How My Mindset Around Fasting Evolved: From 24 Hours to 9 Days
Hey folks! I’ve been reflecting on how my mindset around fasting has changed over the years - from nervously attempting my first 24-hour fast to completing multiple 7-9 day fasts. Looking back, several moments really stand out.
⏳ My First 24-Hour Fast
This was by far the hardest - not physically, but mentally. I was genuinely nervous I might end up in the hospital. By the 12-hour mark, everything irritated me - every sound, every person, every thought. Hunger wasn’t even the main issue - my mind was. At that point, fasting felt almost unnatural to me. Like many people, I had absorbed the idea that food is constantly essential, that missing meals is dangerous, and that the body is fragile.
But the next morning I woke up feeling completely fine. Totally normal! And honestly, I was shocked. I had just gone an entire day without food, and my body handled it without any drama. That first mental barrier was much bigger than the physical one. It forced me to realize that many of my assumptions about hunger and food were psychological, not physiological. That was probably the first moment I started trusting the body more.
💪 My First Extended Fast: 9 Days
My first extended water fast was about 25 years ago during my PhD in New Jersey. I had no clue about electrolytes or refeeding, it was the middle of winter, and I still went to the gym almost daily while teaching classes for my students. Looking back, it was not a smart protocol.
But I completed it, and it changed me a lot. Afterward, I felt almost superhuman:
Really healthy
In control of my cravings
Much more confident in myself
Mentally tougher
Calmer under stress
But the psychological changes were even more interesting. Something unexpected happened to my attitude toward other people. I became more patient, more tolerant, and honestly just nicer. It’s difficult to explain, but voluntarily going through discomfort changes how you react to everyday frustrations.
At some point, fasting also stopped feeling like just a physical experiment and started feeling more reflective. When you remove food for days, you suddenly have a lot of spare time and mental space. You think more about life, your habits, your priorities, what actually matters and what doesn’t.
And fasting quietly breaks one of the strongest assumptions modern people have - that we constantly need external input to function well: food, stimulation, entertainment, comfort. The strange part is that when you remove food, you don’t just notice hunger. You notice how much of life revolves around avoiding discomfort.
🧘 The Spiritual Side I Didn’t Expect
I’m not really a spiritual person. I come from a science and engineering background, and I originally got into fasting purely because I was interested in physiology and health benefits. But over time, I realized fasting changes something deeper too.
First, fasting requires trust. At some point, you stop trying to control every physiological process and simply trust that the body knows how to switch from burning glucose to burning body fat for fuel. For someone with a very analytical mindset, that was surprisingly difficult.
Second, fasting made me question other commonly accepted beliefs. If the body can function surprisingly well without constant eating, what else about health and modern lifestyle have we normalized without thinking deeply about it?
Third, fasting changed how I think about aging. During longer fasts, energy levels naturally drop. And while temporary, it gave me a small glimpse into how older people might physically experience the world every day. It genuinely helped me better understand my parents and made me more patient and empathetic.
Then there was another strange aspect: healing. Some chronic issues improved during fasting - sores in my mouth, lingering joint pain from soccer, even an old hamstring issue. Rationally, I understand there are physiological explanations behind this. But emotionally, it can almost feel like magic when the body starts recovering in ways you didn’t expect.
And finally, after breaking a long fast, there’s often an enormous surge of energy and appreciation for life itself. Physiologically, glycogen replenishes, hydration improves, hormones normalize, and dopamine and serotonin rise again. But subjectively, it feels bigger than biology. You feel deeply grateful for very simple things - food, energy, movement, normal life.
🧩 Now, After Many Fasts
These days, going 7-9 days without food doesn’t feel like a huge deal anymore. The excitement is not as extreme because I’ve done it enough times that it feels almost routine. But I still turn to extended fasts when I feel they’re needed - to reset physically, clear my mind, reflect, or simply remind myself that the body is capable of far more than we usually give it credit for.
The biggest shift is that fasting no longer feels like punishment or extreme discipline. It feels more like temporarily stepping outside modern life. No constant consumption, no endless decisions about food, less stimulation and less noise. Just simplicity!
💡 Final Reflection
Looking back, fasting has been as much a mental and philosophical journey as a physical one. What started as curiosity about health slowly became something much deeper: a lesson about fear, discomfort, self-control, trust, perspective, and human nature. The biggest transformation wasn’t learning how to go without food. It was realizing how much of modern life is built around comfort, consumption, and constant stimulation - and how mentally freeing it can feel to temporarily step away from all of it.
P.S. I added some pictures of myself then and now — turns out, not much has changed in the last 25 years. And just to clarify - I wasn’t a couch potato back then. I was actually the captain of my university’s varsity soccer team in Moscow, so I was pretty tough. Though looking back, I can see I was carrying some extra fat 😊