What is Fasting?

Fasting, a practice that has been part of human culture for centuries, involves voluntarily abstaining from food or drink for a specific period.

Fasting can be practiced in different ways, including intermittent fasting, extended fasting, and alternate-day fasting.

The duration of fasting can range from several hours to days or even weeks, depending on the chosen fasting method and individual preferences.

While fasting has historical and religious roots, it has gained increased attention in recent years for its potential health benefits.

I have been undertaking regular fasts since early 2021. I started with Intermittent Fasting and gradually I have increased my fasting to once a week 36 Hour Fast.

In this article, I will use my experience and research and take you through the process of undertaking fasting on regular basis.

Additionally, I will help you to understand the basics of fasting, so that you can better appreciate its potential effects on your body and make informed decisions about incorporating it into your lifestyle.

What are different types of Fasting?

1. Intermittent Fasting (IF): This approach involves alternating between periods of fasting and eating. The most common IF methods include the 16/8 method (fasting for 16 hours and eating within an 8-hour window) and the 5:2 diet (eating normally for five days and restricting calorie intake on two non-consecutive days).
2. Extended Fasting: Extended fasting refers to longer periods of fasting, typically lasting between 24 hours and several days. Some individuals may choose to fast for medical purposes, while others do it for personal or spiritual reasons.
3. 36-hour Fasting: A 36 hour fast is a form of Extended Fasting. A 36 Hour fast entails that you go without solid food for 36 hours straight. As an example, if you had dinner at 8:00 pm on Monday, then your next solid food meal would be at 8:00 am on Wednesday morning.
4. Alternate-Day Fasting: This method involves alternating between fasting days (no or minimal calorie intake) and non-fasting days (normal calorie intake) on a regular basis.

Setting Fasting as My Health & Well Being Priority

Fasting was one of the concepts that I was thinking of implementing for a long time to improve my health.

Besides enabling weight-loss, I had been highly intrigued by the ability of Fasting to generate autophagy, a natural process in the body that helps clear out damaged cells and regenerate healthy ones.

Autophagy has been shown to play a role in reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

In fact, studies have shown that autophagy may help protect against cancer by removing damaged cells that can lead to the development of tumors.

In the backdrop of experiencing first-hand the type of devastation caused by cancer like diseases on friends and families, I decided to start experimentation with fasting.

In the following sections, I will share my personal journey from fasting beginner to pro and provide tips and strategies that have helped me establish a successful weekly 36-hour fasting routine.

I hope that by sharing my story, I can inspire others who may be looking for ways to improve their health and well-being.

How does Fasting work? – Understanding Food Metabolism

Before even considering fasting, one might wonder why anyone should deny food and nourishment to their body?

The simple answer is that our bodies are actually used to denial of food.

It is the over-abundance of food that has become a problem.

Our bodies are designed as survival machines which can go on for long periods of time without food.

To understand fasting we have to understand the complete cycle of how food gets metabolized in our bodies.

When we eat food, our body converts this food into glucose.

This glucose is released in our blood stream.

As the glucose in our blood stream increases, the Pancreas release the hormone insulin which signals the body’s cells to start uptake of this glucose.

This glucose is used as the primary source of energy for various bodily functions. This process is called as ‘Glycolysis’.

If there is excess glucose in the blood, then this glucose is stored in the body for future use.

The body cells can only store a limited amount of glucose.

So where does this excess glucose go?

Excess Glucose is stored in the body in the form of reserve energy.

How is food stored in our body?

The first surprising thing that I found out was that there are two stores of energy in the body!!

I was under the assumption that the body only has Fat as a store of energy. But there is another intermediate store of energy in the body for storing glucose. This is the Liver.

The Liver stores glucose as glycogen through a process called as Glycogenesis.

Around 2000 calories worth of Glycogen can be stored in the Liver.

What happens when this reserve of 2000 calories is exceeded?!

That’s the metabolic process that blew my mind.

This excess glycogen is converted into fat by a process called “de novo lipogenesis.”

