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Comment by JoshMnem | Hacker News Reader

I've been experimenting with calorie restriction, water fasting, and intermittent fasting for 2 1/2 years and you don't need to go as extreme as one meal per day to see results. The hunger gets much easier to manage. I don't think that people should do it without also adopting a high-nutrient diet (vegetables, legumes, whole foods, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc.), because there isn't much room for empty calories.

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I just finished a month on a beef-only diet and I've never felt so good in my life. Stable energy all day, the bottomless pit in my stomach is gone (a combination of depression, cravings, and not feeling satiated).

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.

I've experienced similar results on a low-carb vegan diet - no hunger, mental clarity etc.

I'd like to hear more about your diet. I was a vegan before switching to meat only.

It may be as boring as the all meat diet =).

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.

Thanks a lot! I've taken some notes.

You bet!

Update: I am now on the "mostly nuts and berries" diet, with occasional steamed vegetables, and feeling amazing.

It maybe due to B12 and iron difficiency. How much milk do you drink?

Zero. Cutting out dairy made a real positive difference. Curiously I seem to tolerate goat milk much better (but not perfectly).

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.

Interesting, do you think a 2/3 beef diet would give some results

Were you grilling steak, how else can you prepare straight beef?

Yes, I was cheating occasionally due to severe cravings, so it was about 80% beef. (All beef meals plus occasional carby snack).

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.

Why beef over other sources of protein? Why not fish, birds, or other mammals?

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/

A friend with similar symptoms to mine got better after trying a beef diet. I don't like fish or pork, and I don't respond well to chicken. I can eat eggs (nice and cheap) but not too many or I get bad headaches. I eventually discovered studies that found eggs to be the #1 migraine trigger food.

More reports like this at http://meatheals.com

Whenever I try something like this, my work productivity absolutely plummets. I am unable to focus during the day. How do people keep their mental energy up while fasting or when in fasted state?

I do IT on an ad-hoc basis. 16 hour fasts maybe 5 days per week. After a short period of adaptation I've found I'm just not bothered by hunger any more, up until the time I usually eat (11am-ish). It seems that my body has learned when it can expect to eat and hunger doesn't become an issue until around the time. So, to answer your question, perhaps you need to try for a few weeks, if you haven't do so already.

When doing 3-5 day water fasts, I don't do much work from the 2nd day. If you're doing the 12-16 hour kind of fast, then stopping food intake at around 4 pm doesn't affect the work day.

I get tired when doing alternate day fasting (alternating the on-off switch at around 4 pm), but can still work.

What’s the minimal you need to do to see results? As a measure of spectrum.

Check out Time Restricted Eating, lots of research on that lately. No change to what you eat, only within what time window.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KClPkotxM

I don't have all the sources at hand, but ...

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...

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