Short term fasting. Is it good for us?

When the body is in starvation it uses the fat stores, not builds fat

I do not think extreme diets of that nature are being discussed on this thread, so what are we being warned against?

The Aussie cricketer who just died Shane Warn had just done a three week juice diet . Be warned .

Low carbohydrate diets make me very ill. I will continue to intermittently fast and eat a normal balanced diet.

Fasting is very good for the body but should be done in conjunction with a zero sugar, low carbohydrate and high fat way of eating to gain the most benefit. The body should also be established in this way of eating before fasting should take place. Google Dr Eric Berg and Jason Fung as well as Dr Michael Moseley.

Ladyleftfieldlover, the same as you - I try to eat something every three hours or it's a migraine. My eldest, though, is very health conscious. He fasts most weekends and finds that it suits him.

Recent research has shown when you eat doesn't really matter, it is how much and what we eat that are the key factors.

You body will only build up fat if you are starved for a long time. Intermittent fasting does not give that reaction time to start before you eat again.

Intermittent starving has done my health no harm and I have now been doing it off and on for nearly 8 years. I am in my late 70s, have no health problems of any kind that require medication and am fit and well.

I was always taught that the MOST IMPORTANT meal of the day was breakfast. When we break the overnight fast.

Over the last 12 months I have steadily, slowly lost two stone. Three meals a day, every day spread out from 7.30 am to 6.00 pm. I have just cut down on sugar in all forms. This has meant that my calories intake has fallen resulting in this careful weight loss. I have had to do this without also including exercise - (due to mobility problems).

when I get up each morning, I know that my body requires food as my last meal would have been completed by 6 pm the previous night. So, at around 7.30-8.00 am I have my porridge and large mug of tea.

I am also aware that if the body feels starved, for any reason, it can go into starvation which means that it will carefully build up fat and add weight as a precaution.

I do have a large amount of good fluid intake day and night which I require as I my body is unable to extract fluid from the foods I eat.

To go 16 hours without any nourishment is, surely, not really good for people.

breakfast is ' break fast' breaking the fast we had while sleeping!

Funnily enough (!) in the Bible it says “WHEN you fast. . .”

I'm just fascinated by the different approaches and methods we individuals apply for a successful and satisfactory result.

The joy of intermittent fasting is that you do it to suit yourself. On Fast days I divide my 500 calories equally between lunch and supper, (12.00pm and 6.00pm) and I now have a resource of oabout 50 different recipes that will deliver those meals in an interesting fashion.

I could not go without breakfast. It's my favourite meal of the day. I do the fasting from about 6pm until 7am though. Didn't even realise I was fasting until I read this

I think we are all different in the way we metabolise food and what for example raises blood sugar rapidly in some doesn’t in others. It’s very individual, even with identical twins, so definitely one size doesn’t fit all.
Tim Spector is interesting on this.

I'm sure fasting intermittently is very good for some, I've listened to Dr moseley and find he is very sound on most things, however, I just can't do it - if I don't eat a little often I get real pains in my stomach and feel bad tempered and emotional, and if I let myself get too hungry and then eat I get bloating and trapped wind so I just can't do it

I only eat moderately from midday to 7pm. I started doing this several years ago and feel much better. I believe it gives my body the time it needs to process the food I have eaten. So essentially I fast for 17 hours.

I do all my eating during an 8hr period in the daytime if I can, which then gives me a 16hr fast but my biggest bugbear during the day is the amount of carbs I was eating. So for the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to cut carbs, ie, bread, pastries, buns, cakes, biscuits, sweets only allowing myself chocolate which is more than 70% cocoa (one or two squares per day rather than 2-3 full bars per day). Also, trying to eat more fresh rather than ready meals. It's costing me an absolute fortune which I can't sustain for much longer and I'm realling missing toast. I'm not quite Keto. That would be going too far.

giulia

Very interesting comment!

Sorry! This was supposed to be reaction to 4allweknow's comment.

Very interesting comment!

MissAdventure

How old were cavemen when they died, on average?

Exactly!!! Cannot believe that anyone these days compares what we eat and how we live with our by-gone ancestors!!!!

I was overweight by a good 10 kgs for my short stature and could feel it.

I was also pre-diabetic.

So I decided to start intermittent fasting (when DH was away meaning I could do it under my own steam without pressure to make breakfast and lunch, and perhaps see him eat. Drool.).

So I've been eating my main meal at around 6pm and having nothing to eat until 6pm the next day. Yes - I do think about at lunch but hopefully that will stop in time. And I try to keep myself busy at around that time! In the beginning I did have sugar lows but that stopped after a few days.

I have managed to lose 10kgs and can fit into my work trousers again (hooray!). My cholesterol levels are normal again too.

I do drink plenty of water or green tea during the day (I stop green tea at around 4pm because it contains caffeine so I have ginger and lemon tea or camomile tea after that).

Around lunch time I mix a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water and drink it through a straw (to prevent tooth enamel erosion). I have found the apple cider vinegar has stopped my sugar cravings and my sugar levels have normalised (Whew, because my GP started talking about my going on to tablets for diabetes. But not now!).

As for my hypothyroidism - fasting has had no ill-effects on it. I take my tablet as normal first thing in the morning.

DH is terribly overweight. He loves food even when he is not hungry. Food is always on his mind (runs in his family and so does obesity). I had to gently remind him of the position his mother finds herself with ill health, diabetes, and much more due to her obesity.

Now that DH is home (works at sea for 3 to 4 months at a time) I've suggested he try intermittent fasting with me - not only would it encourage me to keep it up, but having someone to do it with - makes it easier. He's started... and lost 5kgs. He's still got a long way to go to reach his work's doctor's goal. But it is a start. (I reminded him of some of the Muslims who have lost weight when fasting during Ramadan - I have seen his cabin steward looking slimmer when Ramadan ended!) Finger's crossed for DH.

Fasting may not be for everyone but I do believe there are some health benefits. For me yes: I lost excess weight, sugar levels are back to normal limits as are my cholesterol levels.

I’ve been doing the 5:2 diet for a couple of weeks - no food, just clear liquids on fast days and keeping to 1000 calories on the days I do eat. I’ve lost half a stone. My partner has type 2 diabetes and is overweight and wanted to do the diet with me once he saw that the weight loss results. We had a conversation with his diabetes nurse who said it was fine for him to follow the diet as long as he regularly checks blood sugar and eats around 1500 calories on the other days. The current NHS thinking is that very low calorie diets (including meal replacement products) and those that include intermittent fast days can reset high blood sugar levels and in some cases put type 2 diabetes into remission with sufficient weight loss. It’s not recommended to follow the diet for more than 12 weeks and the advice is to check in with the diabetes nurse regularly throughout.

jenni123 are you T1 in which case as you say you need regular meals.
I'm T2 and fast from 6pm - 9am I couldn't go longer though some on a T2 facebook page I belong to go 16-18 hrs or longer.

I’m Diabetic. I’ve found that not eating breakfast works for me. I have my evening meal between 5 and 6ish then I don’t eat until about 11ish the following day when I have lunch.

I do remember my Nanna had one day a week when she did not eat at all just drank boiled water with lemon juice. She swore it rid her body of toxins.