Hence, for storing energy, body can produce fat from simple glucose on its own. This fat is then stored in the adipose tissue, which are specialized cells capable of storing fat.

Unlike the limitation on Liver for storing glycogen for 2000 calories, adipose tissue has unlimited capability of storing Fat.

Tens of thousands of calories can be stored in the fat tissue. Hence, any normal human might be carrying around twenty to even forty thousand calories as stored energy.

This is where Fasting comes in.

Since there is no limit on Fat Storage in the body, there has to be some process to stop excess fat storage.

Fasting is the only process which stops fat storage!!

In ancient times, there were long periods where our ancestors had to go without food and this process of Fat regulation used to happen on its own.

Unfortunately, in modern times of excess food availability, our body never gets to fast. Hence, Fat collection has become a one-way stream.

I will explain this process now by describing what happens when we are not eating.

How our Body utilizes stored food for energy?

When we pause in-between meals, the body still requires energy to function. That’s where the stored energy reserves come into the picture.

When the body detects that it is going low on energy, the pancreas stops production of Insulin.

When insulin goes down, this signals to the liver to activate the process of using stored energy.

The most interesting thing is that the body always uses the stored Glycogen energy in the Liver first.

Till these 2000 calories are not reduced to zero, the body does not start using fat burning.

Only once these 2000 calories are used up, then only the body will start fat burning.

Dr Jason Fung, a world-renowned expert on fasting, describes the above fat burning mechanism akin to having money in the bank vs having money in the wallet.

Fat stores are equivalent to money in the bank and wallet money is equivalent to Glycogen store in the Liver.

You can have infinite money in your bank, but in your wallet, you only carry a limited amount of money.

Similarly, in our body, the Liver Glycogen store is the wallet. Its store of 2000 calories is exactly the same as that required for a day’s energy use. In our adipose tissue, we can store unlimited amount of Fat.

Hence, fat stores in adipose tissue are equivalent to bank deposit.

Whenever you require money, first you will empty your wallet.

Only when your wallet is empty, you will take the trouble to go to the bank and withdraw money from there. This is the same as the body mechanism.

Whenever, the body detects low energy, first it uses the Glycogen store.

When the Glycogen store is empty, only then it starts using the Fat stores.

In the modern world, we never allow our Glycogen store to become empty!!

With our constant eating, after every few hours, the glycogen store always remains full.

Mostly it starts overflowing.

Then the body starts converting excess glucose into more fat. This is again deposited in our Fat banks.

Hence, we remain overweight or obese in spite of our best efforts.

Fasting is the required method to stop this one-way mechanism of Fat storage.

When we fast for extended periods, our bodies start using the glycogen store.

In around twenty-four hours, the body exhausts the glycogen store. Then the body starts using the Fat store.

Hence, a Thirty-Six hour fast is ideal to reset the body and ensure that the Fat store is also utilized on a regular basis.

How do I stop Hunger Pangs while Fasting? – Understanding Hunger and Fasting

From the earlier section, we saw that our body needs to fast. But in reality, when we start fasting, we find out that our body doesn’t want to fast!!

Our stomach grumbles, and our eyes search for food!!

Our noses and our senses become hyper-sensitive and our moods become sour.

In other words, we become hungry!!

If we want to fast, how do we conquer hunger?!!

This is one question which also troubled me a lot. And this is one of the biggest stumbling-blocks in integrating a 36 Hour Fasting habit.

The thing to understand is that our body is highly automated by a complex interplay of various hormones and our nervous system.

There are multiple automatic triggers which release these hormones.

Then the hormones act on the nervous system and the nervous system makes us undertake certain actions. This not only impacts the Hunger system, but it also impacts other body systems.

An example of such an automated system is the automated Fight, Flight or Freeze response in humans.

Let’s say that you have gone for a walk during the night. Suddenly you hear footsteps behind you.

Immediately, your body will enter this Fight, Flight or Freeze response.

In the Fight mode, you may turn around to check for the source of footsteps, ready to defend yourself if required.

