Day 3: The New Normal

Last night went really well as far as eating and drinking is concerned. Getting my work out done before Iftar was definitely the right way to do it. This has been reinforced by speaking to others who have stated they also choose to workout in the last few hours before breaking fast. 

I had a target of drinking six pints of water before fasting resumed. I managed five-and-a-half, falling asleep again before finishing my last pint before Sehri ended at 331AM. This morning I felt very 'normal'. As if fasting from water was something I do all the time. Bar the usual mouth dryness immediately when waking, I wasn't thirsty at all. 

Throughout the day too, thirst and hunger just weren't all that prominent in my mind today. I felt very comfortable no matter what I was doing. The only time I really started to feel hunger was planning how I'd break my fast, but this passed when I started my handstand workout - which went amazing! Improvements again in all areas, the same as I'd expect without fasting. 

Surprisingly, when I've broken fast every day so far, I've not had a great sense of urgency to drink or eat. I'm obviously enjoying eating and drinking at Iftar, but I don't feel desperate. It has become a new normal for me already. 

Fasting from food is actually quite normal for me anyway. I have been practising intermittent fasting for a number of years, but typically I only fast for around 12-16 hours. Ramadan requires us to fast for a minimum of 17 hours initially this year, becoming 20 hours before the Day of Eid.

Originally I started intermittent fasting because I wanted to maximise the commonly cited benefit of maximising fat loss. This didn't ever actually happen for me, that I'm aware of, but I have always felt that fasting from food helps me regulate my hunger (and presumably my blood sugar too). I've become very confident in recent years that I'm highly sensitive to all forms of carbohydrates - be it sugar, artificial sweeteners, potatoes, bread, pasta, rice etc. All processed foods basically. Even milk and cheese have found their way on to my list of 'foods that I should be avoiding'. Which is awful...because I love my milk and cheese! However, these foods spike my blood sugar and encourage me to eat more food than what I require to meet my energy requirements. 

Since January I have been eating a highly carnivorous diet, after learning and reading from health professionals and carnivorous writers such as Dr. Andrew Jenkinson [Why We Eat (Too Much): The New Science of Appetite], Michelle Hurn [The Dietitian's Dilemma] and Paul Saladino [The Carnivore Code]. Animal fat and meat are the sole focus for my intake and I have definitely been experiencing steady and slow fat loss, amongst improved hunger regulation and constantly improving strength. However, carbohydrate binges have still cropped up from time to time, depending on my workload, stresses and emotions.

With my years of experience fasting from food and 3/4 months of following a primarily carnivorous diet, it makes sense that I wouldn't find fasting from food during Ramadan particularly difficult. People who eat carnivorously are better adapted to fasting and using their body fat as fuel. The higher our fat intake is, the more prepared we are to utilise the body's fat stores as the primary energy source. People who are obese (and I speak from personal experience) will often be eating a primarily carbohydrate-based diet (all processed foods and drinks, starches, plants, fruits, etc) and as a result, they require a constant intake of carbohydrates to generate enough energy to function at basal level. Obese bodies are surrounded in fuel, but their energy systems aren't effectively conditioned to using it. This metabolic dysfunction (an aspect of 'metabolic syndrome', whereby obese people are always hungry, have cravings and keep gaining fat) can be referred to as The Carb Addiction Cycle.

Fasting from water is not something that I have had experience of and I would never have imagined doing it without wanting to experience Ramadan first hand. I do not have any evidence to suggest that fasting from water is in anyway beneficial! As an athlete and a coach, I would never tell anyone to not drink water for extended periods of time. However, that doesn't mean I'm right! As it has been suggested to me in the DMs on Instagram, "Allah knows best". 

I haven't gotten to the bottom of what "Allah knows" yet, specific to water fasting, but I'm going to do a lot more research and find out for myself. 

If you are reading this page and have a resource you can share with me to a develop a better understand of the benefits of fasting from the perspective of Islam, please get in touch with me by commenting below or in the DMs on Instagram, @JCDCoaching!

You can also pop over to Instagram and catch up here on my chat with Jas Beg, who spoke to me today about what Ramadan means to him and how it impacts his training as an MMA fighter. Thanks again Jas for your time, advice and encouragement to me as I continue on my Ramadan journey.