Fast This Way

by Dave Asprey

  OTHER SUPPLEMENTS

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  There is a world of other supplements you can take while fasting, including amino acids, oils, and various herbs and herbal extracts. (Some of the adaptogens I mentioned earlier fall into the last category.) You can experiment to see which ones work for you and at what doses and timing.

  L-tyrosine is an amino acid that should be taken on an empty stomach. It boosts mood and cognition, enhances your physical and mental stress response, and encourages healthy glandular function. It quickly crosses the blood-brain barrier to boost the neurotransmitters (brain-signaling chemicals) dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. It’s also a building block of thyroid hormone, and having more thyroid hormone available during a fast makes you feel good. Your body can make it, but it depletes when you’re stressed. In the modern lifestyle, most people’s natural production can’t keep up with the demand. Studies have shown that cadets in combat training supplementing with L-tyrosine had reduced negative effects from physical and psychosocial stress on mental performance. Try 750 mg to 1,500 mg in the morning before eating any protein.

  L-glutamine is another effective amino acid, good for healing the gut. Together with related branched-chain amino acids, or BCAAs, these supplements are usually a no-go while fasting because they will throw you out of ketosis faster than anyone’s business by raising your insulin levels. If you feel as though you’re dying during your fast and just really dragging—or maybe you are having terrible headaches—you can take some L-glutamine for relief. It’s going to turn your brain on in about five minutes, but you won’t have the benefits of ketosis that you get from an extended fast. You’ll still be fasting, but this is not an ideal strategy. At least you will still get some of the other benefits of fasting. You are better off taking BCAA and L-glutamine between meals on days when you’re not fasting or at the end of a fast. They work best on an empty stomach. If you really want to take these supplements during a fast while staying in ketosis, combine them with Brain Octane MCT oil, which supplies your body with extra ketones. For regular use, 2 to 4 grams per day is plenty, taken on an empty stomach.

  Fish oil and krill oil: This is a tricky one. Small doses of high-quality fish oil reduce inflammation, improve brain function, boost mood, suppress anxiety and depression, enhance muscle growth, and even work as a sleep aid. But poor-quality fish oil or long-term high doses can cause more problems than they solve. You also need to be choosy, because not all fish oil is created equal. Most of the brands you are likely to find at your local supermarket or your corner drugstore are contaminated, oxidized, and generally not very potent. If you cannot find a high-quality fish oil, you are better off avoiding it altogether. I recommend a combination of fish oil, krill oil, and fish egg oil. Krill oil is harder to find, but it is more stable and it has a chemical formulation that makes it easier for your brain to use. It also contains astaxanthin, a so-called keto-carotenoid that is a potent antioxidant molecule. Oil supplements are easier for your body to absorb if they’re taken with food. You should take them during your eating window or with your Bulletproof Coffee, 1 to 2 grams per day.

  Ginger and turmeric: These roots come straight from nature’s medicine chest. Ginger attacks inflammation through the action of compounds known as gingerols, shogaols, and paradols. Ginger is also a natural pain reliever, chemically related to ibuprofen, good for treating arthritis and joint discomfort. Turmeric has been a staple of Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. Its primary active ingredient is curcumin, the chemical that gives it the distinctive yellow color. Curcumin is a potent antioxidant that has been clinically documented to reduce inflammation, inhibit the growth of tumor cells, and improve insulin resistance. In addition, scientists have discovered that turmeric contains some two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds. And since I’m both a biohacker and a chef, I love the flavor of ginger and turmeric. You can take them both while you’re fasting, though they can be a little bit spicy on an empty stomach. Dose varies so widely based on the brand you choose that it’s hard to recommend it here. In my formula for Bulletproof, I combine 500 mg of turmeric extract with other herbs. However, if you were eating plain turmeric or using a plain powder, you’d require a lot more than 500 mg.

  Antimicrobials and probiotics work to establish a harmonious relationship between you and the ecosystem of bacteria living inside you. Any herbs that you’re taking for their antimicrobial or antiyeast properties are particularly useful while you’re fasting. I use grapefruit seed extract, a natural broad-spectrum antimicrobial, to help fix my gut during fasting. It makes a big difference. Probiotics build up the population of good bacteria in the gut and are generally a good idea all around. Probiotics work very well during fasting if you use prebiotic fiber to turn off your hunger. (Remember, prebiotics make fasting easy by suppressing hunger, but if you’re on a “gut rest” fast where you want nothing in your gut, skip them.) The probiotics will use the prebiotic fiber as fuel to grow. In most cases, taking probiotics on an empty gut is a waste of money because they have nothing to eat so they can multiply in your gut! Take them about an hour before the end of a fast so they will pass through your stomach intact, before your stomach naturally raises its acid level to digest a meal. Use the number of capsules or packets recommended for the brand you choose.

  Exogenous ketones: No discussion of supplements would be complete without addressing the idea of giving yourself ketone supplements to regulate your fasting state of ketosis. As I stated earlier, most of these exogenous (created outside the body) ketones are a bad idea. Both ketone salts and ketone esters have serious drawbacks, as described earlier in the book. For long-term use, C8 MCT oil is the only ketone source I recommend.

