The Bhikkhu Diet (2003)
tricycle.org
tricycle.org
Every day, the first substance you consume which isn't water starts a metabolic clock. You should have your last meal (or non-water drink) of the day within 12 hours of that moment. 9 or less is even better if you can manage.
Benefits include drastically cutting risk of diabetes and cancer (look into shift worker health stats), improved metabolism (on a cellular level), leading to faster weight loss (on same amount of calories), and increased endurance and muscle mass.
That's the most bang for your buck I'd say!
Here's a great introduction: Dr Rhonda Patrick JRE
It seems that you feeding windows between 4-10 hours has an measurable effect. It seems likely that 4 hours is probably what humans need to get all the lifelong benefits noticeable in mice and rats–rats and mice have much higher metabolism than humans.
The effect from intermitted fasting comes from many different mechanisms
* (Review) Metabolic Control of Longevity https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(16)30981-3.pdf
* Fasting, Circadian Rhythms, and Time-Restricted Feeding in Healthy Lifespan https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-4131(16)30250...
* Promoting Health and Longevity through Diet: From Model Organisms to Humans https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(15)00186-5
* Intermittent Fasting Promotes White Adipose Browning and Decreases Obesity by Shaping the Gut Microbiota https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(17)...
* Short-Term, Intermittent Fasting Induces Long-Lasting Gut Health and TOR-Independent Lifespan Extension https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(18)...
* Intermittent Fasting Confers Protection in CNS Autoimmunity by Altering the Gut Microbiota https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(18)...
* Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%281...
* A Periodic Diet that Mimics Fasting Promotes Multi-System Regeneration, Enhanced Cognitive Performance, and Healthspan https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%281...
Two days ago I ran out of money for beef, so I'm back to eating mostly carbs (and grains), and within 36 hours my depression and skin problems are back. It's amazing, like an on/off switch for my well being.
Nuts, avocados vegetables, leafy greens, mushrooms, berries. Coconut and olive oils.
Most of the time this manifests as:
- Salad with nuts in it. Dressing is chopped cilantro, lime juice, salt and olive oil, which seems to go really well with leafy greens. I can eat this salad for one meal everyday.
- Some kind of a curry or stir fry or soup with vegetables and mushrooms.
- Frozen berries for dessert.
- Salted pistachios for snaking.
It is easy to follow but it does get boring. So, when I crave something else like dessert or bread or fish or whatever then I indulge. That makes it easy to follow the regular diet the rest of the time.
I use my body's response to beef (complete well-being) as the gold standard with which I judge all other foods, and sadly (because I cannot afford beef) nothing else even comes close.
Were you grilling steak, how else can you prepare straight beef?
The adaptation period was very rough (about 2 weeks). 3-4 weeks in I began to feel amazing. I started with steak, switched to mincemeat (cheaper, and more fat -- you need a lot of fat if you cut out carbs), and now switched to veganism due to being broke.
Red (mammal) meat contains a particular glycan (Neu5Gc) that accumulates in our bodies when we eat it. Some studies have argued that this particular glycan causes cancer and inflammation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4299224/
I get tired when doing alternate day fasting (alternating the on-off switch at around 4 pm), but can still work.
I found it surprisingly easy. I didn't really have any problem with cravings or hunger pangs.
These days, I eat 2 meals a day, one at 1 PM and one at 7 PM, I generally don't snack between meals. I guess it's technically intermittent fasting? I also often forgo eating on Sundays, I just can't be bothered. Recently, I've also been eating less meat, just once or twice a week, also not on purpose, but I just stopped wanting to eat meat.
Between all these changes in my diet, I've managed to lose about 10 kg in 2 months and I'm still steadily losing weight.
In the end, I'm convinced that it's all in your head. Some people psychologically want to eat more than others, and that's why they're fat. It's not your metabolism, or because you eat too many carbs, or because you're not practicing intermittent fasting. Fat people are literally addicted to food.
If only there was a way to rewire your brain to eat less. There have been studies that show that ketamine used in a therapeutic setting can help with overcoming alcohol addiction [1]. I wonder if it could also be used to tackle obesity?
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/24/radical-keta...
It is a well established fact that the body makes a host of metabolic adjustments in response to changes in diet.
Food we eat is drained of nutrients and excreted. The excretions are less than the food, and the rest is absorbed into the body.
The other excretion we have is sweat, which is primarily salts and water.
The only avenue in which we can shed weight is by CO2 exhaled...
(I do not have a citation for this from a paper, but heard the same description from 2 different dieticians. I accepted this as fact.)
But yes, in 100 years, I bet the obesity crisis will be another cooky documentary topic like the lobotomy hype, tobacco smoking and the treatment of ulcers with vacations instead of antibiotics.
Losing weight to combat obesity and just generally being healthy to maintain your weight are two different situations. You take meds to address specific illnesses.
Need to lose weight? Calories in and out is probably 80% of the nutritional knowledge you need. Everything else is just psychology. What keeps you consistent? 5 small meals or one big one? Try em both. See what sticks. Simple. Not Easy, but simple.
People apparently think this is strange but I'm equally baffled by the assumed need to eat three times a day. Like, you'll be okay, lol.
People say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I feel no ill effects from skipping it. People just love to repeat things they heard years ago like they're some kind of ground truth. My mum still goes on about how I shouldn't add salt to food and I should avoid fat like it's the devil. And now that I've become a vegetarian, I'm getting the full force of years of marketing from the red meat lobby coming from her.
