Fasting induced contentment and euphoria!?

(Ms.) #1

I did my first 36 hour fast. Upon refeeding this morning, I discovered two things.

  1. I couldn’t eat as much as I normally would be able to and I continued to have this weird feeling for much of the day. Satiation? If someone offered me something normally tempting, I could legitimately say, “Meh.” I just didn’t care for anything else for a good long while. Not just an absence of hunger but a feeling of complete contentment. Normally, even on keto, I could manage to find room for something else if offered, so this is a new feeling for me. What science explains this feeling?

  2. Once I ate all I could and stopped with food still on my plate (not normal for me, even on keto!), I had this feeling of calm euphoria. Sort of like I’d taken a muscle relaxant or had a glass of wine. Is this normal? What is that? It was lovely and lasted for hours!

Is there science (hormones, I’m guessing!) that explains either of these?

Thanks!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

A good solid level of beta-hydroxybutyrate in the brain might explain at least some of it. Don’t ketones go up during a fast?

(Ms.) #3

They do! I suppose BhB could be involved. I’ve bounced between LCHF and Keto for years, having ketones at therapeutic levels, but I don’t think I’ve experienced this. And ketones go down after a meal, don’t they?