Protein Fasting Experiment

What is Protein Fasting?

While many of you have probably heard of Egg Fast, I wonder if you've ever heard of Protein Fast? I've come across this just recently and decided to try it out.

But first, let me share some background on my decision: I'm kind of a fan of Dominic D'Agostino. Few of the reasons being that he's a scientist, carrying out lots of research on keto nutrition, he seems like a sane person, free of BS, and he enjoys occasional sushi without stressing out about his ketogenic state.

Dave Asprey (the author of Bulletproof diet, coffee, and what not) has hosted Dominic in one of his podcast shows (do give it a listen!). And that's how I started exploring Dave Asprey's site, his Bulletproof ideas and biohacking (supposedly all scientifically backed-up). Brief explanation of the Bulletproof Protein Fasting as Asprey puts it:

"In a (coco-)nutshell, Bulletproof Protein Fasting is a biohack to get a greater reduction in inflammation and to kick-start weight loss. For new readers and routine followers of the Bulletproof Diet alike, it is a day of protein fasting once per week, where you eat virtually no protein: limit your protein to 15 grams or less per day."

This is a short video of Dave, explaining, how the Protein Fasting works:

I'm trying the fast in the following 4 weeks, once a week, as suggested. Just because I'm curious. I'm not doing this because I believe the idea makes much sense, and I'm not saying it's a complete BS, either. I simply like challenges, want to see what happens, and share the results with you. Note that I'm a healthy person in her 30's, not overweight, and I'm physically active 6 times a week. So I might not share many news on weight loss. I'll focus on general wellbeing, cognition, meal planning, and recipes.

While 15 grams of protein a day might sound easy, it really isn't. Anyone, trying this out, is supposed to track every gram of protein, even in veggies. Which does sound quite ridiculous, honestly. But I've tried Egg Fasting without knowing much about its scientific background (because there's none to be found, really). And doing that for 5 days straight actually seems even more ridiculous.

I've searched around for some Protein Fasting feedback from individuals trying it out but haven't found much. What I'll find, experimenting with Protein Fasting, might not be interesting at all in the end. Besides, I'm not doing it to try to confirm any hypothesis, or to tell anyone that Asprey's ideas are BS or not. Just simply being curious.

Meal Planning

The very planning of each Protein Fast day should be interesting, though. As I'm starting with the first day in two days already, I'm realizing, there's not much for me to eat, choosing among the ingredients I usually eat on a ketogenic diet.

The thing is, Asprey encourages moderate carb intake on this Protein Fast day, which includes Bulletproof carbs that I'm not going to go after (so I'll be making some individual modifications, yes). I won't be reaching for sweet potatoes, yams, or rice. On the other hand, I'll eat a lot of low protein vegetables, and even berries. After 5 months of being mostly keto, I'm not scared of falling out of ketosis every now and then anymore. Been thinking of slowly going low-carb/LCHF rather than strict keto lately, but that's another story. Anyways, except for sushi on the rarest special occasions, I'm staying away from potatoes, rice, and such. Been feeling too well without them.

So, back to the tricky part: Meal planning. Here are the ingredients I've included into the upcoming Protein Fast days so far:

• avocados
• shirataki noodles
• unsweetened almond milk
• coconut oil and milk
• butter, ghee, and olive oil
• olives
• lettuce
• raspberries, blueberries, strawberries
• onions, garlic, and other spices
• some broccoli, cucumber, jalapeno peppers
• some dark chocolate
• psyllium husks
• pickled cucumbers
• limited peppers
• egg yolk (probably 1 max)

For now, my list ends here, but I'll try finding more ingredients, come up with recipes, and of course count protein instead of carbs. I hope this experiment will be fun enough to stick to for one day a week in the next 4 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, and keep in touch.

In the meantime, I encourage you to share your thoughts on the Protein Fasting idea or the Bulletproof diet in general. Thanks! 🙂

Read about Protein fasting Try 1 and  Try 2.