Tag: fasting

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How I Fast for Longevity – It’s Not as Hard as You Think!

I’ve tried various diets over the years, but I always found them to be troublesome, expensive, and painful.

Most of the time, it was difficult to find diets which tasted good. When the food tasted good, it would be expensive and unsustainable. Hence, there were many layers of pain associated with complicated diets, and I hated it.

Diets == Pain To Me

Let me describe how I got on the path of fasting in 4 stages :-

Stage 1 – Make a Long-term Pact with Yourself

The first step to fasting is to have compassion for yourself. I recently wrote about how we all have a “Shadow Self” and to be successful at fasting, I needed to get mine, as I call him, fully aligned on the journey.

Me and my Shadow Self

What I did was make a pact with my Shadow Self, agreeing to allow him small breaks whenever he wanted. The goal was to develop the habit of fasting while allowing little breaks along the way.

Think of habits like the current of a river, constantly flowing in the same direction and steadily moving towards a destination. Individual actions are like rocks in the river, causing small ripples but not able to change the overall direction or force of the current. Just as a few rocks won’t divert the river from its course, a few counter-actions won’t break the power of a strong habit.

However, if enough rocks accumulate, they can create a dam that alters the flow of the river, just as consistent counter-actions can eventually weaken a habit’s hold. Ultimately, it’s the strength and direction of the current (or habit) that determines the destination, while individual rocks (or actions) have a limited impact on the final outcome.

For good habits, like exercising regularly or eating less sweet stuff, deviating once or twice and resting for one day out of the week from a regular run, or eating that ice cream cone that I crave once in a while, would not affect the result by much.

Conversely, bad actions are fine as long as you do not turn them into a habit. For example, I have smoked socially with friends before, but only once a month, and never again until one year later. Each time I smoke may not do good for my lungs, but it is not really that bad in the long run.

Stage 2 – “Three Meals a Day is Enough!”

At 42, I remember a time when our parents insisted that we ate only three meals a day. If we asked for snacks before dinner, our mom would say, “No! Dinner time already!” After dinner, she would say, “You just ate!” 

The only legal times we could snack were tea time, which would happen between 3-5 pm, a small window. Most of the time, we would just skip that.

Convenience stalls were not readily available in Singapore in the 60s

For our parents’ generation, it was even harder to get snacks due to families being less affluent then, and the fact that it wasn’t as easy to get food. There were no supermarkets or 7-11 then. Hence, people were slimmer and fitter back then.

Then, as we got more affluent, we started to eat more. And somehow, there was a trend of eating many smaller meals throughout the day. It was supposed to help us control our weight. That led to children being encouraged to snack often, especially before activities. And we were told, “How to study if you haven’t had a healthy snack?”

But little did we know, we were actually getting our bodies in a constant state of being fed. This means our body rarely needs to use fat as an alternate source of fuel. I will write more about ketosis in another post, but basically what happens is that our bodies would not switch primary source of fuel from glucose to fats unless we go through at least 12 hours of not eating.

Hence, step one is to just maintain having regular meals, 3 times a day as was the “original way”. Then, have a 12 hours of fasting in between, which is usually easy because we would be sleeping most of it.

We have our dinners, and end before 8pm, then have breakfast, literally, we break fast, 12 hours later, at around 8am.

So that was what I did first, which meant cutting Netflix snacks which I used to have with my wife. I must say, this wasn’t easy. But I did this with compassion again, which meant that I would indulge once in a while. When we go watch a movie in the theatres, we would still get pop corn, even soft drinks are allowed, so my roommate was kept happy and satisfied.

Stage 3 – “16:8”

After getting used to eating regular meals, I realized that sometimes, even when feeling hungry, I could delay breakfast enough to skip it and only have lunch. This meant breaking my fast at 12 pm and fasting again after dinner at 8 pm.

I was doing what is popularly known as the “16:8” fast, which is a 16 hour fasting period, followed by a window of 8 hours of eating.