In the Flight mode, you may have a strong urge to quicken your pace or make a dash for safety.

In the Freeze mode, you may become paralyzed and unable to move.

This is an example of how the limbic system, a very ancient part of our brain, works to automatically protect us.

Our hunger system is not very different. It only has different triggers and different method of manifestation.

What causes normal hunger? – Getting to know the Hunger Hormone – ‘Grehlin’

When our stomach is empty, it releases a hormone called as Ghrelin into the bloodstream.

Ghrelin is popularly known as the hunger hormone.

Ghrelin travels to the brain and signals to the hypothalamus to increase hunger and promote food uptake.

Hypothalamus is an important part of our brain’s ancient limbic system responsible for automatic regulation of multiple bodily functions including detecting changes in body’s energy balance and initiating hunger or satiety signals.

As the hypothalamus receives signals from Ghrelin, it kick-starts the hunger response.

The Hunger Response manifests as the feelings that you get when you are hungry.

Your body automatically propels you towards food.

You might become short-tempered, your thoughts might go towards food and there is that grumbling of the stomach which reminds you to eat.

The hunger response was very well suited for ancient times when it would force our ancestors to look for food.

But with abundance of food, our bodies have still not learned that such an ancient response system is not required.

Hence at one hand we need to fast to get all those benefits of Autophagy and cleansing our bodies.

On the other hand, the ancient part of our brain screams to us to stuff our tummies with food.

The solution to this vexing problem actually lies in the way Ghrelin, the hunger hormone is triggered.

A clinical study undertaken on six subjects subjected to a 32 hour fast revealed that Ghrelin secretion follows a “circadian pattern similar to that described in people eating three meals a day” (Note: circadian pattern means a pattern that recurs naturally on a 24-hour cycle)i.

During the study, the six subjects were subjected to a fast starting from midnight lasting to the day after at 8:00 am.

The subjects were admitted to a ward and blood was withdrawn regularly at an interval of 20 minutes to study the Ghrelin levels.

When the levels were plotted the following chart was revealed.

Based on this finding, the study authors go on to conclude that “The variation in ghrelin independently of meals in fasting subjects supports previous observations that it is the brain that is primarily involved in the regulation of meal initiation. ”

In short, this study shows that hunger is a Mind Job. Ghrelin is secreted at our habitual meal times irrespective of the fact whether we are on a fast or if we are eating regularly.

It would have been highly problematic if Ghrelin levels stayed high constantly.

A constantly high ghrelin levels would mean that there is no way we could have conquered hunger.

Since Ghrelin levels fluctuate as per meal timings, targeting hunger is completely possible using the Mind-Body Hacking processes.

Our critical insight is that just like this study’s subjects, we have to see through these peaks and we would not suffer constantly throughout the day during the fast.

This is exactly how I managed to successfully put a 36-hour fasting system. (Note: My whole website habits.social is about the topic of Mind-Body hacking)

But before we move on to the steps on managing hunger during fasting, there are a few additional things that we need to understand.

The first is the phenomenon of being ‘Always Hungry.’

That is a different type of hunger which is powered by sudden fall in our blood sugar levels.

Always Feeling Hungry? – Processed Carbs may be the reason

Before I even started on my Mind-Body hacking journey, I could never imagine that I would ever be able to undertake a 36 Hour Fast.

The reason was that I was always feeling hungry.

I would have breakfast in the morning. Then, at around 1:00 pm, I had to have my lunch. Otherwise, I would get headaches.

My headaches had actually become frequent – happening almost 3 times a week.

On reaching home at around 6:30 pm, I used to feel so famished that I used to immediately make a sandwich and stuff it into my mouth.

The feeling of hunger was so over-whelming that there was nothing I could do to control these feelings.

I had to have that food – otherwise I would have a headache and the whole day would get spoilt.

No wonder that I became overweight by over ten kgs.

My waist began to expand. From 34 inches it crept up to 36. And then, to my horror, 36-inch trousers became too tight.

