u/bigchizzard

Let me start with the obvious- if you are mixing amanita muscaria with anything else you should be putting in a real effort on harm prevention and reduction. AM has the potential to mix very poorly with some things and become actively dangerous. I do not support random cocktails of substances. Please dyor.

I've posted frequently that I dropped all adhd meds long ago and some years ago flipped to amanita muscaria as a replacement. I used microdosing full spec extract to great success in both my professional and educational spheres. I work a mentally demanding job and completed a perfect STEM masters speedrun, something I never could've done on my old meds and habits.

Well that led me to wanting to experiment. So recently, I started back on a mild dosage of vyvanse. By itself I could see a difference, and a general boost in performance. But overall, multi-day usage tended to increase the anxious whiplash that comes with stimulant usage in general.

I then began combining my ritualized microdose of AM with my vyvanse, and found that it leveled it out very smoothly. I am currently playing around with the times of administration, to see what works best.

I am moving faster and with more energy, but with the collected and focused calm of the amanita. I have only been running this trial for a few weeks, but I definitely see potential. I do notice that I still operate best with breaks every 3 or so days- which keeps me operating at my highest throughput.

With this combo, I am socially functional while feeling drawn to complete tasks. My emotional whiplash is pretty much managed. Vyvanse can tend toward intrusive thought, which the AM has functionally eliminated for me. I do think that higher doses of the vyvanse would start drowning out the AM, but thats fine, as I prefer low doses of medicines regardless.

Curious if anyone else uses such a mix, or what other mixes with AM people find optimal for their lifestyle.

There was a solid comment thread earlier that popped off because we mentioned fasting. It sounded like there was a lot of interest both between the people who have done longer fasts, and the people who have never really heard about it before.

There is a right way, and then there is an unhealthy way to do fasting, so I figured I'd tie together a thread to get experts and novices discussing it.

The Benefits

To start, there are a host of benefits aside from the obvious annihilation of fat tissue. Bodily inflammation reduces, general joint swelling goes down, you disentangle from sugar cycles, sleep improves (after a few nights), your gut gets cleared (esp if you add a lil acv), dead and sick cells start getting recycled.

I personally note an increased rate of wound recovery, physical stamina, and a massive decrease in general brain fog (although, during usual meal hours, I am noticeably lethargic). Ultimately by day 4, I just feel all around sharper and faster. I'm also pretty sure I've seen some solid evidence on fasting and longevity boosting.

Since everything is ultimately built on sleep and diet, the lack of constant digestive processes+consumptive practices will give you a clean reset- a spot of mentality that allows you to step back and review how your body is responding to everything that goes into it.

What is Water Fasting

Ok so firstly there's water fasting and dry fasting. The difference is in the name- either your fast includes water, or it doesn't. Dry fasting has a lot more obvious dangers than waterfasts, and I personally won't recommend them unless you got a dr and your own research.

Water fasting lets you drink fluids that don't impact the glycemic index. You can have water, tea, black coffee, electrolyte blends (very important)- and frankly you should.

How to Water Fast

As I mentioned, electrolytes are pretty important. Your body crucially needs these, and they don't really impact digestion in a meaningful way food would.

You can easily get away with a day or two without electrolytes- assuming your baseline is pretty stocked up already. But if you are pushing for 3+ days, you really need to be consuming them on a daily basis. Your heart will give out without electrolytes.

Let me stress this point heavily- its the primary danger that comes with waterfasting, but its pretty easily navigated, and your body does give you signs as you start running low.

That said there are plenty of electrolyte drinks out there for ez consumption, just avoid any with added sugar. The more basic the better.

Alternatively you can make your own.

Snake Juice

Snake juice is a commonly referred to recipe for diy electrolyte blends. There is no official blend, but they all run around the same regions in terms of ingredients and dosing.

Heres a common recipe:

1 tsp Potassium Chloride (~6g)
1/2 tsp Salt (~3g, I use pink Himalayan, but the NaCl is the important bit)
1/2 tsp MgSO4 (I use Magnesium Glycinate instead, at 4gs)
1 tsp Baking Soda (this one is technically optional, helps some people with reflux that might come with fasting).

