I finally posted the analysis from the first run of my Valter Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast. It is a pretty dry analysis of changes in various biomarkers, how I felt, what I may change when I do it again in the future, etc. If you are expecting miraculous results you'll be disappointed. I wasn't expecting them nor did I get them. This is about a relatively small and easy (for me) intervention that I'm hoping can potentially reduce my overall risk of getting cancer when done once or twice a year. #ValterLongo#fasting#CancerAvoidanceFast#longevity#fitness My Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast Results
As I'm getting around to writing up the summary of my just completed 5 day Longo-inspired cancer avoidance fast, I decided to write up the recipe for the soup I made. This will not be winning any James Beard Awards I can tell you that (my food photography won't be winning any awards either). I found it very tasty but I am used to lower-sodium eating. It's possible to customize that aspect. It was good enough I'll be making it again on my next fast for these same purposes. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast#recipe#PlantBased#soup Fasting Transition Days' Soup Recipe
Today is the final day, the transition out day, of the five day “Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast” . I didn’t sleep well at all. While I technically got more than seven hours of sleep it was pretty fragmented I’m down a yet another 2.5 pounds. My night time heart rate looked normal as does my heart rate variability and my morning blood pressure. Like the previous days I woke up feeling a bit hung over and dehydrated but once I started having some decaf coffee and water I felt much better. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
09:00 -- After a two mile walk and some post walk stretching exercises it's time to eat my first food to break the fast. Right on time! I have sodium free bouillon which I added 1/4 of the electrolyte pack too. I also added a little over a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil to it as well. A cup of this is 63 calories, 0 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbs, and 6 grams of fat with the sodium, potassium, and magnesium ratios being in perfect ratio since they came from the LMNT electrolyte pack designed to be just that. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
12:00 -- Finished making the 13 cups/3 liters of veggie soup that will make up my food for the day. Ate just half a cup of it with my standard morning multivitamin from Thorne and washed it down with some Pelligrino and maybe will add some decaf coffee in a bit. So far so good. The idea is to eat 1/2 cup to 1 cup regularly through the day and then have a big serving of what is left for dinner. I am not sure if I feel that different yet but I haven't really taken in that many nutrients yet either so I think that could be expected. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
13:00 -- Ate another half a cup of the soup while continuing to nurse the Pelligrino I had with the first half cup serving. Again so far so good. I'm doing hourly blood pressure and other vitals checks and all are within my normal range. Although blood pressure is definitely now at the upper end of my normal range rather than the lower end and looks more like what it is when I am in a not healthy state. Everything feels status quo but definitely not dragging ass this afternoon like yesterday...so far anyway... #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
14:00 -- Ate another half a cup of the soup all vitals are bouncing around in the normal range. I'm not having any GI issues. I think I'll try a full cup in the next hour. Biggest problem I'm having today that I didn't have previously is a very high craving to start drinking my diet soda again. Not until tomorrow though... #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
15:00 -- I picked just before it was getting ready to downpour to head out to the supermarket to get the ingredients for tomorrow's Indian food recipe experiments. Made it back just before the heavens really started opening up. I got my one cup of soup in right at the top of the hour. All vitals are status quo. Definitely no fatigue this afternoon like last few days. I think I may be feeling a slight headache coming on but nothing quite yet. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
18:00 -- Ate another cup of the soup at 17:00 and a bit more than a cup just now. Vitals all still look good. The blood pressure that spiked to the high end of my normal range, which is when I don't have my health dialed in, is now sitting right around the middle range now. Still no fatigue for today. No head rushes, brain fog, etc. The headache I thought I was feeling earlier never manifested. GI issues haven't manifested either. All that's left for today is the big dinner searching of the soup. Which I'll probably have between 19:00 and 20:00. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
20:00 -- I underestimated how long it would take to heat up the soup I reserved for dinner so didn't get started eating it until the top of the hour. I also underestimated how much food that was going to be after not eating for three days. On the transition in day I ate half the recipe at each meal no problem. Today it took me over 45 minutes to accomplish that and I am feeling very full. It's the last food for the day though so now it is just calorie free beverages for the rest of the day. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
22:30 --With that the fast is entirely over. Tomorrow is back to regular eating of a dialed in diet. I'm very much looking forward to trying the new recipes. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