While out shopping, I considered buying the 38-inch trouser. But then, something in me wouldn’t let me. Meanwhile, I started getting backaches.

I was hopelessly into a downward spiral!!

Understanding the simple concept of maintaining weight seemed beyond me.

I wanted to be a perfect human being – but here I was – an overweight, lazy, and unmotivated middle age guy. I had almost given up.

In desperation, I let out a cry for my health.

Luckily for me, the universe answered back, taking the form of my best friend from childhood.

He was emigrating to Australia.

Before leaving, he and his family stayed over at our place for a couple of days.

On meeting him, I was shocked. He had lost considerable weight since we had met last.

My first assumption was that he is stressed out from moving countries and hence he has lost weight. But then my friend clarified that he has simply stopped eating bread.

I had heard of cranky diets and had little faith in them.

But seeing the transformation in my friend forced me to genuinely hear him out.

As per my best friend, he had read that eating bread on a regular basis was one of the prime reasons for gaining weight. And he had simply removed this offending food from his diet!!

How was that possible I wondered?

Bread was a staple food at our home.

I had bread in the morning with breakfast and then again in the evening on returning home. It was such a convenient food. Also, totally Fat free.

My friend wasn’t sure of the mechanism. But he simply told – look at me, it works.

And I could not ignore that!!

Hearing about these things from a childhood friend, who you know intimately, is extremely different from hearing from strangers.

After talking to him, I decided to at least look into the aspect of how eating bread can make one overweight.

A couple of weeks later, I was passing through an airport when I chanced upon a book called as ‘Always Hungry’ by Dr David Ludwig.

The book had a piece of hamburger bread on the cover.

The title was where the patty should have been. This book attracted me and I bought it on impulse.

And it was truly God Sent!! Because in the book Dr Ludwig described the exact pattern that I was experiencing.

In a study conducted in the mid 1990’s, Dr Ludwig and his co-researchers gave twelve adolescent boys different breakfasts.

The breakfasts had the same exact calories but varied in type of carbohydrate.

The first breakfast was that of instant oatmeal where the grain kernel had been pulverized and cooked at very high temperatures. This is your typical highly processed carbohydrate.

The second breakfast consisted of steel-cut oatmeal and hence was minimally processed carbohydrates.

The third breakfast was that of a vegetable omelet along with a fruit. Then they took observations of blood glucose, insulin along with adrenalin which is a stress hormone.

The boys were served the same meal at lunch again. After lunch, the researchers allowed the boys to eat as much as they wanted to eat.

The results were astounding – type of calorie eaten does matter a lot. It defines how you experience hunger. Additionally, it defines how you respond to hunger.

As expected, the Blood Glucose and Insulin shot up for all three meals immediately after breakfast. But the increase for instant oatmeal was almost double that of the other two breakfasts.

The bigger problem was the fall in the blood glucose levels for the instant oatmeal after 4 hours of the meal.

Blood glucose for instant oatmeal was even lower than after the overnight fast (see figure below).

This was akin to a sugar crash in the blood!!

Such a precipitous fall in glucose is sufficient to cause significant bodily stress due to hunger pangs.

This was reflected in the measure of the stress hormone Adrenalin, which shot up for the instant oatmeal group.

This precipitous fall in glucose was caused due to the higher insulin released in response to extremely high blood sugar levels after the instant oatmeal breakfast.

This fall manifested itself as a metabolic crisis.

As reported by Dr Ludwig, a few participants actually looked sweaty and shaky which are symptoms of Hypoglycemia (Hypoglycemia means that your blood sugar levels have fallen below your normal range).

While the above discussion shows how instant carbohydrates impact the body’s hunger response literally making it a crisis situation, the next part of the study was even more eye opening!!

It showed how we respond differently to the different types of hunger caused by different types of calories.

Remember that after lunch the researchers had allowed the boys to have as much food as they wanted.

At 1400 calories, the boys who ate instant oatmeal as breakfast, ate substantially more than the other groups.

As compared to this, the boys who had steel-cut oats only ate 950 calories and the vegetable omelet group had just 750 calories.

