76 pages · 59 cited sources · PDF, screen and print A4

The Complete Fasting Reference

The physiology, the Ramadan chapters, and every trial behind the claims — with what each one did not show.

$12~~$19~~ until 31 December 2026

If it does not answer your question, tell me and I will refund it. No form, no argument. The guarantee costs nothing when the work is good, and it removes the only real objection a stranger has to buying a reference from a publisher they met yesterday.

What is in it

Part I
The body on a fast
Nine chapters of physiology: the two fuel systems and the handover between them, glycogen depletion, gluconeogenesis, the insulin–glucagon switch, ketosis, autophagy, the growth-hormone response, fat mobilisation, and refeeding.
Part II
Ramadan
Eight chapters: the Qur’anic basis quoted from a named translation, suhoor and iftar built for energy, hydration inside a dawn-to-dusk window, taraweeh and sleep, the recognised exemptions, long-daylight latitudes, medication timing, and diabetes.
Part III
The evidence
Every trial behind every claim in the first two parts, with sample size, duration, and what it did not show. Plus a chapter on how to read a fasting study, and one on where the evidence is absent.
Part IV
Practice
Choosing a protocol by constraint rather than by metabolism, thirty days of structure, what to do when it stops working, training fasted, the questions specific to women, and breaking a long fast.
Part V
Reference
Forty substances answered by goal, a glossary, a chapter on how the book was made and what was cut, and the full bibliography.

Three things it does that the others do not

It states what each study did not show. The best-designed trials find that fasting is not better than eating the same number of calories on an ordinary schedule. That finding is in the book, in the chapter on weight loss, in a table, with the sample sizes.

It does not adjudicate religion. The Ramadan chapters describe what the fast is, what the recognised exemptions are, and what the medical evidence says. Every question of ruling is referred to a scholar. The Qur’anic text is quoted from the Abdel Haleem translation with attribution, checked against source.

Every reference was verified, not recalled. The bibliography was generated from PubMed by identifier when the book was typeset. Doing it that way caught three citations that had been recalled confidently and pointed at entirely unrelated papers.

Read this before buying

This edition has not been reviewed by a clinician, and it says so on its second page rather than in small type at the back. It is not medical advice. Fasting is not safe for everyone — particularly if you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a history of an eating disorder.

What it is not

There is no testimonial section and no account of anyone healed by fasting. Published case reports are cited with their limitations stated instead — a widely-quoted report of three people coming off insulin is in the book, alongside a chapter explaining what a report of three people can and cannot tell you.

There is a free one first

The Fasting Index Field Guide is 22 pages and costs nothing. It covers the first 72 hours, the four methods, twenty verdicts and the safety pages. If you have not read it, read that before paying for anything.

Get the free field guide

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