I did a 3 day fast, finished on Monday night. The goal was to heal my guts, I know I have Ulcers / IBS whatever, don't need an Endoscopy to tell me that. The fast consisted of 16 ounces of liquid an hour. There was no caffeine allowed. I mostly drank Organic Herbal Teas, had some Bone Broth with added Collagen Peptides and usually drank 8 ounces of water here and there with a dash of Himalayan Pink Salt on my tongue and a TSP. of Coconut Oil for energy / stabilization. I had a dash of Apple Cider Vinegar here and there and some Organic EV Olive Oil.
Being that I had no Sugar going in, the inevitable crash would happen, thus the Coconut Oil to ward that off. I decided I wasn't going to drive anywhere during the 3 days because I know what I'm like behind the wheel without Caffeine. The first 2 days were easy, and I didn't really get the "this is getting real old" feeling until about Hour 67.
When it was over, I had an Organic Grass Fed Protein shake and went to bed. I did cheat yesterday with those little Lindt Chocolate ball things, as the 14 days after the fast are supposed to be just cooked Vegetables with no sugar at all. (Chicken allowed, No Beef)... Have you ever had 14 days of mushy Sweet Potato and Carrot etc. since you were 15 days old? NO... Nobody has since the existence of Time. Even starving Cave Man would be divorcing Cave Woman over THAT! You know why the Hammer and Chisel were invented? Divorces, that's why.
I didn't cheat because "This sucks so bad, I need Sugar"... I cheated because those 67 hours were easy, I can repeat at least a 30 Hour fast whenever I feel like it without even sweating it. I was used to a 20 hour plus regular fast that I have done on and off for years, so maybe I'm "trained" up for the marathon so to speak...
Today, I was wondering if the cheating reset me back to square 1, so I had my usual 30 ounce Black Coffee. Normally, my guts would be screaming, but Coffee is my thing so I dealt with it... I have ZERO gut pain from the COFFEE, and the general pain is around a 1, when it was always a 6 or 7 before. I would call that a success for what it is, and I will probably have no issues going forward if I stick true to my OG Paleo type diet and avoid the chemicals in the processed foods that took my gut down in the first place.
Things I learned...
I Dropped 15 pounds, reduction in gut size. I can transition into a full on Low Fodmap diet for now / Transition into Paleo after a couple of weeks.
I craved Salt... Bigly... The need to supplement with good Himalayan Pink or Celtic Salt is noted. (NOT table salt). There is no way around that because there is a LOT of Urine created, understandably, which depletes all the minerals unless replaced.
No loss of energy, it isn't recommended to do anything more than a gentle walk around the block, but I could do normal household cleaning / dishes etc.
Commercial Bone Broth is possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted, as it's LOADED with Salt. I won't do that next time, opting to cook a Whole Chicken and drink the Broth with a pinch of Salt on my tongue if I feel like it. Chicken Broth from a whole Chicken is the way to go for continued gut maintenance, and it's free that way.
The Collagen Peptides drank in warm water isn't a picnic either, but it's much better than the Bone Broth. Considering both are Collagen building blocks that repair the gut lining, I don't know if I needed both or if using both was a 1-2 punch that repaired my gut completely / faster. I will probably never find that out, to which I don't care, but if I could do it over again from the start, I would have opted for the Peptides alone to see if that worked or just cooked a whole Chicken and drank the broth, saving the meat for after the fast.
I do know that a fast just drinking Herbal Tea and Water will be just that. There will be no gut healing without the Collagen, as I don't think the body can heal the gut with Green Tea. It needs GLUE.
I had some Acne issues. mostly because of "leaky gut", and the Acne is gone. I don't know if that would work for my 14 year old self.
I wouldn't do this if I was Diabetic, that requires work with a Functional Medicine MD or a Nutritional Consultant. The body WILL be in Ketosis no matter what, so that could be very bad with someone that is Diabetic. So that's the disclaimer if you choose to do something like this.
I would say you will probably want a lot of entertainment, be it internet / TV / Video games to pass the time. You might like people around if they are fasting, but might not like it if they are gorging themselves on your favorite foods.