It’s easy, you probably have skipped a meal when busy before

When I was busy at work and did this, I felt hungry, but it was bearable. I started doing this more regularly, but I only did it from Monday to Friday, then went back to regular meals during the weekends. I also allowed myself to eat anything I wanted within the 8-hour window of eating from 12 pm to 8 pm. That meant char kway teow, ice cream, ice kachang – you name it, I took it.

Overall, it was a sweet deal for my “Shadow Friend”, and we easily got used to the 16:8 schedule without any pain at all.

Stage 4 – 80-hour fast

After watching the documentary by Chris Hemsworth, I wondered if I could fast for four full days like he did since I could already fast for 16 hours without any problems.

So I tried it, and it was an interesting experience, to say the least. Although I made it through safely, I did have to overcome some difficulties, which I’ll share in a future post.

However, I can say with certainty that the only reason it worked was because I fasted with compassion for myself.

Thank you for following me through this long post! It is much longer than I expected! As usual, however, I need to qualify that I am not a medical doctor, but merely following up with the research I read and heard about, and then testing these on myself. Do check with your doctor, especially if you have any health conditions before embarking on this exciting journey of fasting!

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The Science Behind Fasting – Science Alert

What you see here is a plate of my favourite food in the whole wide world, wanton noodles from Ho Seng Kee, a one-of-a-kind, hand-made duck egg noodle dish from Johor Bahru that has had their recipe passed down three generations. This bowl of noodles bring me back to my childhood, instantly. This bowl of noodles can’t be too healthy, what with the oil, and the meat, and the lack of vegetables.

It is not being able to eat food like this that made my life a living hell when I tried to stick to low-carbs diet, and high-fat, high protein diets. I’ve tried them all. At one point in time, I replaced carbs with beans. Beans are rich in fiber and protein and produce a lower insulin response than noodles or rice, so with my fatty liver result from my blood test, I thought that this was something I had to do.

I would rather be fat … than have to put myself through THIS

In a previous post, I shared why I started fasting. To recap, fasting is not a diet; while diets control what you eat, fasting controls when you eat. I will continue to use the word “fasting,” which includes intermittent fasting, to describe an eating pattern that involves alternating periods of eating and fasting. The length of your fast definitely affects the results, but more on that later.

Thor, or rather, the actor Chris Hemsworth’s documentary “Limitless,” taught me that fasting has several benefits. In essence, it boils down to two magic words, Ketosis, and Autophagy.

1. ketosis (i.e. use fat for fuel rather than glucose)

Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body uses fat as its main fuel source instead of glucose¹. If this doesn’t sound new, it might be because you might have heard of people following high-fat ketogenic diets (“Keto diet”), they are essentially trying to do the same thing.

The difference is that Keto diet requires you to follow a diet which are very specific, including Fatty fish like salmon, full-fat cheese, low-carb vegetables like spinach and cauliflower, and NO food with carbohydrates like noodles and rice! (Bye bye Ho Seng Kee noodles! Bye bye sweet childhood!)

Fasting, however, triggers ketosis regardless of WHAT you eat, just because you choose WHEN to eat.

So how does ketosis work?

When we eat, our stomach produces glucose, and our liver stores excess glucose (by default, 20% is stored, regardless of how much we eat!) as glycogen. When glucose levels drop with fasting, the liver converts glycogen into glucose and releases it. After the stored glucose is depleted, the liver breaks down fat to make a substance known as ketones to provide energy. This process is known as ketosis.

Ketosis may have benefits for weight loss, blood sugar management, and epilepsy. However, ketosis can also have negative side effects, especially at the start, and may not be suitable for everyone. Another caveat, is that the long-term effects of ketosis are unclear¹.

However, one side effect is increased autophagy.

Niji-Midjourney’s interpretation of the word “autophagy”

2. autophagy (i.e. getting rid of old cells and dysfunctional cell parts)

Autophagy comes from ancient greek words, meaning “self-devouring”.

This is a natural process where your body cleans out damaged cells and generates new ones. Our body is doing this all the time, but research suggests that fasting for 12-24 hours could make it occur more.

