72 hours is great for autophagy. Drinking black coffee or tea before/while preparing food can help. Don’t make food you have to taste. Stick to things that are easy. Don’t feel bad for feeding them frozen stuff, like chicken nuggets. Buy cooked rotisserie chickens from the grocery store. Sometimes I keep going by telling myself that if I cheat by eating only a few bites of protein then it doesn’t count as breaking my fast hehe
Parent of 4 small kids here. Firstly, congratulations on your achievement. I did 74 last week and ermahgersh it was tough bc yah…the constant exposure to the food. 😩😩😩. I was also premenstral which made it a special kind of hell. I think if not for the bleeping cramps and screaming hungry kids I could have made it through but damn… I’m not super human. A girls gotta eat sometimes.
I notice this. Prepping for longer fasts with 20-24 hour fasts gets me more practice building stamina and disassociating from the food being “for me” in the moment. I keep telling myself that’s not “for me” until it’s time “for me”.
So when it gets super tough… I check my app timer and watch a YouTube about autophagy and remind myself that I’m doing this fast for my littles and missing this meal and that meal means I might live longer or healthier or more energetically for them and with them. The constant education essentially becomes my food.
I think this is how the religious folks get super focused on the spiritual aspects of the fast bc when the hunger hurts or when the stress hormones are really intense… prayer and mediation are really helpful.
Anyway, I hope this was somehow helpful to you…
Oh yeah and YouTube videos about other peoples extended fasts also really keeps me focused.
Hang in there.
We got this. 💪💪💪