Hi
I’m fairly new to keto been about 4 months now, I’m half way through a 3day fast but have come down with a horrendous cold, I’m not diabetic and have no underlying health issues I’m aware of, is continuing the fast a good idea or is it best to eat? Sorry if this has been asked I’ve done a search but didn’t find much
Thanks in advance
Derek Kidd
That’s a tough one. There was some evidence that long fasts can negatively affect the immune system, so when covid came along, many stopped doing long term fasts. I never looked into the actual evidence for that, though. And I don’t know what the time frame was, as short fasts supposedly help the immune system. Or at least that’s what I remember, though I’m not sure to benefit the immune system, you have to “damage” it initially.
I think if you’re feeling OK, it’s probably fine to keep fasting. But I’m a wimp, and if I get a cold, I don’t fast.
By the way, how do you know it’s not covid? I got what I thought was a cold, had symptoms, took a rapid covid test. That was negative, so I didn’t take more tests. I gave blood a few weeks later, and had very high antibody levels. So, I had covid.
Other people we know had the same thing – they had symptoms but the initial test was negative. They kept testing, though, and got a positive.
Thanks for the reply, not feeling too bad so I’ll maybe just see how goes unless something says it’s not the best idea, the immune system was a thought incase fasting made things feel worse
Only going on it being a cold as me and 2 daughters are negative on LFT, I also get PCR for work which was negative so hopefully just a cold
Well, the PCR is way more accurate (perhaps too much so), so I’d use those results.
If you don’t feel bad, keep going. Let us know how you fare.
Will do thanks, thanks for the advice , I’ll let you know how it goes and if I found it helpful or a not to fast through it, hopefully it helps as I feasted before I started 
So I managed to keep the fast going for the three days, the symptoms of the cold lasted the general amount of time but only felt horrendous for that one day I posted, normally would feel worse for a few days, but can’t say if it was reduced to 1 through fasting or if that was just the way that particular virus worked.
What I do know is a was able to keep the fast going and didn’t have any more trouble than normal.
I think for me if I’m in a fast when I get a cold I’ll just keep going until I feel it’s not working for me, if I’m planing on a fast but get the cold on the lead up then I’ll maybe just wait, sorry no pearls of wisdom there but at least I know I can fast safely even with a cold, just keep the water and salt intake up seemed to help 
Hmmm debatable… they say feed a cold, starve a fever … i don’t like starving and messed with my metabolism so much with yoyo dieting in my younger years so I don’t do fasts. I do understand the benefits and I can understand the theory side but my memories of not eating for hours and then overeating still remain. Fortunately doing carnie I don’t even need to consider it and I never started this woe to lose weight.
