Water Fasting Part III: Boredom, Stomach Aches and a Grand Opportunity

This is the final piece of the trilogy. I completed a 24 hour fast, I completed a 48 hour fast, and as of Saturday, January 21, 2012, 9:30 PM I completed a 72 hour fast.

Conclusion: Yes, I think there is room for a 96 hour fast in my future.

Boredom

In this post I won’t be discussing what happened during the fast as much as I will be discussing what has been going on since finishing the 72 hour fast. However, I will say that high levels of boredom and low levels of energy were the main characteristics of the 72-hour fast.  Note: I was simultaneously not reading the news and not watching any TV except for videos TED.com, which may have contributed to the boredom. What was the impact of low energy? On day two and three I tried reading a book I’m genuinely interested in (Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely) and frequently had to stop after a few pages because I could not maintain focus.

Most people who I spoke to as I fasted said that they could never fast because they would get hungry. My quick rebuttal is that a fast is simply not for everyone, and if anyone has a strong desire to fast it is not very difficult nor is it especially grueling. If anyone out there has an interest in fasting or has fasted, let’s talk, I’m interested in hearing your questions and thoughts.

Stomach Aches 

In the two days since ending the fast I ate crappy food, A LOT of crappy food.

“Meal” to end the fast:

Raising Cane’s box combo, which includes 4 pieces of fried chicken, two pieces of Texas toast (I subbed out the cole slaw for an extra piece), “Cane’s sauce”, French fries, and 21 ounce soda.

Munchies later that night:

King Size Reece’s Fast Break

Half a bag of Kettle Brand salt and pepper chips (“share size” …I did not share)

After three days of not eating this mess of food was a wreck on my stomach. Any sane person could easily predict this. I had a hard time falling asleep and a hard time waking up the next day. I woke around 11 AM.

“Breakfast”:

Two large Italian style turkey sausages, made by yours truly

A housemate greeted me less than 30 minutes after breakfast and asked if I was hungry. I said sure why not? Let’s go to Steve’s and get some lunch.

Lunch:

Souvlaki in a Syrian pita with grilled veggies

Fries on the side

12 oz can of Coca-Cola

After eating I went to a meeting, visited a local shop, and was back home to watch the AFC Championship, by now it was around 3 PM. I sat down with my laptop to write up project notes to my team but I just couldn’t get into it, scrapped the idea entirely, and went off to my buddy’s house for the rest of the Patriots game and to watch the upcoming Giants game. On the way, I picked up some cookies from Trader Joe’s for everyone to enjoy. I brought the cookies, shared them with the gang, had a few myself and enjoyed drank a beer. While at TJ’s I also got one of their “fiberful fruit sticks,” which I love so much.

Snack:

3 soft chocolate chip cookies from trader joe’s

1 “fiberful fruit stick”

1 miller high life

Fast forward a little bit, the Patriots win. My friend Ben is hungry. He asks, “Anyone want to get food?” I say sure. We decide to get pizza, breadsticks, and a two-liter of orange soda. We bring them back to the house to eat as we watch the Giants game.

Dinner:

2 slices of “The Works” pizza from Papa Gino’s

3-5 cheesy breadsticks + dipping sauce

20ish ounces of orange soda

I leave before the Giants game is over and finish watching the game at home. Giants win! Super Bowl is going to be exciting. And I decide to get a snack from the local convenience store.

Late-night snack:

King Size Reece’s Fast Break

So for those of you who have lost track the total list of food I had in the approximately 27 hour period following a three day fast is as follows:

• Raising Cane’s box combo, which includes 4 pieces of fried chicken, two pieces of Texas toast (I subbed out the cole slaw for an extra piece), “Cane’s sauce”, French fries, and 21 ounce soda.
• King Size Reece’s Fast Break
• Half a bag of Kettle Brand salt and pepper chips (“share size” …I did not share)
• Two large Italian style turkey sausages, made by yours truly
• Souvlaki in a Syrian pita with grilled veggies
• Fries on the side
• 12 oz can of Coca-Cola
• 3 soft chocolate chip cookies from trader joe’s
• 1 “fiberful fruit stick”
• 1 miller high life
• 2 slices of “The Works” pizza from Papa Gino’s
• 3-5 cheesy breadsticks + dipping sauce
• 20ish ounces of orange soda
• King Size Reece’s Fast Break

We’re talking about thousands of calories. I will make no excuses. This is a perfect example of unhealthy, binge, compulsive, excessive eating. This brings me into the beginning of the end (of this post).

