Fasting the Right Way

By Val Prisecaru, MS CN LDN

Fasting has been around for about as long as humans have.  In addition to involuntary fasting from temporary lack of food or occasional widespread famines, fasting has been an important part of most world religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  From west to east, it’s what humans do and what we’ve been doing for thousands of years.

I remember the first time I even considered fasting.  My parents did a 3-day juice fast back in 1992.  Sounded pretty neat.  I did the same thing a year later, but it started out being unintentional and spur-of-the-moment (like a lot of other things in my life). I had a chili cheeseburger from this great-tasting burger joint at UCLA called Fatburger’s, then ended up with food poisoning and significant diarrhea. I figured if nothing’s staying in, I might as well not eat it in the first place.  Ergo, segway into my first impromptu fast.  At the time I was a wiry 6 foot 2 and 167 lb, a textbook ectomorph.  In just those three days I lost around 12 pounds, to the envy of my mother who was trying to lose weight at the time.

In the following years, I continued to experiment on myself (and oftentimes on my parents) using various systems, one of which was the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet, by Dr Heller.  Basically, that protocol is a very low-carb diet for most of the day, except that you can eat whatever you want (within reason) one hour each day.  So, you try to reload on carbs and calories just in that one hour.  The Hellers’ rationale is because insulin mRNA is low, and it takes consecutive high-carb meals to really make lots of insulin, this system helps you reduce blood sugar, hyperinsulinemia, and weight.  You are essentially in some level of mild ketosis (and burning fat) for many hours per day, because 1. how many carbs can you really ingest in one hour, and 2. How many of those are turned into triglycerides.  That doesn’t leave much to raise blood sugar and insulin levels.  That diet system works great for some people, but not for me.  I remember to this day I was visiting my parents in Seattle while on break from school. I was eating all protein and some fat in the morning, but around 2 to 3pm I would get these incredible cravings for carbs.  Later I realized why:  I am blood type A, and even though I am a non-secretor and I have some explorer epigenetic markers (I’m still 60% Teacher, by majority epigenetic vote), I did not do very well with anything remotely resembling keto.

After all this fasting soul searching, what conclusions have I come to?  Well, here is the biggest takeaway:

Fasting works for everyone,

you just have to figure out which type is right for you.

Since that time, I’ve been tinkering off and on (pun intended) with intermittent fasting, juice fasting, water fasting, keto diet and fat fasting, grapefruit juice fasting, general dietary restrictions, very low-calorie diets, 2-week on 2-week off dieting, meat only diet, paleo, and other systems.  Anything you can think of, I’ve either tried it or had a few people with various genetic tendencies and metabolisms attempt it.

What is Fasting and Why Should You Do It?

In the simplest sense of the word, fasting means not eating for a while.  The benefits of fasting are many.  Fasting can help you lose weight.  If done for a longer period of time, it can help you lose significant weight.  Fasting can be as effective or better than continuous dieting, especially if done the right way, and combined with a healthy personalized diet, exercise, some key supplements, and a healthy lifestyle.

Fasting also reduces cardiovascular risk, cholesterol levels, inflammation, risk of dementia, and chronic pain.  Many people report improved cognitive function (i.e., less brain fog).  Fasting helps slow down telomere shortening and the aging process.  Fasting helps slow down and in some cases even reverse type 2 diabetes.  Fasting usually improves asthma and wheezing.  Fasting helps normalize hormone levels, including human growth hormone, insulin, dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline.  Fasting improves mental health and memory. Some scientists believe that because we humans have evolved for tens of thousands of years in environments where food was not always available or plentiful, we tend to function best with occasional food deprivation.

How does fasting help you think better?  One prominent theory states that because your cells are under mild stress while you’re fasting, it helps improve function. Your cells adapt to the stress caused by fasting, by enhancing their ability to handle stress, which helps improves your mental abilities. Whoever came up with that theory obviously has never heard of autophagy, which is the even more important reason why fasting works.  Every cell in your body does “house cleaning”.  It mostly happens at night, where enzymes in your brain cells (and other bodily cells) clean up junk debris and partly damaged proteins by digesting them.  This is called “autophagy”, or “eating yourself”.  Your body digests itself a little bit, literally.  This process is increased during fasting, and your body “eats itself” a lot more.  This and intestinal health are the two top reasons why fasting is good for you, not the stress adaptation.  If stress adaptation were the biggest factor, then Ironman-level exercise and traumatic interrogations at Gitmo would be beneficial for so many.  They aren’t.

Another preconceived notion is that it is the state of ketosis that improves memory and mental abilities.  This is a factor, but again, not the biggest factor. The biggest reason ketosis works for some people is that you can only get ketosis if you don’t eat many carbs, and some people are more carb-sensitive than others (the same people that have lots of stomach acid don’t usually have as much salivary amylase).  High blood sugar helps cause all these problems that ketones are supposed to reverse, but it’s not the ketones so much as proper blood sugar management. If you don’t have keto genetics, you don’t need to go keto. Not every aspect of health is one-size-fits-all, and low carb / high fat diets are no exception.

Fasting can be so easy, patients actually prefer fasting to regular dieting.  If you’re going to fast, choose one method with the help of this guide, and unless there is some really pressing reason, stick to that method long enough to see if it works or not.  Another point you will have to keep in mind is that you’ll need to eat clean before and after the fast.  If you’re looking to lose weight, you don’t want to gain it all back.  If you’re looking to improve a condition, like high blood pressure, or inflammation, you don’t want it to come right back.  To do that, you’ll have to eat a healthy diet.  This means fewer process foods, less alcohol if you drink a lot, quitting smoking, and avoiding fried foods, sweets, and other junk foods.  It also means you need to incorporate glycobiology into your diet.  The best glycobiologically-friendly diet (glycobiology  = “the study of signaling sugars”) currently in existence is the Blood Type Diet plus Secretor Status, invented and optimized over the last 50 years by Dr. Peter D’Adamo, his father, Dr. James D’Adamo, and the colleges, doctors and professors at universities and clinics all around the world with whom Peter has been collaborating, which over the years has resulted in the fine-tuning of the original and already strikingly accurate Blood Type Diet into a genetics and microbiome-based Blood Type Diet system that is now virtually bulletproof. It’s “literally” the best diet and system of protocols on the planet, and one main reason is it doesn’t ignore the crucial concept of glycobiology.

If you’re doing a water fast or fat fast, you will need to check your ketone levels with urine strips.  They are very inexpensive, less than $10 a pack. While fasting, try to keep ketone levels in the 1 to 2 mmol/L range, but check below to optimize that for your genetics.

Mucoid Plaque:  What is it?

Fasting also helps remove mucoid plaque, or hardened mucoid fecal matter.  Not much has changed since Dr. Kellogg started the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan about 100 years ago (complete with Yoga-type classes!), and declared that “90% of the diseases of civilization are due to improper functioning of the colon.”  There’s a lot of truth to that, and there is much talk today about the importance of general colon cleansing, but so much about mucoid plaque, especially in the small intestine.  How do I know?  IT HAPPENED TO ME!  Otherwise, I never would have believed such a thing even exists. In 1987, Dr. Richard Anderson developed a ground-breaking colon cleansing system using herbs, electrolytes, probiotics, and other supplements.  Since then, close to 100,000 people have completed his program, with fantastic results. Much like fasting, the benefits of cleansing are also significant:

·         Improved energy levels,

·         Improved vision,

·         Better hair,

·         Softer, younger skin,

·         Improved mood,

·         Fewer colds and flus,

·         Resolution of lifelong sinus congestion,

·         Improved ability to handle stress,

·         Increased happiness,

·         Increased overall health.

A lot of the improvements listed above are also due to Dr. Anderson’s diet, which is a blend of the Type O and A diets, where he reduces or eliminates not only red meat but also many grains and dairy, unwittingly splitting the difference so as to maximize the benefit for a one-size-fits-all diet. Other benefits often reported are a reduction of menstrual pain, migraines, and joint pain, fewer colds, breast cysts, weight, and improved concentration.

How does fasting and its related colon cleansing lead to these incredible benefits?

The brain is important, and sure the blood pumps our blood, but the intestines (and the skin) are probably our most important organs.  They are our barrier to the outside world.  Stretched out, the large and small intestines together measure about 25 feet long, and the surface area including all the intestinal microvilli would cover the size of a tennis court. That’s a lot of nutrient-absorbing area, and also a lot of area where things can go awry. The intestines can also store a huge amount of hardened mucoid fecal matter (HMFM), also called mucoid plaque.  This is partially digested, putrefying food, bacteria, and hardened mucus, combined with whatever pharmaceutical drugs and other toxic chemicals you’ve taken in the past, that sometimes remains in your small and large intestines for years, decades, or your entire life. When autopsied, some intestines can weight upwards of 40 pounds and are “distended to a diameter of 12 inches with only a pencil-thin channel through which the feces could move.”

These many pounds of mucoid plaque consist of a layer (often, multiple layers) of caked-on “encrusted mucuss mixed with fecal matter, bizarrely resembling hardened blackish-green truck tire rubber or an old piece of dried rawhide.” This mucoid plaque, when it finally passes through the digestive system during a colon cleanse, often shows “ropelike twists, striations, overlaps, folds, creases—the shape and texture of the intestinal wall.” This actually happened to me.  Back in the fall of 1996 I experimented (go figure) with the Cleanse and Purify Thyself colon cleanse. I added some strong pepsin-containing digestive enzymes and a little cayenne too.  The afternoon of day 2, I began to experience massive abdominal pain.  I quickly begged my mother to drive me to the hospital.  Halfway there the pain stopped, so we drove back home.  Later that day I had a bowel movement, and it was exactly what Dr. Anderson predicted would come out:  15 feet of mucoid plaque.  It had the consistency of hard chewing gum.  Or old hardened silly putty but slightly slimy.  And it had the exact folds and creases of a small intestine, which is why a colonoscopy will not always reveal any significant mucoid plaque, nor will a scope going in the other way looking at the stomach, so it is almost always missed.

Mucoid plaque varies considerably, depending on the individual, so yours may be different than mine, or it may be nonexistent.  But if you generally eat unhealthy foods, you probably have a few pounds of it in your intestines. Yours may be hard and brittle, or firm and thick.  Mine was medium soft, thick, and of chewing gum consistency.  Colors can vary, but mine was almost black.

The average amount of mucoid plaque that is passed, if it is there and if you can get it to dislodge and eliminate it, is often 10 to 20 feet.  It is actually not that rare for patients to pass 35 feet or more! Allopathic medicine almost completely ignores the epidemic levels of disease that can be caused by or complicated by the existence of impacted colons and small intestines with mucoid plaque. The average gastroenterologist knows mucoid plaque exists in some people as “a layering of mucin or glycoproteins”, which is made up of protein and specialized carbohydrates secreted to protect the intestines from acids and toxins. If you’re blood type A or AB and you eat lots of meat, there will be a frequent and significant infusion of acid plus partially digested food coming into the duodenum from the stomach, and it might irritate the duodenum so much that it will secrete extra glycoproteins and mucus, so much so that eventually there will be a permanent barrier of mucoid plaque to protect your body from the horrible and frequent dietary choices you’re making. Mucoid plaque is much different from the standard mucosal lining (“mucosa”) of healthy intestines.  The mucosal lining is a constantly flowing, very soft, almost liquidy buffer of the GI wall and helps lubricate the intestines to assist in peristalsis. The outer layer is constantly renewed, with an entirely new layer developing every 5 to 6 days.

