How 23-Hour Intermittent Fasting Saved my Life

The scariest moment of my life was being jolted awake at 2 am, drowning in my own acid reflux.

Imagine the panic of instantly transitioning from deep sleep to wide awake because you can’t breathe.

Called “dry drowning” or laryngospasm, it’s the body’s defense mechanism for preventing fluids or objects from entering the lungs. The vocal cords in the larynx, or voice box, involuntarily clamp shut, closing off the trachea (windpipe) and blocking fluids, and consequently air, from entering the lungs. Under normal circumstances, there is enough oxygen in a person’s blood to sustain consciousness until the larynx muscles relax. But a mouth full of stomach bile complicates things.

From 1990 to 1995, 78 official death certificates were issued in which drowning in their sleep from acid reflux was the primary cause of death.

Furthermore, the most serious consequence of chronic acid reflux is esophageal cancer.

At the time, I was in my mid-thirties, 5’10” and I weighed about 250lbs. My new job after leaving ten years of military service allowed for almost no exercise.

My schedule was 100% travel: Fly out on a Monday and fly home on Friday.

As a result, I was a chunky guy. Not obese, per se, but I had a stereotypical middle-aged “dad bod” that was not only unhealthy but unattractive. Especially with my short, military haircut that I kept long after leaving the service. At the time, my short…