How and Why I Extended My Weekly 44 Hour Food-free Period To One-hundred Sixty-eight Hours/What I Learned During the Fourth and Fifth 24 Hour Periods by James Stephen Du Bois

How and Why I Extended My Weekly 44 Hour Food-free Period To One-hundred and Sixty-eight Hours

What I Learned During the Fourth and Fifth 24 Hour Periods

by James Stephen Du Bois

Fourth 24 Hour Period

Thursday, December 16th, 2021, 7:30 pm to Friday, December 17th, 7:30 pm

Friday, Dec. 17th, 2021, 6 am:

82.5 hours since my last bite.

Chew on this: I got up at 5:30 am with a ketone level of 14 out of 16 and weighing 123.6 pounds (BMI 18, just below normal weight for a man 5’ 9.5”). Boy, does my mirror image look skinny. I’ll have to get a photo so I can compare it to a picture of my new body in a year or so.

I worked in my studio from 5:45 am until 1:30 pm when my back couldn’t take it any more. I got a lot done with the energy I had, which wasn’t the amount I had hoped for based on what was promised by my mentors for this distance into the food-free period. I worked steadily. When my back finally gave out, I took an hour soak in a hot epsom salt bath. What energy I had left from working all morning remained in the tub with the hot water and salt. I poured myself into my bed and took a two-and-a-half-hour nap.

I am recovering from that now with low energy and a somewhat relieved back. I am ready to go back to bed. However I am going to celebrate four days (96 hours) at 7:30 pm! Whatever this wave of fatigue/weakness is, I will push through it for all of the promised benefits, including, but not limited to:

Gut healing. A reset of my microbiome; affectionately referred to as my gut buddies. They perform the actual digestion of my food.

Cancer cells and viruses are dying for lack of food. Their parts along with exhausted bits and pieces from other of my body cells are being recycled for the good of my health. Continued release of Human Growth Hormone means muscle building. Continued release of Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor means I’m growing new brain cells to help me figure out the best way to achieve my health goals. The resetting of my immune system at approximately 96 hours of being food-free will help protect me from pathogens.

At 96 hours, autophagy continues, at a reduced rate, recycling the old bits and pieces of my cells’ parts as they call on the human growth hormone and stems cells that have been produced since 24 hours and at 66 hours, respectively, to rebuild them and make them new. According to Dr. Jamnadas, my cells are getting younger. I am getting younger. It makes me smile. This is not delusion, we can stem and in some cases reverse aging simply by not eating so much, so often.

Friday, Dec. 17th, 7:30 pm:

96 Hours, since my last bite; eighty-eight and a half to ninety-two and a half hours since my stomach emptied completely.

Four Full Days Since My Last Bite!

This is where Dr Nicole tallies up our progress, puts the flaps down and starts to come in for a landing:

“At 96 hours, we’re going to see intestinal STEM cells start to max out. So this gut healing that is happening, not only are we getting these STEM cells there, but we’re getting a reset of the immune system, a reset of the microbiome, and so the immune system reboot is going to continue. Autophagy is starting to come down. Human growth hormone will start dropping a little bit at this point, and by 120 hours, that’s when we’re usually ending the fast, we’re doing a refeed and we see this massive flood of STEM cells that happen.” (N)

I am not ending my food-free period here. Dr. Jamnadas claims that I can reduce my risk of dying of cancer by 70% if I stick it out for the whole seven days. I’ve come this far. I’m still able to move and get most things done, albeit very slowly. Why not increase my “genetic expression” to benefit my health and longevity (J), and in the process, kick cancer’s gluteus?

Ghrelin has been of such little consequence today that I almost forgot to mention it. However, I experienced one cramp that felt like the sides of my stomach were touching each other. It lasted less than a minute.

During the next hour and a half I am going to try to get some work done on the computer. My head is still clear. It’s my body that is moving at the pace of a sloth.

Fifth 24 Hour Period

Friday, December 17th, 7:30 pm to Saturday, December 18th, 7:30 pm

Friday, Dec. 17th, 11:30 pm:

I have reached 100 hours (4.16 days) since my last bite! I’m already into day five!

Dr. Jamnadas says:

“By the fifth day you’ll have a lot of ketones. You can buy a dip stick for your urine to measure your ketones.” (J)

“Ketones keep getting utilized and fat keeps burning.” (J)

I have worked continuously since 6 pm putting together a social media campaign for my business. Plenty of energy. Absolutely no thought of eating except to make this note. I am headed for bed.

Blood Pressure: 99 over 66; 97 over 55; 85 over 55.

Pulse: 65; 66; 64.

Ketone reading: 16! I’ve reached the limit of the measuring strip’s ability to measure my ketones. That means I am burning fat, though to look at me you wouldn’t think there was any to consume anymore.

I’ll weigh myself in the morning, per usual. To bed.

Saturday, Dec. 18th, 10:30 am:

One-hundred and eleven hours since my last bite, one-hundred and three to one-hundred and seven hours since my stomach has emptied.

Slept from Midnight until 5 am. Got up once between those times for micturition purposes. Speaking of peeing, my keytone reading was as high as the test strip is capable of indicating. The strip came out as dark as the chart on the bottle gets! However, my urine itself has no color.

The Color of Urine

Urine has been a useful tool of diagnosis since the earliest days of medicine. It can tell a lot about what’s going on in your body, from how hydrated you are to whether you might have a urinary tract infection.

Here’s a look at some of the things it can tell you, from urologist Petar Bajic, MD:

“What color should urine be? Your urine is a mix of water, electrolytes and waste that your kidneys filter out from your blood. When you’re healthy and hydrated, your urine should fall somewhere between colorless and the color of light straw and honey. When you don’t consume enough fluids, your urine becomes more concentrated and turns a darker yellow or amber color.” (CCO)

Body Mass Index (BMI)

My weight is at another record low for my adult life: 122.6 pounds. I guess I still have fat to burn despite the wrinkles appearing on my skin. The CDC says my BMI indicates that for a 5’ 9.5” adult male I am underweight.

