I'm writing a little today for a general update. In my recent dreams, I had been placed back to the start of my long covid journey and I replayed a lot of the horrible details in my mind. I remember trying to accept that I was going to die and leave my young family behind. My blood tests were fine but my body was falling apart. Ice pick migraines, bedbound CFS, and the whole gamut of long covid symptoms. I used the "clear" blood tests as an opportunity to take out a solid life insurance plan and was able to at least offer some sort of solace in case of my early departure. What a life, huh? The thing that really hits hard is that most of you reading this have been/ are in a similar situation facing the reality of your own mortality. It's a situation that almost no one around you can relate to. You usually don't feel like you're able to bring it up. A very solitary feeling – yet something everyone will experience at some point in life – with the hope that it's later rather than sooner.
From time to time I get to chat with people who tell me the DFC dry fasting info gave them the necessary push and confidence to try dry fasting. Either by going to a retreat or doing it on their own. Some people are dry fasting veterans too, but still struggling to maintain the healing (this is the scary part that no one wants to talk about). BUT it's almost always changed their lives for the better – This really motivates me to keep going – however I'm also still navigating the last 5% of healing myself (or is this my peak?!). This is also why I regret making any videos about weight loss and dry fasting or working out and dry fasting. I don't think dry fasting makes sense for healthy people, so the idea of using it to simply lose some extra pounds or to get a little more ripped seems so ludicrous to me. Potentially more downside than upside. Dry fasting extended lengths should be strictly viewed as a medical intervention and not a vanity project.
Throughout my dry fasting journey, I've been mostly keto-ish with some experimentation with different refeeds like Filonov's and others. Keto/Carnivore-style dieting prevented almost all complications, and I've had a pretty smooth ride of improvements. But since working on bioenergetics which focuses on carbs for building up the metabolism, I've had to aggressively pivot, see doctors, take blood work, ultrasounds, etc. because I've run into the dreaded insulin resistance path blocker. [Insulin resistance is increased on low-carb diets, fight me! Oversimplification: fat = IR] A massive stone wall blocking the path, and I've been hammering through. Tests have been fine – so far, which leads me to believe that a lot of this is transient problems of organ adaptation to switching diets. I go into detail about all of this in the miro board scorch blueprint – with even more to come.
Carbs and chronic illness are tough because it seems that 90%+ of people with chronic illness have some issues with carbs. Carbs spike MTOR and pair that with an extreme anabolic state following refeeding, you can put yourself into dangerous territory if you're overdoing carbs too quickly (think out-of-control growth). A classic situation when someone just wants to push through without pacing – don't pretend you haven't done it!
Switching into a bioenergetics approach is coming with its own set of problems that I'm close to cracking. If you approach health through a bioenergetics approach (think Ray Peat style), then you might actually start questioning if fasting is good for you in the first place. I'm in the camp that believes that fasting is critical to reversing terrible chronic illness, by bringing back a bit more cellular balance, among other things. But the key to keeping that health is to eliminate insulin resistance and build back a thriving metabolism. The cure I propose is a delicate mix of fasting and bioenergetics. This also includes very important approaches like anti-virals, and plant medicine. Drastic situations require drastic solutions and even though dry fasting is quite drastic, it's often not enough (This doesn't mean don't do it, because it's still the most powerful healing modality in these situations). How to approach it is very similar in its core concept, but factor in where people are in their health, what they're eating, all other unique personal situations, and you'll never get a one-size-fits-all solution. The quickest and simplest jump start you can get is to book a dry fasting retreat like Michel Deladoey or Filonov. and follow their steps. If you're one of the lucky ones, it might be enough, a one-and-done type of deal, but more often than not you'll get a drastic health improvement, but one that still requires some more work.
Now, about the Miro board. This is where I can actually help people by giving you the Scorch Protocol Blueprint with details that I constantly improve and build on. I've just created a channel in the discord group dedicated to the Miro board and to discuss questions related to it. Kind of a community endeavor, and an opportunity for me to be able to dig into key questions people have without having to book a chat/consult with me. Find the link in this article:
Yannick Wolfe
Lots of bioenergetic courses out there, and most of them want you to pay for their food guide, but here's a summary of what you'll see in most of them:
I'll sign off with this final thought. Once your body falls into severe chronic illness it's nearly impossible to get out. Picture a delicate china vase falling to the ground. The initial fall represents the onset of the illness. Picking up the pieces and gluing them back together is the process of managing the illness. Have you seen those beautiful Japanese gold-sealed cracked bowls? No matter how carefully you repair it, the vase will never be the same; it's forever changed. I think it's important to understand you'll probably never be back to 100%, and that's OK.
Some lucky ones who catch it early can head off a lot of damage. But no matter what, getting into the severe category means you'll need a miracle and dry fasting is that miracle that will kick-start your recovery. Good luck.