Mucoid plaque is common but unnatural.  When the body has been chronically ill, or exposed to significant toxins, drugs or parasites, it produces a thick mucoid plaque for self-protection.  Constant ingestion of toxin-containing foods will eventually make the mucoid plaque a permanent fixture of your gastrointestinal. If you make enough mucoid plaque, it ends up getting lodged in folds and of the small and large intestines and can remain there for many years, or your entire life.  More and more fecal matter adhere to it over time, and mixed with mucus, become immune to the peristalsis movement of your intestines: it is now stuck for life.  Persistent plaque:

1.       slows down peristalsis,

2.       slows down absorption of nutrients,

3.       harbors various pathogens including bacteria, candida yeasts, viruses and parasites which can hide in and underneath the mucoid plaque layer(s),

4.       slows or blocks lymphatic flow and mucin drainage,

5.       binds to toxins you ate and keeps them there, contributing to chronic toxicity, slowly leaking these toxins into the circulation and lymphatic system,

6.       creates a friendly environment for serious diseases like colon cancer, stomach cancer, and ulcerative colitis / Crohn’s / IBS.

This chronic insult slowly increases inflammation levels, impairs the immune system, and damages the gut microbiome, thereby greatly upsetting your friendly bacteria.  All this hoopla also impacts and overburdens your other organs and organ systems, but especially the liver, which is the first recipient of blood flow out of the intestines. A toxic gut and microbiome is one of the main causes of the majority of the Western diseases in existence today.

The Different Types of Fasting

This is not as tough a question as you might think.  If you have a busy lifestyle, it might not be well-suited for anything but a weekend fast every 2 or 3 months, and maybe a week-long fast once a year.  This is much, much better than nothing.

So, which different fasting methods are there?  Well at the very least a dozen or two.  Here are the four main categories:

1.       Fasting with some calories (usually juice and/or fruit), 300 to 1,200 calories per day

2.       Fasting with no calories (usually just water), less than 100 calories per day

3.       Intermittent fasting (e.g., you only eat between noon and 8pm each day, while water/tea fasting for the other 16 hours)

4.       Religious or spiritual (most holy books contain suggestions and historical information on fasting)

Fasting with Some Calories (a.k.a., the Juice Fast)

This is the first fasting system we will explore. Juice Fasting (including fruit) involves drinking only organic (when available) fruit and vegetable juices for one day or twenty.  Juice fasting is an easy way to accomplish several things.  You can detoxify your body, reduce your total cholesterol and LDL levels, reduce ingestion of grains and other lectin-containing foods, reset your digestive system and gut microbiome, and increase your general health.  Fresh and preferably organic juices will help you heal multiple organ systems and increase your quality of life.  In fact, quite a few natural medicine doctors and practitioners, as well as mainstream healthcare professionals are now recommending occasional juice fasting as the way to go.  It’s easier than a water fast, and it works great for almost everyone.

Juice fasting works for multiple reasons.  Vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other phytonutrients in fresh juices are more easily assimilated by the body, and as an added bonus, it also helps train the taste buds to develop a taste for fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Juicing works well because the process of juicing extracts many of the vitamins, minerals, etc. out of the plant, from inside the cell walls.  It takes a lot of chewing out of the equation.  Current soils have much depleted mineral content compared to decades ago, which is why fasting is so crucial as it concentrates all these nutrients into a highly beneficial fresh juice. Fruit as well as vegetable juices can be used, although people who are trying to lose weight shouldn’t take too many fruit juices… maybe 70/30 vegetable/fruit mix.  Try to avoid canned and bottled juices if possible.  Frozen is ok, but fresh fruit and vegetables are the best.

In addition to juices, you should also have some water or unsweetened tea (2 parts fruit and vegetable juice for every 1-part water or tea).  What I do while juice fasting is I have 2 glasses of water, 2 glasses of green or chamomile tea, and the rest is all juices.  Of course, if it’s hot out or you’re doing a lot of housework or light exercise, you’ll need more water/tea. The best quality alkaline water is probably from a Kangen water filter.  The next best is any high-quality filtered alkaline water. After that is a reverse osmosis (RO) home filter. The worst is tap water, especially if it comes from a municipality that fluoridates their water and/or uses a lot of chloramine.  

The best tea will usually be high-quality organic green tea, like Mr. Itaru’s Green Tea.  After you remove the tea bag, try to squeeze the tea bag to extract as much of the concentrated tea as possible.  Other teas will be helpful too, like chamomile.  If you don’t drink the fresh juice you just juiced right away, put it in the fridge immediately.  They should keep for at least 1 day, so if you don’t want to keep cleaning your juicer, you can make juice every other day. We recommend making and drinking the juice as soon as you’ve made it, but we also understand people have lives.

Other options to mix it up, in addition to having teas and using juicers:

·         Lemon juice.  Squeeze your own lemons (and add a tiny bit of honey or sugar if you need to).  Dilute 2 parts water to 1-part lemon juice.

·         Green drinks are available at health food stores too and can be very good for you.  They’re usually in powdered form so you mix it with water or juice.  Make sure you’re not allergic to any ingredients as they usually have many. They don’t taste that great but are very healthy for you.

·         Vegetable soup broths are not a bad idea to mix up with your juicing protocol.  You can have juice 5 times a day and vegetable soup broths once or twice a day mixed in.  Although the veggies are cooked, at least you get the minerals and some of the vitamins and phytonutrients, and it almost makes you forget you’re on a juice fast.

·         Buy fresh juices at the supermarket or health food store (or at your local farmer’s market).  They’re more expensive than juicing, but very convenient.  Choose non-pasteurized juices if you can find them.

Food Combining with Juice Fasting

Juicing might be easier on your stomach if you are careful with food combining. The concept of food combining works really well with some patients, although not enough scientific research has been done to determine which components are more effective than others.  Just because the Mayo Clinic and Livestrong don’t think food combining works, doesn’t mean food combining doesn’t work.  These scientists think that all the concepts of food combining are fake news, but we know from many decades of positive patient results, case studies and experimentation that certain aspects of food combining most definitely works, and for quite a few people.  For those with less stomach acid and lower levels of digestive enzymes, that is, Type A, AB, and the elderly, it works even better.  Here are some elements of food combining that many natural medicine practitioners have noticed in their patients.  Feel free to mix fruit and vegetable juices in the same drink (you’ll make it out alive, trust me), but try to follow these guidelines, especially if you have stomach aches:

·         Sweet, then acidic, then veggies.  Try to have more sweet fruit juices earlier in the day, more acidic fruit juices midday, and more vegetable juices later in the day.  This allows for more calories during the day when you’re out and about.

·         Acidic and sweet don’t mix as well.  Acidic juices like oranges, lemons, grapefruit, tomatoes, and kiwi don’t go as well with sweet fruits like bananas, persimmons or papayas.  Have acidic and sweet juices separately.  More sweet juices in the morning, and more acidic juices later on.

·         Semi-sweet juices go with everything.  Semi-sweet juices like apples (especially apples!), plums, pears and grapes go well with just about every fruit and vegetable except watermelon.

·         Carrots, celery, lettuces and other leafy greens go well with everything, except watermelon.

·         Shameless Celery Plug.  For some reason, celery juice is really good for you and also low in calories, so have extra amounts of it. Stick it in everything.

·         Mix starchy veggies with apples.  You can mix starchy veggies like carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, etc., with some semi-sweet fruit like apples, for palatability.

·         Have watermelon juice alone.  Try to have watermelon juice (and other melons) apart from any other fruit or vegetable.  However, having a teaspoon of olive oil or flax seed oil along with watermelon juice helps you absorb the lycopene (especially if tomatoes are an avoid for you and you’re following the BTD).

·         Experiment.  Mix up various fruits and vegetables.  Try new ones you haven’t tried before.

·         Don’t forget the best juices.  Some of the best juices for juice fasting are apples, beets, carrots, celery, cabbage, grapefruit, lemons, cucumbers, grapes, dandelion, parsley, cilantro, basil horseradish, garlic, and dark green leafy vegetables (like spinach and kale).  And don’t forget fresh wheatgrass.

·         Don’t forget about other things.  For example, saunas or hot baths are great during fasts.  Also, meditation, long walks, and even light exercise have produced excellent results in our patients over the years.  Chiropractic adjustments, reflexology, aromatherapy using high quality essential oils, and full-body massages can also be quite useful and improve your stress levels and also the quality of your fast.

·         Chew Your Juices. You need to “chew” your juices before you swallow them.  This consists of leaving the juice in your mouth for a few seconds to mix with your saliva. It’s often overlooked but it’s important enough that we are reminding you at this time.

Juice Fasting:  Organic vs Conventional Produce

The important point here is to use organic, and if it’s not available in your area or your budget is an issue, at least try to focus on the “Dirty Dozen”: the top 12 foods you need to get organic because the conventional ones have so many dang pesticides:

1.       Strawberries

2.       Spinach

3.       Kale

4.       Nectarines

5.       Applies

6.       Grapes

7.       Peaches

8.       Cherries

9.       Pears

10.   Tomatoes

11.   Celery

12.   Potatoes

13.   Peppers

On a political and macroeconomics note, we encourage you to buy organic as much as possible because that will eventually lower the prices of organic foods (economics: “supply curve shift”). So basically if you’re rich, occasionally buy some older organic produce and I don’t know… give it to your dog. It will actually help things long-term.

If you’re on a budget as many people are, here is another list of foods you need to worry LEAST about.  The “Sweet 16” of produce you don’t need to worry about unless you plan on eating the outer peel:

1.       Asparagus

2.       Avocado

3.       Cabbage

4.       Carrots

5.       Cauliflower

6.       Eggplant

7.       Grapefruit

8.       Kiwi

9.       Onions

10.   Mangoes

11.   Mushrooms

12.   Papaya

13.   Pineapple

14.   Peas

15.   Sweet potato

16.   Watermelon

Other Types of Fruit / Fruit Juice Fasting

Whole Fruit Fasting

This means chewing and eating fresh fruit only.  Be a temporary fruitarian. This is fine for people who are Blood type A or AB, but for Type B and O it should be avoided (stick with juice fasts, water fasts, or fat fasts).  Type B and especially type O individuals make more stomach acid and digestive enzymes, and the process of chewing your food generates stomach acid, something you don’t want too much of while fasting. It could lead to stomach ulcers.

Grapefruit Fasting

Another interesting one-dimensional fasting system.  Why not add other beneficial fruits and maybe some vegetable juice too?  The juicing proponents say it’s better to avoid most foods while fasting.  That is because many people don’t utilize Blood Type Diet-friendly foods.

Liquids only.  This is the typical, one-size-fits-all protocol that some not-so-smart healthcare professionals put people on pre-surgery, post-surgery, or whatever reason they can find to half-heartedly attempt some semblance of a fast.  Almost no direction is provided, and a patient often experiences outcomes worse than if they had not done this pseudo-liquid fast at all.

Fat Fasting

Fat fasting is a common and effective fasting method for people who are already doing keto and have arrived at a weight loss plateau, or wish to fast in general.  If you want to try keto, this is not where you start.  Fat fasting, as well as any keto-type diets, work best if you have keto-friendly genes and microbiome.  You’ll need to get a genetic and a microbiome test to find out if you’re well-suited to carb elimination and/or high levels of dietary fat.  For the regular keto diet, you eat about 10 to 15% of your calories from protein, 5 to 10% from carbs, and the rest (70 to 80%) from fat, hopefully from healthy sources like beneficial nuts and seeds, grass-fed animal fat, free-range high-DHA egg yolks, avocado, coconut oil, flax seed oil, perilla seed oil, and of course lots of olive oil.

Fat fasting is usually used by people who are already doing some form of keto, so thus they are “keto-adapted”.  The idea is that you reduce your total caloric intake, and your protein and carb intake even further, for 2 to 6 days.  If you normally consume 2,000 calories per day on a keto diet, you would reduce this by almost half, so 1,000 to 1,200 calories, and you consume almost entirely calories that come from fat.  Your protein intake would end up being around 5%, carbs around 5%, with fat being the remaining ~90%+.  Also, it’s wise not to consider fiber as carbs, so to me, 5% carbs means 5% non-fiber carbs, the ones that will quickly translate into increased blood sugar levels. 