The difference is 650 calories!!

Almost 85% more than what you would have eaten on different type of breakfast.

Just by changing the type of breakfast, the consumption of calories over the whole day changes!!

I was stunned!!

It was not me.

My best friend was right.

It was the bread that I was eating. Bread is highly processes carbohydrates, which is first ground and then baked.

By eating bread every day, I was inadvertently increasing the number of calories that my body craves.

Why you always feel hungry? – A short summary:

1. By eating bread or any highly processed carbohydrate such as Cake, Biscuits, chips etc, causes blood sugar to spike
2. Spike in blood Sugar causes Insulin to spike.
3. Insulin works hard to remove sugar from blood.
4. This work of insulin causes a precipitous drop in blood sugar levels causing hypoglycemia.
5. Hypoglycemia causes stress hormone Adrenalin to be secreted.
6. Adrenalin causes food desperation. We get hunger pangs and we desperately crave food. Adrenalin and the fall in blood sugar are also the reason for causing headaches if food was not consumed immediately.
7. Since Adrenalin is involved, this causes the limbic system to be involved. Self-Control does not work in such cases.
8. If we eat more processed foods in response to our food stress, the whole cycle repeats.
9. The net result is that by eating processed carbohydrates, we ingest significantly more calories per day, then we would normally have eaten. This causes us to gain weight and become overweight or obese.

The solution to the above problem was also contained in the scientific study conducted by Dr Ludwig.

Instead of eating processed carbohydrates, eat unprocessed food.

Even better, eat things like eggs and healthy fats which do not spike insulin and hence do not cause a blood sugar crash.

I strongly suggest that you re-read the above study at least twice or thrice to understand this food metabolism mechanism fully.

If you want to beat obesity understanding hunger, types of hunger and the normal body response to different type of hunger are most important.

Tentatively, I discussed with my wife about this new diet being proposed by Dr Ludwig. The diet consisted of restricting carbohydrates and increasing in things like eggs with butter and even cheese. It seemed almost preposterous

But my wife had also seen my struggle with weight. And the constant backache was adding to her concern. After seeing the transformation in my friend, she was also willing to experiment.

We decided to experiment for two weeks as suggested by Dr Ludwig. We got rid of all the processed carbs from our kitchen and fridge. And we planned all the meals for the two weeks along with snacks.

In two weeks, I lost 12 pounds (around 4 kg) of weight!!

I not only lost weight, but the headaches and the hunger pangs disappeared!!

Moreover, I felt much better and more energetic.

It seemed as if a fog had been lifted from over my eyes.

Earlier my family used to complain that I always seemed out of energy. All those problems disappeared.

My wife also benefitted.

She was always fit but over the years she had large problems in getting rid of her belly fat. The belly fat disappeared in these two weeks. She was also amazed.

Seeing such large benefits, we continued the diet.

In two months, I lost 20 pounds!!

Since then, I have never looked back.

My Always Hungry problem was solved.

And it wasn’t me, it was the type of food that the world had convinced me to eat.

From my above experience, I realized that this Glucose induced hunger is different than the normal Ghrelin induced hunger.

The glucose induced hunger is dependent on the type of food that we normally eat.

Hence, while fasting, it is important to ensure that when we start a fast, the last meal that we eat should not be of highly processed carbohydrates.

If we simply assure that, at least we will be spared from the devilish hunger caused by the spike in stress hormones due to the sudden sugar crash.

Can you use Self-Control to conquer Hunger during a Fast?

When Hormones and consequent ancient Limbic system emotions are involved, I never advocate using self-control methods to power through these moments.

The reason is that Conscious Control is a modern brain system.

Called as the pre-frontal cortex, our modern brain is a distinguishing evolutionary feature which is only present in mammals and is totally absent in reptiles.

This pre-frontal cortex has grown over the ancient limbic system which we share with reptiles. While pre-frontal cortex is great at many things, it is not that great at controlling ancient emotions.

The reason for this is that emotions arise from our limbic system.

