The Science of Fasting (5 Viewers)

[Zack Lee]

It's been disproved, along with eating many small meals throughout the day. The only thing eating small meals throughout the day does, it helps people who are hungry all the time control their food intake.

yea, I have seen the studies about few big vs many small meals. I figured this was lumped in with that.

 

[Tapxe]

I think the energy gains and good feeling come from the detoxification of your body. But if you don't eat enough calories and (very important!) you don't sleep enough, no matter what you do, you'll feel run down and without energy. At least that's how it is for me.

It's not just the detox, but your body will also release adrenaline into the system. This also has the effect of bumping metabolism and increasing HGH if my sources are right and IRC.

 

[FLEA]

My feet have fallen arches/crooked, so I can't "run" or else my knees and ankles will hurt to much to stand on them. I am sure once I get closer to my proper weight I can start running if I focus on how my feet land. I 'run' on the elliptical for an hour typically and I end up according to the machine 'running'/moving my arms and legs about 5 miles on average. That's without pushing hard. I am usually watching Hulu or Netflix on my phone while running. I haven't moved much weight since the Holidays because I fell out of the habit of going 3 and 4 times a week, but the fasting and calorie counting have helped me continue to make progress even without 100% commitment to the physical work. I'm still about 60 lbs overweight so my body has plenty of fuel left to burn. I haven't had cramps, and I was slightly sore in the beginning but I think my body had adjusted to the work so I probably wasn't getting much out of it by that point other than the heart rate, which serves its own purpose, eliminating waste. It's just a matter of making sure you stay hydrated so your body can do the work it needs to process your waste and get it the **** out of your body.

I swear I am on the laziest diet ever, and its the first life style change that has worked longer than a few months.

Congrats!!! and keep up the good work, results will follow!!

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

Today I went to see my acupuncturist. Little bit of background: I started going to acupuncture a couple of years ago when I started having a lot of gastrointestinal issues such as massive stomach bloat, acid-reflux, heart burn and just feeling sick all the time. I literally couldn't even drink water without bloating up and getting acid-reflux.

I went to a gastroenterologist who did nothing more than do an ultrasound to check for gallstones and ensure my spleen was not enlarged and scan whatever other organs in the abdomen that might be able to show abnormalities on an ultrasound, try a certain diet and then prescribe Prilosec and a probiotic. He then put me in the hospital for 3 days as I was bleeding internally and nearly needed a transfusion when my hemoglobin dropped so low after he cut a blood vessel while taking a sample of my small intestine (to test for Celiac) during a routine endoscopy. The BEST part was that I got to pay the hospital bill for his mistake.

After going through all of that without any answers or relief from my symptoms, I decided to go to acupuncture as I'd gone in the past for allergies and had great results.

Anyway, I've been going regularly for the past couple years. I go more frequently when my stomach is acting up and less frequently when everything is running smoothly. I am fully subscribed to the TCM school of thought. So I asked my acupuncture doctor about fasting and the TCM views on fasting.

What she stated was that TCM philosophy does not believe in fasting in the sense of going without food. She said that this philosophy is more aligned with religious or spiritual deities and the belief that going without food will somehow enable some form of longevity or allows you to become more spiritually connected and that TCM believes in cleansing the body via diet and herbs and the spirit with meditation, qigong and other such activities that make you feel more connected with yourself and the universe.

That being said that TCM fully embraces a very clean diet that is specific to your constitutional needs i.e paleo or raw food diets while healthy are not necessarily good for someone like me based on my constitution and the issues I have.

She also talked about a method they subscribe to that basically is the same as those in here who have described eating only within an 8 hour window and typically the cut off hour is 6pm (no eating after 6pm). So I think for me, I'll implement the 8 hour eating window and see what results I can get with that.

Note: This is not meant to discredit results that anyone on here has had with fasting or make any claims that it is bad in any way or a suggestion to stop doing it. Just wanted to follow-up since I had expressed a desire to do a fast but since I am also a big believer in TCM, I don't want to do anything to disrupt the success I've had with it. There are many schools of thought and many forms of fasting and I believe that people can and should do what works for them.