You will do well to supplement with a multivitamin as well as some soluble fiber while on this fast (as well as if you’re just following a keto-type diet).  If you get really hungry, you can have a small protein shake once a day, which could help (15 to 30 grams of protein, once a day).  Just make sure the ingredients are genetically appropriate for you (e.g., no whey unless you’re blood type B or AB, or a non-secretor A).  If you are skinny, emaciated, or elderly, a protein shake becomes even more important because it helps maintain muscle mass so you don’t waste away as much while on the fast.  Oh, you’ll definitely waste away, but it will be less so if you add some protein.

You don’t want to do this fast for longer than about a week, especially if you are not a big person with a lot of muscle mass.  It will significantly reduce your metabolism, fat mass, as well as muscle mass.  I once met a guy, big guy, 6 foot 1 and 290 pounds.  He was a bouncer at the Derby in Hollywood, CA in the mid 90s.  He occasionally goes on a month-long fast where he eats one big salad per day, and water.  Nothing else.  He could do it because he was overweight, but in addition to fat he also had a huge pool of muscle mass to play with.  Not all of us have that. Lots of stories and legends exist about my friend, and most of them are true.  A real tough guy, he once took his thumb to the flame of a lighter for about 10 seconds until his thumb was a bit blackened.  I tried the same thing and lasted 0.8 seconds, and that’s being generous.  The point I’m trying to make is, there is a great variance with any given person’s will, constitution, genetics, hunger pains, and badassery.  Don’t discount half a century of research and clinical experience, but ultimately go with what works for you.

Lectin Avoidance Fasting

The more you learn about all the different types of fasting, the more you realize that most of them involve drastic reduction (or elimination) of grains and other lectin-containing foods from the diet.  Any kind of mono-diet also eliminates many problematic dietary lectins, like Rice Fasting.  Hmm…  Maybe one reason fasting works so well, and why people who follow the Blood Type Diet don’t need to fast as often, is because they are already avoiding these lectins just by following the BTD.  Think about it.

Fasting with No Calories

Water Fasting.  For a more extreme fast, try a water fast, but don’t let this be the first one you try.  Water fasting will provide you with the maximum fasting results.  You will exhaust your liver glycogen in 1 to 2 days and go into some serious ketosis.  This type of fast will result in your organs being cleansed the quickest, as well as providing rest to your organs, but it’s also quite harsh.  If you approach water fasting in small steps, it will probably work just fine for you.  Water fasting is better suited to people with blood type B and O, as they are better suited to ketosis, although anyone really can do it for a short period of time if done carefully.

Dry Fasting

This type of fasting is extreme and not often recommended, especially for longer than one day, and it is highly dangerous for anyone at any time for longer than 40 hours.  Also known as Absolute Fast, or Hebrew Fast, dry fasting has roots in religious culture, and involves going without food and water for short periods of time.

Intermittent Fasting (IMF)

Intermittent fasting (IMF) is an excellent way to limit calories if you have a busy lifestyle and also you’re prone to overeating, and it’s way more enjoyable than counting calories. Many clients notice that IMF is more effective than regular dieting, especially if combined with the BTD.  IMF is touted all over the internet as being a relatively new fasting method.  This is true and false.  Yes, the term intermittent fasting is new, but let’s face it, the concept has been around for thousands of years. Even today in the year 2019, many people already do some form of IMF without even realizing it.  Bottom line:  yes, IMF is good for you, and no, it’s not new. 

Although there is some disagreement as to exactly what IMF is, we define it as eating for a few hours per day, usually 8 hours, and then fasting for remainder of the day, which is often 16 hours. So if you start eating at 11am, you stop at 7pm and consume only water or unsweet tea until 11am the next morning.

IMF offers various alternatives to regular fasting, and is especially good for 2 types of people:

1.       People who are just too busy with life and the longer fasts don’t work for them. They can’t stay away from food, or it affects them so much they can’t function at their regular job (these are the ones who sit around in the Naked and Afraid show, too tired to do anything, while the go-getters are out collecting food and building a tent).

2.       People who are able to stay away from calories during the daily fasting window.  We will show you how you can help determine that if you don’t already know.  Or you can just experiment and see how you do.  Intermittent fasting is the safest and easiest of all the fasting methods.  In fact, it’s really not fasting at all, in the sense of a longer period of just juices (or just water).

The benefits of fasting and IMF seem almost too good to be true.  But I assure you, they’re as real as fresh organic juice.

Different Types of Intermittent Fasting

There are several types of IMF.  The most relevant ones are listed below:

Skipping meals.  This is the easiest IMF method and underscores its ease of use. People skip meals all the time for various reasons. But if you can time it so the meal you skip is the first or last meal of the day, this increases the body’s time in a state of fasting, which you can increase to  12-18 hours, depending on the severity of the intermittent fast.  Most people end up with 14-16 hours of continuous fasting per day, which is much better than the average person who has a snack around 9pm, and resumes with breakfast at 7am, which barely 10 to 11 hours of fasting. A lot of improvements occur when you extend that fast just by a few hours.

Daily Window.  This is what we recommend to most people for IMF.  It’s not much different from skipping a meal, because you’re essentially just skipping a meal (and maybe a snack). This works best for people on a schedule and for people who do better when sticking to a schedule, like Blood Type A folks.

The Warrior Diet.  This type of fasting is essentially a late-window intermittent fast, and is similar to several religious types of fast where you start eating when the sun goes down and stop eating when you fall asleep.  The only difference is you don’t wake up early right before sunrise just to engorge yourself like some religious folks (A good Muslim friend of mine Omar E. did that very thing for Ramadan, but at least he had a good excuse: he was on the UCLA Rowing Team and needed the calories).

This pre-sunrise gorging 1. ruins the intermittent fast, 2. It is unhealthy, and 3. It could interfere with sleep and add additional stress. Originally invented by Ori Hofmekler, an Israeli Special Forces soldier, the Warrior Diet is supposed to be similar to the way warriors ate in the days of old, for example, Samurai warriors of Japan, Akkadian warriors of Persia, Spartan Warriors of Greece, and my favorite the Dacian Warriors of Romania (i.e., my ancestors!).  These warriors consumed very few calories during the day, and had one big feast at night before going to bed.  The benefit of this diet (it’s more of a diet than a fast) was that you could only eat so much in one or two sittings, and you didn’t really have an opportunity to eat several meals, because shortly after 1 (or 2 at the most) evenings meals, you were asleep.  Unfortunately, many people tend to overeat late at night, which can cause stomach upset and indigestion.  If this happens repeatedly to you while on this type of regimen, you might need to choose a different regimen. However, don’t be surprised if the 16 hours of fasting ends up healing your acid reflux or GERD, just enough to pull this off.

Modified Keto Warrior Diet:  If you’re on a keto diet, you could focus on low-carb vegetables throughout the day, followed by one substantial main meal in the evening.  This is also similar to Dr. Heller’s Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet, where you eat healthy but whatever you want one hour per day, and the rest of the time you are eating pretty much just low-carb vegetables.  Another option is to water fast all day, then consume one big meal at night.  And that is our segway into IMF timing.

Deciding on Time of Day to Intermittent Fast

How do you decide on the time of day of IMF?  Do you do it from 8am to 4pm?  Or from noon to 8pm?  These questions have fairly simple answers.  Just because you’re one of those people who are never hungry when they wake up, doesn’t mean you should absolutely have your eating window later in the day.  Maybe if you go to bed hungry, you’d feel differently in the morning. There are 3 significant factors that we will examine when deciding on timing of IMF timing:

1.       If you get hungry in the evening, will you have enough willpower not to snack?

2.       If you get hungry in the evening, will you physically be able to fall asleep and sleep through the night?

3.       Do you get really hungry in the mornings?  Some people can’t wait until 10 or 11am let alone noon or 1pm before consuming their first calories.

If you can’t fall asleep on an empty stomach (some people have more trouble with this than others), you will have to set your eating window to later in the day.  If you have low willpower, you will also have to eat later in the day, because your willpower, blood sugar control, and many other factors are better after a night of rest, and as the day progresses, some of these factors and abilities deteriorate.  Later in this lesson, you will take the Food Cravings Questionnaire (FCQ®). Knowing your ORDS® test results is also a good idea, but if you don’t have it don’t worry about it.  If the FCQ® comes back and you score high, you will probably have more problems with willpower (Same with the ORDS® test). I recommend to my clients to avoid eating earlier in the day if they score more than 250 on the FCQ® test, and/or if they score more than an 9 on the ORDS® test.

The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

IMF has numerous benefits, and many of these apply to fasting in general.  Remember, you can do both.  That is, you can intermittent fast, and also once every couple of months you can do a weekend fast during a long weekend, and once a year you can fast for a week.

IMF is especially popular in the keto community because people use water or fat fasting to get into a keto state.  So it’s sort of a preamble to their normal regimen.  The biggest benefits of IMF is the ability to get into a semi-keto state without the pain of actually starving yourself. When you’re doing IMF the right way, you’ll feel better, experience fewer food cravings, consume fewer calories, and improve health profiles (cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, etc.)

Other benefits:

·         Losing fat faster than with other methods

·         Normalizing hormone levels

·         Improving brain function and thinking

·         Reducing the risk of future disease and sickliness

Additional Helpful Hints

To derive maximum benefit from IMF, here are some words of advice:

1.       While fasting, drink only water or unsweetened tea during the fasting window.  Don’t sweeten your drinks with artificial sweeteners.  If you’re a coffee drinker, only have one cup of (black) coffee per day if you’re blood type A or AB (otherwise replace coffee with lots of green tea which has some caffeine).  This will help you stay hydrated.

2.       If you screw up, start over in the morning.

3.       You need to make sure you stick to the blood type diet while you’re doing IMF, especially if your goal is to lose weight or conquer a disease.

4.       Although IMF is fairly safe and well-documented, discuss with your primary care health professional before engaging in any type of fast or fasting-related regimen, especially if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, really old, or have any pre-existing conditions. 

5.       Fasting, including IMF, is more dangerous and needs more monitoring for those who have had a history of eating disorders.

6.       If you’re worried that IMF is simply too difficult for you, remember that in a blood type-friendly nutshell, intermittent fasting is simply eating breakfast slightly later and eating dinner slightly earlier.

7.       IMF works for almost everyone because it mimics fasting, while being gentler than fasting.  It also preserves lean muscle mass and helps you lost more fat than regular dieting.

FASTING CALCULATOR:  What Type of Fast Should You Do?

In order to determine which type of fast is ideal for you (significant diseases, schedule, and lifestyle situations notwithstanding), first we will have to know a few things. Fasting Method Score. you will have to know a few things.  The following are two lists.  The first is the easiest to determine.  The second list is a bit more intensive and time-consuming to figure out, but well worth it.

List #1:  Essential Data Required to Determine Fasting Method

            FASTING CALCULATOR.  Add the following numbers:

1.       Age.  The younger you are, the easier fasting will be.  You get 1 point if you’re over 40, 2 points if you’re over 50, 4 points if you’re over 60, 6 points if you’re over 70, and 10 points if you’re over 80.  Enter that number here: __________.

2.       ABO blood type.  This is determined by a standard finger prick method. Some people royally screw this up (Doug!), so please get officially typed by a blood bank, doctor, experienced nurse, or any qualified Opus23, DPN Personalized Health Coach, or SWAMI practitioner.  It’s very important for success. If you’re “95% sure” you’re Type O, that’s not good enough.  We need you to be 99.994% certain.  Give yourself 2 points if you’re blood type O, 4 points if you’re type B, 7 points if you’re type AB, and 8 points if you’re type A. ___________.

3.       Health status.  Much like your age, your health status is a catch-22 when it comes to fasting.  The worse off your health is, the harder fasting will be, but the more you’ll need fasting in the first place. That’s why you should check in with your doctor, start slowly, and continue checking in with your doctor. Give yourself a number from 0 to 10:  zero if you’re perfectly healthy, about a 5 if you’re so-so, and a 9 or 10 if your health is very compromised. ___________

4.       Current Stress Levels.  Are you doing fine?  Are you on the verge of a nervous breakdown? This is important information when contemplating a fast.  Scale of 0 to 10, 0 being zero stress and 10 being maximum stress. ____________.