And our limbic system is extremely fast and works by flooding our whole body with hormones and emotions.

Whenever you are angry or out of control or on an auto-pilot, it is your ancient limbic system at work.

The limbic system has a huge speed advantage as compared to the pre-frontal cortex.

Hence, decisions made at the sub-conscious limbic system get executed faster than the decisions made by the slow pre-frontal cortex.

This is the reason if you are feeling hungry or famished, you will eat a candy-bar on an auto-pilot.

After you have already eaten, your slow pre-frontal cortex will remember that you were not supposed to eat. And this makes all the self-control go waste.

This is also the reason that, as described in the previous section, I used to succumb to the hunger pangs caused by eating highly processed carbs.

The sudden fall in sugar levels caused a spike in the stress hormone Adrenalin.

Adrenalin caused me to crave for food desperately.

When adrenalin was active, food was the only thought on my mind.

As I learned the hard way, self-control is impossible in such a situation.

Pre-frontal Cortex thinking only makes you feel like a loser who is unable to control his or her own behavior.

Instead of using pre-frontal cortex for something at which it will fail, we should use pre-frontal cortex to design our life in a manner that we can succeed in our plans.

That is what Mind-Body hacking techniques are all about.

The question is that when our tummies are grumbling than should we break the fast or not?

What to do when you feel hungry during a 36 hour fast?

In the previous sections, we established the following –

• Normal Hunger is a brain activity with the hormone Ghrelin causing hunger pangs during our regular meal times.
• During fasts, Ghrelin secretion follows a circadian pattern and is not constant throughout the day.
• It is not advisable to use self-control to fight this Ghrelin activity as this is a hormonal activity in which our limbic system gets involved.
• There is also a sugar-crash driven hunger which causes adrenalin spike, which in turn causes food desperation.

With these inputs, we can come to our solution for tackling hunger.

Firstly, to moderate sugar-crash like hunger, shift to food that is unprocessed. It is even better to eat more of low-carb foods such as egg omelets etc.

Secondly, drink fluids like Green Tea or black coffee once you start feeling the pull of the hunger hormone Ghrelin. That’s what I do.

This is surprisingly very effective.

These fluids have zero calories and hence they do not break the fast. On the other hand, they act as hunger suppressants by helping to pass through the Ghrelin activated hunger pangs.

In this manner without resorting to some form of control, if we just work with our hunger hormones, we can overcome the biggest problem area of fasting.

If you are starting out on your fasting journey, you can also have bone broth.

While bone broth is not zero calories, it does not contain anything which would interfere with the fasting process.

Before we start looking at Fasting on weekly basis in detail, let us first do basic check on who all should not undertake 36 Hour fasts.

Now that we have understood the basic theory of fasting, looked at the benefits of fasting and brain-stormed on the problem areas of fasting, it is time to look at how to progressively build the habit of weekly 36-hour fast.

How to build a weekly 36 hour fasting routine?

In this section I will take you through the whole system which I used to build the 36 Hour fasting routine. We will also use all the theory we learned earlier and practice.

It’s essential to start slow and work your way up gradually. The last thing you want to do is jump straight into a 36-hour fast without any preparation. Trust me; it won’t be pretty. So, here’s my step-by-step guide on how to build a weekly 36-hour fasting routine.

Start with Intermittent Fasting

If you’re new to fasting, I strongly recommend starting with intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting involves going without food for a certain period of time, typically 14-18 hours.

For example, for a 16 Hour fast, you might eat your last meal at 8 pm and then not eat again until noon the next day.

Intermittent fasting helps your body get used to going without food for an extended period.

It also helps you to learn how to manage your hunger and cravings during the fasting period. Start with intermittent fasting for a few weeks before moving onto longer fasts.

Make sure that your last meal is made of unprocessed natural foods with low glycemic index. This will help to avoid any hunger crashes.

Additionally, as mentioned above, when a hunger wave strikes, you can have liquids such as Green Tea or black coffee. While starting you can also have soups like bone broth. These liquids will help you tide over hunger waves.

