Antipodean"s Daily Journal

[Antipodean]

@Compdude - thanks so much! And I will. I’m eating today and tomorrow, then fasting again Tuesday.

I’m not the only one who finds fasting addictive, right?

It’s odd, but every time I do a fast I feel like I’m improving on the old me. The best way I can explain this is: a few months ago, I was probably running at about 50%. Then I did a fast and bumped that up to 52%. My second fast got that up to 54 then the next one to 56%.

Now I’m hovering around 60% and getting better all the time. My whole body and brain feels better. I can’t explain it any better than that.

If I keep going - and I intend to! - who knows where this will lead?

I’m savouring life now!

[Compdude]

You physically are improving.

Prolonged fasting studies have shown the growth of new brain cells and increased production of stem cells in the liver. Upon eating protein during refeed, these stem cells will use the protein to create new cells to replace the dead cells in the major organs that were cannibalized during the fast.

[Jessical]

That’s really Good info, I need new brain cells.

[Antipodean]

Day… whatever: I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to mix things up and keep my metabolism on its toes, metaphorically speaking, over the last week or so.

Originally I thought I’d do the following pattern:

• Fast five days (Monday to Friday)
• Eat over the weekend
• Alternative day fast (eat Monday, Wednesday, Frida y, and fast Tuesday and Thursday)
• Eat over the weekend again

Then rinse and repeat.

However, I found the single fast days of Tuesday and Thursday really difficult. Much more so than a longer fast of, say, three days would be.

I don’t know why that is. But it felt like I never got into the “groove” of fasting in just one day, so both single days this week were much more of a challenge than I anticipated.

So I’m going to switch things to the following pattern, and see how it goes:

• Eat on the weekend through Monday
• Fast Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
• Eat Friday, Saturday, Sunday
• Fast all week (Monday to Friday)

Rinse and repeat.

That’ll give me alternating weeks with a 3 and 5 day fast respectively. I think, even though it’s one more day per fortnight of fasting, I might find it easier. We’ll see.

In the end, this is all just trial and error at this stage. I’m still working things out.

I’ll keep this journal posted.

[Antipodean]

I could call this “Day Whatever Plus 1” but instead I’ll just call it Friday 29 May 2020:

So yeah. Today was an eating day again, and theoretically the whole weekend is meant to be eating too, before I go back into fasting on Monday.

But here’s the thing: I miss prolonged fasting… It’s been a week since I fasted properly, with only a couple of single fasting days since then, and I feel like my body needs it. I need to fast.

Is that weird? Why would I feel that way? I don’t know, but I do. So I’m thinking I might start fasting tomorrow, aiming for 5-6 days again, and just see how I go.

Fasting just makes me feel good. I think it might be addictive. But I just feel great every time I fast. My head feels clearer, and I feel lighter physically and emotionally. It also seems to be fixing my allergy problems, although I’m still having problems with my skin (eczema).

Overall, I’m just trying to improve my health. My doctor foresaw diabetes in my near future, and while she seemed quite accepting of that, I definitely am NOT! I don’t want that, and I’m damned if I’ll accept that. I’m taking my health into my own hands.

STILL ADDICTED TO PEPSI MAX

I still have some addictive issues to resolve. Try as I might, I can’t seem to quit Pepsi Max. I’m down to a tiny percentage of what I used to drink, but I just can’t seem to quit it completely. I go days without it, then crave it like crazy, and back I go, drinking the toxic crap again. If anyone knows a way to shake a hard addiction, I’m open ears.

Apart from that, my diets pretty good, and my sugar and processed food intake down to virtually zero.

[Compdude]

My addiction is Diet Coke and Cherry Diet Dr Pepper. I don’t stress about it. Instead I plan for it.

I allow myself a can or two for days I need “extra juice” to power through to accomplish a goal, say studying for a certification exam? LOL. However, I did stop drinking it when I began my current fast last Friday.

I don’t believe in repressing anything. Instead I acknowledge it and plan for it. Our bodies are built on consuming anything its the reason our species have spread all over the planet and it can process a lot of junk in stride. The key is managing it.