The human body is remarkably capable of managing to operate in a variety of conditions. Whether that's a vegan diet, or an Inuit diet that consists almost solely of meat; intermittent fasting, or continuous grazing.
When feeling that I need something sweet, coffee helps a lot then, and lately have been taking a chunk of 100% cocoa solids Montezuma's chocolate.
Had N of (lights) beers for the number of months that have passed :) (Used to be quite a beer drinker, IPA's, Stout, etc.)
But one meal a day is probably going to be hard to keep on - socially, and just in general.
Gene function changes per your environment of which diet is an important part.
Darstic changes in lifestyle or diet can result in diseases.
Then you may ask, didn't humans survive famine so how can you say humans aren't resilent to drastic changes? Yes, they did but as a whole tribe not individually, usually a large portion of the tribe was usually wipped in such clamity unless a massive luck strikes.
I want to see the research backing for my idea.
This came to me through meditation.
Don't eat this, only eat that, don't eat at these times, only eat at these times, fast, don't fast.
It's been going on for decades, and it's both silly and counterproductive.
There is no easy shortcut to losing weight and being in good health. It takes discipline and dedication, and a complete lifestyle change. Yes, it's hard, but we just have to deal with that, instead of thinking we can somehow cheat our way to it.
Eat less, move more. I'm not going to try to get more detailed than that, because then everyone will just start nitpicking, based on their own pet theories.
"Move more" is the most important part. Almost everyone in western society is moving way too little. Our sedentary lifestyles are killing us. Stand up at your desk. Go for a walk instead of watching a movie. Start riding a bike. Take the stairs. Doesn't matter, just move.
1) uselessly vague (eat "a variety" of foods, eat sugar "sparingly", get "enough" fiber, and so on; "eat lots of colors" is actual dietary advice that has been given by credentialed dietitians),
2) driven by some fringe/fad theory of nutrition, or
3) based on unrealistic or parochial assumptions of which foods are readily available/affordable.
Also adding seeds to everything means better gut bacteria and adds fiber to a meal. I use a mix of pumpkin seeds, flax, sesame, and sunflower seeds and add it to as many meals as I can.
And while "eat less" is important, it's secondary to "eat what". My rule of thumb was (and is) "It's almost impossible to control how much you eat. Controlling what you eat is merely very difficult." In other words, your primary target is changing your diet from unhealthy foods to healthy foods, and you will "eat less" in calories as a result. If you keep eating junk food and try to control exactly how much junk food you eat you will have a much harder time.
So I cut out snacks almost completely, but I still let myself eat a burger+fries or a pizza once in a while. But they count as a full meal plus a bit ekstra, so my next meal will have to be smaller to compensate. Seems to be working out.
But the biggest difference for me was changing my sedentary lifestyle. Standing as my desk, always taking the stairs, riding a bike everyday. It adds up.
It's been going on for decades, and it's both silly and counterproductive.
You start off complaining about fad diets and now you link to your diet which is the very epitome of a fad diet. Is there any medical research behind this diet?
It doesn't try to set up weird rules or "superfoods". It's simple and straight-forward, which makes it much easier to adhere to. It's not a diet, it's a permanent lifestyle change.
One can learn that carb and fructose-rich foods are addictive and cause diabetes when consumed in excess.
One can learn that drinking alcohol just before eating causes the liver to prioritise metabolising alcohol and the other calories go into visceral fat (the so-called 'beer belly').
One can learn that eating just before bed or when one is normally asleep puts strain on the heart and causes fat to be laid down (importance of circadian rhythms).
One can learn that people who aren't even slightly fat are killing themselves from drug overdose, which may seem irrelevant until one recalls that many people eat for comfort. (So this is a personal/mental problem as well as a physiological one.)
“One can learn that people who aren't even slightly fat are killing themselves from drug overdose, which may seem irrelevant until one recalls that many people eat for comfort. (So this is a personal/mental problem as well as a physiological one.)“
The carb/fructose thing is scaremongering. Type 1 diabetes is genetic, type 2 partially genetic, and is not caused solely by carbs/fructose. One of its factors is a generally poor-quality diet, but saturated/trans fat intake plays a larger role than sugars. And all of that is completely dwarfed by the influence of obesity on the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.
Drinking alcohol does make your body prioritize metabolizing it first, but alcohol also slows down digestion and can make you feel fuller for longer, leading to a decreased food intake. "Beer belly" is a myth.
Eating at night or before going to be is not unhealthier than eating during the day. That has been debunked countless times.
Food addiction is a real thing, however. And unlike tobacco or alcohol, you can't go "cold turkey" (haha) on food and just stop eating. You need rules, motivation and backup.
This is the best FAQ I've found is this: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=34...
Yes, it's SA, notorious for its bad comedy forums. But the exercise and diet forum is seriously quality stuff, with hundreds of success stories of fat nerds getting in shape, and keeping it.
But seriously, the idea that saturated fat causes type II diabetes is news to me. Can you provide an explanation and/or sources? Thank you.
This is pretty well established science at this point. Again, like you said, I'm not going to go into details on the things people should eat. I think different people need to find what works for them, their body, palette and schedule.
In a western context, with the way it's sold in this article, it's certainly a fad diet.