5.       Food Cravings Questionnaire.  Complete the “FCQ” questionnaire at the end of this article.  It will help determine how hard it will be for you to resist eating food once you start your fast.  It will also let you know how much you’ll need to avoid people and places where there food is present, in order to avoid temptation.  If you know your blood type, use the blood type-specific questionnaire.  If you don’t know your blood type yet, use the FCQ for all blood types. If you scored over 100 on the FCQ, add 1 point to the score here, over 150 add 2 points, over 200 add 4 points, over 250 add 6 points, and over 300 add 10 points _____________.

6.       Fasting Experience.  Is this your first rodeo?  Or are you an experienced faster?  Start with 5 points if this is your first time, and subtract a point for every juice, fat, or water fast 2 days or longer that you’ve successfully done, then add that number.  If you’re a very experienced faster, add zero. ____________.

List #2:  Extra Data to Fine-Tune Your Fasting Regimen

1.       Lewis Secretor Status.  You can determine your Lewis secretor status with a Secretor Test Kit that you can purchase online.  4yourtype.com has one, or you can get it from your Opus23, DPN Health Coach, or SWAMI certified practitioner.  If your physician doesn’t know or doesn’t even want to know if you have any mutations in your FUT2 gene (i.e., “non-secretor status)”, find another physician.  Your “secretor status” is crucial in determining which fruits and vegetables to juice while fasting, as well as which foods are least offending while you are in “Post-Fast” mode.  Types A and AB who are non-secretors tend to do a little better with water fasts, and Types B and O tend to do even better than that. Add 2 points if you’re a non-secretor ________.

2.       Lewis Negative Status.  Lewis blood group can be used to infer your secretor status in Lewis positive individuals after the age of 2 years, but Lewis negative phenotype (Le a- b-) is independent of ABH (or ABO) secretor status. Five known mutations in the FUT3 gene result in most Lewis negative status, and Opus23 checks for most of these variants.  Lewis negative status is associated with higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, doubles the risk of ischemic heart disease, and is associated with risk of hypercholesterolemia, T2DM, candidiasis and UTIs (especially E. Coli). Lewis negative people have higher serum triglycerides, a higher BMI and lower HDL levels, and were at higher risk of metabolic syndrome.  People who are Lewis negative should fast for longer periods of time and fast more frequently. Add 1 point if you’re Lewis negative ___________ .

3.       Keto diet genetics.  If you’ve had your genome sequenced using commercial testing like 23andMe or AncestryDNA, or you are using more accurate, clinical testing like The Opus DSL test, you have the ability to find out if you have keto and/or low-carb genetics.  If you do, you can still do a fruit and vegetable juice fast, but with more vegetables than fruits in order to keep the carbs down (check ketone levels and adjust fruit juice amounts…if ketones not high enough, reduce fruit juice intake), or better yet a water fast, or even a “fat fast”.  Qualified Opus23 practitioners can check several proprietary algorithms using Dr. D’Adamo’s program (Opus23, found at datapunk.net), which include variants in several genes, including but not limited to:

a.       TP53,

b.       PPARx

c.       ADRBx

d.       TPH2

e.       FTO

Give yourself 0 points if you test positive for the keto / low-carb genetics algorithm, otherwise give yourself 10 points. Give yourself another 2 points for each “T” allele in your FTO gene at location “rs9939609” (so 2 points for “TA” or 4 points for “TT”).

4.       Low-fat genetics.  If you test positive for low-fat genetics, you will do well not to experiment with “fat fasting”, regardless of ABO blood type or secretor status.  You will do much better with a fruit and vegetable juice fast (especially if you’re a Type A or AB secretor), or a straight water fast.  Add 3 points if you have low-fat genetics.

5.       ORDS® genetics.  RDS is called Reward Deficiency Syndrome.  It’s a situation where if people have enough genetic variants in genes involving dopamine, serotonin and GABA, it causes a predisposition to “Reward Deficiency Syndrome”.  RDS covers all reward-seeking, addictive, impulsive and compulsive behaviors. The Opus23 ORDS® templates and algorithms are similar to GARS® (the first research-based, genetic test that helps pinpoint an individual’s vulnerability to RDS), but with improved functionality and more robust data.  The idea is that the more RDS variants you have, the more the tendency you might have to get frustrated and give up on the fast prematurely. The more addictive genetic tendencies you have, the more you might crave sweets or fats.  The more impulsive genetic tendencies you have, the more you might give in to your cravings.  We want to maximize your chances of a successful fast, and if the fast is too harsh for you, you might prematurely give up on it. The classes of tendencies that could affect weight loss and fasting include:

a.       Addictive tendencies (e.g., foods, sweets),

b.       Impulsive tendencies (e.g., foods)

c.       Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) tendencies (e.g., Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Food Hoarding,

d.       Personality Disorder (e.g., paranoid, schizoid, narcissistic, dependent, PTSD)

If you score 0-4 on the ORDS® test give yourself 1 point, if you score 5-6 give yourself 2 points, if you score 7-8 give yourself 4 points, if you score 9-10 give yourself 6 points, if you score 11-12 give yourself 8 points, and if you score 13+ give yourself 10 points. ___________.

TOTAL:  Add up all the points you scored from List 1 and 2 above, and enter it here _________.

The Champion Faster.  If your total score is 0 to 13, you don’t have many risk factors for problems with fasting and it should be a breeze.  You should still be under the supervision of a doctor for any fast longer than 5 days.  With a little practice, you can fast for 2 or even 4 weeks if your schedule and size allow it, and you can easily do a 10 to 15 day water fast with practice.  Any type of IMF will work for you too, and we advise 3 meals per day, eating 6.5 to 7.5 hours and fasting for the remaining 16.5 to 17.5 hours. If you fast for 6 hours, you want a medium-sized meal at T-minus zero, another medium meal at 3 hours, and the final meal a big meal at 6 hours.

The Accomplished Faster.  If your score is 14-23, you should do really well at fasting.  You should limit your fasts to no more than 10 days, and you can easily do a water fast for at least 7 days.  We suggest fasting under the supervision of a doctor for any fasts longer than 5 days.  Any type of IMF will work for you, but we advise 3 or 4 meals per day, eating 7 to 8 hours and fasting for the remaining 16 to 17.

The Experienced Faster.  If your score is 24-29, you should limit your fasts to no more than 7 days, and limit water fasts for no more than 4 days.  We suggest fasting under the supervision of a doctor for any fasts longer than 4 days. Any type of IMF will work for you, but we advise 3 meals per day and 1-2 snacks, eating for about 8 hours and fasting for the remaining 16.

The Standard Faster.  The If your score is 30-42, you should limit your fasts to no more than 5 days, and water fasts to no more than 3 days. We suggest fasting under the supervision of a doctor for any fasts longer than 4 days. We advise 4 meals per day, eating for about 8 hours and fasting for 16.

Short Term Plus.  If your score is 43-52, you should limit your fasts to no more than 4 days, and water fasts to no more than 36 hours.  We suggest fasting under the supervision of a doctor for any fasts longer than 3 days. We advise 3 meals and 1-2 snacks per day, eating for 8.5 hours and fasting for 15.5.

The Short Term Faster.  If your score is 53 or more, you should limit your fast to no more than 3 days, and you should not attempt a water fast unless you have successfully completed at least three 3-day fasts, and even then, only water fast for 36 hours at the most. We suggest fasting under the supervision of a doctor for any fasts longer than 2 days. For IMF, we advise 3 to 4 meals and 2 snacks per day, eating for about 9 hours and fasting for about 15.

How Long Should I Fast For?

Fasting levels can range from skipping just one meal, to an entire month of fasting. While a 3-day fast is a very common, useful, and effective way to fast, there are many other lengths.  The longer you plan to fast, the more planning and medical attention it will require. If this is the first time you’ve fasted, you will have to start out slow. Use the fasting calculator above to help determine which fast is right for you. Then choose from one of these fasting methods:

1. One day fast (24-hour fast).  This is a good duration for newbies starting out with fasting. Just about anyone can do this type of fast.  Indeed, even very sick people going in for surgery are often recommended by their surgeon to fast for part of a day or a day before surgery. One-day fasts are useful when you have a feeling of malaise, or if you think you feel a cold coming on.  The great part about one-day fast is that there’s zero preparation required.  You can decide to fast anytime you want.  Just remember to take one day to ease back into regular food.

2. Three-day fast.  This fast is often done by people once a month or once every other month.  It does enough of a job to remove toxins and make sure the body is operating at 100%.  Besides, three-day fasts dovetail with a work schedule.  If you have a half-day at work Friday, you can actually start Thursday night and go to work Friday morning with no breakfast, if possible.  Bring a piece of fruit just in case you can’t handle it.  You fast the rest of the Friday and all of Saturday, and you can break the fast Sunday evening or even Monday morning, completing a full three-day fast, which is actually 3.5 days.

3. One week fast. This longer fast can be done 1 to 3 times per year.  Now we are getting into serious fasting lengths, and you need to be much more serious than with the 1 to 3 day fasts.  Unless you’re a young and healthy adult, you really need to consult with your physician before undergoing something like this or longer.

4. Ten-day fast. This is the standard, widely-accepted “long fast” for serious cleansing.  It’s widely accepted because it’s long enough in duration to cause some wonderful health benefits.  Many people use this type of fast once a year as a maintenance fast.  If you live in a warm climate, the best times to start something like this is a day or two after Christmas, or January 2nd or 3rd, for obvious reasons.  January is probably the best month overall, but if you live in a cold climate and even the thought of freezing makes you reluctant to fast, you’ll have to do this in the spring or fall. Fasting strongly compromises your ability to handle cold temperatures, and even more so if you’re….you guessed it.…blood Types A or AB.

• 2 to 4-week fast. These types of fasts are the longest ones recommended.  These are only for the seasoned faster, or those under extremely close professional supervision. But you can do it.  Remember, people who have bariatric surgery essentially do a similar thing, so we know the body can handle it. We would not suggest even attempting a month-long fast unless you’ve successfully completed at least 2 fasts of 7 to 10 days in length, and you are under the close supervision of your physician.  You also can’t be too skinny, so males with a BMI of less than 24 or females with a BMI of less than 27 should probably not attempt a fast of this length, nor should a male with a body fat percentage under 12%, or a female with a body fat percentage under 17%.  You’ll need to be very familiar with your own body due to the sheer length and significance of this fast. People who are non-secretors, those with Blood Types O or B, and/or those with keto / low-carb genetics seem to do a bit better with these longer fasts.

Your body’s nutritional reserves are going to be depleted, especially with a long water fast, so try to load up on vitamins and other supplements beforehand. Your preparation will determine how long you can fast.  Take 2 or 3 Polyvites and 5 or 6 Phytocals per day for an entire month, along with a 90%+ BTD adherence, and consider yourself ready.  Mere mortals can’t really fast for more than 1 or 2 weeks, so you’ll need to have better decent nutritional reserves, and also be at least a little overweight, to handle a 2 to 4-week fast, otherwise you’ll get so skinny that it could lead to some short-term health problems.

Whatever length of time you plan on fasting, I would add 75% to 100% to that time, to account for pre-fast and post-fast. So, a 3-day fast will probably take 5 or 6 days. You need to ease off of food, and ease back onto food. The longer the fast, the more important the pre- and post-fast durations will be.  Also understand that you can prematurely end the fast at any time.  If you attempt too much too soon, you may experience a lot of pain and discomfort.  We won’t know until we try.  In a nutshell, you should plan ahead but be flexible, especially for your first fast or two.

A gentle way to “back off” is to have a piece of fruit.  If you don’t feel better afterwards, then you can choose to end the fast early.  More experienced long-term fasters often end their fasts whenever they get hungry again.  Hunger goes away after 2 or 3 days with many people, but after that, the hunger eventually returns.  This can take another 2 or 3 days, and up to 3 weeks. 