Sorry, I got preachy there…LOL

[Tenax]

I do believe you’ve said before that weight loss isn’t really a goal for you though. I’m not sure Antipodean really understands how disastrous most sweeteners are for someone’s who has a major goal of weight loss. She says her sugar intake is virtually zero but if you intake bad sweetener that’s self deceiving. If I misunderstood her goals I apologize but I took weight loss to be a big one for her.

[Compdude]

True. But I don’t think the amount in one can is enough to swing the pendulum. From a larger perspective think of all the environmental toxins our bodies deal with. Its also true that I kept away from ALL artificial sweeteners during my “becoming medication free” project which probably also broke my artificial sweetener addiction. I only start imbibing during this current project and only during the workout phases.

I guess I should have added these qualifiers to my original statement. Thanks

[Tenax]

I agree with you. I was speaking in the context of how someone who regularly drinks artificially sweetened drinks might read what you said and not understand or consider your motivations vs theirs. Your words carry signifigant weight & influence here (that’s a compliment!)

Peace😄

[Antipodean]

@Compdude - I’m glad to know I’m not alone in this! We don’t have cherry coke over here - maybe that’s a good thing!

I don’t have the stuff when I’m fasting, but I think about it. And I’ve gone from drinking nothing BUT Diet Pepsi a few months ago, to having the occasional glass. But it just keeps on creeping back in. I think I’m just going to have to ban it from the house, and ask my partner to keep it out in his Man Cave, if he wants to drink the stuff, so it’s not staring me in the face every time I go in the kitchen…I’m convinced the stuff is toxic AF.

You’re not getting preachy. I’m learning heaps from you. Preach away! Ether I’ll listen or I won’t, but I don’t belong to the Perpetually Offended crew I figure when I listen to different points of view and opinions, sometimes I even learn something!

[Antipodean]

@Tenax - Yes, my sugar is virtually zero, but yes, you’re dead right - if I counted fake sugars it definitely wouldn’t be, thanks to the bleeping Pepsi Max!

I guess although weight loss is nice (22 pounds and counting since the middle of April is NOT shabby!), I’m really here for the health benefits. My goal is to kick ALL medications to the kerb, and just FEEL better. In the end, I guess I figure I"m 49, my partner adores me, my kids love me, and my friends think I’m okay. My goal isn’t to be a supermodel, which is probably a good thing!

But being healthy - or not - affects everything. I want to be physically well and active right through the second half of my life, and from the path I was treading, that was unlikely to happen.

Now that’s a brutal truth to admit - that I am the cause of my illness! But it’s true. For all my life, I blamed bad genes, bad luck, my dad’s family’s propensity to allergies, and a believe even that God Hated Me (a bit pitiful really, but there you have it - this is honesty time). It was all lies. While I don’t think I can reasonably be blamed for the ignorance of what was causing my illness, now that I do know, I’d be an idiot for ignoring facts. I’m NOT an idiot (not usually), so I’m going to chase health with all my might, and see what I can do to get well.

Phew! That was more than I expected to say!

But yes, the more I’m learning about artificial sweeteners, the more I’m realising that they do not fit with my game plan. They’ve got to go. I’m just a bit sucky at getting rid of them. I’ll get there though!

[Antipodean]

Sunday 31 May: I’m about to start another fast. The goal is from Sunday night through to Saturday morning - to beat my old record of 5 days in a row, which I set a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty happy with that, but now I’m going to try to beat it anyway. Just because.

I’ve been feeling better and better with every fast. My weight continues to drop and, interestingly, I’m finding that I am getting full quicker on the days in between fasts when I do eat. I can’t say I’m eating more mindfully, but I’m more aware of my food and I seem to be picking up on my body’s signals of satiety more easily. I’m pleased about that.

My skin is still dry. However, I’m starting to suspect that a huge part of the problem there - much bigger than I thought - is the temperature I have my showers. I love my hot showers! So, as much as I’m missing them, I’m lowering the temperature of the water day by day to a cooler level. My skin seems to be liking it.

