I've been down this road many times. It seems most of my days are spent in mental yo-yo games regarding what (mostly) dietary/behavioral shift I can make that will help me feel better quickly and potentially get rid of my leaky gut / possible SIBO AND be something I can do most of the time. Something I can live with. NOW, I understand and admit freely that feeling better in and of itself must be sustainable, no matter what it takes to get there. But right now I'm in a delicate place, as everything has come to a head with me and I know I must do this, but I'm in so much discomfort and physical and emotional pain that I somehow am less able to make a shift. It's like I've become a professional at enduring pain. That's not good.
So I make half-assed or temporary changes and then drop them and wake up the next day on the same hamster wheel. Might as well keep track of it. Maybe something will arise.
Yesterday I decided it might be worth giving OMAD a try. One Meal a Day, or another way to look at it would be to extend the fasting window another few hours from 16 to 20 or more. Many people do this for weight control and to manage problems. Many also want to (myself included) eat (and drink!) whatever they feel like eating during the 2-4 hours of eating. The idea here is that I know I can handle the fast and I know I will be healing during the fast and I know I can push it longer. I feel great when I'm doing it. Hardly any symptoms at all. And maybe, just MAYBE, it will be enough to get me on a healing track even though I will eat garbage (grains, sugar, beer, junk food) during the short eating window. Maybe that will do less damage and overall I'll be doing more healing than hurting. The "I can eat whatever I want during the feeding window" idea is what keeps it from being a painful emotional burden.
Will it work? I know one day won't tell, but I also know that for something to seem like a good long term plan it will need to make me feel better right away and if something I do makes me feel bad or worse, it's probably not a good long term plan.
So, yesterday I tried it. I basically refrained from bringing food to work and didn't buy or eat anything. So by the time I got home at about 6:00 PM, I had been without calories for about 20 hours. I felt great. Paradoxically, when I do this I actually feel like I have MORE energy, I don't get tired during the day, and most surprisingly of all, my 15 miles hilly bike ride home actually feels BETTER to me.
So when I got home I commenced eating whatever I wanted. Which basically entailed some good things (olives, pickles) and some bad (burger with white bun, sandwich with Lebanon balogna and cheese, corn chips).
Result? I felt TERRIBLE. HORRIBLE. Bad stomach cramps, huge bloating, an overall increase in symptoms. I think the fast helped and then smashing it over the head with two hours of eating garbage just made it all come roaring back with a vengeance. Not good.
FAIL.
The next experiment will be with a day of very low carb. Depending on how that goes it will be interesting then to combine it with the long fast.
Stay tuned.
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