2 Liters of water.

You just mix and drink throughout the day, and can extend your fast about as long as your body wants at that point. Maybe a spritz of lemon if the taste is too harsh (it is salt water after all). I also see recipes including a shot of acv alongside the juice.

Exercise

Some people are hesitant to fast because they are worried about their chinese-mail-in compound gainz, but fear no longer. See, while extended fasting will at some point begin consuming muscular tissue, it most just focuses on fat. If you are willing to put in a casual amount of exercise, such as walking and light weightlifting, it pretty much minimizes the effects of myophagy.

You'll lose a lot of waterweight at the get go, and a steady amount of burnt fat every day. In my experiments, it seemed I burned about 2lbs of just fat every 3 days, numbers you could definitely boost through exercise (and depending on starting fat). I notice minimal gainz loss, but I am noticeably weaker during the fast. That rebounds pretty quickly after the refeed.

The Refeed

So this is the stumbling block at the end people trip up on. How you break your fast is very important to the fast itself. I highly recommend preplanning your first meal back, as your brain will be pretty aggressive on consumption, at least the first time around.

Same rules as 'dont go shopping while you're hungry' or 'don't go to taco bell when you're high'.

You need to eat something very light to get the juices flowing, otherwise you're gonna end up with some unpleasant spikes in insulin and gastric discomfort. Some people will rebound and 'reward' themselves with garbage for making it so far. This is a pitfall, and you can easily sidestep it by recognizing it.

Chicken broth is a common go to. My last big fast was ~120 hours, which I broke with 3 or 4 almonds and a small unseasoned chicken breast.
When you return to food, minimize carbs excepting light fruits, focus on healthy clean protein that is easily digestible for you. Eggs are fantastic, but you will absolutely get that sulfurous byproduct that any big egg eater is familiar with.

Sidenotes:

• Expect to be pooping for longer than you'd think. Its amazing how much stuff builds up in the gut, and it reminds you why roughage is actually important to the diet.
• If you are just getting started, I recommend a trial start of 1 day, then giving a rolling 48 a try (48hrs fast, 48hrs eating). And then giving 3 a try. The 3rd day is when you start to get an idea of how much easier it gets.
• Some people are purists with water and salts only. You may find yourself more sensitive to caffeine. That said, most teas are fine as far as I can tell. You may want some sleepy teas to help fall asleep when you first start really craving food.
• I'm reiterating- I do not support dry fasting unless meticulously researched and planned. If you do it, cool, but its certainly not something I'm promoting to people new to fasting.
• Yes your gummy multivitamin does count against you for breaking the fast. Imo, it is negligible enough to ignore unless you want to get really stringent with things.
• Fun Fact- fasting gave me the first big heads up to my alphagal allergies, as they were the only times I wasn't consuming foods I was allergic to. You can use elimination diets alongside fasting to very quickly determine if there are low-level allergens hurting you through unexpected meals.

And thats all I really have for you. I'd be happy to dive in deeper on any particular aspect of interest, plus I know theres plenty of people in this sub who have done leagues longer fasts than I have.

If this sounds interesting to you, something that would benefit your life- i promise you won't regret looking into it. Very nearly anyone (barring notable medical conditions like diabetes et al) can do this right out of the gate.

This is quite literally among the ONLY health practices where you improve by doing LITERALLY nothing. You don't need to buy a bunch of gear or equipment, you dont need to add in mail-order compounds, you just build self discipline and learn to hear your bodies actual needs without digestion and craving cycles drowning it out.

But then, specifically 'not doing anything' is exactly what makes this such a fun challenge for the average person. Especially in our modern hyperconsumerist days.

Hell, if youre really stuck up obesity creek without a gym buddy, you could obliterate a huge chunk of your problems through this one incomparably simple thing alone.

A big question I have for the more advanced practitioners- how often is too often? And how long is 'too long'.

Further, if anyone collects studies they think people should see, feel free to drop them in. I'm sure there are arguments on both sides that deserve critical review.