  But wait—don’t start dosing up just yet! Before you even consider taking supplements while fasting, you should talk to your doctor about potential interactions between the supplements and any prescription medications you may be on. Supplements have a profoundly good safety record compared to even common over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, but there are still interactions to consider.

  Most mineral supplements, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc, can prevent your body from absorbing pharmaceuticals, and some herbs have contraindications. Also, certain medications have to be taken within specific time frames; taking them on an empty stomach or within a restricted eating window could interfere with their effects. Your pharmacist can help you know if it is safe to take something without food, or you can check online references. You can take most vitamins and medications that say “with food” with a Bulletproof Coffee because the fat helps absorption and you will still be fasting. Even a small amount of fat (1 teaspoon of C8 MCT oil plus 1 teaspoon of grass-fed butter) is often enough.

  Supplements to Spice up Your Sex Life

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  Fasting is about embracing life, not turning away from it. Once you adapt to your fast, you may find that your emotions are more intense and your libido is elevated. That’s another aspect of your health that you can enhance with some clever biohacks. The following supplements are effective ways to enhance your sex drive naturally.

  Arginine: Improves blood vessel dilation, enhancing an erection.

  Ashwagandha: An adaptogenic herb that also improves sexual lubrication in women.

  Boron: Increases testosterone in men and boosts resistance to vaginal infections in women.

  Cnidium: A Chinese herb that activates the same biochemical pathways as prescription erectile dysfunction drugs do (really!) and also has profound antioxidant properties.

  Folate: Increases sperm count, enhancing fertility.

  Ginko biloba: Raises nitric oxide levels in blood, promoting stronger erections.

  Ginseng: A win-win; it treats erectile dysfunction and heightens libido.

  Kava: Improves sex drive in women.

  Maca: This root, also known as Peruvian ginseng, can reverse erectile problems caused by antidepressants and low desire. Do not consume raw maca, however; it must be gelatiniz
ed to work.

  Magnesium: Important in reducing stress and calming the mood in the bedroom.

  Selenium: Found in the testes; increases male health and fertility.

  Turmeric: Balances testosterone levels in men and estrogen levels in women.

  Vitamin C: A necessary nutrient for creating sex hormones; also reduces stress.

  Vitamin D3: A deficiency of this vitamin is common in men with erectile dysfunction.

  Zinc: A key component of oysters; boosts libido and male sexual potency.

  9

  It’s a Little Different for Women

  At my makeshift campsite inside First Woman cave—which is regarded as the location where Kamalapukwia, the First Woman of Yavapai mythology, the equivalent of Eve from the Bible, brought forth the ancestors of her tribe and of all the other people on Earth—you could say I was slowly being reborn. It was not exactly going smoothly. I had pushed through the hunger and the imaginary vicious predators, but now I heard a noise coming from inside the cave. A real noise.

  I fully expected that my vision quest might cause me to hear voices and to, well, see visions. In fact, I wanted it to happen. This was not what I had bargained for, however. This was no transcendent message of spiritual truths. It was a resolutely physical, menacing, rustling sound. Whatever was causing it was very close to me, somewhere between the cave entrance and my sleeping bag. My rational mind cast around blindly for ideas. My heart was pounding. I growled (seriously, that can scare away many animals, and I have a mean growl) and groped around to find my flashlight. By the time I could turn it on, there was nothing to see.

  For the rest of the night, I slept with one eye open, if at all. The noise reoccurred and again; there was nothing to see. When the morning sun finally illuminated the cave entrance, marking my fourth and final day there, I discovered that a little brown bird had been attracted to the pile of brush I’d placed as a protective barrier at the opening of the cave. The bird was nocturnal, and had returned several times during the night with scavenged building materials for building a nest in the brush, making the same rustling noise each time. It seemed hard to believe that I’d been terrified of that harmless little creature, but that’s what had happened. I had told myself a story about predators, one I knew was not true, yet I had believed my story, and then I had responded to it emotionally and physically. I had to laugh at my own foolishness. Even after I had faced down my fears by staying alone in the cave, even after I had gained mastery over my hallucinatory mountain lions, my mind had taken advantage of me yet again. It’s not easy being reborn, I realized. There’s a long process of becoming involved in becoming a better, stronger person.

  The same is true for my relationship with food. Or your relationship with food—or anyone’s relationship with food. Quite possibly you aren’t even aware you have a relationship with food, but you most certainly do. It is practically hardwired into us: “I am going to starve if I don’t eat in the next few hours.” The amygdala, the deep-seated portion of the brain responsible for self-preservation, reacts that way when we deny our body food. Or at least, that’s what it does until we teach it not to.

  I was determined to continue the process of rebirth that had begun in that cave, even knowing it would probably be long and arduous. Well, of course it would be! Being born the first time is rarely a simple event. Kamalapukwia’s birthing was the beginning of the saga of humankind. When we emerge from the womb, it is the beginning of our own unpredictable and meandering path through life. All the things that happened to me in the cave were the beginning of a grand journey, but at least I was on my way. You are on your way, too.

