Breaking a fast

Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum, actually, I'm new to forums!.

I have just recently become more interested in fasting. I have been doing fairly regular slightly extended fasts of between 14 and 20 hours for the last couple of years, mainly from an IF protocol/weight training perspective. My original goal was to try to improve my body composition etc. It did work but I suffered many negative reactions from friends and family about my somewhat gaunt appearance. I have eased off over the last 12 months or so from a caloric deficit perspective and put a few pounds back on.

I am now starting to consider fasting for health reasons and am interested in taking on more extended fasts than what I am used to. I have recently completed a couple of 36 hour fasts with no particular problems.

As my fasts get longer though, one area of concern is what to eat after the fast is over. I keep reading that breaking a fast is at least as important as the fasting itself. Don't get me wrong, I get the logic behind this. It makes some sense. But one thing that does not seem to compute is the suggestion that consuming large quantities of food post-fasting is unhealthy or indeed somehow dangerous. Surely, during the majority period of our species' evolution, it was quite normal to spend several days with nothing at all to eat, only to then successfully manage a kill and gorge oneself silly! I maybe wrong but I cannot see paleolithic man holding back from tucking into his huge fatty steak just because he hadn't completed his 2 days or so of lemon-water or vegetable broth! I just wondered what others' opinions were on this please. And maybe you could let me know if you have had any bad experiences jumping too vigorously back into post-fast eating.