How fasting affects your mind?
I started with fasting years ago before I got pregnant. Once, I even went 5 days straight without any food. Just water, occasional tea, and mandatory coffee. For logical reasons, I stopped this human experimentation when I found out I was pregnant. And now, the time has come to try to exceed my limits again.

The science of fasting is polarised, but to me it's pretty clear that it's beneficial. Since I can slightly remember the 5-years-ago state of mind I had. Especially, that after 5 days of only drinking water.
Yes, you certainly see changes in and on your body, but what's more important are the changes you feel in your mind. It won't be the same case for everyone because each of us has different intentions. Speaking for myself, the first day after 5 years felt amazing.
I was shaking all over my body. My heart pumped like crazy. My blood pressure was jumping up and down. There were moments when I had a hard time taking a full breath. It felt like I had smoked a pack of cigarettes.
I don't know the physiological causes for these. I'm on my way of finding out. But if we solely speak about the effect on the mind, it's renewing.
One thing I realised first, as I began to ignore the physical discomfort, is how strong sense of control one begins to have over his mind. And it shows in different ways.
- Focus increase. I'm a pretty messy person. Not in a real life but when it comes to my head, it's a clutter of rubbish. Thus, the first thing that was surprising for me while fasting, was the complete focus I had when I did something. Suddenly, my mind, all the thoughts, went silent and I could focus on any task I had at my hands. Was it that I cut the sugar? Did my mind calm down because it wasn't speeding up and rushing on overwhelming levels of sugar? I don't know yet; I'm still observing, but it seems very likely.
- Control of thoughts and emotions. As someone who's quite easily affected by her emotions, I often ponder on how I could manage them. The answer came to me again while fasting. Suddenly, it somehow seems that within the days of fasting, nothing can really touch me. Not that I turn to icy queen without emotions and feelings, but I am able to control my thoughts enough to not let them affect my emotions. Is it again the sugar? Or may it be that just the sense of control I have ver my body transfers onto my mind?
- Decision-making. I know it's one of the X-number of habits of incredibly successful people, so I may be biased here. But still, it's not hard to realise how easy it gets to make decisions when you are fasting. They say you have only a limited amount of decisions per day. If that's true than eliminating the strenuous obsessing over what you're going to eat may actually give you a couple of them back for when you really need them.
- Sense of self. I am not able to go deep into this one yet as I myself haven't gotten to the bottom, but I can try my best to explain. It feels like when you don't stuff your body with rubbish, you start to feel yourself. It's one thing on the physical side because you suddenly feel all the little pains in your body you never knew about. But within the mind and soul, it's much more subtle. It feels like all the clutter vanishes and it's more of you, on your own terms. It has a lot to do with the sense of control you have and the decisions you're suddenly capable of doing. But more so, it's about the feeling of comfort you have within your body, within your self. It's a strange feeling of serenity and reconciliation.
I'm planning on getting back on the track of five days straight until the end of 2018. I will journal my progress and the effects fasting has on my mind and my body. I am, too, curious about what changes it has on both.
I don't deny the superficial, aesthetical reason behind this. Extensive fasting together with exercise will surely have some (hopefully) positive effects on my external body as well, and I can't not admit that I'm eager to see those.
However, I believe that the changes I will see in myself, in my emotional and mental state, will be much more substantial for my life.