  THE OTHER HALF OF THE STORY

  There’s a huge topic that is inexplicably left out of most discussions about fasting: the way it works for women. In most of the books, articles, news stories, and blog posts about fasting, writers tend to assume that all bodies are identical—or rather, that women are identical to men. In fact, most medical and scientific studies today still use the male body as the test model.1 A recent review of research papers on intermittent fasting posted in a Harvard database illustrates the situation starkly: only thirteen of the seventy-one studies included women.2 It’s a problematic omission. Sure, we all have the same basic digestive organs, but men and women are not at all biologically the same.

  (Quick aside: To keep things simple, I’m going to address “you” in this chapter as if you are a woman. If you are, great. If you aren’t, this is a chance to broaden your horizons. Incidentally, nearly equal numbers of men and women read my books based on available data, so it was always a coin flip.)

  This is in no way an argument about superiority or inferiority or about strength and weakness. It is purely a matter of biology. In one major example, the female body is designed to allow for childbirth and lactation, with all of the physiological specializations that go with them. Men and women have different hormone levels, which means that they respond to diets quite differently. Women between the ages of menarche and menopause have active ovaries and go through menstrual cycles. Women are shorter, on average; they tend to have smaller lungs; they have different distributions of body fat.

  Women are also more sensitive to dietary changes at the cellular level. If a woman doesn’t have enough energy and nutrients to build a healthy baby, the shortfall very noticeably alters or interrupts her menstrual cycle and will manifest itself in a strong hunger response. Throughout most of history, a starved or malnourished woman had a much higher risk of dying if she became pregnant, much more so than the man who participated in creating the pregnancy. The biological cost of being out of energy is therefore much higher for women—even if they aren’t pregnant; even if they are not currently fertile.

  For all of these reasons, fasting affects the female body differently than it affects the male body. Because the broad guidelines for fasting have been developed for, and tested on, men, women generally need to do more fine-tuning of their fasts. The good news is that all available evidence suggests that women have just as much to gain from fasting as men do, especially when it comes to disease prevention. Importantly, fasting protects against some of the metabolic causes of Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that affects twice as many women as men.

  Let’s pause for a moment to review the automated systems in a woman’s body. Like men, women’s bodies are governed by the four F survival rules that drive all higher forms of life: fear, food, er, fertility, and friends. During the years you are fertile, those systems are carefully sensing food, nutrients, and stress levels to determine whether you can achieve that third F. If the number of calories, the type of fat, micronutrients, toxins, or stress are not at acceptable levels, it will trigger physical anxiety, a biological stress response that warns, The future of our species is at risk! Men and women are wired at very primitive levels to ensure the creation and survival of the next generation.

  When you decide to fast in a way that doesn’t overstress your body, it can make you stronger and more metabolically fit. When you fast too much, it can create a stress response more quickly than it would in a man’s body. This is based on the fact that nature wants to protect women’s bodies as a safe space for gestation. After all, the next generation—and thus the survival of the species—rests on successful pregnancy. Of course, your conscious brain knows that that’s all BS. But those ancient survival systems are the same ones that are present in fish and birds, and they are hardwired. It’s just Mother Nature protecting your fetus—even though you’re not pregnant. She’s paranoid that way, apparently. This explains why fasting has a different effect on women than it does on men.

  When the amygdala, the primitive lizard part of your brain, believes that your reproductive ability is being compromised, it responds by restricting the secretion of a potent reproductive chemical, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, to preserve resources. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone normally directs the release of two other hormones: follicle-stimulating hormone, which guides sexual maturation and triggers th
e development of mature eggs, and luteinizing hormone, which prompts the development of a structure called the corpus luteum, to make the body ready to implant a fertilized egg in the uterus. But now sex hormone levels are dropping all around. The ovaries respond to this hormonal decline with an act of extreme self-preservation.

  The tight connection among food supply, sex hormones, and fertility cycles makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. The pressures of natural selection favored women who were maximally fertile whenever they were healthy enough to reproduce and had access to an adequate supply of food. Even if you’re not interested in having a baby, your fertility is an indicator of your overall health. In both women and men, changes in nutrition or caloric intake send environmental signals through the body that can impact the way your genes are expressed. In women, this connection is far more acute, because a woman’s body has to invest drastically more energy and resources into creating a baby than a man’s has to invest in producing sperm.

  The study of the impact of environment on genes is called epigenetics. More and more, biologists are discovering that the ways we live—our lifestyle choices, our environment, our diet—all influence the way our genes are expressed. Epigenetics tells us that our genetic code is not an ironclad, unchanging recipe for who we are. It is instead a menu of options. External influences, which can range from toxins to hunger to chronic stress, flip molecular switches in the body that determine which genes are active and which ones go silent. In other words, your cells are constantly changing the way they read their own DNA. For women, epigenetics helps explain why daily intermittent fasting can pose a challenge. Fasting or eating a low-fat diet instigates epigenetic changes in addition to the chemical changes that tell your body, “There’s a famine! Emergency! Don’t reproduce!” A male-oriented fasting plan that doesn’t take this sensitivity into account could cause serious health compromises—or, more likely, you will simply feel so miserable that you’ll give up on fasting too soon.