How to break your fast?

Breaking a 36-hour fast is just as important as the fasting period itself. It’s crucial to reintroduce food slowly and mindfully to avoid digestive issues and other complications.

As mentioned earlier, it is best to avoid breaking fast with highly processed foods such as bread or biscuits. It is best to break the fast with unprocessed low-carb foods.

I usually break my fast with a breakfast of eggs. Sometimes I break the fast by having a Banana or some other fruit. It is advisable to keep the first meal after fast small in portion size.

Experiment with your fasting days

I originally began my fasting on Thursdays. Hence, I would fast from 8:00 pm on Wednesday night to 8:00 am on Friday morning.

After a few weeks, I felt as if the fasting is not giving me any benefits. After reflecting this over, I realised that while I am doing the complete fast, it is not being done on the right day.

The problem was that after an amazing cleanse on Thursday, I would start eating junk on the weekends due to socialization.

I was very clear that I don’t want to give up my socialization. Additionally, since I work very hard during the week, I don’t want to regulate eating or drinking excessively on weekends.

For me, weekends are strictly for enjoying with family and friends. And I didn’t want to hamper this enjoyment by having excessive food or drink controls.

Unfortunately, this was leading to my body not gaining any benefits due to fasting.

Hence, I decided to shift fasting to Mondays. My last meal was 8:00 pm Sunday night and then the next meal would be on Tuesday at 8:00 am.

I was a bit apprehensive about starting my week with a fast. But since I had already done Thursday fasting for a couple of months, I decided to experiment on Mondays.

Monday fasts worked very well for me. I immediately started feeling better and getting the fasting benefits. Monday fast started acting as a weekly body detox.

Then I would follow up with clean eating from Tuesdays till Friday afternoon. My weekends were then totally guilt-free enjoyment!!

You might have different requirements than me. Many people prefer to fast on Tuesdays as Mondays are usually rushed.

But I do recommend that you do experiment with the day you want to fast. This might help you to get optimum benefits from your weekly fasting routine.

Gradually Increase Your Fasting Window

Once you’re comfortable with intermittent fasting, it’s time to increase your fasting window. Gradually increase the time you go without food by an hour or two each week until you reach 24 hours.

For example, if you’re currently doing 16 hours of intermittent fasting, try going without food for 18 hours the following week. Keep increasing your fasting window until you reach 24 hours.

Do a 24-Hour Fast Once a Week

Once you’re comfortable with a 24-hour fast, it’s time to start doing it once a week. Choose a day that works best for you and fast for 24 hours straight. During the fasting period, make sure to drink plenty of water, black coffee, and green/black tea without any sweeteners.

Increase to a 36-Hour Fast

After a few weeks of doing a weekly 24-hour fast, you can start with 36-hour fasting. In the starting, it won’t be perfectly 36 hours. It will depend on your sleeping windows. But anything above 30 hours is good.

For example, if you’re currently doing a 24-hour fast, and you sleep for six hours, you might want to break your fast first thing in the morning. Slowly over time, you can enhance the fasting window until you reach 36 hours.

Listen to Your Body

It’s essential to listen to your body during the fasting period. If you’re feeling lightheaded, dizzy, or excessively hungry, it’s okay to break your fast early.

Remember, the goal is to build a sustainable routine, not push your body to its limits. It’s also important to stay hydrated during the fasting period and not to over-exert yourself with exercise.

I never exercise on the day I fast and also on the day after fasting. Although there are certain advanced ‘fasters’, who don’t consider exercise as a problem.

Be Consistent within reasonable limits

My aim over the year is to ensure that out of approximately 50 weeks in a year, I fast for around 30 to 40 weeks. I do not aim to undertake fast every week.

Every once in a while, when I am on a holiday, I break my fast. If I am on a business trip, then I may or may not continue with the fast. During festivals, I don’t fast. If I am unwell, I don’t fast.

If for some reason, I am unable to continue the full 36 hour fast, I might break the fast mid-way at 16 hours, or 20 hours or 24 hours.