The Grand Opportunity

After reflecting on the days since starting the 72-hour fast the first thing that first comes to mind is the stoic mental exercise of flipping an obstacle upside down to turn a problem into an opportunity. The problem I have is that I lack conscious moderation of my diet. Not eating is, I now know, pretty easy for me. The same goes for nonstop eating. But finding a comfortable middle ground…therein lies the rub. The opportunity is to use this experience as an objective starting point to find that middle ground and to begin experimenting with new healthy recipes and to begin practicing a moderated eating routine. That is the real challenge.

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”

–Alexander the Great

As always, let me know what you think; I love to hear what you have to say and really appreciate the feedback!!

-PBS

An Experiment: How to Study Regularly? (Doing the impossible)

The Rant

All students have an issue with studying regularly. It’s fucking hard. Why? Because we’re busy with our lives! Because college courses, even the ones we’re interested in, are dull and boring, ESPECIALLY when we’re out of class.

I am in a cross-functional course at SMG known only by its acronym, CORE. It is one course made of four courses. It is hell by design. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this sometime in the future but for now all you need to know about these courses is that for me they are a means to an end. I have no inherent interest in them.

In short, I think that the way these courses are taught is inherently flawed (and I think the same is true of 99% of college courses). There are two-hour lectures back to back, 4-5 days a week, every week of the semester, from January to May.  Many studies have shown that passive learning, listening to lectures, is one of the least effective ways to learn, and yet in order to get a decent grade I am forced to engage in this style of learning at least 16 hours a week during the semester.

So why bother showing up to class? Because after I miss two sessions I start to lose points off my grade. I want to do well so that I can get a good GPA and get what my parents paid for.

My challenge to myself is to attend every single lecture of CORE and after every class prepare myself for the next class by doing homework, reading (skimming) the textbook, and reading the upcoming lecture slides.

Interferon Injection

The Method

In his book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely has a chapter titled “The problem of procrastination and self-control.” This chapter is, in part, about how disciplined himself to take a very unpleasant medicine (Interferon) three days a week for a year and a half to cure himself of Hepatitis C. For those of you who don’t know, Interferon causes nausea, headaches, and fevers and has to be taken by self-injection to the thigh. For patients, this means self-inflicting yourself with extended periods of throwing up, feeling sick, and feeling tired as hell, multiple days a week, for a long long time. Dan got himself to consistently subject himself to this extended discomfort by watching movies. Right as he injected himself he hit the play button on the remote, laid back in his hammock (with his barf bucket nearby), and watched movies until he fell asleep. Essentially, he tricked himself into doing something that sucked by creating a mental association with something he liked. By only watching movies on days he gave himself injections he began to anticipate taking an injection in order to experience the reward of watching a movie.

My plan is to apply Dan’s method of curing his Hepatitis C to my own studying and schoolwork. I love watching TV. Archer? Love it. Louie? Yep love it too. Reruns of The Office that I’ve seen 20 times already? Can’t. Get. Enough. So, starting next Monday, and continuing for the rest of the semester I intend to only watch TV directly after I have prepared myself for the upcoming class.

Wish me luck in the comments below! I’m gonna need it! 

Water Fasting Part II: Life is Unpredictable

I just finished a 48-hour fast and the results are nothing short of outstanding!