Coming off of longer fasts, it’s important to keep in mind several points.  First you need to introduce foods back into your diet gradually, focusing on beneficials for your ABO type, secretor status and GenoType.  Even if you’re type B or O, avoid very spicy foods at first.  You don’t want to place too much stress on your digestive system.  When you fast, stomach acid and enzyme production, as well as pancreatic and intestinal enzyme production, are greatly reduced.  So, a big rack of lamb should probably be out of the question.  You need to allow your digestive system some time to rebuild its enzyme, stomach acid, and pancreatic alkaline-producing abilities.  The mucoid lining of the intestines could be compromised as well, especially if you pass a lot of mucoid plaque (explained later) which means deleterious lectin-containing foods might hurt you even more.  Overeating immediately post-fast is not a good idea, and the longer the fast the worse the big meal will affect you.  Take some extra time, and also take prebiotics and probiotics, to help re-establish your intestinal mucus layer too.

Which foods should you reintroduce first?  For a water fast, fresh fruit is great for your first meal, and for your second meal, more fresh fruit along with a little beneficial protein powder (10 to 20 g protein) should do the trick.  For a juice fast, you definitely want to start with a small protein shake of 15-25 g protein, and a little olive oil or flax meal.  Repeat for the second meal.  After these two meals, a small beneficial meal would be fine.  You can digest anything you normally would while not fasting, you just need more time, smaller portions, and lighter, less fatty food (unless you’re doing a fat fast). The longer the fast, the smaller these meals and the less protein powder you should use to start off.  For longer fasts, even dropping down to 10 g of protein for a protein shake post-fast meal is not too little.

General Recommendations for Fasting

When undergoing any type of fast, try to follow these recommendations:

Before the Fast

• Preparing for the fast - Prepare for a fast by eating healthier and lighter meals for one or two days before fasting.  Some people have only vegetables the day before a fast begins.  This is hard for some, because some people are either “on or off”, and are wondering what’s with this fake, annoying pre-fast mumbo jumbo.  But it does help.  How long you prepare depends on how serious you are, how healthy you are, and how long you plan on fasting.  For an easy 2-day fast, you can eat light and healthy the day before, eating just veggies for the evening meal, and boom, the next morning you start your 2-day fast.

• Not preparing for the fast – Yes, I know I just told you that preparing for the fast is important.  But if you’re more impulsive like me, it’s ok for you to just start fasting anytime you want to, simply because you feel like it especially if you’re reasonably healthy.  Therefore, don’t feel as though you need to do massive preparations, especially if you’re not very sick and/or very old.  The shorter you plan on fasting, the less “notice” you need to give your body.  So if you’re needing that extra special “go” signal, here it is:  you can start fasting right now if you want to.  Blessings have been officially given.

During the Fast

• Exercise and Meditation / Visualization – Don’t exercise too much while fasting, but also don’t sit around all day, especially if you’re blood type O.  Plan for at least one or two hours of light, easy exercise like housework or going for a long walk, or some calming exercises like Tai Chi, Yoga or stretching.  If you just have to exercise a lot, do it on day one of the fast only, and take it easier afterwards. 

• Coffee - If you're a coffee drinker, you can keep drinking coffee for the first 2 days of the fast but reduce by half. So, if you usually drink 2 cups, just drink one cup.  For longer fasts, avoid coffee completely after the first 2 days.  Use green tea instead.  Also, if you’re blood type B or O, don’t consume any coffee while fasting.  Drink lots of green tea instead.

• Smoking – Smoking changes certain levels of liver detoxification enzymes, so you’re going to have to cut back at least 50% for the first day of fasting, and go completely off of cigarettes by day 3.  Fasting from cigarettes too will give your body a more complete reset.  You owe it to yourself.

• Dry Brushing – Brush your skin with a dry brush often.  This sloughs off dead skin cells and is a way of eliminating toxins.  Dry brushing is also good for the circulation, including lymphatic circulation.  There are many websites that discuss this in detail.  Try wellnessmama.com, mindbodygreen.com, or goop.com.

• Massage – Massage is an excellent way to reduce stress, increase circulation, and bring circulation including red and white blood cells to parts of the body that normally don’t have as much blood flow. And as an added bonus, it will help reduce inflammation.

• Colon health – There are many recommendations by various “authorities” regarding colon health; these include fasting, enemas, colon hydrotherapy, psyllium-based supplements, as well as oxygenated magnesium. Oxygenated magnesium (“Oxy-Powder”) is often better than some other colon care supplements because it may be gentler on the colon than psyllium-based formulations, and is especially suited to constipation, chronic constipation, and high levels of anaerobic bacteria.  However, you can run into problems with too much oxygen.  There are some clostridium species that are great for you because they generate butyric acid, and if you don’t have enough of these, the extra oxygen in the gut might further reduce their numbers.  Get your clostridium levels checked by a gut microbiome test before undergoing any Oxy-Powder regimen.  The other benefit of using magnesium is that it will resolve constipation.  Don’t worry if you don’t have a bowel movement the first day.  Take 4 capsules the first night (while fasting, or while not fasting).  If you don’t have at least 2 bowel movements the next day, go to 6 capsules, then the next day go to 8.  Keep increasing by 2 until you get at 3 stools (probably slightly loose) per day.  Maintain that level of oxygenated magnesium capsules for 5 to 6 days.  Some practitioners recommend enemas during fasting.  This can be helpful but is not necessary.
  
  If you go with psyllium, take 1 tablespoon of organic psyllium husks mixed in with a glass of water or with a juice.  You can add 1 teaspoon of bentonite clay and 1 teaspoon of activated carbon (a.k.a. activated charcoal) for better effect.  Do this twice per day while fasting.  Psyllium is a natural laxative and does a decent job of helping to clean the intestines, but can be a little harsh on some individuals.

Microbiome hide-and-seek:  If you take a couple of activated carbon capsules per day, your beneficial gut bacteria can use these tiny carbon chunks to hide in, which may increase the chances of their survival while fasting.

• “There’s an App for that” – Get an app to help track your fast as well as your regular diet.  It can also be very useful to track your regular diet.  Dr. D’Adamo has the Diet Buddy that is very useful, and there many other reputable programs online.

• Breathing exercises – Do breathing exercises several times per day while fasting.  This will help your body in many ways.

• Should I smoke pot? – If you were smoking before, you can continue to smoke while fasting, but reduce the amount by half.  Heck, marijuana might even reduce your appetite and help you resist the urge to cheat, reduce any pain and discomfort symptoms, as well as keep you relaxed and in a good mood while fasting.  Your detoxification liver enzyme levels will be much different after even 2 or 3 days of fasting, so it’s best to cut back (just like with coffee, alcohol, supplements, etc.).  Yes, you can also keep taking CBD, but again, reduce the amount by half, just to be prudent.

• Rest / Naps – If you feel tired, you should take frequent naps any time you wish.  This is your time to take it easy. Try not to watch too much TV or be on your phone, iPad or computer. This is a source of unneeded stress while on a fast, which is stressful enough.  What good is a food fast if you’re not also fasting a bit from electronics and the modern world.

• Ketone levels – If you’re going to do a water fast or a fat fast, you should use ketosis urine test strips.  Make sure your ketone levels are at the appropriate range for your blood type and secretor status:

• Lewis Secretors (Le a-b+):

• Type O: 2.0 to 3.0 mmol/L

• Type B:                 1.5 to 2.5 mmol/L

• Type AB:              1.0 to 2.0 mmol/L

• Type A:                 0.5 to 1.5 mmol/L

• Lewis Non-Secretors (Le a+b-):

• Type O:                2.5 to 3.5 mmol/L

• Type B:                 2.0 to 3.0 mmol/L

• Type AB:              1.5 to 2.5 mmol/L

• Type A:                 1.0 to 2.0 mmol/L

o    Additional refining tactics:

• Add 0.5 for those with significant low carb genetics (ask your Opus23 practitioner for that data)

• Subtract 0.5 for those with low protein genetics AND low-fat genetics

After the Fast

• Breaking a fast – It’s not difficult to come off a fast, but you need to do it right.  However long the fast is, that’s the total number of days you should spend preparing and breaking the fast.  For example, if you’re going to do a 4-day fast, you should prepare for 2 days, then do the 4-day fast, then come off of it for 2 days, for a total of 8 days. Make better choices about which foods to eat.  Eat beneficial foods and avoid the bad ones much more aggressively than usual.

• Post-Fast – A fast provides an easy way to detoxify and “reset” your body and digestive system, so don’t waste it by eating horribly right after. Post-Fast foods to eat first (start with these):

• fruit and vegetable juices

• fresh fruits

• yogurt or kefir for Type B and AB, smaller amounts of yogurt or kefir for Type A, and cultured beneficial vegetables including Kimchi for Type O and A.

• Bone broth soup is a great idea for Type B and O.

• Vegetable broths are good for all Types.

• Organic fresh dark green leafy veggies like spinach and romaine lettuce are actually also a source of beneficial bacteria (look up how to make probiotic “wilted lettuce” online)

• Some cooked vegetables are fine too.

Then if you can tolerate the above, continue with these:

• Raw vegetables

• Beneficial grains and beans for Type A and AB, and Beneficial beans only if you’re blood type B or O

• Nuts and eggs (2 eggs maximum until you know you can digest enough egg protein and fat).  Also, choose free range eggs high in DHA.  These should have very orange yolks.

• Milk products (non-cultured) for Type B and AB

• Meats

The further down the line you go with these lists, the harder it will be to digest.  Don’t be too freaked out though.  Remember our ancestors have gone through many famines and somehow didn’t need to read this article.  They turned out just fine.  The main 4 points are to start with:

• Easier to digest foods

• Smaller portions

• Allow enough time between meals to properly digest your meal

• Optional:  Use some digestive enzymes, especially if you’re Blood Type A or AB, or if you’re sick or old.

Initially, you will be eating small, easy-to-digest meals every 2 to 3 hours.  If you feel really full while eating a post-fast meal, stop eating.  Let a couple of hours pass and see if your hunger returns.  It’s extra important to listen to your body for cues to stop eating.  Also, eating slowly and chewing your food thoroughly will improve digestion and reduce the chances of GI problems.  Remember, sailors, nomads and explorers barely survived on scraps after many months of famine, scurvy, war, and infectious disease, and they still made it. So you shouldn’t worry so much as you stand there all worried in your designer kitchen, staring at your juicer, organic fruits and veggies, probiotics, and protein powder.  Relax and be grateful you have the ability to do this at such a high level.

Another problem many non-BTD people have after a fast is which foods they’ll be able to tolerate.  Unless you have a documented food allergy or intolerance, simply following the blood type diet (plus secretor status) should be enough avoid the mild-to-moderate allergies or intolerances that some people develop after a fast. This sometimes occurs because your protective mucus layer can become depleted.  This is good and bad:  good that you dissolved some of that sludge (mucoid plaque) and now you have much-improved absorption of nutrients, and bad in that now you may be more sensitive to avoid foods.  But who cares, because you don’t eat a lot of avoid foods anyway, right?  Right.

• The “Turrble” Threes – The top 3 foods that will hurt you post-fast more than anything else are:

• Large amounts of dairy products, especially cheeses (ignore this entire sentence if you are a Blood Type B secretor and you’re not African-American),

• Lots of grains, especially lots of white flour/wheat, and corn,

• Large amounts of meat, especially fatty or fried meat. 

They will all smell good, and yes they might taste fabulous, but much like affairs or narcotics, the fun will be short-lived.  Avoid them.  Also, don’t get too creative during post-fast.  Don’t experiment with new foods, meals, or supplements at this time.  Go with what you know until you’re through with your post-fast.

Side note:  For some reason, watermelon is a very popular fruit for breaking a fast. 

You keep increasing the size of the meals, as well as the length of time between each meal, until you get to 6 small meals per day.  Once there, you will need to test your body, so have one regular-sized blood type-friendly meal.  Wait 4 hours.  No problems?  Then… you are done with your post-fast.  Congratulations.  Thank you and come again in a week… or a month.

