Since my last post I have completed my five day water fast and I feel great. My blood pressure is now under control, and yesterday my doctor after looking at my record of twice daily BP readings has taken me off medication, as long as the readings remain where they are. It might sound a bit daunting going on a, water fast for five days, but if you have done the right preparation it’s a lot easier than you might think. Personally I couldn’t see how you could attempt a five day fast if you were not already on a low carb high fat program, as your body has to burn fat during the fast. I had already been low carb high fat for just over four months, plus I was on one meal a day and I had done a couple of 48 hour and a 72 hour fast previously. Apart from the weight loss there have been other health gains from the fast, better sleep, no morning headaches, and better blood pressure control. I have got to wait another couple of weeks for a blood test, but I can’t wait to see how my cholesterol has improved as my last test was not great with my LDL quite high and my HDL (the good cholesterol) rather low.

Before I go any further I must stress that nothing on this website is intended as advise, but is purely an account of what I have done, and what it has done for me. I can’t stress strongly enough that before anyone considers making changes to their diet or trying intermittent or longer term fasting, that you do your own research, then sit down with your doctor or health worker, and fully discuss what you want to do. Trying anything on your own without medical support could have fatal results especially if you are on medication. When I discussed the five day water fast with my doctor I had all my research notes with me, showing the advantages and all the possible problems I could face, and that I fully understood them, but even so she could not condone my action and had to make a note on my medical record to that effect. Now that I have survived and she has a copy of the journal I kept, she is being more supportive of the next one I intend to start at the end of this month, which might be for seven days. It’s not that many months ago that I had a BMI of 48, although it has gone down considerably I still have plenty of body fat to keep me going when I fast.

Let’s talk about the title, Fat Makes You Feel Good! Ever since I changed to a low carb high fat eating plan, I really enjoy my food, it has real flavour and it’s a lot more filling, I have cut my total food consumption by about 40%, no snacking, and never feeling hungry. I generally only eat once a day, sometimes at weekends I might have my main meal mid-afternoon and some soup late evening. One of my favourites is Leek Soup but I still make sure I include plenty of fat, by frying the leeks cut into half inch pieces in butter for a couple of minutes, before I add a litre of vegetable stock and simmer for twenty minutes. This is one of the few soups that I liquidise but I add a couple of desert spoonsful of full fat cream cheese when I do, and it tastes fantastic. The low carb high fat plan has really worked for me, I have lost weight, and it has helped me with my fast which has had many health benefits.

I wasted virtually all my sixties by being grossly overweight and having type 2 diabetes, and with my seventies approaching fast I knew that I needed to end this nonsense. I had listened to my medical advice, accept your diabetes, it is progressive and for life, and you are going to have to continuously increase your medication until you have to go onto daily  insulin injections. This is true with the dietary advice I was given when diagnosed, eat you carbs and only low fat, and try and cut down on sugar. This is like seeing a house on fire and trying to put it out by throwing a bucket of petrol on it. Type 2 diabetes is fully reversible even if you have had it for fifteen years or more, and if anyone says it’s not, they are wrong. I have been type 2 for twelve years and I intend to be diabetes free by Christmas, a friend of mine was type 2 for seventeen years and on insulin, now he is medication free, and healthier than he has been for years.  We all owe it to ourselves to try and be the best we can be, and that includes our health, sometime it takes a long time to realise but when we do we need to act. When we are young old age seems to be an eternity away, but it soon passes, and when it does we want to extend what we have left for as long as possible, and for that we need our health.

It’s time to take responsibility for your own destiny, find the truth by doing your own research, if you are reading this post, you have the ability to find the information you need to take control of your health. If you have type 2 diabetes or are overweight I suggest you start by looking at the work being done by Dr Jason Fung, he is leading the field by using diet and fasting to great effect. One of the big problems with our diet these days is the amount of sugar in processed foods, and research is now showing that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, so it’s no wonder some of us have problems making changes. Although I have not used sugar in tea or coffee for just on forty years I have still had an addiction to sugar in the form of jam donuts, cakes and hot chocolate drinks, hence my obesity, but like any addiction I have been able to break it, but it’s not been easy. As I have said previously information can be more important than anything, because once you know what white carbs and sugars are doing to your body change becomes a lot easier. There is so much information out there on the benefits of Low Carb High Fat eating plans, and when combined with fasting the results can be outstanding. I am going to be starting a seven day water fast in a few days and I will be covering that in my next post. I am going to finish with this, sometimes the thought of change can be more frightening than change itself.