I have been at normal to high energy levels for the past two days. Starting at the 43rd hour I started feeling like I had just drank a red bull and now, at the 48th hour, I am still at that level. My body feels great, I’ve got a spring in my step, and my sleep was excellent last night.

The original plan was to do a 72-hour fast after the 48-hour fast, and that plan remains the same, however, I feel so good about the results of this experiment that I am seriously considering doing a fast for an extended period of time (maybe a week?). Before doing something that extreme I intend to meet with an experienced faster for guidance (and if you ever plan to fast beyond a three day period I suggest you do the same).

Going forward

I set out to start my second fast 7 days after the first but did not actually start the second fast until 11 days later. I’ve come to the conclusion that the proper time to fast is when the body signals that it is not hungry.  With that in mind, I’ll update the blog and my twitter (@PeterBSmith) when I start the next fast… likely sometime before January.

One more thing...

I just setup Facebook comments so if you're logged into Facebook leaving comments is EASY!

...comments, questions, criticisms? Let me know! 

Water Fasting Part I: Acting Different

My first self-experiment of 2012 is water fasting. It started at 7 PM tonight…updates to come periodically.

My goal is fast for three days in a row. This means drinking only water and taking a daily multivitamin.

I have never fasted in my life. Based on the feedback of a friend of mine, one who does 24-hour fasts twice a week; I have decided to start with a 24 hour fast. Based on the success of this initial fast, next week I will attempt either a 36-hour or 48-hour fast and continue to increase the duration of the fasts each week until I reach 72 hours.

Why fast?

For thousands of years humans have been fasting for the purported mental and bodily health benefits.

I am fasting for the health benefits and because I like a challenge and I am interested in experimenting with habits and behaviors that are widely practiced but often overlooked.

I am no expert on fasting so if you have any comments on the practice please post them in the comments section below or send me a tweet at @peterbsmith.

Words of encouragement will also be loved and appreciated!

-PS

More information on water fasting:

Wikipedia Article on Fasting

What to expect during your first fast?

Fasting and Buddhism

On Fasting by Dr. Ben Kim

[Update 1/3/12: 24 Hour Fasting Trial Results]
Taking a 24 hour break from eating was easy! I was able to go about my day in a normal fashion without experiencing fatigue. It wasn’t until the 23^rd hour that I started feeling any noticeable hunger pangs and those subsided after about 30 minutes. This trial was an unqualified success. Next step…48 hour fast. Woo!

Peter B. Smith: Weirdly, Normal

I’m an American college aged student (21 yrs. old) with a passion for business and helping people. I’m the executive administrator to the CEO of Southwest Paper, a paper manufacturer headquartered in Brookline, MA, and the CEO and Founder of www.iphonehow.to.

I have a love/hate relationship with Boston University. I’ve been away from my home in Long Island for the better part of four years. In that time, I have taken two semesters of absence from school and may be taking another break this semester. I have spent most of my time in the School of Management (SMG) but recently I switched to Computer Science. If I go for a Spring semester in 2012 I will be going back as a SMG student. I do not believe that a college degree is necessary for my success, but I have been told by just about everyone I know that it is smart and worthwhile to get a degree just to put it on a résumé.


I am open-minded, perhaps to a fault. I love trying new things, learning new things, meeting new people, and exploring the differences and similarities between cultures.

My New Year's Resolution is to begin a process of rigorous self-experimentation related to habit and behavior change and measured self-improvement.

I’ve grown up with a computer in my bedroom, an iPhone in my pocket, and with an addiction to learning all about technology and the world around me. For a long time my mind went back and forth between knowing for sure what I am passionate about and having no clue at all. A few months ago, at a Startup Weekend, my passion became unwaveringly clear. I am an entrepreneur.

I know there are lots of people my age out there who don’t know what to do with their lives. There are people my age who don’t know how to go after their long term goals in the face of ADD machines and services like iPhones, Androids and Facebooks.

And I’m no different.

So even though at times I feel alone in this world, and at other times I feel totally connected, I know that I am weirdly, normal.