On Episode 51 - Carl talked about his fingers getting cold during his fast. Is that a direct result of his metabolic rate slowing? He made it sound like that is how he know it was time to quit his fast. Is that typical - meaning is that when it is advised to quit a fast? My fingers get cold after about 24 hours. I recently completed a 4 day fast with great results.
Thanks in advance.
I don’t think any of us that have experienced this have compared a measurement of our metabolic rate just before and then during the sensation of cold fingers in order to properly attribute it to a decrease in the rate, but we do believe that the first thing the body shuts off when it detects a deficit of calories is excess heat production, so the implication is that feelings of cold are a result of the deficit.
Fingers are little trickier than a general feeling of cold since the fingers are further away from the heart and subject to cold induced by decreased circulation rather than decreased metabolic rate.
In any event, unless someone has cold fingers often even when not fasting, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the fast is responsible in some way. I think the real question is whether or not this is something to power through, or use it as a sign to end the fast.
I get cold hands a lot because I work from home from my computer all day and my house can get a little cool. This happens a lot, fasting or not. But my last fast, the night before I ended it (day 3), my hands and feet were freezing and I couldn’t warm up. I should have taken a hot Epson’s salt bath, but I went to bed with the heating pad instead.
This go round (day 4) my hands are fine, but the temps here have warmed up and I’ve done better with my salt intake.
I guess it is something to watch for.
I have Raynaud’s syndrome. It used to cause ulcers on fingers and toes, but since making numerous diet/lifestyle changes including switching to a keto diet to address metabolic syndrome the Raynaud’s has dramatically subsided and the sores have healed. But the Raynaud’s flares up when I fast, typically between 36 and 72 hours fasted and I’ve always broken my fasts when it does as I don’t want to risk new ulcers.
I’m currently at 74 hours of a Valter Longo fast mimicking diet inspired approach - I’ve been eating 10-20 g each protein and carbs daily and 30-60 g of fat, eating something whenever I feel any adverse effects such as coldness or flagging energy but trying not to eat merely for hunger. So far no Raynaud’s although the weather today was warm. I’m hoping to be able to sustain this for 5 to 7 days and if it works, alternate weekly between feasting and not quite fasting for a few months to see if I can accelerate improving body composition. The downside of this approach so far has been worse hunger cravings then when I fast on just water and tea. Each time I eat something to address feeling a little off it results in more hunger for an hour or two. Hopefully I’ll get this better dialed in before the hunger exceeds my tolerance.