Ramadan Fasting Thread 2018

[EZB]

As some of you may be aware Ramadan is approaching (starting around May 16). I won’t get into too many religious details (not really the point of this thread), but Ramadan is the holy month where Muslims dry fast from the beginning of dawn (often mistakenly called sunrise) until just after sunset. In the recent past, I was unable to fast because I was told it was not possible as a T2DM. Well, I am quite sure that it is possible, especially now that I am keto. In fact, I plan to write daily about the fast, including what I ate and drank, how I slept, how I felt, and some basic daily glucose and ketone readings at the beginning of the morning and just before breaking the fast. In addition I will have some blood tests done:

Initial Blood Tests: Lipid Panel, A1c, Fasting Insulin
Final Blood Tests (2-3 days after the fasting has ended): Lipid Panel, A1c, Fasting Insulin, Comprehensive panel, Iron, and some additional vitamin panels

I am curious if there is anything in particular that people want to me to write or report about.I have some initial concerns and thoughts:

Withdrawl
First, I am not really worried about hunger. Most people I know who fast for Ramadan–including my previous experiences–suffer from extreme carbohydrate and caffeine withdrawal daily. By the end of the day, headaches are awful, especially in the beginning. The carb withdrawal means you enter ketosis by the middle to end of the fast, but your body isn’t able to actually use the ketones, which means a daily keto flu! However, since I am already keto adapted, there should be no daily keto flu. I cut down on my caffeine intake during April and May leading up to Ramadan, so I should be able to handle having just one cup of coffee right before starting the daily fast.

Sleep
I am concerned about sleep. I will need to stop eating by about 4:00 am, which means waking up at 3:30 am or so. I won’t be able to go to sleep until 9:00 pm. I won’t be getting much sleep, and this will continue every day. I am hoping to catch up on sleep on the weekends with naps. This is a common problem, but many people deal with it by sleeping in the day and taking a lot of time off work. I cannot do that.

Stress
I have a LOT of stress. I will be going through an audit a work in the beginning of Ramadan and then working on regulatory compliance after. I have a stressful job and cannot take time off right now to destress. I will need to try my best on weekends (except that I am working the first weekend).

Hydration
Staying hydrated is difficult during Ramadan. If you fill the stomach up with liquids, you won’t eat enough. I think being keto adapted here will make this much easier for me, though. I’ll be able to drink fatty liquids, such as heavy cream and hemp milk and not actually eat anything in the morning, and focus the morning on hydration. Drinking too much at night means peeing at night, which means waking up and not sleeping well!

I created a simple strategy for myself:
Morning: Focus main on hydration. Do not eat anything. Energy can come from fatty liquids, such as heavy-cream lattes, hemp milk, and coconut oil powder. Drink only 1 shot of espresso! Take a Tylenol to stave off headaches if I think I may get one.

Evening: Focus on fatty energy. I have a lot of lamb steaks ready, but also some fatty fish and beef steaks. Stay light on spices to not upset the stomach. Make sure to get ample salt intake. Break the fast with an avocado. Limit liquids at night so I don’t stay up all night using the bathroom. Similarly, no caffeine at night.

[collaroygal]

I love how you have planned this all out.

I have one suggestion, you might want to have ketoaid as a hydration beverage as well as the fatty liquids. The minerals in it should have you get through the day easier.

Happy Fasting.

[Jess]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I hope others fasting for Ramadan will join in.

I’m sorry to hear you have so much job stress going on at the same time. Do you have social obligations that keep you up late as well?

I wonder if a sick day to recover and catch up on sleep is feasible. Waiting to rest until you are actually sick could take you out for many days and it might even improve your productivity over the whole time period. Besides, you are already working one weekend!

[EZB]

There will be a delay in the start of my fast. I lost a knife battle today against an avocado and lacerated a tendon in my thumb. I’ll be on antibiotics and in surgery this week for repair.

[collaroygal]

Hope you heal quickly.

[EZB]

I actually began the fast this morning at 4:25 am. I’ll be updating here daily at at around 8 pm edt

[Aamir]

How did it go? I have my first fast today started at 3:50 AM. Fasting without water is way more difficult than with it.

[EZB]

Day 1:

Technically, the days begin with the setting of the sun, so I will start with what I ate the night before, which is the very beginning of the day 1.

