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Comment by tapanjk | Hacker News Reader

Based on my experience, I agree.

The only thing I would like to add is that going low carb does not necessarily have to be extreme (20gms per day or similar). It could be just cutting out high GI foods, or having such food in small quantities after your main meal. Tolerance for carbs varies in individuals and all you need to do is find your limit. Also, 48 hours fast is great but you can do as little as skip a meal every day (say 16:8 intermittent fast) to start seeing benefits: improved mood and energy.

I wanted to chime in just to make sure that people do not read your comment and say "oh, that's beyond me." A small step in the general direction of reducing carb intake and fasting for a few hours a day will go a long way for most people.

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Whenever I skip a meal, I always feel "Hangry" without fail. So I am sceptical about this. How long do you have to do any kind of intermittent fasting to actually start feeling the benefit? (What are the actual benefits?).

From what I have read, our body is healthier with "regular" cycles / habits - sleeping and waking up at the same time, eating regularly at the same time, exercising at the same time etc. so that all the "body clocks" (apparently we have many, like for sleep, releasing hormones etc.) get in sync. So things like intermittent fasting kind of goes against that logic because it creates stress in the body. (Though I have read that intermittent fasting can be helpful to reset some of the body clocks, but I am still not sure how to best use it in our daily life. Islam, for example, prescribes monthly (full day) fasting every year, but because of the lunar calendar that is followed, this happens at different period every year. That's one established / tried and tested way of doing it "intermittently". Some sects of Christianity and Hinduism prescribe some particular days every year for fasting. That's another way old way of doing it. But is there a scientifically studied way or regimen in our modern times to do this safely and effectively?)

> Whenever I skip a meal, I always feel "Hangry" without fail.

How often do you skip meals? You have to make your body get used to your stomach being empty and burning fat. It is like walking, if you don't do it regularly then all the systems in your body that are there to burn fat aren't ready so they wont work properly. But if you practice it regularly then after a while it wont phase you at all, humans are made to function well without constantly eating meals.

It has nothing to do with low carb btw, I can do it just fine with high carb. Just have to get used to your stomach being empty from time to time.

> it creates stress in the body

Yeah, and training makes your muscles hurt and damages them when you haven't trained in a long time. Still training regularly is the healthy thing to do, and then your muscles will be just fine. Similarly skipping a meal doesn't damage you if you are used to it, your body just starts burning fat instead and everything continues like normal.

Also, try to predict what happens when your body isn't used to burn fat, and instead you just eat more every time your body starts to try to burn fat? Do you think that is healthy?

> Yeah, and training makes your muscles hurt and damages them when you haven't trained in a long time. Still training regularly is the healthy thing to do, and then your muscles will be just fine.

With training, it matters greatly how much and how often you train. It is easy to over-train and even easier to cause yourself an injury.

> Whenever I skip a meal, I always feel "Hangry" without fail.

In my experience, this is a kind of carb withdrawal. If your body is accustomed to not having a lot of carbs available constantly, you won't suffer from this. If you're eating lots of carbs, and especially sugary foods, the day(s) before IF, you'll get hangry.

As with any form of withdrawal, coming out of it doesn't happen overnight though. You need to soldier through a few days and then it subsides. The first time I did this it took me around 1 1/2 to 2 weeks of IF. After that, I could go 20-22 hours without feeling hungry or hangry.

These days, when I fall off the bandwagon, it takes me a couple days only as I'm more used to the feelings and sensations, and I guess my body knows it needs to adapt.

This is highly anecdotal and empyrical though, so take it with a grain of salt.

While reading I was just going to ask if there are more non-anectotal evidence for doing this? And also, are there information sites where one could start to try it on oneself? :)

> In my experience, this is a kind of carb withdrawal.

I generally avoid high GI foods, and consume carbs with high fibre content only so that the sugar is released more slowly into the body ( https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/a-good-guide-to-go... ). I am loathe to completely avoid all kinds of carbs as it is essential for our health.

Yep, choosing your carbs wisely is the better approach. I didn't mean to say you should avoid them completely but I can understand why you might have thought that from my post.

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