So if you recall, the liver usually releases glucose when you are not fasting? When fasting, the liver would have to break down fat for energy?

What happens for the rest of the body? Imagine your blood stream happily filled with glucose all the time, your cells in your entire body do not need to work very hard to be “happy”. When we apply stress to the entire system by not providing food, your body is triggered into a “survival mode” and would draw down its resources. So ketosis occurs, your body starts using fats as the main fuel source, and then eventually autophagy, useless parts are recycled for rebuilding.

Hence autophagy can help reduce inflammation (i.e. natural immune response to diseases), and clears out protein aggregates, which may be associated with several neurodegenerative diseases.

What this might mean is that autophagy might lower the rates of cancer, heart disease, and brain diseases like Alzheimer’s!

Some caveats are that only a handful of studies measuring fasting and autophagy exist in humans, probably because it is not easy to measure the effects of autophagy. (You probably need to extract cells to observe and compare with a control group. Sounds like a painful experiment when done on humans!)

So there you have it. The reason for this post was my being triggered when questioned if the science was sound behind fasting on social media. In truth, the effects of fasting sound like magic even now. I am still screaming “Why did NO ONE TELL ME!!??” in my head every time.

However, I am fully convinced, not only because Chris Hemsworth says so, or National Geographic says so, or even because a lot of doctors on YouTube say so, but because I went and did my due diligence by tracing their sources down first before being fully convinced. The sources are found at the end of the article! Moreover, I tested this on myself! 16kg lighter, and still perfectly happy, is that not enough evidence?

Even so, I still need to state that I am not a doctor, and you should only follow what I did if you have checked with your doctor that fasting is safe for you first!

Sources :

Ketosis: Definition, Benefits, Downsides, and More – Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-ketosis Accessed 28/04/2023.
Is Ketosis Safe and Does It Have Side Effects? – Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ketosis-safety-and-side-effects Accessed 28/04/2023.
Is It Good for Your Body to Be in Ketosis? – MedicineNet. https://www.medicinenet.com/is_it_good_for_your_body_to_be_in_ketosis/article.htm Accessed 28/04/2023.
A Keto Diet for Beginners: The #1 Ketogenic Guide – Diet Doctor. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto Accessed 28/04/2023.
Ketosis: Definition, Benefits & Side Effects – Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.orghealth/articles/24003-ketosis Accessed 28/04/2023.
Neuronal Autophagy: Characteristic Features and Roles in … – PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33875624/ Accessed 28/04/2023.
Autophagy in Neurons – PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31340124/ Accessed 28/04/2023.
Autophagy in Neuronal Development and Plasticity – ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223620301673 Accessed 28/04/2023.
The contribution of altered neuronal autophagy to neurodegeneration …. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163725822000729 Accessed 28/04/2023.
How Long Do You Have To Fast Before You Reach Autophagy.
Autophagy: What You Should Know Before Starting Your Fast – InsideTracker. https://blog.insidetracker.com/autophagy-know-before-starting-fast Accessed 28/04/2023.
The effect of fasting or calorie restriction on autophagy … – PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30172870/ Accessed 28/04/2023.
Research on intermittent fasting shows health benefits. https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/research-intermittent-fasting-shows-health-benefits Accessed 28/04/2023.

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Intermittent Fasting – Why fast?

“Siao ah!?
I love good food so much, how can I fast?” 

This was my response when I saw how effective fasting was for a master photographer friend of mine, Wesley. This was likely 3 or 4 years back when I witnessed how he went from being rounder than me to becoming fit and lean in a year. I am a ‘live to eat’ person, so it seemed impossible for me to ever get on a plan like this.

I didn’t know about the science behind it, and I think I was confused about what it all was. I thought I knew what fasting was, so I rejected it before even finding out more until I came across a series of videos by Dr. Jason Fung, a medical doctor advocating fasting on YouTube. 

After realizing what fasting was all about, I gave it a try, and I never looked back since. If you remember what I have mentioned in my previous posts, I have lost 16 kg over the course of a year, but specifically, over the past 6 months due to fasting.