Maghrib (sunset) 8:15 pm:

Biomarkers: None taken
Food: I ate an 18 oz steak with butter and salt to fill my stomach. I added in some Babybel gouda cheese snacks as well.
_Drink:_I drank plenty of water, but didn’t measure.
Commentary: I had been doing alternate-day fasting the previous week, but I had three days in a row of eating and blood tests run that day. I could tell my weight was up from the previous setting of 210.4 lbs, as I had been used to eating more often. I took a melatonin at around 9:00 to get to sleep, but I didn’t actually get to bet until about 10:10 because of prayer time at 9:40.

Wake up 3:30 am:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: I woke up without an issue, but I hadn’t slept too well. My tetanus shot site had been bothering me the whole night. I also have a splint for my thumb that was very itchy all the way up to near my elbow, and it was bothering me a lot of the night.

Sahoor (the meal before fasting) 3:45-4:25 am:
Biomarkers: Weight–219.9 lbs.
Food: 4 poached eggs with 2 slices of American cheese.
Drink: 10 oz of iced tea, 20 oz of sparkling water, 10 oz of hemp milk, 2 oz of HWC foamed with collagen peptides, 3 oz of espresso.
Commentary: I ate the eggs because I wanted to have salt before fasting. In retrospect, it was a mistake because it filled my stomach up, making it hard to down the liquids. My body weight was up to 219.9 pounds, which is much higher than the 210.4 pounds the last time I had taken it 3 days before. I always measure in the morning, but I I think it was up so much from having drunk nearly 45 oz of liquids (~5 pounds) before weighing myself and also because I had eaten for 3 straight days prior. Inflation from my lacerated thumb and the tetanus shot could also be factors.

Fasting:
Biomarkers: None
Commentary: This was the easiest Ramadan fast for me. I hadn’t done a fast since 2010 or 2011 because of doctor’s orders against it. Since reversing diabetes, I, of course, discovered that these orders are not necessary. In the past when I did these Ramadan dry fasts, I would stuff myself with carbs and protein in the morning and be hungry by lunchtime. By the end of the day, I used to suffer from major headaches from keto flu, electrolyte imbalance, carb withdrawal, etc. This time, however, as a fat burner, I felt fine. I had no headaches. I felt no hunger until nearly done with the day’s fast. I felt no thirst at all. I had a mild desire to eat or drink the whole day, but it was really superficial and just to have taste in the mouth. Due to the lack of sleep, I did nap for about 20 minutes in the evening after I got home from work. I had conversations with another other friend fasting for Ramadan in the keto woe for the first time. He and I agreed it felt like cheating. Part of the suffering is to remind you to be thankful for what you have and charitable to those who don’t have what you are blessed with. I felt that I wasn’t even suffering doing this fast, but I tried to remain thankful and cognizant of how others are. We are not supposed to do mean things, have mean thoughts, or act in a rude way. I resisted road rage due to traffic in the evening, which is often hard for me to do. So I think it was a positive fast so far! I will write about how I broke the fast in may Day 2 entry.

[EZB]

I’m about to go in for surgery, but I got blood test results in for just before I started the month of fasting:

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/ramadan-fasting-tests/41525?u=ezb

[EZB]

It’s been a tough few days. I had surgery Thursday to repair the extensor tendon on my left thumb. It was on 70% sliced by the knife. I was back to working (at home) an hour after the surgery was done and had to go to work the entire weekend, so I am late with blogs, but I am BACK!

Day 2:

This was an easy day initially, but then very hard. I had my surgery this day.

Maghrib (sunset) 8:17 pm:

Biomarkers: None taken
Food: I ate an a lamb steak pan fried in butter and some cauliflower microwaved with butter.
_Drink:_I drank plenty of water, but didn’t measure.
Commentary: I felt much more full in the morning that I wanted, so I ate lighter this evening.

Wake up 3:30 am:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: I woke up without an issue. I felt ok an day hand was feeling better. I thought maybe the surgery would be unnecessary, since it seemed like I could move my thumb a bit in the splint, and the pain was gone. My mood was positive.

Sahoor (the meal before fasting) 3:45-4:25 am:
Biomarkers: Weight–217 lbs.
Food: A few pieces of Babybel cheese.
Drink: 10 oz of iced tea, 30 oz of sparkling water, 20 oz of hemp milk, 2 oz of HWC foamed with collagen peptides, 3 oz of espresso
Commentary: I was still full from the previous night, so I drank a lot, since I might have surgery that day.

