I’ve been very hesitant to do the fasting portion of the Keto lifestyle. With type II diabetes, the thought of not eating gets a little scary. Typically when I don’t eat I start to get shaky, nauseous, and I can just feel my glucose level dropping out. That would usually be only after 3-4 hours of not eating. So needless to say, doing a fasting of any kind is a little scary.

I started off a couple of days ago by doing a 12-hour fast to see how my body would take it. I monitored my sugars throughout the day. I do need to note here that I’ve been doing Keto since December 1st so I should be in ketosis. I checked my ketones (I just usual the urinalysis test strips) and I was above 0.3 – a good place to be. The 12-hour went really well. I didn’t have any spikes and had no crashes either. I had a good dinner and was ready to start this. I purchased Dr. Jason Fung’s book, The Complete Guide to Fasting, and got myself ready. According to the information in the book, it looks like the best fasting time for me to do for right now would be the 42-hour fasting plan (fighting diabetes and the poundage). I’m going to do them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’m at work so it will be the easiest way to do it without it making too much of an impact on my family life.

Tuesday morning my blood sugar tested at 165 mg/dL (right now, this is typical for me – higher blood sugar in the morning). I had a cup of coffee with a tablespoon of coconut oil. I’m keeping the coconut oil in my coffee during my fasts because (1) in his book, Dr. Fung says it’s okay, and (2) I want to make sure my body has a little something to kick off my busy day. I have also been making sure to drink as much water as I can. I have one jar of water with sliced lemons and a little salt when I feel like I need a little kick. For lunch and dinner I had chicken bone broth (with a little added pink salt for flavor). My blood sugar never spiked nor dropped out. It did gradually go down through the day: 148 at lunch and 118 at dinner.

Now at dinner time, my husband kind of freaked out on me. When I mentioned that I could make dinner but it was up to everyone else what they wanted because I wasn’t eating, the first question was, “What have you eaten today?” Um… coffee, coconut oil, water, and bone broth… He blew a gasket. See, we’ve been married for almost 19 years and he knows how I get when I don’t eat, but I had to remind him… heck, I had to convince the judge and jury that I really was doing just fine – it had already been 24 hours. I haven’t had any of the pangs I have had in the past. I actually felt really good. And I also promised that I would eat first thing after 42 hours (basically lunchtime tomorrow).

After reassurance and many hugs, my husband started making dinner. And when he and the kids came out with their plates, I was so proud of him. I’m usually the cook and since I’m Keto, my family gets Keto meals from me. But here my husband did the cooking and since I was not eating, he could of made anything. And what did he make? Two salmon burger patties topped with bacon (no bun), and a side caesar salad (no croutons). I got teary eyed. Of course, I would of added some avocado too, but that would be asking for more than my husband would do (he does not like avocados – reminds him of changing diapers – sorry friends – I do sneak avocado into his food here and there… muwahahaha).

By the time lunch rolled around, I was thinking that I could do a little longer with the fasting. So I had to remind myself that this isn’t a marathon and I needed to give myself some time with this process. I did notice that my mentality towards eating a meal was much more reduced – like it wasn’t that big of a deal, it’s just food. I think if I was doing this with a different diet, I would of been starving for that meal and then binge because I wouldn’t know when I was going to eat again. And of course, that’s when your body does it too – a freak out. But being in ketosis, I can feel my body much more calmer… stable. So for lunch I had a chicken caesar salad with avocado. My first fasting was over. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.