I firmly believe that most people just say shit they wish was true, with no real evidence. The result is that I cannot find relevant information anymore.

I find fasting may be making me depressed. Food makes me feel good, and while fasting I get no endorphin hit from food. So I searched for "fasting depression" on YouTube and I get all these videos about fasting helping cure depression... which is bullshit. Why do people fill the world with every kind of bullshit they wish was true? It makes finding relevant information a giant PITA.

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Listen to your body, there is a billion years of evolutionary wisdom in there 🫂

yep. try shit out and see what works and what doesn't. i think most people are just trying to help. they let other people know what worked for them, but just because it worked for them doesn't mean it'll work for you.

yeah it is and 98% of all people I know say shit and then never deliver. Makes you want to lose faith in humanity but that's what the psychopathic fiat system rewards.

Cut them lose and listen to your own gut. Who cares if it means being on your island. You're #1

The trouble is context. Their solution might not be your solution because their problem has a different cause. There are so many variables.

What is your goal with fasting?

In my experience, food is only one piece of the health puzzle.

Hélas c'est un fléau même de plus exacerbé dans les réseaux sociaux et fort dangereux pour la santé des gens , cependant je n'aurais imaginé retrouver ce problème sociétal sur sur nostr pourtant si en plus d'an d'observation y compris la solitude dont souffre autant d' individus tout en ayant sur les réseaux sociaux...

Are you eating a lot of carbs or are you Keto? Because that will make a massive difference.

At the risk of falling on the category of people you are refering to, the way I understand it is that most people use food, their phones, pornography, or any other of the myriad of stimuli that is available to us as a source of dopamine/endorphin, etc. We teach our body to use these external stimuli to regulate our moods, physiological processes, etc. Hence why, for example, people seek "comfort foods" when their bodies don't like/know how to go from a certain (emotional) state back to baseline.

Again, the way I understand it, much like cold plunges can teach and prepare our bodies and mind to deal with high levels of stress and discomfort in our daily lives, fasting can teach our bodies to regulate itself and not depend on the spikes of dopamine/endorphine we get from eating all the time. Which could then make it easier for us to do the same for other external stimuli.

By fasting we are reducing that dependency on the food front. So depending how we use it, fasting can act like a blueprint for our body to control homeostasis without the need for these external stimuli; the way nature intended.

My initial response would be to think the depression doesn't come from fasting, and would also look at other areas, like light/screen exposure, gut microbiome health, and even examining whether you do the things that genuinely bring you joy, or are living a life where you do things bc they "make sense", etc.

But again, I am by no means an expert and I am sharing my understanding and experience. At the end of the day it is your body, and you know it better than anyone. Maybe stop fasting for a while and see if it helps.

I was grumpy, not technically depressed. I wanted to know if eating would cure my grumpiness, but I didn't want to break my fast to find out.

Anyhow, I broke my fast, and the grumpiness lifted.

Searching for "fasting depression" is a form of selection bias. There is so much information that I was sure to find hits. I just expected them in the other direction... fasting causes grumpiness, not fasting cures depression. As for the latter, I have no idea and I really don't care. It wasn't what I was looking for.

How long were you fasting for?

I was going to do 36 hours again, because I had done it 4 times now and it was so easy and I lost so much weight. It had only been about 22 hours. Longer fasts are easier, but muscle loss is more of a risk. I am doing resistance exercises and hill climbing to prevent that.

Here is my personal, anecdotal, uniformed opinion

Long fasts (more than a day) are always going to be uncomfortable experiences. Some people like the discomfort, and there can be benefits, but especially considering we’ve been accustomed to 3 meals a day for our whole lives, it is not a very pleasant experience.

Fasting in general is just a tool to improve your relationship with food and your overall health.

For people living in environments with tons of horrible fiat food and who over consume junk, fasting can be life changing because it sets a simple but strict limit on consumption. It also typically gets paired with whole food or higher fat content foods when you’re not fasting, which has even more benefits.

If something is causing you more suffering then you feel is valuable, don’t do it. It’s 100% an individual experience and everyone has a different optimal balance for their diet.

If you already are healthy and have a healthy relationship with food and good eating habits, you probably won’t get much out of regular fasting. In my life, my most optimal diet is whole foods and an 8 hour eating window, but I admit that even this can be hard to manage with an active lifestyle.

And yes, do I like sharing my opinion 🤣☠️ consider it a response to the question of why people enjoy peddling fasting so much