Fasting:
Biomarkers: Weight–215.2 lbs at the doctor
Commentary: Fasting felt great, but the surgery really knocked my hard. I had a very long weight (3 hours) in the weighting room. The surgery was declared a success, and my hand felt ok, but I felt way off after the fast. The tourniquet they used to stop the blood flow to my hand really bothered me. I just felt way off.

[EZB]

Day 3:

I fasted this day, but it was hard.

Maghrib (sunset) 8:17 pm:

Biomarkers: None taken
Food: I had two lamb steaks pan fried in coconut oil and cauliflower with butter.
_Drink:_I drank plenty of water, but didn’t measure.
Commentary: I felt pretty off from the surgery still and just went to bed as soon as I could. I had no feeling in half my hand still.

Wake up 3:30 am:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: Things were not too bad at the start of the day. I woke up without any pain–still number in my hand.

Sahoor (the meal before fasting) 3:45-4:25 am:
Biomarkers: None taken.
Food: I had some eggs and cheese.
Drink: A bai bubbles soda, 30 oz of sparkling water, 10 oz of hemp milk, 2 oz of HWC foamed with collagen peptides, 3 oz of espresso
Commentary: I felt ok for having had surgery.

Fasting:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: Things started going down hill this day. I worked remotely, furiously typing what I could. I was forced to use both hands to type anything correctly. I had an audit started the next day (Saturday), and a lot of loose ends to tie up before it, with dependencies on other workers who were not prioritizing what I needed. I got a lot of people yelling at me from work about the deadline, and I really couldn’t take it. I tried to nap a couple times as a break for 15 or 20 minutes. I struggled badly. I ended up working on and off until even after I broke the fast that evening. The pain in my hand started at around 4:00 pm. It began as a burning sensation, which turned into something very hard to explain. It felt like my thumb was being seared by an iron, but with my thumb being pressed into it. It was severe pain by 8:15 pm.

[EZB]

Day 4:

Wow… I impressed myself this day.

Maghrib (sunset) 8:17 pm:

Biomarkers: None taken
Food: My wonderful wife made me some bone broth to help with the tendon healing, so I drank a lot of it that night. I also ate a lamb steak.
_Drink:_I drank plenty of water, but didn’t measure.
Commentary: I was in horrible pain from the surgery. I took 4 ibuprofen, which seemed to work relatively well. The burning and searing pain was much better, but my thumb was half numb/dead while still hurting somehow.

Wake up 3:30 am:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: I felt ok at this point.

Sahoor (the meal before fasting) 3:45-4:22 am:
Biomarkers: None taken.
Food:I drank some of the bone broth
Drink: A bai drink, 30 oz of sparkling water, 10 oz of hemp milk, 2 oz of HWC foamed with collagen peptides, 3 oz of espresso
Commentary: I took 4 ibuprofen just in case the searing pain from the surgery came back.

Fasting:
Biomarkers: None taken
Commentary: It was Saturday, but I had to go to work for the audit. I couldn’t drive so I used some Amex Platinum credits with Uber and expensed the rest… By noon, the pain started again. It became even more severe than the previous night. by 4:00 pm. I fought on with the audit, not letting the pain affect anything. I was very impressed that I held up. I took a Lyft home.

[EZB]

Day 5:

I did not fast today.

Maghrib (sunset) 8:17 pm:

Biomarkers: None taken
Food: I drank bone broth and ate an organ-meat stew my wife made.
_Drink:_I drank plenty of water, but didn’t measure.
Commentary:I took ibuprofen. At my wife’s insistence, I decided not to fast this day because of the excruciating pain I was in. I knew I had to take medicine and be strong for the audit the next morning.

Wake up 7:00 am:
Biomarkers: None taken.

Commentary: I ate normally this day. It was Sunday, but I had to go to work for the audit. I couldn’t drive so I took a Lyft. The pain started to come back, but not nearly as bad as before. Swelling in my other fingers was gone. I thumb was still half dead in the tip. I did well in the audit, which will continue tomorrow. I took ibuprofen throughout the day. I should be able to fast day 6,

[collaroygal]

I was relieved to read you did not fast after the wound started giving you such pain. My friends tell me one can give to charity rather than fasting when illness or some other reason gets in the way of fasting. Since you really need to heal and you fast so much at other times, maybe that is a good way to go for you this time? Your body needs good proteins to heal up properly.

Wishing you strength and wellness.

[EZB]

If you are permanently unable to fast, you need to give to charity the cost of a day’s meals or provide a day’s meals. If you are temporarily unable to fast, you should give to charity, but then make up the fasting day on a later date.