Nice walk on the beach and a dip in the cold ocean (plan for a bit later) Other than the matcha I've been drinking water all day. Some of it deuterium depleted for extra detox and healing. Depending on how I'm feeling I might do a small cup of home-made bone broth and my treat throughout the day is pink salt crystals

As I continued on my extended fast things continued to improve. My energy was high, hunger nonexistent and I was going about my every day life as normal. I continued drinking lots of water, eating salt as needed, drinking matcha and cream in the mornings and drinking a little bone broth when I felt like I needed a boost. I also went to the doctor for a quick physical and blood test to make sure things were OK. My best day was day 9, when I actually hit the gym and did 40 minutes of weight training and then swam about 50 laps in the pool. I felt like Wonder Woman. Then on the evening of the 9th day my hunger returned. Not just for a few seconds but my body was screaming at me to eat. I knew that this was a sign that my body was done and it was time to start eating. I waited until the next day to break my fast.

First of all, if you take any medication or suffer from a serious medical condition, you should not embark on a longer fast without your doctor's supervision. I originally started out to complete a 3-day fast but as I learned about the growth hormone release on day 4 and stem cell release on day 5, I just didn't want to miss out on the "sweet spot". I also knew that from day 4 your body switches to burning ketones for energy and the hunger and most of the discomforts should subside. Abs appearing after one week I woke up on day 4 feeling truly fantastic. I felt like I could do this forever. I had a nice yoga session walk, drank plenty of water and the day passed more or less uneventfully. Day 5 was just as smooth. On day 6 I had a bit of lightheadedness but some pink salt and extra water set everything right. I'm a pretty healthy person so I didn't really have a lot of detox symptoms. I didn't notice any nasty body odor, I didn't get headache

So guys I'm going to be brutally honest with you. During days 1-3 of my water fast, time stood still. I felt like it should be midnight already and it was only 2pm. Normally the days fly by too quickly but not during these first few days. I couldn't wait to get to bed so the hunger would stop and I wasn't very keen to wake up in the morning. If I could have just slept for three days straight, I would have. The hunger also made me rather angry (hangry) at my family and even my dogs as they just continued eating around me as if nothing happened. Pigs! I tried to keep myself busy as possible but your mind has a very hard time overpowering your grumbling stomach. Although this is very normal for the first three days, not everyone will have the same experience. Two friends who were fasting with me just sailed through the first 3 days and had a harder time with days and 3 and 4. So it really is an individual experience. But hang in there as things do get better.

Well, water, obviously but luckily there's some room for flexibility . You can also enjoy tea, herbal teas, coffee and bone broth as needed. Do not use any sugar or sweeteners but you can add a drop of heavy cream as needed. I had decaf coffee twice during my ten-day fast and to be honest I didn't find it very helpful. Each morning, however, I started with matcha tea and a drop of cream, blended well in the blender and sprinkled with cinnamon. It was heavenly. I reserved the bone broth for days when my strength was lacking and was only having an espresso cupful those days. Others are having 4-6 cups a day and they did really well regardless. I tried to stay as true as possible to being on a water only fast so I only used these crutches when I really needed them. As to how much water? Some experts say you need about 2 liters but I say just listen to your body. When you're feeling hungry or thirsty, drink more. I also found sparkling mineral waters, like Perrier , a li

After about day three, your body will switch to burning ketones instead of sugar for energy. This is the sweet spot people! Please keep in mind that ketone measurements are not always a good indication of what's actually going on in your body. Are you losing weight? Has the hunger dissipated? Then rest assured that you in ketosis and don't stress too much about testing ketone levels. Having said that, the following are the 3 ways to test your ketone levels: Urine  You can buy ketone urine strips at any pharmacy and test your urine levels any time you like. Please don't obsess if the sticks don't turn deep purple. Remember this only measure the excreted ketones and not what your body is actually using. Blood Blood ketone monitors and strips are quite expensive but this will give you the most accurate results. Breath Funny enough, you can buy a regular  breathalyzer (yes, the one the cops made you blow into) and other than alcohol, this also measures aceto

Water fasting has so many benefits I'm not even sure where to start. Let's look at some of the most important things: Weight Loss I know this shouldn't be the #1 reason to fast but let's be honest here, vanity wins out over health benefits every time. Sad but true. After getting rid of extra water, in the absence of food, your body will start burning your stored fat as energy. Die fat cells die!! After the third day, once you're finally in ketosis this becomes a very natural and healthy way for your body to kick into survival mode by burning stored energy. The good news is that this will all take place without you feeling any hunger at all. Healing Your digestive system finally gets a rest. Just think of how many hours each day are spent digesting food. During this time, much of your body's energy is concentrating on digestion and not much else. Giving your body this much needed rest will allow it to focus on healing and rejuvenating. This means that wa

One morning I just woke up and felt so disgusted with myself that I just jumped into my first water fast. I've since learned that this is NOT the way to get started. You really want to properly prepare your body and mind for the fast and find a convenient period of time, free of stress, where cleansing your body can be your first priority. The pic is just an illustration of how I felt Before I fast again, I will make sure my body is in full nutritional ketosis, which means it's burning ketones and not sugar for fuel. This would make the first 3 days of hell (until your body naturally switches to ketones), avoidable. If you are new to ketosis and the keto diet, this is a great source to get you started with information and lots of delicious recipes. A keto diet is also something you might want to continue on after your water fast to maintain the weight loss and other health benefits you'll be enjoying.  https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto

Having fasted various times throughout my life on juices, up to three weeks at a time, I finally decided to embark on the whole new journey of water fasting. My first goal was to complete three day but after learning that the magic begins on day 4 and the huge stem cell release is to be expected on day 5, I decided to carry on. Also knowing that hunger disappears after day 3 and the rest is smooth sailing, so why stop there? My lunch by the sea (hubby was eating calamari) The first 3 days were quite challenging but from day 4 onward things did get much easier. Once I reached day 5 and felt fantastic I decided to continue on to 7 days. At 7 days, I decided to carry on day by day, hopefully reaching day 10. Woohoo! What a milestone that would be! Not bad for my first water fast. Who's badass? I am!! So here I am just wrapping up day 9 and after my Mom told me that, "everyone knows you die after two weeks" I'm quite determined to carry on for 14 days, just to pro