a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by mk
mk  ·  3601 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of immune system

Not so good. I made it 26 hours.

I am going to do it again in a couple of weeks. I am grant writing, and the hunger pangs became a distraction that was keeping me from being productive. I felt hungriest at the times that I would normally be eating, but it subsided a bit after that. I did drink some Powerade which has 0 calories, but has electrolytes. That felt pretty good, and I recommend it.

I did a liquid-only diet in high school for almost 5 days. However, at that time I was drinking juice, milk, and soda, which makes a big difference.

72hrs is going to be tough. Best of luck. You might want to warm up to it with a couple of shorter fasts.





mike  ·  3601 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We'll see how the long fast goes. I'm going to allow myself water, tea, and coffee. I've read plenty of recommendations for blending butter in your coffee. A colleague who is health nut and usually right-on with most things recommends instead blending coconut oil (or a kind of coconut oil paste) in with coffee to give a little energy and not interfere with the benefits of fasting.

Opinions vary wildly on what is or isn't permitted during a fast, so I need to decide if I'm going to go for the butter/oil or not. Any thoughts on that?

NikolaiFyodorov  ·  3599 days ago  ·  link  ·  

How's the fast progressing, mike?

mike  ·  3599 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks for asking! I made it 11 hours... and then my wife told me we had dinner and drinks planned with friends that night, and a school banquet the next night, and I was asked to do a juggling show on what would be the 3rd day of fasting, so it was 1-2-3 strikes right in a row. I'm moving the fast to Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Disappointing when I was all psyched up for it, but it can wait a few days.

I'll let you know!

mk  ·  3591 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Did you do it? I'm planning on doing it again once I submit a grant in a couple of weeks.

NikolaiFyodorov  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Excellent. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Also, you juggle?

mike  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I do juggle. I used to do it professionally, and was involved with three different circuses in various capacities over several years. Now life is enough of a circus by itself...

insomniasexx  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I want to know more about this. I want all the stories and glory!

Did you see that #goodlongread post on juggling I posted a bit ago? I had no idea that there was such an intense culture around juggling.

mike  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No, didn't see the post. Which one?

I learned to juggle in college and it took over my life. I was heavy into the juggling culture for years -- I ran the college juggling club and went to all the conventions and even ran our own convention at MSU. Good and crazy times. I eventually dropped out of college and survived on small gigs and big dreams. I eventually went back to university and finished getting a math degree and then went to RIngling and Brothers and Barnum and Baily Clown College (class of 93). Afterwards I toured with Royal Hanneford Circus on and off for a season and then decided I wanted to be a math teacher and so enrolled at FSU in the masters program. FSU has a student circus and I did juggling, trapeze and slack wire for two years while getting my masters. I enrolled in the PhD program afterwards and had my first child and so had no more time for circus. I do a show now and then, or do a math of juggling performance. I've written a paper on it. And even given a talk at a sci-fi convention called "Math, Juggling and Time Travel". Juggling has been an important part of my life.

katakowsj  ·  3417 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Math teachers. What a bunch of clowns!

Nice story Mike. I'll be sure to share it with my sixth graders this year. BTW, I can juggle just a bit, but it's also how I met my wife. She tells our kids how , moments after she met me, I grabbed three plums from a fruit bowl and juggled them for her. Juggling changed my life man.

insomniasexx  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·  

https://hubski.com/pub?id=141481

Ill comment further when I get on my computer. :)

mike  ·  3595 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  

steve  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

how did I miss this gem?!?!

mk  ·  3601 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I drank coffee. I usually take cream, but I had it black as I was going for 0 calories. According to this article, the idea is to calorie starve yourself enough to start cannibalizing your white blood cells. From the experiment here with mice, they just took their food away entirely. However, I am not sure if the equivalent experiments with people is the same.

I bet the hungry mice eat their poop. I've seen our rats do it without taking their food away.