I don't have much of a specific method, but usually I try to go at least 48 hours and limit myself to a 1 hour eating window. The key is getting your electrolytes. It's amazing how big a difference they make. Otherwise, I just take fasting day by day. I try to be conscientious and recognize whether I'm genuinely hungry or just desiring food because I'm bored. If it's the former, I'll break my fast. I eat pretty healthy when I break my fast, but I don't make a fuss about too much carbs or whatever because I'll get satiated too quickly to even get close to overeating.
Even at 24 hours you begin to recognize how much of modern life revolves around eating. Trying taking a stroll through the city while fasting. Within 10 seconds you see people eating icecream, candy bars, cokes, a zillion restaurants, convenience stores, not to mention alcohol.
With fasting I found I had low energy and would be really, really bored. There was a lot of temptation to fill time with just munching on something.
I also found that when I broke my fast, I didn't eat as much as I expected to. No huge pigout meal or anything.
I am not religious, but I think Ramadan is an example of a really healthy religious practice because it reminds people of their relation to food.
The best way is to make an electrolyte drink yourself. Here's my recipe:
- 2 Liters of water
- 1/2 teaspoon of pink salt
- 1 teaspoon of potassium chloride
- 1/4 teaspoon of food grade epsom salt
- Lemon and stevia used sparingly to taste
It's not the best tasting thing ever, but you get used to it. Using filtered water will make it much more palatable. I think salts make poor tap water quality more obvious.
You can always drink Powerade Zero or something like that. I don't think there's really anything wrong with that, and I drink those sometimes. It's just more expensive and the artificial sweetener might spike insulin.(I doubt that's a big deal) The recipe I described is pretty dirt cheap.
I used to have a hard time fasting for more than a day or doing a ketogenic diet because I simply wasn't getting my electrolytes. This was accelerated by the fact that I was drinking way too much water and urinating them out. Replacing electrolytes throughout the day keeps me from feeling miserable.
