The science of intermittent fasting

pjhair

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As a diabetic you probably really want to worry about the insulin index, not the glycemic index, however the glycemic index correlates very well with the insulin index anyway so it doesn't matter. Further, the insulin index is not measured for nearly as many foods.

Just one clarification David, I am not diabetic. I am just trying to eat well and adopt a life style to minimize the risk of this disease.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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Below are my weights the day after a fast, as in the morning of a 36-hour (or 60-hour, or 80-hour, etc) fast. You can see that my weights are systematically lower after longer fasts as the body keeps losing water weight.

I've fallen off the wagon in the past month, I've eaten a lot of pastries, and I haven't had the will to fast much, I've been lazy in so many respects. My weight this morning, 183.4 lbs, is consistent with where it was after 1 day of fasting in December,basically since August for that matter. I did lose weight after a 7-day fast in October, but I regained it all back during two weeks of travel, where I must have eaten three weeks worth of food. All things considered, I'm honestly relieved that I've held steady since moving here in September.

Part of the reason I found will yesterday is I had a dental appointment at 1100am. That allowed me to sidestep lunch, which has been my largest breaker-of-will in recent weeks.

The mornings after extended fasts (longer than 36 hours) are bolded.

May 21st, 2016, 88.3 Kg, 194.7 lbs
May 28th 2016, 88.6 Kg, 195.3 lbs
June 4th, 2016, 87.2 Kg,192.2 lbs
June 11th, 2016, 87.3 Kg, 192.5 lbs
June 20th, 2016, 87.1 Kg, 192.1 lbs
June 25th, 2016, 85.6 Kg, 188.7 lbs
July 2nd, 2016, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 9th, 2016, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 17th, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 30th, 84.3 kg, 185.8 lbs
August 3rd, 84.6 Kg, 186.5 lbs,
August 4th, 83.6 kg, 184.3 lbs
August 5th, 82.3 Kg, 181.4 lbs

August 9th, 82.9 Kg, 182.7 lbs
August 18th, 83.7 Kg, 184.5 lbs,
August 19th, 82.7 Kg, 182.3 lbs
September 5th, 2016, ---
September 6th, 83.8 Kg, 184.8 lbs
September 13th, 2016, 181.6 lbs, 82.4 kg (following incomplete fast)
September 24th, 82.6 Kg, 182 lbs
September 25th, 80.8 Kg, 178.2 lbs
September 26th, 79.7 Kg, 175.8 lbs

October 7th, 81.9 Kg, 180.6 lbs
October 22nd, 2016, 181.8 lbs, 82.5 Kg
October 23rd, 2016, 180.2 lbs, 81.7 Kg
October 24th, 2016, 177.0 lbs, 80.3 Kg
October 25th, 2016, 175.0 lbs, 79.4 Kg
October 26th, 2016, 173. 8 lbs, 78.8 Kg
October 27th, 2016, 172.2 lbs, 78.1 Kg
October 28th, 2016, 171.8 lbs, 77.9 Kg (following incomplete fast)

October 31st, 2016, 174.8 lbs, 79.3 Kg
December 1st, 185.2, 84.0 Kg
December 3rd, 184.4, 83.6 Kg
December 5th, 182.8, 82.9 Kg
December 8th, 183.0, 83.0 Kg
January 21st, 2017, 183.4 lbs, 83.2 Kg
 
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Afro_Vacancy

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Friday, I fasted
Saturday and Sunday, one large meal around lunchtime
Monday, three small meals, under 2,000 calories for sure
Tuesday, average breakfast, small piece of chocolate, large lunch, nothing after 1pm

Satiety is a major issue for me and I'm trying to monitor it. I think sugars and simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes) don't trigger satiety within me, quite the opposite they make me hungrier.

On Monday night I had matzoh ball soup and crispy brussel sprouts in a jewish deli. I was full from the brussel sprouts. Satisfied. I put a piece of matzoh ball in my mouth and all of a sudden I was ravenous for more food. So I left the remaining matzoh ball in the bowl.
 

pjhair

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I think sugars and simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes) don't trigger satiety within me, quite the opposite they make me hungrier.

