Fasting can improve overall health
sciencedaily.com
sciencedaily.com
Once the body gets into the fat-burning mode and all the pangs of hunger and mild headaches vanish, everything changes and it's like you can go climb a mountain with nothing but water.
Those familiar with atkins/ketogenic diets will have already learned this stuff about themselves. But it's interesting to note that the same operating mode is available without any food at all.
Even if you don't embrace fasting as some kind of healthy practice, being aware that; no, you're not actually starving when you're hungry because you haven't eaten carbs for a few hours, seems like a useful fact to internalize. As long as there's fat on your person, you're not starving, just stop eating long enough to give your body a chance to switch fuel sources.
It's actually a quite different experience to run off fat, the headspace is changed, there's a mental clarity and physical lightness and agility (you're empty). I find it quite pleasant, especially for physical activity.
I eventually tried the low-carb (actual low-carb of <100g carbs/day, not the fake one nutritionists study where "low" is like 40% carbs in your diet) because I kept hearing about it and it was so easy to self-experiment, so why not?
It was like the scales fell from my eyes when I realized that much of what I thought was "hunger" my whole life was actually "addictive cravings" for carbohydrates. And I was really not a fan of grains and sugary stuff to begin with.
Both groups lost weight equally. They didn't lose weight because of that particular diet, they lost weight because they made better decisions daily, stopped eating out, and stopped buying processed foods.
Because I can tell you one thing for sure, the reason I lost weight (and I was only slightly overweight) is because I ate less. And I ate less because I craved less food.
I'm open to the idea this is due to more home cooking rather than low carb per se but I doubt it... I could possibly test this by eating some noodles or homemade pizza or something.
I find your question interesting, though. Why do you not care about what the low-fat diet was as well?
Also, since they lost weight on the low-carb diet, I can only assume that it's one that works!
Like I said, I already wasn't a big consumer of carbs/sugar to begin with though.
1. I didn't feel hungry anymore, so I didn't want to eat. I had to force myself to eat protein so I wouldn't lose muscle.
2. I couldn't do strenuous exercise for at least a week afterwards. I could walk for several km at a time but running was difficult. Running up stairs even more so. But once I was fully adjusted to the diet 7-10 days in, I could do all of those things.
I'll return to this diet later this year. Really looking forward to it.
I've been doing intermittent fasting for about 3 months now. I fast for 16 hours, and have 2 meals a day (lunch at 12PM and dinner at 8PM), I eat 0 to low carbs, since my diet is mostly animal based products (meat and eggs, and I have protein powder from beef and egg which I occasionally take as well).
I really don't feel hungry at all, never. It's insane. I go to the gym at 7AM, after 11 hours of fasting, and I can workout just fine. The difference has been absolutely crazy.
workout without breakfest does work, although if I go to very heavy weights, I tend to take a bit of BCAA before the workout.
> since my diet is mostly animal based products (meat and eggs
Bad news. I'd recommend a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet if you'd like to improve your health.
It’s surprising how quickly your body adapts to a total change. It’s worth experiencing before you make a decision.
But, I found out, it's actually just a mindset thing. Once I realized that, I found that I could go to bed hungry and still get a great nights sleep. I know it sounds incorrect but sometimes attitude and mindset really can influence outcomes.
You can improve quite a lot about your life if you can control your mindset.
It’s been my experience that after seven to ten days fasted, my sleep cycle is basically ‘ideal’ — for me that’s getting tired between 2200 and 0100, and waking up naturally between 0600 and 0830.
Of course you can get the same result by just eating less, but fasting is quicker and more dramatic, not to mention that total abstinence for a short period is easier for some than fine control over a longer period.
I presume you load with water to help distract from the hunger?
I'm not the best person to ask about energy levels because I take a medication that depletes my energy so I'm drinking caffeine a lot to stay energized. I can honestly say the last hour is the real challenge after doing it this long.