The essential thing is that when I come back from vacations, I immediately resume fasting gradually. First, I do a 24 hour fast and then I shift to a 36 hour fast.

Surprisingly, now that I am habitual faster, my body forces me to undertake the fast. If I don’t fast, I feel a bit bloated or overfull.

Last Thoughts on 36 Hour Fasting

Before 2017, it would have been impossible for me to even consider fasting. A colleague of mine used to keep a fruit fast on Tuesdays and I used to wonder on his ability to self-control.

Recently I was talking about fasting with a diabetic colleague who was trying to balance his life. When I mentioned how I fasted every week, he commented that I don’t need to fast. Hence, life has come a full circle for me.

What worked for me was understanding body’s metabolic processes.

Now I am much wiser in terms of my knowledge of food metabolism and its role in deriving how many calories we consume.

Over the last few years, I have realized that each and everything is related to one or the other mind-body process.

This has led me to establishing a system of Mind-Body Hacking with which I can target any self-development area in my life and make substantial progress on it.

The key insights on my fasting journey were the metabolic insights.

Once I realized how much damage processed food is doing to my body, I have consciously removed these foods from my diet. I have started looking at them as poisonous foods which will cause unhealthy reactions in my body.

I’ve also learnt that 36-hour fast looks very difficult, but once you cross the threshold, it becomes part of your regular routine.

With the insights provided in this long article, I have successfully integrated 36-hour fasting routine into my life. I wish you all the best to do the same.

Books & Scientific Papers References

Book References

I strongly recommend that before starting on your fasting journey, you should take the time to understand the topic in detail by reading the following books:

• Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently; Author: David Ludwig (Note: I highly recommend this book as I benefitted a lot from it)
• The Obesity Code – Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss; Author: Dr Jason Fung & Timothy Noakes
• The Diabetes Code – Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally; Author: Dr Jason Fung & Nina Teicholz (Recommended reading for those taking medicine for Diabetes – Kindly consult your Doctor and make your fasting plans in consultation with your Doctor)

Scientific Papers References:

• Spontaneous 24-h ghrelin secretion pattern in fasting subjects: maintenance of a meal-related pattern (Authors: G Natalucci, S Riedl, A Gleiss1, T Zidek and H Frisch; Online publishing date: Jun 2005; retrieved on 26/04/2023 from https://eje.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/eje/152/6/1520845.xml)
• The Roles of Autophagy in Cancer (Authors: Chul Won Yun and Sang Hun Lee; published online 2018 Nov 5 and retrieved on 26/04/2023 from:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6274804/#:~:text=Autophagy%20inhibits%20necrosis%20and%20inflammation,important%20factor%20in%20cancer%20metastasis)
• Prolonged Fasting reduces IGF-1/PKA to promote hematopoietic stem cell-based regeneration and reverse immunosuppression (Authors: Chia-Wei Cheng, Gregor B. Adams, Laura Perin, Min Wei, Xiaoying Zhou, Ben S. Lam, Stefano Da Sacco, Mario Mirisola, David I. Quinn, Tanya B. Dorff, John J. Kopchick, and Valter D. Longo; Published on Jun 5 2014 and retrieved on 26/04/2023 from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102383/ )
• High Glycemic index foods, overeating, and obesity (Authors: D S Ludwig, J A Majzoub, A Al-Zahrani, G E Dallal, I Blanco, S B Roberts; Published 1999 Mar; Retrieved on 26/04/2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10049982/ )
• Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men (Authors: Belinda S Lennerz 1, David C Alsop, Laura M Holsen, Emily Stern, Rafael Rojas, Cara B Ebbeling, Jill M Goldstein, David S Ludwig; Published on: Jun 2013 and retrieved on 26/04/2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23803881 )
• mTOR Signaling in Growth, Metabolism, and Disease (Authors: Robert A. Saxton and David M. Sabatini; Published on: Mar 9, 2017 and retrieved on 26/04/2023 from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5394987/ )