I have been doing IF with keto for a while (have been doing keto for almost a year) and recently starting doing EF; water fasting for both types. I’ve done two 36-hour+ fasts in the last week. I would like to do a 72-hour fast starting tonight. I normally put salt and Morton’s No-Salt (potassium) in water, pretty much every day since I IF most days. I usually take a few other vitamins and a low dose of chelated magnesium (about 100mg), which all typically works well for me.
During my second 36-hour fast, I had some times where my heart was really racing and made me uncomfortable. The bursts of norepinephrine were a little freaky that time too (quite intense). I otherwise feel great (minus the fleeting hunger pangs); great energy and exceptionally clear head. I’m wondering if I need more magnesium during EF. My concern is the fillers in the pill form of supplements (and is why I just add salt and potassium to water during fasting), as my primary goal is autophagy and secondary is a boost in weight loss and increasing insulin sensitivity. The magnesium pills I have contain cellulose. I found magnesium powder on Amazon (haven’t bought yet) and it contains citric acid. I haven’t been able to find a solid answer by searching online as to whether either of those fillers raise BG and would stop autophagy. I wonder if anyone on this site might have an educated guess. I also wonder if anyone else has had luck eliminating the heart racing during fasting. I also seem to have an increase in acid reflux symptoms, which have almost entirely disappeared for me since starting keto, and are fine during IF, only a problem during EF.
I still have a lot of weight left to lose and have a very high body fat percentage, so don’t want to or feel the need to ingest fat or anything else during fasting except for water and electrolytes.
Would love to hear from some of you more experienced fasters. I really really want to continue EF, eventually want to work my way up to even longer fasts, and again want to reap the benefits of autophagy.