So here’s a list of the changes I’ve made and am making:

MEDICINES:

• Topamax (for epilepsy) - down from 125 mg daily to 75 mg daily. No ill effects. Being monitored very closely on this one!
• Symbicort turbohaler (for asthma) - have’t needed it since the end of April.
• Ventolin inhaler (for asthma) - haven’t needed it since the end of April
• Zista (cetirizine hydrochloride) tablets (antihistamine tablets) - same as above. I haven’t needed them since April
• Lorafix (loratidine) antihistamine tablets) - I was taking these, along with the other ones, sometimes 3 a day. I don’t seem to need any of them now, and haven’t taken them since April.
• Ferro tab (ferrous fumarate) (iron tablets) - My doc prescribed these because I was literally so exhausted I could barely get out of bed. I don’t seem to need them any more, and my energy levels have been rising steadily. I’m feeling better., and haven’t taken these since April either.
• Patanol eye drops (olopatadine) - My eyes were red, sore and so itchy. I could barely see out some days. I cured this by starting to rub vaseline around my eyes 3x a day, and now I don’t need the drops. My eyes still feel a little dry, but I’ve also been doing warm compresses and my eye glands (meibomium glands) seem to be fixing themselves as well. My eyes are no longer itchy.
• Flixonase (fluticasone propionate) (nose spray for allergies) - I don’t need it any more, and haven’t had sneezing fits in weeks. To fix this, we did a big clean out of the house and the air conditioner filters as well, which may have helped, but I think it was the fasting primarily which has helped, as the symptoms disappeared the same time everything else did.
• Elecon ointment (mometasone furoate - a topical corticosteroid) - haven’t used it since the end of April again.

WHAT I’M STILL ON

• Topamax - 75 mg daily (see above). Hoping to reduce this completely.
• Locoid lipocream (hydrocortisone butyrate 1 mg/g) - topical hydrocortisone cream. I now mix this with a very very basic coconut oil cream my partner makes for me (the ingredients are literally just coconut oil, water, emulsifier and a preservative) to water it down before applying.

WHAT I’M DOING DIFFERENTLY

Apart from the fasting (I’m fasting about a third to half the time at the moment, but I tend to do it in longer sessions, so 3-5 days at a time instead of alternate days, as I find the longer sessions easier), these are the changes I made:

• Did a deep clean of the house during our lockdown. Involved cleaning windows etc as well. Our home wasn’t particularly dirty, but it probably helped a little. We don’t use chemical cleaners except in the toilet - we use a local product called “simple green” which is basically watered down bleach.

• Using vaseline and warm compresses on my itchy eyes. I figured out a large part of the problem here was dryness combined with meibomian gland dysfunction. I do warm compresses every night (feels good) and apply vaseline around the eye area and over and across my eyelashes twice a day. Vaseline is a non-irritating moisturiser, and won’t bother you if you get it into your eyes, so it’s ideal for moisturising this area.

• Stopped shampooing my hair. I just wash it with water now. I think I was allergic to the chemicals in the shampoo. My hair went through a greasy phase, but now it’s feeling better and softer without the chemicals. For styling, I just use plain coconut oil in a tiny amount.

• Reducing the temperature of my showers. This is a hard one. I love my hot showers! But I’m find the dryness of my skin is improving with cooler showers.

So that’s where I’m at. I still have some dryness issues to content with, but I’m so much better than I was! I was taking so many medicines that I rattled when I walked!

So here’s my question: If it’s so quick to heal our bodies, why are so many of us sick? What is this screwed up food supply doing to us? And how many good people are suffering because of it?

I’m still very much a work in progress, but I NEVER would have thought I could progress this far and this fast. I’m looking forward to seeing where I am a year from now!

[Tenax]

I did the same thing. Many do. Blame it on genes, slow metabolism etc. I don’t think I felt I started to get ahead of the game until I spent a lot of thought on the mental & emotional aspect then the physical. I too love sweet and don’t want to completely give it up. Even just for my coffee which I can’t drink without sweetness. Have you tried swerve? Its a lifesaver for me.

[Antipodean]

@Tenax - I just want to quit the artificial sweeteners altogether, at least at home. Maybe I’ll save them for when I go out, having a glass with dinner at restaurants.

Recently I’ve realised I’m quite a stressful person too, so one of my next steps is I’m looking at the Wim Hof method, which is breathing exercises plus some exercise as well. I need to learn to stop carrying all my tension and worry.

I haven’t tried swerve, but I’m wary about replacing one problem with another. I might recommend my man give it a go though - he adds sweetener to his coffee. Thanks for the tip

[Antipodean]

Wednesday 3 June 2020: Fasting since the weekend again. I’m pretty much getting used to this whole fasting thing!