Sugar does that to me too. Even eating fruits like banana makes me hungrier. I don't eat breakfasts and directly get lunch around 1-2 pm. However, if I eat a fruit in the morning, I start to get hungry around 10:30 - 11 am. But I just ignore the hunger and in 30 to 45 minutes it goes away on it's own.
 

Armando Jose

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Satiety is a major issue for me and I'm trying to monitor it. I think sugars and simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes) don't trigger satiety within me, quite the opposite they make me hungrier.

Disruption of the behavioral satiety sequence by simmondsin
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19501769

This is one thing what I investigated. You are wellcome if yo want send me a PM
 

Afro_Vacancy

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Below are my weights the day after a fast, as in the morning of a 36-hour (or 60-hour, or 80-hour, etc) fast. You can see that my weights are systematically lower after longer fasts as the body keeps losing water weight.

I fasted yesterday, nearly perfectly. I had a little bit of honey and apple cider vinegar with one of my teas, and a bit of salted grassfed butter, so maybe ~200 calories total? I ate well the previous week, mostly healthy. However, the past two nights I have slept very little (maybe ~3 hours each) so that might be affecting my water weight.

I might be fasting again today, though I've already had a wedge of salted grassfed butter, and a bit of "half and half" in my coffee. Next week I'm at a conference in LA, they always serve tons of cookies, etc at those. I'll have to be careful, maybe do extra cardio in the hotel gym.

May 21st, 2016, 88.3 Kg, 194.7 lbs
May 28th 2016, 88.6 Kg, 195.3 lbs
June 4th, 2016, 87.2 Kg,192.2 lbs
June 11th, 2016, 87.3 Kg, 192.5 lbs
June 20th, 2016, 87.1 Kg, 192.1 lbs
June 25th, 2016, 85.6 Kg, 188.7 lbs
July 2nd, 2016, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 9th, 2016, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 17th, 85.3 Kg, 188.1 lbs
July 30th, 84.3 kg, 185.8 lbs
August 3rd, 84.6 Kg, 186.5 lbs,
August 4th, 83.6 kg, 184.3 lbs
August 5th, 82.3 Kg, 181.4 lbs

August 9th, 82.9 Kg, 182.7 lbs
August 18th, 83.7 Kg, 184.5 lbs,
August 19th, 82.7 Kg, 182.3 lbs
September 5th, 2016, ---
September 6th, 83.8 Kg, 184.8 lbs
September 13th, 2016, 181.6 lbs, 82.4 kg (following incomplete fast)
September 24th, 82.6 Kg, 182 lbs
September 25th, 80.8 Kg, 178.2 lbs
September 26th, 79.7 Kg, 175.8 lbs

October 7th, 81.9 Kg, 180.6 lbs
October 22nd, 2016, 181.8 lbs, 82.5 Kg
October 23rd, 2016, 180.2 lbs, 81.7 Kg
October 24th, 2016, 177.0 lbs, 80.3 Kg
October 25th, 2016, 175.0 lbs, 79.4 Kg
October 26th, 2016, 173. 8 lbs, 78.8 Kg
October 27th, 2016, 172.2 lbs, 78.1 Kg
October 28th, 2016, 171.8 lbs, 77.9 Kg (following incomplete fast)

October 31st, 2016, 174.8 lbs, 79.3 Kg
December 1st, 185.2, 84.0 Kg
December 3rd, 184.4, 83.6 Kg
December 5th, 182.8, 82.9 Kg
December 8th, 183.0, 83.0 Kg
January 21st, 2017, 183.4 lbs, 83.2 Kg
January 29th, 181.0 lbs, 82.1 Kg
 

Afro_Vacancy

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I made it a 60-hour fast with Sunday, this week I'm at a conference so I have to eat, I have to go to group dinners and breakfasts. When I woke up at the end of the 60 hours, I was pretty cut, I think I'm not that far off from being sufficiently thin.

I'm skipping dinner tonight, might go to the gym instead.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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Between my two-day water fast, and then my 7-day trip to LA, my weight stayed level. That's no surprise as I always overeat when travelling. Right now I'm thankfully not travelling for a while.

