I want to do a pretty extended water fast, aiming for around 30 days. Problem is usually I need alcohol to fall asleep. Would not eating anything, burning 500-600kcal everyday doing cardio then drinking those calories be a good idea? Would it be dangerous/pointless to fast? Thank you.
>Problem is usually I need alcohol to fall asleep
This is not good and sounds like there is more of a problem and you might want to look into it. To be honest, you should talk to someone professionally. Think about it, you just said: “You need alcohol.”
Never drink while fasted.
I remember watching a video of Dr Fung and he was talking about people who should not do extended fast and one group he mentioned were those with alcohol problems. Not saying you have one but maybe I would get help with that first before diving into a 30 day.
Alcohol is one of the worst things for your sleep. There are countless studies on this.
Not being able to do something without alcohol is a sign you are dependent on it which is an issue for you for many different reasons.
Alcohol also inhibits your body’s ability to burn fat. Again, plenty of studies to back this up.
It is also dangerous to consume alcohol while in Ketosis. Again, this is super accessible information that you can read up on with a quick Google.
Take Benadryl. If you have a good Dr, tell them you have trouble sleeping from back spasms and get baclofen. Don’t drink to sleep. Soon you’ll find yourself walking at 2am wired from the rebound from all that GABA being gone.
I’ve yet to see a single study (let alone an authoritative source) that cites alcohol during a fast as “dangerous”.
Anyone?
That being said, 30 days only water and alcohol does not sound like a “good” idea considering you’re breaking the fast daily anyway (little benefit) but still carrying the risk of an extended period of time without adequate nutrition.
If you’re doing it for weight loss you would be far better off on rolling fasts (like 3 - 5 days), and if you’re not doing it for weight loss than it’s a redundant effort as the alcohol will limit/prevent things like autophagy anyway.
Lastly I’ll say as someone that’s had trouble falling asleep my whole life, if a little alcohol works for you, good. I know an older woman who takes a shot of Bailey’s every night for it and she sleeps like a baby. But if you do want to look into another option, ask your doctor about trazodone.
It sounds like you might want to talk to a doctor about ativan or valium. When i was alcohol dependent i also had insomnia, these drugs helped with my anxiety during bed time. The other option is to white knuckle it sober for a few days until your brain can can readjust from alcohol depedence. It sucks. You might not sleep at all for a day or two. Been there but once you get over the hump sleep becomes easy and amazing. Youneed to focus on this before youstart worrying about fasting.
Addiction Counselor here. You should not drink when you are fasting. Many of the physical problems that result from alcohol happen when people start substituting alcohol for food. It would be better to use fasting times to fast from alcohol. I think a prescription sleeping pill would be better.