Not a Diet

Firstly, intermittent fasting is not a diet, as in you do not restrict what you eat but of restricting when you are eating. You eat only during certain hours of the day, and fast for the rest.

Not a Weight Loss Program

Secondly, let me share what I found out about the benefits for our bodies and brains beyond just weight loss.

Intermittent fasting helps us burn fat faster, lower our blood pressure and cholesterol levels, enhance our cognitive function and memory, and even protect us from diseases like diabetes and cancer(but I will share more about this next time when I talk about the next level of fasting, prolonged fasting).

How?

Well, it’s all about metabolic switching.

Metabolic switching is when our body switches from using glucose (sugar which is stored in our liver) as its main source of energy to using ketones (which is stored in fat). (Reference : NIH)

Basically, this should sound familiar, we learnt this in school during science classes.

But there are some aspects that have only been discovered relatively recently. 

The theory is that metabolic switching isn’t done easily. An analogy I heard used was that our bodies can be described as massive factories. Imagine that the factories can use two sources of power, glucose and ketones. The problem is that when the factory is using one source of power, it cannot switch easily.

“The problem is that when the factory is using one source of power, it cannot switch easily.”

It needs a few hours to switch fuel sources. Picture having the entire factory’s workers having to move heavy machinery around whenever a switch is required.

So you can picture how reluctant the factory’s supervisors are to order a switch, and would delay as much as possible.

So, in this analogy, your body is in the glucose processing mode whenever you are eating. And if you are eating every few hours or so, no matter how much, your body would prefer to keep in this mode.

One major problem is that the body also would keep 20% of whatever you eat as fats by default. So even if you only ate ONE cookie when you are hungry in between lunch and dinner, your body would turn 20% of that to storage, AND keep the system at the glucose processing mode.

Research shows that ketone processing mode is never reached if you do not fast for at least 12 hours. What this means is, that additional 20% you stored earlier in fat storage? It will never get used up.

One of the top experts on intermittent fasting is a guy named Mark Mattson, a brain scientist at Johns Hopkins, and he’s been studying this stuff for 25 years. He says that our bodies are actually designed to go without food for a long time. Even for days.

Think about it. Back in the old days, before humans had farms and supermarkets, we had to hunt and gather our food. And that was not easy. It took hours and hours of walking, running, climbing, digging, and fighting. Sometimes we found a lot of food, sometimes we found nothing. So we had to adapt to survive on whatever we could get. Our bodies are designed to keep running lean, hence going for days in the ketones processing mode until we get food.

And you know what? We were healthier back then. We were leaner, stronger, and smarter.

But things have changed a lot since then.

Nowadays, we have food everywhere. And not just any food. Processed food. Junk food. Fast food. Food that makes us fat and sick.

And we don’t stop eating. Ever.

We eat when we wake up, when we work, when we watch TV, when we go online, when we go to bed. We eat all day and all night.

And you know what? We’re not healthier now. We’re now fatter, weaker, and dumber.

The reason for this is that our modern lifestyles make it such that our bodies would NEVER touch fats as a source of fuel unless we stop eating, i.e. fast from 3-18 hours depending on what we ate.

(Reference : https://www.physiciansplan.com/blog/the-science-behind-intermittent-fasting)

“… before humans had farms and supermarkets…
sometimes we found a lot of food, sometimes we found nothing.

So how do we do this?

I would share more about what I did next time, but for now, research has shown that even doing a 12 hour fast is better than nothing. Simply put, you can just start by not snacking after dinner, and have your breakfast only after 12 hours.

As usual, even though 12 hours is super safe, I have to state again that I am not your doctor, so before you start, make sure you check with your doctor first.

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Fasting for health

I want to share about an amazing secret I found.

Why Keen before and after, 16kg different

Let us take a look at exhibit A. On the left was Why Keen a year ago, and this is the same guy now, 16kg lighter than before.