February 7th, 2017, 183.0 lbs, 83.0 Kg
February 8th, 2017, 180.4 lbs. 81.8 Kg

In separate news I made chia seed pudding for the first time last night. It turns out that it's the easiest thing to make. It's super healthy too -- a nutritious alternative to cereal.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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This is an impressive figure.

The calorie increase from 1982 to 2005 is entirely from carbohydrates, and that's when obesity increased as well.

Since then, fats are slightly increasing and carbs slightly decreasing:
C3XX6z_WcAA81Ha.jpg


Here's the obesity epidemic in contrast, for the United States there's a knee in the growth curve around 1980.

Fast+food,+away+from+home+spending+and+obesity.JPG
 

Afro_Vacancy

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For those who don't know, 1977 is when the United State government published George McGovern's Dietary Goals for the American people, urging people to eat less fat, less meat, less butter, and more grains and more low-fat dairy products.

People listened to the advice, and the obesity epidemic started a couple years later.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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http://michelsonmedical.org/2014/12/26/igf-1-fasting-discussion-valter-longo/
IGF-1 & Intermittent Fasting: Discussion with Valter Longo

Cliff's Notes: Longo is a top researcher into ageing and his lab, based at the university of southern california, has done a lot of fasting-related research recently.

They've shown that fasting is very helpful to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, and to regenerate the immune system. In both cases the fasts are between 2 and 5 days, and he thinks the main cause is the reduction in both IGF-1 and IGF-1 activity. They have three ongoing clinical trials to look at other health effects.

He thinks it might be good for fighting cancer, however the standards for that are higher due to FDA rules. He says that ethically, if people are fasting to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, they're necessarily also fasting during the cancer and thus fighting the cancer with fasting. The clinical proof will have to come much later.

The actual research papers have been previously posted in this thread, and are easy to find.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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This weekend I encountered something that I've only read about before.

I ate about 500 calories on both Saturday and Sunday, but I did a lot of exercise. The movers came in with my stuff, and I did a sh*t ton of exercisng both days, actually woke up with a sore *** on Sunday morning. Also did a lot of carrying of groceries walking back from the farmer's market.

If you exercise during a fast, you don't lose weight, as the body holds on to water. Seeing is believing.

February 12th, 2017, 181.4 lbs, 82.3 Kg
February 13th, 2017, 181.0 lbs. 82.1 Kg

Not sure when my next fast is, perhaps Wednesday morning through Thursday evening, as I have surgery on Thursday morning.
 

kj6723

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I've been semi back on the one meal a day diet for the past month, but I've been finding it hard to be as disciplined with it due to a pretty stressful school schedule. And some of my binges have been way over the top. I'd say I've been fluctuating between 10-12%, maybe got down to single digits for like a day last week

I have a wedding coming up in 2 weeks at which I will likely see people from high school I haven't seen in years, so hopefully that will give me some motivation....it would be nice to show up there with a shredded face, cheek bone game on point lol

As far as working out, I've been lifting 6 days a week consistently. I've pretty much dropped all cardio for the time being, as I have limited time, and my goal at the moment is to really max out the aesthetic of my musculature. This summer, depending on my schedule and financial situation, I hope to add muay thai/boxing for my cardio. At least until then I will likely stick to just lifting
 

Afro_Vacancy

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27748014
Beneficial effects of replacing diet beverages with water on type 2 diabetic obese women following a hypo-energetic diet: A randomized, 24-week clinical trial.
Madjd A1,2, Taylor MA1, Delavari A1, Malekzadeh R3, Macdonald IA1, Farshchi HR1,2.

David's summary: They followed 81 overweight/obese type II dabetic women over 24 weeks and had them replace diet beverages with water.

Mean difference in weight: 1.15 +/- 0.32 Kg
Mean difference in Fasting plasma glucose: 0.34 +/- 0.08 mmol/L
Mean difference in Fasting insuln: 1.55 +/- 0.32 m lU/mL
Mean difference in HOMA IR: 0.72 +/- 0.17
Mean difference in 2 hour postprandial glucose: 0.32 +/- 0.08 mmol/L

No significant differences in waist circumference, lipid profiles and HbA1c between the two groups.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23591120
The effect of intermittent energy and carbohydrate restriction v. daily energy restriction on weight loss and metabolic disease risk markers in overweight women.