“For the information you entered:

Height: 5 feet, 9.5 inches

Weight: 122.6 pounds

Your BMI is 17.8, indicating your weight is in the Underweight category for adults of your height.

Body mass index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. BMI is an inexpensive and easy screening method for weight category—underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obesity.

BMI does not measure body fat directly, but BMI is moderately correlated with more direct measures of body fat. Furthermore, BMI appears to be as strongly correlated with various metabolic and disease outcome as are these more direct measures of body fatness.” (CDC)

Blood Pressure (BP)

My current blood pressure measured three times in ten minutes and the averages of those values:

Blood Pressure: 87 over 51; 85 over 57; 88 over 52. Average: 87 over 53. By all accounts that is low.

What is low blood pressure? Here’s what the Cleveland Clinic published about low blood pressure:

“Low blood pressure (hypotension) occurs when blood pressure drops below the normal range. Doctors generally define low blood pressure as 90/60 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) or below, commonly said as “90 over 60” Usually, doctors only treat hypotension if it is severe enough to cause symptoms. Low blood pressure can be temporary, or it can be a chronic (long-lasting) condition. The main types of hypotension are:

Orthostatic hypotension: People with orthostatic hypotension (sometimes called postural hypotension) feel faint or lightheaded when they stand up or change position suddenly.

Postprandial hypotension: This condition causes people to feel lightheaded or dizzy after eating a meal because their blood pressure drops suddenly.

Neurally mediated hypotension: People with this disorder feel faint, dizzy, and nauseous after exercising or standing for a long time.

Severe hypotension linked to shock: Shock is the most extreme form of hypotension. When a person is in shock, blood pressure drops to dangerously low levels, and the brain and organs can’t get enough blood to function. (CC)

Other than slight orthostatic hypotension I have no severe symptoms of low blood pressure even into day five of my food-free period.

From the Mayo Clinic, the ones recommending MORE salt:

“Low blood pressure that either doesn't cause signs or symptoms or causes only mild symptoms rarely requires treatment.” I like that. They continue:

“If you have symptoms, treatment depends on the cause. For instance, when medication causes low blood pressure, treatment usually involves changing or stopping the medication or lowering the dose.

“If it's not clear what's causing low blood pressure or no treatment exists, the goal is to raise your blood pressure and reduce signs and symptoms. Depending on your age, health and the type of low blood pressure you have, you can do this in several ways:

Use more salt. Experts usually recommend limiting salt in your diet because sodium can raise blood pressure, sometimes dramatically. For people with low blood pressure, that can be a good thing.
But because excess sodium can lead to heart failure, especially in older adults, it's important to check with your doctor before increasing the salt in your diet.

Drink more water. Fluids increase blood volume and help prevent dehydration, both of which are important in treating hypotension.

Wear compression stockings. The elastic stockings commonly used to relieve the pain and swelling of varicose veins can help reduce the pooling of blood in your legs.
 Some people tolerate elastic abdominal binders better than they do compression stockings.


Medications. “ (M)

As I stated, I’ve experienced the slightest bit of orthostatic hypotension today, but not enough to be concerned. So, it looks like I live with low blood pressure with little to no consequences. I am able to work. That is my criteria for judging my condition. If I can’t do my work, then something has to change. So far, I’m getting plenty of work done, under the circumstances.

One reason for my blood pressure being low is that my insulin is low. With intermittent fasting as part of my routine, I live with low insulin. I believe that earlier I mentioned that it holds water in the body. I have to keep adding water to keep my body fluids up. That maintains my hydration and what blood pressure I have.

Pulse: 68; 68; 69. Average: 68

My energy is very good today. I have been finishing up on my computer work with a sharp mind and happy attitude. I think I’m going to enjoy day five’s energy. We’ll just have to find out.

Saturday, Dec. 18th, 3:00 pm:

I feel good, especially compared to the many times I’ve worked a whole day with less energy than I have now, that includes days I was fully-fed from the night before and should have had plenty of energy. What gave me less energy than I have after five days of fasting were my vaccinations and boosters for Covid. They laid me low. After all of the work Cat (my wife) and I have done to protect our immune systems, the Dr. said that our severe reaction was, in fact, our immune systems fighting off the vaccine. We were wiped for weeks. We started coming back just a few days ago. Being food-free has always helped.

I still have leg cramps, even though I am fully hydrated. They are less severe than they have been. Having leg cramps means I’m not giving my body either enough water or enough sodium and other electrolytes. Since my pee is clear, I’m clearly drinking enough water. I guess I am one of the “lucky” ones, one of the few anyway, that needs to add sodium to their supplements.

Saturday, Dec. 18th, 7:30 pm:

120 hours! Five full days since my last bite. 71.42857% of the way to 7 full days (168 hrs)

Blood Pressure: 76 over 48. Remember that normal is 120 over 80; low is 90/60.

Pulse: 56 BPM. I intend to rest well.

End of day five.

Check in periodically to this website, or my Facebook page, and you will find my experience of days six and seven explored in the next week or two. Links to the previous posts on this subject can be found below the links to my footnotes.

CC = https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21156-low-blood-pressure-hypotension

CCO = https://health.clevelandclinic.org › what-urine-color-means

CDC = https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html

J = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuOvn4UqznU

M = https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/low-blood-pressure/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355470

N = https://drnicole.com/what-happens-to-your-body-while-fasting-hour-by-hour-benefits-of-fasting/

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