Very logical question. To come to fasting, first let us examine so far what we have done. We have thrown out excess toxins and fat from our body by following the first principle of DFF i.e., detox. Then we did exercises to spend the extra energy prepared by the body and also to bring our body into shape. Having done that, why fast?

Let me take the example of say I take my dinner at 7pm. Right? You have your own time for dinner because of your time schedule. But stick to a fixed time schedule every day as far as you can help it. Coming back, from 7 pm till 7am my body is in a fasting state unless I eat snacks or drink something during the intervening period. That mostly happens particularly when I am watching TV in the night. I have to control the urge to eat or drink something after dinner. I for one, don’t eat anything now after dinner although earlier I was a freak of snacks and farsan, laddoos etc.post-dinner. Say after 9pm, my body clock starts the energy generation exercise. The body parts like liver, kidney, pancreas, heart – all of them keep working to convert the food that I consumed into energy and push the glucose so generated into my blood stream. That is why my heart continues to function well, my kidneys work to generate urine, pancreas creates insulin, and liver produces glucose from food. I don’t even know this is happening because it happens silently.

Now imagine I ate more carbohydrates the previous night because I had to go to a party. The extra carbohydrates made the body to generate extra glucose and if my liver has enough storage of glucose, then liver will say, come on push it somewhere else. I don’t have the space. So, this excess glucose goes into other body cells like the face, belly, buttocks, thighs, hands etc. If this extra fat is not got rid off, I will start experiencing other ailments like itching, getting tired soon, hyper acidity, fatty liver etc.

The best medicine to get rid of this extra fat, is fasting.

So, your body needs at least 12 hours of fasting from dinner to breakfast. You will remember that even for taking blood test in a lab, they need 12 hours fasting state because it is compliant to the circadian rhythm. If you ensure at least this gap of fasting, together with exercises, you have done a wonderful job to keep yourself fit and healthy.

Your body will need energy for all the activities you do during the day. Like you have done your walking, done your exercises, going about on your routine work like going to office, working in the office, or working at home etc. So, for each activity you are spending energy. In addition to the 12 hours of fasting required, if you can fast longer or at intermittent intervals, that is an added bonus to the body to not only consume the glucose generated by the food you eat but also to draw on any shortfall from the stored glucose or if required, draw the extra fat and convert it to energy. This ensures that there is no extra glucose left out to convert it to fat. As long as there is no extra glucose or fat in your body, you are fit and fine and very energetic. Try it!

Understandable. Because I have also gone through such a state while working. You have to work out a specific schedule of when can you have dinner at the earliest every day. Stick to that schedule every day.

From then on plan for your fasting. Let us, if you have to go to office by 9 am, your fast will be broken at say 7am. If you had dinner at 9pm last night, then your body fasting period is 10 hours. Itna tho dedo. But our lifestyle is such that we need to party with friends etc. until late at night. Once in a while it is ok. Your body will understand but do not make it a habit. Then the body will get confused. If you can, add some intermittent fasting during the day by giving up on eating anything in between. Instead go for water intake or a lime juice or green tea without sugar. This will enable your body to work efficiently to produce the energy required by you. But do not starve your body of intake. If any of you feel any weakness or tiredness, check with your Panel Doctor. Whatever schedule you draw has to be done consciously taking into account your body structure, the level of energy required for the type of work you do etc.

So, plan out your fasting schedule today and then check your blood sugar level. You can be certain that it will be within the required range.

All the best!

According to Dr.Jason Fung, a prominent Nephrologist, over a long fast of more than 3 days, after the second day hunger gets reduced as you begin to switch into a state of Ketosis. Best way to keep hunger pangs away is to keep ourselves busy. Let the pang pass, then you no longer feel hungry. Like if you are in a meeting or some activity where you cannot free yourself, the hunger pang passes away after regular meal time. One of my driver gave me an example. He is carting Japanese officials from Pune to Mumbai every day. He says Japanese have a fixed lunch time. By any chance if they cannot make to lunch by that time, they simply skip lunch. That is a way to let your hunger pang pass away.

“When you don’t eat, you are going to lose weight. That is not hard to understand” – Dr. Jason Fung.

How does this work? When you fast for more than 6 hours from last meal, your insulin level drops and your body starts to burn stored fat which is called glycogen. Between 6 to 24 hours, once the stored glycogen is exhausted, body starts to break down damaged proteins through a process called “Gluconeogenesis” which provide cells with energy.

Between 24 to 36 hours fat oxidation has been steadily increasing. Body fat is converted to ketones for fuel while other tissues like muscles burn fat directly stored in them. After 36 hours oxidation takes over and protein burning drops to minimum. At this stage nearly all of the energy is derived from fat. That is how weight loss is achieved.

This is why you can fast for more than 3 days upto a much longer period depending upon body metabolism. It is preferable to do it under medical supervision for longer durations.