I was tempted to weigh in this morning as my work trousers are literally hanging off me, but I didn’t. I’ll wait. Tomorrow (Thursday) is my weigh in day and I won’t check things until then.

DREAMS

Is anyone noticing that they dream a lot more when they fast? Last night I was dreaming non-stop, and I’m exhausted as a result. I wonder if it’s anything to do with healing? Curious…

[Antipodean]

Monday 22 June 2020: I’ve just started another week of fasting, after last week was a bit of a washout. I wasn’t feeling great, and ended up doing ADF just 2 days out of the five. Still, my weight is continuing to drop, I’m getting healthier, and I know everything is improving overall.

At what point do I start replacing my wardrobe? Everything I own is starting to look a bit sacklike, especially my tops. But I can’t help worrying that if I buy new clothes, it’ll only be a matter of time before I’m dragging out my old “fat clothes” again, and feeling miserable for needing to do so. I don’t want that. I can’t think of anything worse. Once I’m done with being overweight, I never want to be overweight again.

I feel like now I have a way to permanently control my weight. But still, in the back of my mind, there’s this little nasty voice saying you will fail… you’ve always failed before, and you’ll fail again now.

Thing is, I’ve never been grossly overweight. I’ve pretty much hung around between a BMI of 26 and 30, occasionally dipping down into the healthy range and sometimes bumping up as high as a BMI of 32.

But I’ve almost always looked overweight. My face has been puffy. I’ve struggled with inflammation diseases - allergies, eczema, asthma, hayfever. I’m more convinced than ever, having done a fair bit of research now, that a BMI of 30 is way too high for me, and I need to weigh a whole lot less. Not for looks, but for well-being.

I don’t really have a goal weight. I guess I’m just thinking, I’ll know when it’s right, because I’ll feel right.

And that’s it really. I’ll know when I get there. This isn’t about looks for me (although looking better will be nice). It’s about being better.

So here I am, on another week of fasting. I don’t even know how many days I’ve fasted in total, if I added them all up, since the middle of April when I started. I’ve probably been fasting somewhere between a third and a quarter of the time. I feel better, too.

If I remember, I’ll take some more progress photos this week. And I’ll put some up - I haven’t done that yet. But I know my body is changing - my man says there’s less of me to cuddle at night

[Compdude]

LOL.

In terms of clothes I agree, WHEN is the time to buy new clothes. In terms of business clothing, I solved the issue by taking my dress slacks and shirt to a tailor and had them taken in. For casual clothes, I dug into my old clothing bags; but, even then it’s a stopgap that no longer works. I’m wearing shorts from 1985 from my windsurfing competition days and they’re falling off. For me, it will be when I’ve reset my body weight set point that I feel is healthy and I can maintain easily.
In the meantime, casual baggy clothes which I look as another motivating factor.

[Antipodean]

@Compdude - it’s all a bit weird, isn’t it! On the one hand, I want to rush out and buy new stuff. But I’m nowhere near done, and I know that’d be dumb. I want to show off how much leaner I am, but paranoid I’ll put it all back on again the moment I have a chocolate bar!

You’re doing phenomenally well. I can’t believe your latest face pic. Sure you’re the same person?

[Compdude]

LOL, That’s what my primary physician said when he saw me June 12th after not seeing me since early September last year.

[Antipodean]

3 July 2020: I got inspired to update my profile picture. I think I’m looking a bit better!

April 2020, when I started

July 2020, looking a bit better, and down just over 20 pounds

Not feeling so great though. I took yesterday off sick, and today I’m theoretically working from home but still feeling dizzy and unwell. Nothing to do with fasting - it’s obviously a bug of some kind. But it sucks. I’m sitting here with my work computer in front of me, yet all I want to do is crawl back into bed.

I haven’t needed to use any antihistamines AT ALL since starting regular fasting…and I haven’t needed any cortisone cream on my skin in days either. So things are definitely improving.

I’m fasting today, just because I feel ratty. And I’ll probably continue over the weekend. I’ve still not managed anything more than five days, and I’m still quite irregular with it - I need to get more organized with my fasting. But even as I am, it’s working.