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.

Today is the third and final “real” fasting day of the five day “Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast” . 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.

Today is the second “real” fasting day of the five day “Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast” . Yesterday’s first “real” day of the core of the fast is documented here . Today is just more of the same. 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.

Today is the first “real” fasting day of the five day “Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast” . Yesterday was the transition in diet day of basically two huge servings of a nutrient dense soup and a handful of nuts, documented here . Today is the day that we “really” do the fasting. The rules are only non-caloric beverages all day. Ideally that will be just coffee (regular and decaf), tea (black or green), seltzer water, Perrier/Pellegrino, and water. While artificially sweetened beverages wouldn’t break the fast from the calorie restriction perspective I’m trying to avoid consuming them. If I feel headaches coming on that resolve immediately with a little salt intake then I will take some calorie free electrolyte compound or consume a little nearly calorie free broth, ideally doing the former not the latter.

Today is the first day of the five day “Longo Inspired Cancer Avoidance Fast” . Yesterday being the 4th of July I had quite the BBQ splurge to celebrate the day. Now it is on to the first day of the fast. This is my first time trying this rendition of it. As with most fasts I am keeping a journal. Unlike previous fasts I’ve decided to keep that journal here on my blog versus in my personal journal. If people find it interesting or helpful then awesome. If people find it tiresome then maybe mute me until Monday of next week when the fast ends. That of course assumes I actually keep up with journaling through this. It could easily be quite boring.

As I wrote in my “Thoughts on Fasting” post I am primarily looking to perform these multi-day fasts for cancer avoidance purposes. There is some evidence that a 3 day fast can help cut cancer risks. It is not a guarantee but the cost and risk associated with doing these things is small enough to make doing these things once or twice a year worth it even if it turns out to not have the cancer fighting benefit. A big part of the body of research I’ve followed on fasting has come from coverage of the works of Dr. Valter Longo . For years he has been an advocate for periodic multi-day fasts and avoiding excessive protein intake to increase longevity and cut down on cancer risks. This post highlights how I’ve designed my cancer avoidance fast around his techniques and research.

The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a doctor, trainer, dietitian, nutritionist, or any other expert in any related field. I’m talking about my amateur and anecdotal experiences here and none of this should replace expert medical advice.

As I’m getting ready to start my third multi-day fast of my life I thought I’d do a much better job of documenting it on my blog. To start off I wanted to lay out my very amateur thoughts on fasting and how I have done it in the past. This is a very long post so use the table of contents to jump around to the parts you may find worth reading if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

I’ve now had one full Goal Accountability Phase after my health reboot. I was concerned that I’d be able to continue my workout streak, the thing that I always struggle with. It turns out I was able to keep that up even hitting stretch goals. The rest of the grades I turned in were another solid result as well.

When I was training to run races the first thing I’d cut out was the cross-training. There is no debate that cross-training is important. It was not unknown to me. Yet when schedule pressures, real and contrived, caused me to need to cut something it was the cross-training that always got cut. My 30 day Health Reboot challenge was essentially 30 days of nothing but what would be considered cross-training. That was predominantly training via cycling. The whole time I was curious what my running fitness looked like at the end of that. I now have the answer. While I always knew cross-training was important I am still floored by how much that is so.