Intermittent energy restriction may result in greater improvements in insulin sensitivity and weight control than daily energy restriction (DER). We tested two intermittent energy and carbohydrate restriction (IECR) regimens, including one which allowed ad libitum protein and fat (IECR+PF). Overweight women (n 115) aged 20 and 69 years with a family history of breast cancer were randomised to an overall 25 % energy restriction, either as an IECR (2500-2717 kJ/d, < 40 g carbohydrate/d for 2 d/week) or a 25 % DER (approximately 6000 kJ/d for 7 d/week) or an IECR+PF for a 3-month weight-loss period and 1 month of weight maintenance (IECR or IECR+PF for 1 d/week). Insulin resistance reduced with the IECR diets (mean - 0·34 (95% CI - 0·66, - 0·02) units) and the IECR+PF diet (mean - 0·38 (95% CI - 0·75, - 0·01) units). Reductions with the IECR diets were significantly greater compared with the DER diet (mean 0·2 (95% CI - 0·19, 0·66) μU/unit, P= 0·02). Both IECR groups had greater reductions in body fat compared with the DER group (IECR: mean - 3·7 (95% CI - 2·5, - 4·9) kg, P= 0·007; IECR+PF: mean - 3·7 (95% CI - 2·8, - 4·7) kg, P= 0·019; DER: mean - 2·0 (95% CI - 1·0, 3·0) kg). During the weight maintenance phase, 1 d of IECR or IECR+PF per week maintained the reductions in insulin resistance and weight. In the short term, IECR is superior to DER with respect to improved insulin sensitivity and body fat reduction. Longer-term studies into the safety and effectiveness of IECR diets are warranted.

****************************

tldr; At fixed total calories, the group of women eating low carb + intermittent fasting had better improvements in insulin sensitivity, body weight, and body fat than the women eating a consistent low-calorie diet. Both groups averaged ~1,430 calories a day.

Subjects were 115 overweight women aged 20-69 with a family history of breast cancer.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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February 7th, 2017, 183.0 lbs, 83.0 Kg
February 8th, 2017, 180.4 lbs. 81.8 Kg
February 25th, 2017, 176.8 lbs, 80.2 Kg*

My body mass index fell below the overweight range, it's 24.7 this morning. Technically yesterday was not a full fast. I fasted until dinner time, and then had a dinner of ~750 calories: omelette with mushrooms, garlic, cheese; chia seed pudding with a bit of jam; a few nuts.

I think I'm likely to see abdominals soon.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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February 7th, 2017, 183.0 lbs, 83.0 Kg
February 8th, 2017, 180.4 lbs. 81.8 Kg
February 25th, 2017, 176.8 lbs, 80.2 Kg*
February 26th, 2017, 175.0 lbs, 79.4 Kg*

My body mass index fell below the overweight range, it's 24.4 this morning. Technically yesterday, as with the day before, was not a full fast. I fasted until dinner time, and then had a dinner of ~750 calories: omelette with mushrooms, garlic, french shallots, cheese, and hot sauce; high-fat yogurt from grassfed cows with hemp seeds, cinnamon, and a bit of jam; a few nuts.

I'll be eating normally for a few days, actually eating in excess today, and then i'll have another ~60 hour "fast" sometime later this week. I think I now need 60 hours rather than 36, in part because I'm not exercising, in part because these are incomplete fasts with a few calories at dinner, and in part because I'm thinner now, so my body may not be as effective a battery.
 

Afro_Vacancy

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My post fast drink, other than a chai tea with honey and apple cider vinegar, is this homemade, cold pressed, unpasteurized juice.

I want to get into super disgusting beetroot because it's healthy. I looked up online tricks. Mix beetroot juice with ginger, celery, grapefruit, and Himalayan salt to mask the taste. The taste was somewhat masked so it worked.

I had two large beetroots, three grapefruits, five celery stalks, two pieces of ginger, and this juice is purple as f***, because the contaminant of beetroot is so strong.

Hopefully the health aspects of beetroot are too, as they say: pain is weakness leaving the body.
 

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