Today is day four of five of the "Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast" that I've devised. It is the third and final "real" fast day, IOW nothing more than non-caloric beverages and ideally none with artificial sweeteners. I definitely woke up feeling more brain fog than yesterday and this time I got plenty of sleep. I definitely felt more dehydrated when I woke up too. No headaches or anything like that though. And as I’m sipping my morning cup of coffee I’m feeling less of both. I’m down a bit over another 2.5 pounds. My night time heart rate looked normal as does my heart rate variability. Even though it hasn’t been awful I’m glad today is the last “real” day of fasting too and tomorrow is a transition day. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast Fasting Day 4
08:45 -- 45+ minute walk and 15 minutes yoga done. I started the walk feeling a bit groggy still but ended it feeling back to normal, albeit with a rumbling tummy. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
11:30 -- My food obsession is definitely getting the better of me now. I decided to try to abate that by heading over to Discovery+ and watch cooking shows I’ve never even heard of much less seen before. I’m trying to emphasize cuisines I’m not very familiar with, starting off with an episode of “Girl Meets Farm” about her multicultural twists on classic Jewish New Year recipes. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
12:10 -- I got a decent head rush standing up too fast after from laying to watch TV for 30 minutes or so. I decided to check my vitals and everything still looks solid with respect to heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure. Blood pressure was down slightly from when I woke up, from 119/76 to 113/73 but well within normal ranges. Still no headaches, no return of brain fog/loopiness but I definitely have a low energy "dragging ass" feeling. Time to "eat" some "lunch" by having some more decaf coffee and Pelligrino. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
13:30 -- My cooking shows indulgence/torture started with Jewish New Year food but now I've watched shows on several more cuisines: Korean, Gullah, and Cuban. Gotta be honest it all looked delicious. Maybe this isn't helping as much as I thought it would, but I already finished the Alzheimer's book...what to read/watch instead...hmm... #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
16:00 -- My god am I really dragging ass now. I took a 30 minute nap a little while ago but that didn't help. I still am feeling loopy when I stand up too fast from laying down for longer periods of time even though blood pressure, heart rate, HRV, etc. still within normal levels. Food cravings are even more intense as the day wears on even though I switched off from watching cooking videos. I'm more annoyed than anything else. 09:00 tomorrow couldn't get here fast enough. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
18:00 -- After taking in some videos of a dietetian reviewing various celebrity fad diets, a couple more episodes of cooking shows highlighting South Indian, Honduran, and Mexican cuisine I've decided to have dinner. Again it's going to be decaf coffee and Pelligrino. I just saw Titanic has been added to Netflix again and I've been consuming a bunch of Titanic videos after the whole OceansGate debacle so I figure why not kill a good 3+ hours watching that too... #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
22:45 -- Last core day of the fast is done. I'm very much looking forward to executing the transition day tomorrow when I can start eating again at 09:00. Granted that's going to be a cup of broth but "real" food will begin soon enough after that. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
Today is day three of five of the "Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast" that I've devised. It is the second "real" fast day, IOW nothing more than non-caloric beverages and ideally none with artificial sweeteners. Whether I end up using the electrolyte powders still remains to be seen. I had a little brain fog this morning but nothing atypical for not getting enough sleep and waking up too early. I woke up feeling slightly dehydrated and hung over as well. After a morning cup of coffee all that feels gone though. Weight compared to yesterday is down over 5.5 pounds. My nighttime heart rate minimum was down a few BPM but nothing I don't see in normal variations. Heart rate variability is still looking good. So beginning of the second day is starting off strong. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast Fasting Day 3
06:30 -- I couldn't fall asleep right away so working on less than six hours of sleep. I can definitely see a siesta style nap in the cards at some point today. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
18:00 -- Afternoon dragged on but was fine. I had a free form schedule so tried to just fill it with documentaries and reading. I was hoping I'd grab a nap to make up the extra 1+ hours of sleep I didn't get last night but that only lasted for like 15 minutes despite me only having caffeine with that first cup of coffee. I'm definitely not in a high energy state but not sleepy either. No brain fog/loopiness. No headaches. Pulse, heart rate, etc. all within normal ranges. So I think I'm just going to have some decaf coffee and Perrier/Pelligrino for dinner. May go for a walk on the trails around here after or not, TBD. That's as close to cardio as I intend to get on these core fasting days, for obvious reasons. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast
19:50 -- A 30 minute walk turned into just over 45 and nearly 2 miles. It was strolling pace so didn't break a sweat and didn't stress any muscles. I just wanted to get some time on my legs for the day. I should have time tomorrow morning to get that and the yoga workout in not just the yoga. Again, all easy stuff since I don't want to add stressors on top of the fasting. #health#longevity#fasting#cancer#CancerAvoidanceFast