Your Gut Microbiome

After your fast, even if it was a very long fast like 3 or 4 weeks, your gut bacteria did not all die.  They still exist, and yes they’re fasting along with you and are probably a little annoyed, especially if you did a water fast.  However, surprisingly, your gut bacteria might be in better off shape after a fast than before, because fasting is usually good for the gut, bringing in certain groups of bacteria into balance with others, while reducing or eliminating certain yeasts (candida), parasites, and other organisms.  Importantly, fasting increases your levels of Akkermansia and Faecalibacteria, both very beneficial bacteria for health and a long life.  Find an Opus23 practitioner who is also knowledgeable with the Utopia program to help you determine how beneficial fasting is for your microbiome (yes, there are algorithms for that too). Also, try to add raw foods to your diet post-fast. This includes probiotic sources, including:

·         Probiotics (especially the Polyflora series at 4yourtype.com, which is custom-tailored with friendly bacteria and some prebiotics… ah, the wonders of modern glycobiology),

·         Prebiotic supplements and lectin blockers (again, the Deflect series at 4yourtype.com, as well as 1 teaspoon of ARA6 (larch arabinogalactan) twice a day,

·         Butyric and caprylic short-chain fatty acids (“Intrinsa” from 4yourtype.com),

·         Kefir or yogurt, 2 servings per a day if you’re Type B, one serving per day if you’re type AB, and one serving every other day if you’re Type A,

·         Cultured and fermented foods like sauerkraut and miso, for your blood type (e.g., Type A should avoid cabbage, but there are many different types of cultured vegetables at the health foods store these days),

·         Wilted lettuce (properly made, learn online).

Interesting raw tidbits:  Raw vegetables already have probiotics on them.  And if they’re organic, all you need to do is rinse them briefly and eat them!  If you eat these raw veggies by themselves and with a little fat, and you chew them well, you’re unlikely to make enough stomach acid and enzymes to break them down (i.e., “they go right through you”), so they’re more likely to make it past your stomach and to your large intestine, where hopefully they will improve your microbiome health.

How Often Should I Fast?

Don’t fast too frequently because you want your body to rebuild its nutritional status for some nutrients.  Your nutritional reserves may be depleted, depending on the type of fast, so fasting for more than 2 days per week is ill-advised, and even that is skirting the limits.  One day per week, combined with one entire weekend every 2 or 3 months, and one longer week to 10 days fast per year is about perfect for most people.

Supplements while Fasting

When undergoing any type of fast, try to follow these recommendations:

• Supplements before the fast – You want to give your system a rest, and maybe that should include a rest from supplements and herbs too.  Take a double dose of vitamins for 2 to 3 weeks prior to the fast, then go cold turkey during the fast. 

• Green Tea – try to drink 1 to 3 glasses of green tea each day, and having a cup of chamomile and/or passionflower tea at night is an excellent way to finish a fast (and to fall asleep).

• Colon health – There are many recommendations by numerous “authorities” regarding colon health, and these include fasting, enemas, colon hydrotherapy, psyllium-based supplements, as well as oxygenated magnesium.  Oxygenated magnesium is probably the best, if you can handle it.

• Oxygenated magnesium (“Oxy-Powder”) is often better than some of these because it is gentler on the colon than psyllium-based formulations, but you can run into problems with oxygen.  There are some clostridium species that are great for you because they generate butyric acid, and extra oxygen in the gut might reduce their numbers.  Get your clostridum levels checked by a gut microbiome test to make sure they’re not too low, before undergoing any Oxy-Powder regimen.  The other benefit of using magnesium is that it will 100% resolve constipation for the time being.  Don’t worry if you don’t have a bowel movement the first day.  Take 4 capsules the first night (while fasting, or while not fasting).  If you don’t have at least 2 bowel movements the next day, go to 6 capsules, then the next day go to 8.  Keep increasing by 2 until you get at 3 stools (probably loose) per day.  Maintain that level of oxygenated magnesium capsules for 5 to 6 days.  Many practitioners recommend enemas during fasting.  This can be helpful but is not necessary. Also, take probiotics along with the magnesium supplements.

• Psyllium – If you go with psyllium, take 1 tablespoon of organic psyllium husks mixed in with a glass of water or with a juice.  You can add 1 teaspoon of bentonite clay and 1 teaspoon of activated carbon (a.k.a. activated charcoal) for better effect.  Probiotics might actually use the carbon as a hiding place. Do this twice per day while fasting.  Psyllium is a natural laxative and does a decent job of helping to clean the intestines.

• Optional:  Flax seed meal – Flax seeds have fiber and some other little goodies that are beneficial for you.  1 to 2 heaping tablespoons per day.

• Breaking a fast – It’s easy to come off a fast, but you need to do it right when it comes to supplements.  Ease into supplements, taking half a dose 3 to 4 days, then proceeding with your usual regimen.

• Fish or Krill Oil – don’t take a lot of fish oil during a fast (unless it’s a fat or keto fast), 0 to 1 gram per day if you’re Type A, B, or AB, and none if you’re Type O.  Your blood will thin out anyway, so you don’t need to make it even thinner.  Besides, you’re already getting some essential fats from the flax meal. And supposedly you’ve been taking your fish oil before the fast. If you’re on blood thinning meds, please consult with your doctor regarding coumadin or other similar medication.  You may require a lower dose, but then again you’re going to be juicing lots of dark leafy greens, so you may be walking a tightrope on this one.

Religious or Spiritual Fasting

Most if not all religions and sub-religions discuss (some in great detail) fasting for health and/or spiritual purposes.  Here is a summary for each one.

Bahá'í faith

For 19 days in march, you are obliged to do a hard fast (no food or water) during daylight hours (similar to Ramadan), including abstaining from smoking.  Prescribed medicines (and supplements, we imagine) are not restricted.  Observing this is an obligation between the ages of 15 and 70, or if you’re travelling, work doing heavy labor, sick, pregnant, nursing, or menstruating.  For those, it is advised that they eat in private and generally to have simpler or smaller meals than are normal.  The most similar system we have to this IMF or the Warrior Diet, where you begin eating when the sun goes down, and you stop when you finally fall asleep.

Buddhism

Buddhist monks and nuns following the Vinaya rules commonly do not eat each day after the noon meal. This is not considered a fast but rather a disciplined regimen aiding in meditation and good health, but to us it sounds like IMF, where you eat breakfast, then a snack, then a late lunch and you’re done for the day.  Once when the Buddha was touring in the region of Kasi, he addressed several monks:  “I, monks, do not eat a meal in the evening. Not eating a meal in the evening I, monks, am aware of good health and of being without illness and of buoyancy and strength and living in comfort.”

Fasting is also practiced by Buddhists during times of intensive meditation, such as during a retreat. During periods of fasting, followers completely stray away from eating animal products, although they do allow consumption of milk (Buddhists probably have more blood type B people than any other religion).  Furthermore, they also avoid eating processed foods and the five pungent foods which are; garlic, welsh onion, garlic chives, asana, leeks.  The Vajrayana practice of Nyung Ne is based on the tantric practice of Chenrezig and sometimes calls for a one-day hard fast.

Christianity

The usual fast in the Old Testament began at sundown and extended to sundown the second day, so 24 hours. When a partial fast is used, a person would abstain from food only during the daylight hours. These partial fasts also included abstinence from sex.

The Lenten fast is a partial fast observed by many communicants of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, Methodist Churches, and many others, and is a forty-day partial fast to commemorate the fast observed by Christ during his 40-day temptation in the desert.  In the traditional Black Fast, the observant abstains from food for a whole day until the evening, and at sunset, traditionally breaks the fast. In India and Pakistan, many Christians continue to observe the Black Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent.

For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food to one full meal (which may not contain meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Fridays throughout the entire year unless a solemnity should fall on Friday) and two small meals (known liturgically as collations, taken in the morning and the evening), both of which together should not equal the large meal. Eating solid food between meals is not permitted (but seafood is fine). This sounds less like fasting and more like dieting, combined with reduced meat consumption.

Hinduism

Fasting is a very integral part of the Hindu religion. Some Hindus fast on certain days of the month such as Ekadasi, Pradosha, or Purnima. Tuesday fasting is common in southern India as well as northwestern India. In the south, it is believed that Tuesday is dedicated to Goddess Mariamman, a form of Goddess Shakti. Devotees eat before sunrise and drink only liquids between sunrise and sunset. This sounds like IMF.  In the North, Tuesday is dedicated to Lord Hanuman and devotees are allowed only to consume milk and fruit between sunrise and sunset, to the certain dismay of all Type Os in the region.

Thursday fasting is common among the Hindus of northern India. On Thursdays, devotees listen to a story before opening their fast. On the Thursday fasters also worship Vrihaspati Mahadeva. They wear yellow clothes, and meals with yellow colour are preferred. Women worship the banana tree and water it. Food items are made with yellow-coloured ghee.

Fasting during religious festivals is also very common. Common examples are Maha Shivaratri (Most people conduct a strict fast on Maha Shivratri, not even consuming a drop of water ), or the nine days of Navratri (which occurs twice a year in the months of April and October / November during Vijayadashami just before Diwali, as per the Hindu calendar).

Hindu methods of fasting also vary widely and cover a broad spectrum. If followed strictly, the person fasting does not partake any food or water from the previous day's sunset until 48 minutes after the following day's sunrise. Fasting can also mean limiting oneself to one meal during the day, abstaining from eating certain food types or eating only certain food types, so the severity is not high. In any case, the fasting person is not supposed to eat or even touch any animal products (i.e., meat, eggs) except dairy products, which is great for Type B and AB.

Bhagiratha says, The vow of fast was known to Indra. He kept it a secret but USANAS first made it known to the universe. Bhagiratha says, "In my opinion, there is no penance higher than fast." Bhagiratha did many sacrifices and gave gifts and says "the present that flowed from me were as copious as the stream of the Ganga herself (but ..) it is not through the merits of these acts that I have attained this region." Bhagiratha observed the vow of fasting and reached "the region of Brahman". Indeed, the ability to conquer hunger and fast at will is a very powerful and useful ability.

After fasting, one must feed a number of brahmans. Bheeshma says "the illustrious Vishnu, that ancient being, has himself said that there is no fast that possesses merit superior to what attach to fast of this kind." Can you feed your family or friends at the end of your fast, before you consume anything?

Yudhishthira also says, "the disposition (of observing fasts) is seen in all orders of men including the very Mlechchhas.... What is the fruit that is earned in this world by the man that observes fasts?" Bheeshma replies that he had asked Angiras "the very same question that thou has asked me today." The illustrious Angiras says Brahmans and kshatriya should fast for three nights at a stretch is the maximum. A person who fasts on the eight and fourteenth day of the dark fortnight "becomes freed from maladies of all kinds and possessed of great energy."  Sounds like one day per week of fasting.

Islam

Muslims believe that fasting is more than abstaining from food and drink. Fasting also includes abstaining from any falsehood in speech and action, abstaining from any ignorant and indecent speech, and from arguing, fighting, and having lustful thoughts. Therefore, fasting strengthens control of impulses and helps develop good behavior. During the month of Ramadan, believers strive to purify body and soul and increase their taqwa (good deeds and God-consciousness). This purification of body and soul harmonizes the inner and outer spheres of an individual. Muslims aim to improve their body by reducing food intake and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. Overindulgence in food is discouraged and eating only enough to silence the pain of hunger is encouraged.

Fasting is obligatory for every Muslim one month in the year, during Ramadan. Each day, the fast begins at dawn and ends at sunset. During this time Muslims are asked to remember those who are less fortunate than themselves as well as bringing them closer to God. Non obligatory fasts are two days a week as well as the middle of the month, as recommended by the Prophet Muhammad. Although fasting at Ramadan is fard (obligatory), exceptions are made for persons with the standard list of circumstances (sickness, pregnancy, hard manual labor, children and the elderly, etc.).  In addition to Ramadan, there are a few other fasts throughout the year for Muslims, including Arafah fasting, Tasu'a fasting, Shawwāl fasting, Daud (David) fasting, and Eid al-Fitr (1st Shawwal). Ramadan fasting is similar to the Warrior Fast / Diet, and not that different from IMF.

