The Science of Fasting

Two things to mention here. I did two 23 hours fasts a week for about 12 months last year/early this year. I was really interested in the autophagy aspect of the longer fasts because I had some live damage related to chronic Hep C I got from a blood transfusion when I was an infant. I took Harvoni a couple of years ago and am now clear of Hep C. I don't know if the fasts had anything to do with it, but my recent labs were perfect. All of the markers that had indicated I had something going on in my liver were back within normal ranges. So without proof of its help either way, I'm going to say the long fasts did help my body heal.

But, I had to quit the 23 hour fasts because I almost felt like I was developing an eating disorder. I didn't have any problems with 23 hours no food, but I would binge when those hours were up, and definitely over compensated for what I had not eaten. The last few months I switched to 16:8 fasts and had some good results there, but now I'm back to a similar scenario. No problem not eating, but eat poorly during my 8 hours. I know that my real problem is fatigue and the fact that my system craves sugar when I'm tired. I work five to six days a week in a manufacturing plant where I usually walk 5-7 miles a day. I start at 6 AM (with a 45 minute commute) and usually get home around 5 PM. My wife is a nurse who works until 9:30 and gets home around 10 PM. If I want to see her and visit a little, I'm usually not in bed until 11 PM. I'm 45 years old now and 5-1/2 hours of sleep with a high activity job just doesn't cut it anymore. But my wife and I definitely need that time together each day. And the negative cycle of being too tired to exercise (have a nice water rower at the house) to help build up my stamina/energy is in full effect. So, I think I'm now gaining weight because of the fasts and binging on high sugar items. I've thought about trying for 20:4 hour fasts to limit my window to over eat, but as a Cajun depriving myself of two meals a day, everyday is hard to conceive. I love food and eating! Food is such a part of our culture (but so is heart disease). Right now my only strategy is hoping for a promotion to a role with an 8 AM start time. A couple of more hours of sleep may help me turn the corner on this, in the meantime I'm open to suggestions for combatting my binging (oh, and I probably have a sugar addiction) and poor eating.