 

[KiwiSaint]

I've been on a fasting regime for four weeks, since I hit 200 lb. on the bathroom scale. Goal weight is 175. I fast for 36 hours every Wednesday...no food from supper Tuesday night until breakfast Thursday morning. Nothing but water. Eat normally the balance of the week.
Have lost 8 lb. so far. Hunger pangs at dinner time go away after a few hours...drinking lots of water helps.

 

[49erKiller]

Oh, the science of fasting... I clicked on this link expecting something completely different.

Carry on.

 

[rsmith2783]

here is the article I read in the paper late last year that got me interested in intermittent fasting.

I can attest to this. I completed a 7 day fast once, and by the end of the fast I was more alert, I had a boost in mental clarity, I had a lot of energy and I noticed improvement in other physical abilities.

During the fast I drunk 1 gallon of water a day, along with herbs to feed the cells and control the appetite. I would also sip some fruit juice to control the blood sugar.

Prior to the fast I was also experiencing symptoms that were similar to Plantar fasciitis. Those symptoms were gone by the end of the fast.

 

[rsmith2783]

I think it simply boils down to giving the body more time to use up and clear out all the crap that's hanging around in your organism.

Exactly. That and then it starts to work on repairing what's broken.

 

[Zack Lee]

I’m getting myself geared up to start this on Ash Wednesday

 

[bclemms]

I love this thread but every time I read the title my brain sees "fisting" which would be even more entertaining.

 

[Tapxe]

I love this thread but every time I read the title my brain sees "fisting" which would be even more entertaining.

Most guys can't handle something like that, but good for you.

 

[Zack Lee]

Most guys can't handle something like that, but good for you.

Everything becomes less intimidating when you know the science behind it

 

[Madmarsha]

I have refrained from clicking into this thread (having finally done so, I am alarmed at the number of references to fisting. To be fair, it's only 2. But I was expecting none).

ETA: I stand corrected. In the time it took me to write my original post, the number of references rose exponentially.

ANYWHO, I don't even know what doc this is referencing. My foray into intermittent fasting was by way of Dr. Jason Fung's "The Obesity Code". Dr. Fung is a UCLA-trained nephrologist who runs a clinic in Toronto treating Type II diabetes advocating dietary management.

When I am truly low carbing (instead of pretending I am low carbing), a 16/8 regimen comes easy. I am not even hungry till 16 hours in. But in that 16-18 hours, I always hit my "wall". If I am trying to do a multi-day fast, I will have to push through the 16 (usually by drinking water or just going to sleep).

But once I push through, that's when it really begins. Instead of feeling enervated or foggy or weak, you feel energized and clear. Surprisingly, you can totally work out (unless you're doing something on an "extreme" level). No bonking.


The hard part is not hunger, it's missing the activity of eating. Which makes sense when you think of how much of eating is not true hunger but habit or "boredom" or socialization. Still, it surprised me. And that's harder to power through than hunger, so I usually top out at 72 hours and that's fine for me.

What intrigues me most is the process of autophagy (for which you have to go 18-24 hours). Autophagy was the subject behind the 2016 Nobel prize for medicine

Anybody that knee jerk reacts with "Oh, starving yourself is SO unhealthy" doesn't have the first inkling what fasting is. I learned so much about my body's reactions to food and digestion and how much of our eating is "accidental" (it's possible to attend parties, gatherings or even restaurants without eating but difficult). I absolutely, unequivocally believe in the science of it, though. It's not about having an eating disorder.

 

[Madmarsha]

Since I've not been able to work out due to needing surgery on my neck, I've been eating a simple breakfast of eggs, some sort of protein, and a small granola bar. I skip lunch and drink water all day, which keeps me satisfied. When I get home, I'll fix dinner if my wife is working, or she'll have dinner ready by the time I get home (usually around 6:00 PM).

Since I've been following that plan, I've lost 13 pounds over the last couple of months and that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Cool but not sure what this has to do with fasting? While many ARE merely implementing for weight loss, I think the point is that there are many health benefits to fasting. Fat loss, if it happens, is just lagniappe and, the way I see it, this thread is not about the myriad ways there are to lose weight.

 

[Madmarsha]

I look at it as fasting light. LOL

Ah, I see. Well, yeah, it's kinda sorta a version of intermittent fasting. How about if you look at it as fasting "training" and consider jumping into the fray of all-out fasting? Just throwing that out there for your consideration.

(And thank you for not taking offense to my query. I was maybe being a little impudent.)