Jainism

Fasting is common among Jains and as a part of festivals. Most Jains fast at special times, during festivals, and on holy days. Paryushan is the most prominent festival, lasting eight days in Svetambara Jain tradition and ten days in Digambar Jain tradition during the monsoon. The monsoon is a time of fasting. However, a Jain may fast at any time, especially if he or she feels some error has been committed. Variations in fasts encourage Jains to do whatever they can to maintain whatever self control is possible for the individual. According to Jain texts, abstaining from the pleasures of the five senses such as sounds and dwelling in the self in deep concentration is fasting (upavāsa).  Prior to undertaking a Jain fast, a person must make a vow, or a formal statement of intent.

Judaism

Fasting for Jews means completely abstaining from food and drink, including water.  This is a hard fast.  Traditionally observant Jews hard fast six days of the year. With the exception of Yom Kippur, fasting is never permitted on Shabbat, for the commandment of keeping Shabbat is biblically ordained and overrides the later rabbinically instituted fast days.

Yom Kippur is considered to be the most important day of the Jewish year-cycle and fasting as a means of repentance is expected of every Jewish man or woman above the age of bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah respectively. This is the only fast day mentioned in the Torah (Leviticus 23:26-32). It is so important to fast on this day, that only those who would be put in mortal danger by fasting are exempt, such as the ill or frail (endangering a life is against a core principle of Judaism). Those that do eat on this day are encouraged to eat as little as possible at a time and to avoid a full meal. For some, fasting on Yom Kippur is considered more important than the prayers of this holy day. If one fasts, even if one is at home in bed, one is considered as having participated in the full religious service.

The second major day of fasting is Tisha B'Av, the day approximately 2500 years ago on which the Babylonians destroyed the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem, as well as on which the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago, and later after the Bar Kokhba revolt when the Jews were banished from Jerusalem, the day of Tisha B'Av was the one allowed exception.

Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur are the major fasts and are observed from sunset to the following day's dusk. The remaining four fasts are considered minor and optional fasting is only observed from sunrise to dusk.[87] Both men and women can choose to observe them,[88] and a rabbi may give a dispensation if the fast represents too much of a hardship to a sick or weak person, or pregnant or nursing woman.

Aside from these official days of fasting, Jews may take upon themselves personal or communal fasts, often to seek repentance in the face of tragedy or some impending calamity. For example, a fast is sometimes observed if a sefer torah is dropped. The length of the fast varies, and some Jews will reduce the length of the fast through tzedakah, or charitable acts. Mondays and Thursdays are considered especially auspicious days for fasting. Traditionally, one also fasted upon awakening from an unexpected bad dream although this tradition is rarely kept nowadays.

Sikhism

Sikhism does not promote fasting except for medical reasons. The Sikh Gurus discourage the devotee from engaging in this ritual as it "brings no spiritual benefit to the person". The Sikh holy Scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib tell us: "Fasting, daily rituals, and austere self-discipline – those who keep the practice of these, are rewarded with less than a shell." Human mind requires wisdom, which can be achieved by contemplating on word's and evaluating it, torturing body is of no use: "He does not eat food; he tortures his body. Without the Guru's wisdom, he is not satisfied." If you keep fast, then do it a way so that you adopt the compassion, well being and ask for good will of everyone. "Let your mind be content, and be kind to all beings. In this way, your fast will be successful."

Taoism

The bigu (辟谷 "avoiding grains") fasting practice originated as a Daoist technique for becoming a xian (仙 "transcendent; immortal"), and later became a Traditional Chinese medicine cure for the sanshi (三尸 "Three Corpses; the malevolent, life-shortening spirits that supposedly reside in the human body"). Chinese interpretations of avoiding gu "grains; cereals" have varied historically; meanings range from not eating particular foodstuffs such as food grain, Five Cereals (China), or staple food to not eating anything such as inedia, breatharianism, or aerophagia.  We currently do not advise breatharianism for any of the blood types.

Yoga

In Yoga principle, it is recommended that one maintains a spiritual fast on a particular day each week (Monday or Thursday). A fast should also be maintained on the full moon day of each month. It is essential on the spiritual fasting day not only to abstain from meals, but also to spend the whole day with a positive, spiritual attitude. On the fasting day, intake of solid food is avoided, with water taken as needed.

Japanese history

Japan has used fasting as punishment for meat consumption. Consumption of domesticated animals was banned by Emperor Tenmu in 675 A.D. from April to September due to Buddhist influences, however wild game was exempt. Nevertheless these laws were regularly flouted. According to the Engishiki, in the Heian Period, fasts began to be used as punishment for the Buddhist sin of meat consumption, initially for 3 days. Eating meat other than seafood (defined here simply as "meat") was seen by Buddhist elite as a kind of spiritually corrupted practice. By the Kamakura Period, much stricter enforcement and punishments began, with an order from Ise Shrine a fast for 100 days for eating wild or domestic animals as defined above, anyone who ate with someone who ate "meat" were required to fast for 21 days, and anyone who ate with someone who ate with someone who consumed "meat" was required to fast for 7 days.

Miscellaneous Tips and Ideas about Fasting

All different methods of fasting have some beneficial qualities about them.  This depends on diet, state of health, age, environment, current stress levels, family and friends support, lifestyle, goals, genetics and gut microbiome.  Take the questionnaire which will help you choose a method that is best for you.  If you need to abort a fast, it gets more and more complicated the longer you have been fasting.  We feel that the information in this article is the most complete and accurate summary to date regarding fasting methods and suggestions.  Ultimately, you’ll have to make the final call as to which method of fasting works best for you, your goals, and your lifestyle.

1.       Don’t overdo it.  The most important thing to keep in mind is not to overdo it, especially the first or second time you attempt a fast.  Start off slowly, and you can always “get more involved” next time.  It’s better to succeed at a shorter fast than to fail miserably with a longer fast and get discouraged from future fasts.  Also, you are likely to have more severe complaints and side-effects if:

·         Your fast is longer

·         Your fast is more severe (juice vs just water)

·         You’ve been eating a bad diet before the fast

·         You haven’t properly prepared for the fast

·         You lack family/friends support

2.       Take advantage of opportunities.  Examples:  Dinner is late?  Might as well fast till tomorrow.  Missed breakfast and it’s 12:30pm?  Good day to fast then, since you’re already 1/3 into the day.

3.       Reduced sleep.  Fasting might reduce your sleep requirements slightly.  If you normally get 8 hours, you might only need 6 or 7.  The first time I intentionally fasted, I noticed my hunger was slightly reduced on day 2, and reduced by day 3.  Also, while fasting I only needed 6 hours of sleep vs. my usual 7.5 to 8 hours. 

4.       If you have trouble sleeping.  You might want to take some melatonin, chamomile tea, passionflower extract or tea, and Membrosia Complex.  Membrosia will help increase autophagy, as well as provide glutamine, a substrate for the GI tract.

5.       Premature Fast Breakage.  Sometimes, life happens and you need to end the fast prematurely, for many reasons.  This is fine.  Schedule another fast in a week or two.  The important thing is not to be discouraged enough to give up.  Just be slightly discouraged.

6.       You don’t need to do a water fast.  Juice (and fruit) fasts make it easier to fast for some, especially for those who have more problems handling ketosis, like Type A and AB secretors.  Juice fasts are actually easier than whole fruit fasts because when you start chewing, you really wish it was something else, whereas there is not much to bit into with juices.

7.       Prepare for reduced or nonexistent work output.  Fasting could potentially take out of commission.  One big problem with fasting is that you might be out of commission.  Who will take over your job functions if you end up more or less bedridden for a few days?  I was able to do a 2-day juice fast back in the summer of ‘96 while I was waiting tables at a restaurant.  I remember clearly the last evening shift I had on day 2 of the fast.  I brought a big bottle of dark cherry juice which I kept on top of the ice machine.  It was extremely difficult to serve all this juicy food, while having only unsweetened dark cherry juice, especially when add to that my general lack of portion control and tendency to overeat.  But I did it because I was stubborn, healthy, and only 21 years old.  Today I would probably have more troubles managing all that.  You need to determine for yourself how much pain and discomfort you can handle. 

8.       Skip dinner.  Many people begin experimenting with fasting by starting out with skipping your evening meal and going to bed hungry. 

9.       Spontaneous 1-Day Juice Fast – Some people like to do a full, 1-day juice fast with no preparation.  One day is actually more than a day.  If it starts around 8pm the night before, and the next day is just juices and you break the fast the morning after that, it’s actually about 36 hours, or a day and a half. Once you’ve done at least two of those without too many side-effects, you might be healthy and detoxified enough to experiment with a longer fast, like a 2 or 3-day fast (which again is actually half a day longer).  And if a 1 or 2-day fast is all you can handle, there’s nothing wrong with that.  The longest I would suggest anyone do a water fast is about 10 to 15 days.

10.    Chewing Your Food.  “Chew” your juices before you swallow.  This consists of leaving the juice in your mouth for a few seconds to mix with your saliva.  We’re talking about 10 to 15 seconds here.  Then swallow.  Take your time and drink very slowly. 

11.    Fasting and cortisol.  Food deprivation raises cortisol levels, which is why Type A and AB need even more meditation / mind-body exercises.

12.    Fasting and adrenaline / norepinephrine.  Food deprivation also raises adrenaline levels, which is why Type O should do as much light to moderate exercise as possible while fasting.  B and AB should do a little of both.

13.    Fasting from Supplements.  Many people ask me if they should take an occasional break from supplement use.  I would say almost everyone should, although I can imagine a few exceptions.  The best way I know to cycle your supplements is to not take them the last 10 days of every other month.  So Starting on the 21st or 22nd of every other month, go the rest of the month supplement-free.  A big exception to this rule is if you are on blood thinning meds, in which case discuss this with your doctor.  That way you are taking supplements for about 7 weeks, then not taking them for a week and a half.  Besides helping you save money, supplement fasting mimics and is an adjunct to regular fasting and the way of life we’ve had since the beginning of humanity.  We have always had times of plenty as well as times of scarcity, with respect to calories as well as other nutrients.  Research studies show us that when we take a large dose of any given vitamin or mineral, the receptors for that nutrient goes down.  This is called a negative feedback loop.  By fasting from vitamins, minerals, and other supplements, you are maximizing absorption by increasing the number of receptors for that nutrient.  In addition, you are helping to prevent any clinical or sub-clinical toxicity to a nutrient, if there is one.

14.    BDNF Levels and New Neurons.  Fasting increases BDNF levels – brain-derived neurotrophic factor.  This helps generate new neurons and improve mental function, stress response, and resiliency.

15.    DBH and Fasting.  This is one of the enzymes that breaks down dopamine.  If you have naturally low DBH levels, fasting will be even more beneficial for you because of the increased DBH function. Find out from your Opus23 practitioner if you do. If instead you have high levels of DBH, you’ll have to engage in more light exercise while fasting to clear the high levels of adrenaline you’ll have from high DBH + fasting.  This can be long walks, gardening, or anything that will keep you busy for 1 to 3 hours per day.

16.    Cognitive Abilities Especially in Seniors.  Fasting improves cognitive abilities, especially in older adults and senior citizens.

17.    Consistency is Key.  Stop analyzing fasting ad nauseum.  Pick one method of fasting, and stick to it long enough to experience its full effects. Change is uncomfortable at first, and it involves an adjustment period.  IT DOESN’T MATTER TOO MUCH WHICH TYPE OF FASTING YOU CHOOSE.  The most important thing is to pick something and start.

18.    Focus on quality and BTD. Even though you ultimately will be consuming fewer calories, you’ll still want to keep consuming blood type-friendly foods in between fasts. 

19.    Stay hydrated. Don’t forget to drink enough water and unsweetened teas. Although your water requirements for breaking down protein is reduced, your water requirements for eliminating released toxins through your kidneys and skin is increased.  Regardless, it’s important to stay hydrated when you’re fasting.  This means not just juices but some water and teas.