I am telling you this not because of pride about my appearance. If you know me, you would know I don’t care much about how I look. I am sharing this with you because I found an amazing secret to our health that I hope to share with the entire world.

I will touch a little bit about what I have found, but I think this topic has a lot of details and I would probably revisit over the next few months.

Not an Image Problem

That’s not to say I was fully happy with how I looked, it was more of me coming to terms that I would not look any better than how I was so might as well embrace reality as it was?

This was important because of the next point

Liver Let Die

I had a health check done 4 years ago which found that I had a fatty liver. Doctor advised me to check my diet, and abstain from alcohol. Alcohol was easy, as I was always just a casual drinker, but I am a lover of tasty food, and tasty food is almost always unhealthy.

Sad asian guy eating vegetables

Diets Did Not Work

Over the years, I tried everything to change my diet. I tried totally abstaining from sweet things (still important to cut, but totally stopping was almost impossible), replacing all carbs with beans and vegetables only, eating meat only (a form of ketogenic diet, even though I didn’t know what that was initially). Everything failed. What was the reason?

Because each time I got on a diet, I hated myself for it.

Start with Compassion

On the fitness front, I started doing what I could, tried running, swimming, and going to the gym regularly. I found out very early on that I needed to make sure I enjoyed myself in the process of doing that activity. It was about starting with compassion for myself.

The trick is finding something I enjoy the process of. In my case, it was jogging and walking long distances. At the start, I made sure there was a little reward (usually tasty food!), then over time, I could ramp up the difficulty, by either increasing the distance, or the speed.

It worked because I ‘tricked’ myself to enjoy the jog. Related to my recent framing of a “Shadow Self” or my roommate as I called him, I must get myself aligned with my programme of a better health.

If “trick” doesn’t sound positive enough, to put it in a different way, I was able to convince my body and my mind that this was something fun. I have been regularly jogging and walking for at least half an hour at an elevated heart rate of about 120 bpm every morning for more than a year now because of that.

So why the diets failed was because diets were troublesome, and expensive. Most of the time, it was also difficult to find diets which tasted good. Hence, there were many layers of pain, and I hated it.

Was there thus a different way to ‘trick’ myself into eating healthy without causing so much pain?

Fasting was the answer!

Part 1 – Intermittent Fasting

I began fasting in December 2022. It was an intermittent fasting, so I had 16 hours of not eating, then a window of 8 hours where I would get my meals. First of all, fasting 16 hours was not too difficult for me at all, it just meant skipping breakfast in the morning.

On top of that, how I got myself on the program willingly was to allow myself to eat anything I craved in the 8 hours of eating. That included ice cream, and char kway teow.

Also, I was not super strict on myself. Even during the 16 hours of fasting, if I ever felt pain or discomfort, I allowed myself to eat. The idea was to do this over the long run, and breaking the pattern was acceptable.

Over time, my weight dropped by 6 kg within a little more than a month.

Limitless, a series by National Geographic

Part 2 – Prolonged Fasting for Long Term health

Some time in February, I found an interesting documentary on Disney Plus. Chris Hemsworth, famous for playing one of the Avengers on the MCU, Thor, was on a journey to discovering secrets for long term health. In one of the episodes, he did a 4 day fast.

In that episode, they featured doctors and scientists who talked about the benefits of fasting, which are amazing (I would share more about what I learnt later). The TLDR version of it was, prolonged fasting had the potential to put the body into ketosis (which burnt fat as a main source of fuel), and autophagy (which gets our cells to go through renewal) if a person fasts up to 3 days and more.

Since I was already getting used to Intermittent Fasting, I just tried fasting for 3 days, and I have not looked back since.

Essentially, this kind of long term fasting was almost painless (I will share more later), I had more energy during the day, I ran faster, and I felt lighter. Thor essentially taught me how to unlock a superhuman power within my own body.

Some caveats I need to state here is that I am not a doctor, so do talk to your doctor to check if fasting is safe for you, especially if you have some underlying health problems! But if you like, we can talk about it too, and I will share more with you about this.