I personally did (and do) drink a lot of water if I feel hungry. I usually end up hungry the next day if I allow myself to eat past 8 or so - it's always a mistake for me to do that.
I allow myself to have tea and coffee, which some people say isn't true fasting because you have to metabolize the things in the tea or coffee. I don't mind. I'm doing this to maintain control over bad eating habits which lead me to be very overweight. I have ADHD and I suppose it comes with poor impulse control in my case - I tend to be very "all or nothing", so fasting works very well for me. I have nothing until I can have it all :)
This doctor (Dr Berg) also has a channel on the same - and provides some interesting easy to understand scientific explanations on different intermittent fasting related items. I remember the explanations on the body need for potassium was interesting.
> he's a chiropractor "doctor"
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=intermittent+fasting+site%3Adrmirk...
I don't feel hungry even when I'm fasting, I sleep better, and I don't crave for fast food, snacks etc anymore what so ever. On top of that I also save a lot of time that I used to spend eating 6-8 meals a day.
This is my new normal.
I don't feel hunger at all when I wake up, I drink a glass of water in the morning and then a coffee in the office. Alas, I don't feel hunger as I used to, it's not a craving, I don't feel like "I need to eat now", it's a much more manageable feeling.
And I go to the gym in the morning fasted, it works really well for me. The only times I feel it's harder to have energy is when I'm cutting down weight (and eating with a 700 kcal deficit).
Used as just one aspect, along with: going cold turkey on snacking at work, switching to black coffee, and doing some daily simple fitness basics (pushups and the like), and ongoing bike commuting [prior to calorie consumption] the consequences over the last 18 months have been dramatic.
The main reason 16:8 IM helped with significant weight loss for me is certainly the "side effect" of significantly reduced caloric intake (thank you CICO). Normalizing to two meals and much reduced snacking has made a ton of difference.
So much so that when I hit my semi-formal "target" (midpoint of the "normal" BMI weight range for my height) I think I am going to have to get conscious about getting enough healthy calories to maintain muscle etc.
I try to make slightly more sensible choices, and exercise some mediocre "portion" control... but haven't switched diet to speak of.
I am a convert. I can see that it's not magic, but, for me at least IM as part of a broader modest trajectory change is turning out to be honestly life-changing.
I did 5:2 for 3-4 years as well, and lost 20kg (~44 freedom units). I did 36 hour fasts, and after a while it just felt naturally, but i'd be lying if i said the fasting days were easy. It gets "easier" but never easy.
I usually took a break from fasting during holidays, and a few years back i never really got back into it, and reverted to my old 16:8 ways. I'd love to see more research on it, but from my own experience, it's nowhere as effective as a regular 5:2 diet.
The latest weight fad was intermittent fasting. Turns out it isn't any better than any other weight loss regime.
So the track record of people who study diets is abysmal in my experience.
as well as
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311...
Still, more work needs to be done.
If anyone is interested in more details, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer any questions.
Have only done 72 hour fasts, but allow myself both black coffee and zero calorie soft drinks.
If you shoot me an email, my username at gmail, I’d be happy to share my spreadsheet and before/after photos. Goes for anyone coming across this in the future.
It might improve specific health parameters but whether those improvements translate into a longer and/or healthier life can't be assumed.
little bit crisis it's around 24 hours, then even next day morning around 36 hours it's fine bit i guess around 45-48 hours would come another crisis
Nobody fasts for 24 hours. This study lacks to mention if say same affects were observed based on shorter amount of fasting time.
i am usually doing 36 hours starting after dinner until next day after breakfast and it's way too easy, even 48 hours would not be problem. the issue for me it's i am cooking for family and children sometimes don't finish their stuff so it's difficult to combine it with my fasting, if i would be single i would be doing 48 hours regularly
If I don't feel weak, irritable, or hungry the next evening, I'll go another day. Without records, I'd guess I skip two consecutive evenings once or twice a year, and skip a single evening a few more times.