Fasting While Traveling
We have returned from our latest trip, and can report that we found it much easier to maintain our intermittent fast this time, compared to the previous short trip. We pretty much kept to the schedule except on two occasions, both of which were days we were actually on the road. The first day, we ate a little before the appointed time, because we found an attractive shady spot to stop — we brought sandwiches with us and so for convenience sake ate them about half an hour early. The second instance was the last day, when we came home again. We ate a sandwich at the bus station (we drove out, but left the car there and came back on the bus), but it wasn’t really a full meal, so when we got home we had a couple pieces of fried chicken from the freezer, even though it was three hours into our fasting period. So that fast was shortened to 20 hours instead of 23.
While we were at the cottage in Colima Isabel did the cooking, except for one day when we went to the beach and ate at a restaurant. Thus it was simple to follow our usual schedule, except for that one day at the restaurant. It was a day when we were breaking the fast with the meal, so as it worked out, we were about an hour late — so that fast lasted 24 hours instead of 23. Sitting under a palapa (thatched hut) on a tropical beach with the roaring surf and sun-glared beach made up for the extra wait. We have been fasting for three months now, so an extra hour here or an hour less there does not seem to matter much.
When we first started intermittent fasting we couldn’t wait for the clock to strike two so we could end our fasting period and begin eating. For the first week we even had a tendency to eat more than normal because we were ’so hungry.’ But soon reason prevailed, we slowed down our eating, and went back to normal portions. Now, after months of this routine, the exact time seems less important. We are hungry at 9:00 AM when we get up, but we know we will be no more hungry at 2:00 PM or 2:30 PM or 3:00 — when we eat. So the urgency has gone out of the meal which breaks the fast.
Just as a reminder to those new people joining us, our eating schedule consists of 23 hours fasting followed by 25 hours of normal eating, and is timed so that we eat our main meal at the same time (between 2:00 and 3:00 PM) every day. See the link at top right under our picture labeled ‘our diet’ for details. This is a non-calorie-restricted alternate day fasting schedule, so we eat as much during our daily eating time as we normally did before beginning the fast — yet we are losing weight. If you doubt we eat well, just take a look at the ‘april meals’ link just above ‘our diet’ and see what we had for most of April. That is typical of our eating habits since then as well.
More important than the slight and slow weight loss, is the fact that we feel better, and know we are doing good things for our future health. I am in a high-risk group for Type II Diabetes, due to my family history, age, and the fact that my extra weight is all belly-fat. I believe (based on animal studies) that this fasting schedule will help prevent my developing diabetes. It certainly has helped Isabel with her arthritis pain too. And I find I have fewer and milder head-aches, leg-cramps, colds and basic aches and pains.
This is an on-going experiment in lifestyle, so we will continue to keep you updated on our experiences. Meanwhile, to avoid repeating the same things over and over (we feel great, and it so easy!) I’ll be posting some analysis of the scientific studies being reported for fasting and calorie restriction diets, while trying to translate the scientific jargon into as basic English as possible. Stay tuned!
