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What is a safe time to wait between fasts?

Had a niggling calf strain for ~12 months and was reading some articles that claimed fasting might help with healing. Worst case I figured losing a couple of pounds would make the load a little less on my ageing legs. Have never fasted before and so was looking to do 48/72 hours but found I wasn’t particularly hungry so did it for 5 days taking only water. Slowly reintroduced food over the weekend starting with some bone broth, then soups and am now back to regular meals (my diet is largely keto). Calf seems much better (just back from a short run, no issues at all) although no idea whether that is the fasting the rest or the weight loss. I’m curious now whether there’s a safe or optimum time between fasts? Can anyone help answer that, please? I’m not looking to do another this side of Christmas, that’s for sure! Just wondered if I should be leaving a month between my next? 3 months? Any links to qualified info sources or advice from experienced fasters would be much appreciated!

Answer

Have you confirmed w/ a medical professional that it is, in fact, a strain & not claudication? If you’re experiencing calf pain upon exercise for that long (1 year?!), I’d encourage you to investigate that further.

Answer

Dr. Jason Fung is a great resource for fasting - not only is he a medical doctor, but he talks a lot about existing research as well as his own clinical experience. That said, a lot of research on fasting only started recently, and there are some areas where we just don’t have definite answers right now.

I _believe_ that Fung has talked about how much time to leave between fasts (and it was less than a couple of months!) but that advice isn’t in the books I own, and I’d rather not give you a specific number without being able to point to a source. I’d suggest spending some time on Fung’s YouTube Channel or seeing if the library has his books. It’ll give you a good grounding in the physiology of fasting, and put you in a better position to evaluate random Internet advice (mine included).