20.    Stomach acid requirements. Juicing is easy on the body because you can digest juice without having to produce a lot of stomach acid. Avoid orange or tangerine juice if you’re blood type A or O, as it will increase stomach acid production, something you want to avoid while on a fast.  Besides, that’s a big avoid for those blood types.  Sorry, Florida.

21.    Check your level of ketosis. If you’re doing a water or fat fast, check your ketone levels a couple of times a day, and try to keep them in the sweet spot as explained in the Ketone Levels section above. If your ketone levels are too high, have some vegetable juice or even a little fruit juice.  If your ketone levels are too low, cut back on the fruit juice and focus more on vegetable juice, or just switch to a water fast until the ketone levels get to the target range.

·         Bonus trick:  Juice + Keto.  You’re on a juice fast but want some ketosis.  So buy the strips, and consume just a little fruit juice so that you end up in mild ketosis.  Too much fruit juice will kick you out of the keto state.

22.    Avoid Junk foods.  Fasting for a certain length of time is no excuse to binge on candy, soda, and fried foods afterward. No matter what type of fasting you try for weight loss, it’s important to focus on healthy, nutrient-dense and high-fat foods outside of fasting periods. Fasting helps your body “reset.” Don’t hinder your own results by returning to unhealthy foods.  And most importantly…

23.    Fast-Friendly Environment.  To have your IMF window earlier in the day, or to do a longer fast, you have to be mentally tough, have a low FCQ score, and have a fast-friendly environment (e.g., NOT one where your kids are eating great-tasting food RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE!).

Things NOT to do during a fast:

1.       Hiding the fact that you’re fasting from everybody.  Your fast might help encourage others to fast too.

2.       Planning a full day or week of activities while fasting (unless “you’ve done this sort of thing before”).

3.       Taking opioids, Tylenol, NSAIDs and other painkillers.

4.       Having more than 1 small alcoholic drink per day.  Better to have zero.  Also, it will affect you about twice as much as when you’re not fasting, so be warned.

5.       Engaging in strenuous exercise, or lengthy aerobic exercise.

6.       If it’s hot out, not getting enough fluids.

7.       If you’re diabetic, not checking your blood sugar levels about twice as often as usual (seriously, check them often, especially if you’re Type 1).

8.       Eating heavy meals immediately after a fast.  This is probably the most important fasting rule to follow.

Overall, fasting is an excellent tool for detoxifying the body, but for some bigger or more metabolically thrifty individuals, a much longer fasting period is needed to lose significant weight, like 2 to 4 weeks.  IMF, however, can be a very effective way to lose weight.  It can also be a simple yet powerful substitute to traditional dieting.

The key to fasting is to find out exactly what works for you.  We hope that our experience, as well as our genetic and microbiome tools, can help you take charge of your diet and life by properly individualizing your fasting protocol.  We at the Institute of Generative Medicine wish all of you much luck!

Regards,

Val Prisecaru, and the entire The D’Adamo DPN Health Coach Team

Food Cravings Questionnaire

If you don’t know your blood type yet, use the following questionnaire. If you do know your blood type, use the one appropriate for your blood type (www.dadamo.com):

Food Cravings Questionnaire - All Blood Types

Enter a number

GENERAL FACTORS

from 1 to 5

1. Do you have a family history of diabetes?  (1 = no family history, 3 = some family history, 5 = very strong family history of diabetes)

2.  How much African-American, African, Hispanic, or Native American do you have in your ethnic background?  1 = very white, very northern European-looking, possibly a red-haired freckled Norseman, 2 = Average European, medium-light skinned person or light-skinned Asian, with possibly a little African or Native American in distant past (23andMe users: Native American + African background = 4-9% of total background), 3 = yes, mixed racial profile (23andMe: 10-30% total), 4 = Strong African or Native American ancestry (23andMe: 30-75% total), 5 = very pure (usually very dark-skinned) African background, or very pure Native American background with both parents being African American, Native American or Inuit (23andMe: >75% total)).

3.  Are you overweight?  1 = very skinny, 2 = normal, 3 =  overweight, 4 = obese, 5 = morbidly obese.

4.  Do you have a history of heavy alcohol use?  1 = don't drink, 2 = have used alcohol in moderation in the past, 3 = some alcohol abuse in the past, 4 =  alcohol abuse in the past, 5 = very heavy alcohol abuse in the past.

5.  Do you have a history of drug use?  1 = I've never used drugs, 2 = have used drugs in moderation in the past, 3 = some drug abuse in the past, 4 =  definitely have abused drugs in the past, 5 = very heavy drug abuse in the past.  Multiple health problems due to drug use, multiple rehab treatments.

6.  Do you have a history of being addicted to video games?  1 = don't play, 2 = video games are fun, but I can easily control it, 3 = video games are a bit addictive to me, 4 =  video games are very addictive to me, 5 = video games are incredibly addictive to me, and have strongly affected my relationships and life.

7.  Do you smoke?  1 = non-smoker, 2 = very light smoker or exposure to 2nd hand some (<5 cigs per day), 3 = smoker (5-15), 4 = heavy smoker (16-24 ), 5 = very heavy smoker (25+ cigs per day).

8.  Women:  did you have gestational diabetes during a pregnancy or did you every deliver a child weighing 9 lbs or more?  1 = no, 3 = yes, 5 = definitely yes, significant gestational diabetes and/or >10 lbs baby.

9.  Do you have an autoimmune disease?  1 = no, 2 = maybe / not sure / risk factors, 3 = slight, some diagnosis, yes, 4 = yes, significant, 5 = yes, extreme case, many problems, very life-altering.

10.  Are you usually slow, careful, and methodical, or are you fast, spontaneous and impulsive?  1 = very slow, careful, and methodical, 3 = somewhere in between, 5 = very fast, spontaneous, and impulsive.

ADDITIONAL MENTAL AND DIET FACTORS

11.  Do you usually consume way too many carbs at a meal?  1 = not at all, 3 = yes, 5 = 100% yes, definitely.

12.  Do you have a history of trying to follow very low calories starvation-type diets?  1 = no, 3 = yes, 5 = 100% yes, all the time.

13.  Are you experience high stress levels?  1 = I'm very low stress, 3 = I am experiencing high stress, 5 = I am experiencing incredible stress and have had (or am about to have) a nervous breakdown!

14.  Do you frequently experience anxiety, sleep problems / insomnia, and/or fatigue?  1 = no, 3 = yes, 5 = definitely yes, very very high levels of anxiety, sleep problems and/or fatigue!

15.  Do you often skip meals?  1 = never, 3 = yes, frequently, 5 = almost always.

16.  Do you get uncontrollably hungry after skipping just one meal?  1 = definitely no, 3 = sometimes, 5 = all the time.

17.  Do you avoid exercise, or even mild exercise like walking, stretching or yoga?

18.  Do you processed foods everyday?  1 = never, I usually eat very healthy , 3 = yes, sometimes, 5 = I eat horribly, many processed foods and very few healthy foods.

19.  Do you regularly consume refined sugars?  1 = never,  3 = yes, often, 5 = several times a day, everyday.

20.  Is your diet low in fiber?  1 = I have lots of fiber (>5 servings per day), 2 = it's good  (>3 servings a day), 3 = yes it's low in fiber (2-3 servings per day), 4 = it's very low in fiber (1 serving per day), 5 = horrible, 0 servings most days.

SPECIALIZED FOOD CRAVING FACTORS

Enter a number

(1 = definitely no, 3 = sometimes, 5 = all the time)

from 1 to 5

21.  Being with people who are eating makes me want to eat too.

22. When I crave something, I know I won't be able to stop once I start eating it.

23. If I eat what I'm craving, I often lose control and eat too much.

24.  I hate it when I give in to my food cravings.

25. Food cravings somehow make me think of ways to obtain those foods.

26.  I think about food all the time.

27.  I often feel guilty for craving certain foods that I know are bad for me.

28. I find myself preoccupied with food.

29.  I eat to feel better.

30.  Sometimes, eating makes things seem just perfect.

31.  Thinking about my favorite foods makes my mouth water.

32.  I crave foods even more when my stomach is empty.

33.  I feel as though my body is asking me for certain foods.

34.  I get so hungry that my stomach seems like a bottomless pit.

35.  Eating what I crave makes me feel better.

36.  When I satisfy a craving, I feel less depressed.

37.  When I eat what I'm craving, I feel guilty about myself.

38.  Whenever I have cravings, I find myself making plans to eat.

39.  Eating calms me down.

40.  I especially crave foods when I feel bored, angry, or sad.

41.  I feel less anxious after I eat.

42.  If I get what I'm craving, I can't stop myself from eating it.

43.  When I crave certain foods, I try hard to eat them as soon as possible.

44.  When I eat what I crave, I feel really great.

45.  I have no willpower to resist the foods I'm craving.

46.  Once I start eating, I have trouble stopping.

47.  I can't stop thinking about eating no matter how hard I try.

48.  I spend a lot of time thinking about the next thing I'm going to eat.

49.  If I give in to a food craving, all control is lost.

50.  When I'm stressed out, I crave food even more.

51.  I daydream about food.

52.  Whenever I have a food craving, I keep thinking about it until I actually eat that food.

53.  If I'm craving something, thoughts of eating it consume me.

54.  Strong emotions often make me want to eat food.

55.  Whenever I go to a buffet, I end up eating more than I needed.

56.  It's really hard for me to resist the temptation to eat appetizing foods that are in my reach.

57.  When I'm with someone who is overeating, I usually overeat too.

58.  When I eat food I feel comforted.

59.  I crave foods when I'm upset.

60.  I usually end up gettting extra helpings of food after I clear my plate.

61.  Sometimes I eat so much that it makes me sick.

62.  Sometimes I eat so much that it makes me throw up.

63.  I love food more than anything else in the world.

64.  I don't eat to live, but rather I live to eat.

65.  I have the biggest appetite of all my friends.

66.  People are often amazed with how much I can eat in one sitting.

67.  (For smokers)  Quitting smoking makes me gain weight.

68.  I have a tendency to "give up" easily when I try something new, like going on a new diet.

69.  It really makes me mad when someone gives me eating or dieting advice.

70.  I often wake up in the middle of the night to eat a snack.

TOTAL

Scoring definitions:

300+:  very high risk.  You are at a very increased risk of persistent obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you may also have an eating disorder, as well as alcohol and/or drug addiction risks.  Discuss with your doctor and mental health healthcare provider.  Avoid drugs and alcohol, and set up a structure eating program.  You need to act immediately to address the factors under your control.  This could be a very serious issue for you.

250+:  high risk.  You are at an increased risk of persistent obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you may also have an eating disorder, as well as alcohol and drug addiction risks.  Discuss with your doctor and mental health healthcare provider.  Avoid drugs and alcohol, and set up a structure eating program.  You need to take action to address the factors under your control.

200+:  medium risk.  You have a somewhat increased risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you may also have an eating disorder, as well as alcohol and drug addiction risks.  Discuss with your doctor and mental health healthcare provider.  Avoid drugs, and set up a structure eating program.  You need to take action to address the factors under your control.

150+:  lower risk.  You have a somewhat increased risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you may also have an eating disorder, as well as alcohol and/or drug addiction risks.  Discuss with your doctor and mental health healthcare provider.  Set up a structure eating program.  You need to take action to address the factors under your control.

100+:  low risk.  You have a somewhat decreased risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you probably don't have an eating disorder.  You're also less likely to have alcohol or drug addictions.  If you do have any of these issues, you need to take action to address the factors under your control.

0-99:  very low risk.  You have a very low risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes, and other health-related problems, and you are unlikely to have an eating disorder, or any drug or alcohol addiction. 

Disclaimer:  Discuss with your primary care health professional before engaging in any type of fast or fasting-related regimen, especially if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, over the age of 50, or have any pre-existing conditions. 

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