5 Day Water Fast Results: Blood Ketones, Glucose

I’m not a fan of cancer. The only people I’ve lost in memory - my grandfather and other close family - it was cancer that took them. So after my discussion with Dr. Thomas Seyfried in episode 16 I was looking forward to put his 5 day water fast "cancer insurance policy" to work. As I read into the details to start planning my prolonged fast what I found convinced me even more this was something I had to do soon. Maybe what I discovered would inspire you to try a 5 day fast soon too? Since getting bitten by a tick in Phuket, Thailand a few years ago I’ve been fighting some chronic GlycoCares Health Guidechromium support issues. I discovered that it’s probable that these are at least in some part due to lyme disease and babesiosis infections I only got documented earlier this year (and thus had never been treated for). It bears mentioning, since there’s a fair amount of non-rigorous and dubious material on the internet on the subject of lyme disease in particular, that this was documented via the IgM/ IgG labs, and met CDC criteria.



What does this have to do with fasting? It comes down to this: Having a stronger immune system gives you a better chance of eliminating lyme. Since in cases like mine where it was not treated in the early stages it seems to be relatively tricky and long-winded to get rid of. I’ve made it a rule to collect and put into practice anything that improves the odds of a quicker recovery. And… fasting is a potential new tool to speed up recovery. Valter Longo, Director of the USC Longevity Institute, has published a large number of studies on fasting and caloric restriction and their application to treat disease and enhance aging and longevity. Some of his recent work showed that prolonged fasts (e.g. 3 to 5 days, of a similar format recommended by Seyfried) can regenerate up to 30% of the immune system. Or in other words, a fast can eliminate old tired (and most probably damaged and dysfunctional) white Glyco Care blood sugar supplement cells and replace them with more effective shining new ones.



I’ll admit this got me excited. It was definitely something I wanted to add into the "war plan" my integrative doctor and I had put in place against lyme and babesiosis. Note: Before planning this fast I ran it and Longo’s research papers by my doctor to get it signed off by him. After having gone through the experience and seeing the quantified results, I can say it’s something I will use as a tool frequently going forward. Most likely once per month, or once per quarter. Beyond the potential health and longevity upsides there were also a couple of others I was particularly interested in. 5. Building greater mental resilience through the process of overcoming the challenge of a fast? The stoics used hard life experiences to learn to deal with the mental ups and downs of life more easily. As an entrepreneur, where ups and downs are pretty much routine, I’ve grown to value this ability immensely.



Exposing yourself to more extreme hard challenges numbs you to the emotional pain and you find you become more indifferent to life’s ups and downs (read less reactive). A 5 day fast struck me as exactly the type of "safe but challenging experience" that builds mental resilience more generally. Once the fast is done, you realize it’s absolutely not a big deal. And other life challenges also seem to dim in their intensity and importance. A new life experience: What would it feel like to fast for 5 days? How would it effect my body? We should all experience the extremes of the human experience provided they are within the limits of safety and healthy. It’s an important tool to learn about ourselves, our limitations, strengths and weakneesses - self awareness is a skill that can be learned. Going to the extremes to get a real feel for the breadth of life is part of living a life well lived.



My metabolism switched from glucose to ketones (and fatty acids) by the end of the 3rd day, which fits with what is generally expected based on the standard biochemistry literature. On typical non-fasting days I’ll hit between 1 and 2 mmol/L ketones (see my baseline data in appendix here) because I eat a reasonably high fat diet. It wasn’t till day 3 till I broke the 2 mmol/L threshold and went beyond, eventually peaking at nearly 7 mmol/L blood ketones. Overall, I felt less mentally sharp and found the fast hardest between the end of day 1 till around beginning of day 3. Is this ‘harder part’ of the fast a rough period of adaptation to using ketone and fatty acids as the main fuel source? Perhaps. In my case the switch in the Glyco Care blood sugar support results follows closely the ease of the experience for me - once blood ketones and glucose inverted the experience was easier. Seyfried recommends the use of a Glucose-Ketone Index for monitoring the therapeutic value of the fast against cancer.