What new trends/products have you tried and loved?

How often do you fast? And do you drink? The last time I fasted (many years ago) it made me feel absolutely awful by mid afternoon and I thought 'this can't be good for me'. In fact it was probably the toxins coming out but I didn't know that at the time. I'm too cowardly to try again although have sometimes not eaten for a day or two when poorly.

Other posters have spoken on here about the fasting calling it the 16:8 method.
Eat within 8 hours of 24, I believe they do it all the time.
I think it was done for weight loss but the healing aspect is very interesting.

2 years I have been doing it, it's tough at first because you go through sugar withdrawel. The plus side is it makes sugar too sweet. I went from two sugars on my tea to finding it gross! I drink water and black coffee. You can still put on weight if you eat too much but as soon as you are good it comes off nicely. The health benefits are wonderful x

I had a go at oil pulling which is basically using coconut oil to rinse around your teeth. It is absolutely disgusting to do, which may be why I stopped after a few weeks although I am going to give it another go. You put a lump of coconut oil in your mouth (it's solid when cold) and and it melts in the warmth and turns liquid. If you can then stop yourself gagging you start swishing it briskly through your teeth for several minutes, spit out and then clean your teeth. You can't spit down the sink because it will turn hard again so I used an old yogurt pot. I would do this while washing up to keep myself distracted!
Google search for the full benefits and instructions.

Yennifer, my husband and I have been doing intermittent fasting for years now and I have lost no weight.
My husband has lost lots.

We are both vegetarian, eat pretty much the same, loads of veg and I’ve never been a “sugar addict”. I may be healthier but I’m no lighter!

I keep hearing about coconut oil for various things, will look thanks!

Healthier is more important Notspaghetti. Some people do 18b6 which I do quite often just because at work and late lunch. Some do more. Some people have dieted so much in the past they have become insulin resistant and wrecked their metabolism. I've heard longer fasts are good for that x

Weirdly I've read that eating too little can cause a stall because your body can slow down to compensate. Have you heard of TDEE calculators? You can find one online that will work out what you should eat for your height and weight x

Oh and protene is so so important x

I lost weight on the 5:2 and keep on the maintenance 6:1. No particular problems. I never had a very sweet tooth and have been losing it steadily since childhood.

I keep the 6:1 going because there are suggestions that it is good for mental as well as physical health.

Like Monica, we didn’t start doing it for weight loss but I would rather I had lost weight as I’m really far too fat...

I have never done diets so that’s not why I’m still the same weight. If you read up about it, not everyone does lose weight on it.

No I've never really done diets either, I find it so much easier to restrict when I eat than what I eat and any diet lasted 5 minutes because I like my food! The weight loss fasting gets me has always been a bonus because I found it for my health problems, hense not knowing much about how to fix any issues. My friend raves though about a book called Obesity code and has lost 7 stone!

notspaghetti I found for the 5:2 to work I had to be circumspect about how much I ate on non-fast days. I tried to stay around 1200 calories.

I tend to feel, at the end of day that the best diet is the one that suits you best and from Day 1, I felt comfortable on the 5:2.

However there have been unexpected side advantages. I have had far more control over my eating than I had before I went on it, which is a mental control rather than just eating less control. I can now look at a table of food and be indifferent whether I eat or not, I can hold a plate beside the food and just not bother to put food on it.

To be fair I never really had a weight problem until the menopause. I think the weight gain was mainly hormonal. But 5:2 was effective post menopause when everything else (calorie counting, and, briefly, the Atkins Diet - now that diet actively made me ill) was ineffective.

I think you are certainly partly right M0nica. I’m happy to do this diet though.
I’m fairly sure, however, that on a non-fast day my husband’s appetite has shrunk - whereas I wake totally ravenous with a rumbling stomach. I’m still ok to do it though as I said, as I do believe in the other benefits.

I do 16:8 everyday, 5:2 felt like torture. Different fasts work for different folks x

I have just done the reverse hair washing, it worked a treat, thank you.
It certainly looks better than usual.

I watched Trust me I'm a Doctor yesterday evening. The chap on there said fasting did help him lose weight, but he came off his bike on one of the restricted calorie days due to weakness.

Very recently, after some weird flare-up on my face (now all but gone thank goodness), Simple Light Moisturiser. Can’t think why I’ve never tried it before - my skin positively drinks it in - and it costs relative peanuts, too.

What 16 hours makes up your fasting time. ?

Sorry pressed post too early...I am interested in the 16 hour fasting but not sure of best times to make it work. What hours do you fast? Thanks Yennifer

I do 16:8 fasting for 5 days a week. I eat my last meal around 7 in the evening , then don’t eat again until 12 noon. Thus I an asleep a lot of the time I am fasting. This has helped me reverse my T2 diabetes and keep my weight in check

BBbevan that's amazing! I do the same. I felt so silly remembering my skinny youth when I never ate breakfast. Concept sold to us by cerial and food companies. I do lunch, dinner and a snack or pudding. Never get hungry in fasting hours and eating plenty in my eating hours. Never go to bed hungry, never deprived of treats. 0 calories in my fasting time to heal my body. I feel better now than I did 15 years ago x

annsixty, glad it orks well for you x

Humans are designed to fast, eat when food is bountiful and fast when it isn't, now we have unlimited food, no need to store body fat. There was a man who fasted for nearly a year he had so much stored body fat, just took electrolytes and vitamins. His weight stayed off permanently too x