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Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

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111–120 of 176 posts

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#111

I've been doing intermittent fasting for about a year--it seems to work for me because I struggle with controlling portion sizes. Mon/Wed of every week I limit caloric intake severely--I skip all meals and snack on olives, pickles, maybe a small amount of avacado in the evening along with a couple of La Croix. Not sure why olives/pickles, other than I wanted to keep the fasting foods keto-friendly. Other than that, I…

How has it effected your biking? More endurance? Peak Power? or just being lighter?

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#112
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a bunch of little stuff. I don't think it was as bad as the flu, but it was somewhat uncomfortable. The initial symptom was wanting to eat all of the time, even if I wasn't hungry. My brain was convinced that I had to spend huge chunks of my time chewing on something flavorful. So I sliced off some very flavorful cheese and nibbled little tiny pieces during the morning. That seemed to work. Note that I avoi…

> Manufacturers sneak carbs into everything. It's insane. You go buy beans, and there's rice flour in it. You buy salmon, and there's sugar in it. It's beyond ridiculous, and explains so much about rising levels of obesity. Anything even vaguely processed has a lot of unnecessary carbs added, for one reason or another.

preach brotha, it really is mind blowing that it's been allowed to get this out of control

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#113
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try to move that around a bit just to avoid feeling hungry when I go to sleep.

Surely you want hunger hitting when you approach sleep, so you maximise the time you're not conscious of the hunger (because you're asleep)?

I find it difficult to get to sleep if I'm actually hungry when I get into bed.

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#114
post #56

I've had serious weight issues for my whole life, primarily due to my love of chocolate. As I approached 400 pounds, I took a hard look at myself and decided to make a change. For the past month (29 days now) I've been doing alternate-day fasting* where I eat about 2000-2500kcal on eat days and cap myself at about 100kcal of half-and-half with coffee on fast days (gotta get that joe). While a lot of it is no doubt no…

Good on you, buddy!

One trick you might try wrt chocolate in particular: Try darker and darker chocolates. If you can get up to 90% or even 99%, you can get your chocolate hit with little in the way of sugar or calories.

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the problem was that he ignored getting treated for cancer and died?

No way?! How confident are you? Anyways, I mentioned Steve Jobs just as an interesting fact. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't personally believe that anybody should be cautious recommending a book. It's a whole separate topic, but in short, can't help one if he's stupid enough to try whatever is on the internet, but I'm glad to share useful information with the smarter one. Otherwise there is no neither progress n…

> No way?! How confident are you?

Not just confident, but certain. From Jobs's authorized biography:

To the horror of his friends and wife, Jobs decided not to have surgery to remove the tumor, which was the only accepted medical approach. "I really didn't want them to open up my body, so I tried to see if a few other things would work," he told me years later with a hint of regret. Specifically, he kept to a strict vegan diet, with large quantities of fresh carrot and fruit juices. To that regimen he added acupuncture, a variety of herbal remedies, and occasionally a few other treatments he found on the Internet or by consulting people around the country, including a psychic. For a while he was under the sway of a doctor who operated a natural healing clinic in southern California that stressed the use of organic herbs, juice fasts, frequent bowel cleansings, hydrotherapy, and the expression of all negative feelings.

[...] His friends repeatedly urged him to have surgery and chemotherapy. "Steve talked to me when he was trying to cure himself by eating horseshit and horseshit roots, and I told him he was crazy," Grove recalled. Levinson said that he "pleaded every day" with Jobs and found it "enormously frustrating that I just couldn't connect with him." The fights almost ruined their friendship. "That's not how cancer works," Levinson insisted when Jobs discussed his diet treatments. "You cannot solve this without surgery and blasting it with toxic chemicals." Even the diet doctor Dean Ornish, a pioneer in alternative and nutritional methods of treating diseases, took a long walk with Jobs and insisted that sometimes traditional methods were the right option. "You really need surgery," Ornish told him.

Jobs's obstinacy lasted for nine months after his October 2003 diagnosis. [...] In july 2004 a CAT scan showed that the tumor had grown and possibly spread. It forced him to face reality."

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#116

What if you have to exercise? Should one exercise while fasting? Or to put it another way, if you only eat between 10am and 6pm (let's say), what is the best time to exercise? Before work or after work?

That depends on the type of exercise you're doing.

x fit?

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#117

Fitting to see this during this month, as it is currently the holy month of Ramandan for Muslims, who fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days.

Well, perhaps it's good for the metabolism of my muslim colleague, but right now his productivity is way down. Also I don't the ramandan fasting is particularly good since muslims usually eat a lot during the night to compensate.

yeah, but it should be investigated, and there's so many people doing it regularly that it's probably easy to find subjects.

some people do one-day fasting so maybe ramadan has a tangible effect beside psychology

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#118
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sugars and carbohydrates do not trigger the hormone that says we're full when compared It's important to note the difference between refined sugars (candy) and natural sugars (fruits). Refined sugars are basically fructose (hello High Fructose Corn Syrup). Refined sugars -- super hella bad. When you eat the refined sugars, your liver actually traps the ATP, blocking the pathway to the brain, making you still feel h…

> Refined sugars are basically fructose sucrose (white refined sugar) is half fructose, half glucose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose High Fructose Corn Syrup has a variable amount of fructose, but is usually similar to cane sugar because it is used as a substitute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup

HFCS is generally in the range of 50% to 90% fructose. In other words, it's typically worse than sucrose for you.

Fructose does not provoke a satiety response in the human gastroenteric system, unlike glucose.

So if you do eat candy, prefer sucrose to HFCS and glucose to sucrose. Sucrose will be listed on packaging as "sugar".

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#119
post #56

I've had serious weight issues for my whole life, primarily due to my love of chocolate. As I approached 400 pounds, I took a hard look at myself and decided to make a change. For the past month (29 days now) I've been doing alternate-day fasting* where I eat about 2000-2500kcal on eat days and cap myself at about 100kcal of half-and-half with coffee on fast days (gotta get that joe). While a lot of it is no doubt no…

> My biggest take-away though is that fasting has helped me practice self-denial to the point where I can handle my sweet tooth very easily now. The difference in apparent willpower is so immense that I can hardly believe it myself.

I also found this to be the case; once you have done it once or twice, subsequent times become easier. To anybody who has tried and given up early: it gets (much) easier.

I have given up all caffeine for Lent twice (three years ago and this last year) and while the first time was misery, the second time was dead easy.

Ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting both give me really good short-term motivation to not snack, too: my most susceptible snacking hours are between dinner and bedtime, but I know that if I'm on a ketogenic diet that eating carbs will erase the "free" 7-8 hours of my body converting lipids to ketones (while I sleep). Similarly if I'm fasting but s/carbs/anything with calories/.

Re: Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting

#120

Like many programmers, especially us older folks, I've struggled with my weight my entire life. Three weeks ago I went on a ketogenic diet. This week I've added intermittent fasting, only eating between noon and six. After the "keto flu" period ended, it's been quite enjoyable. The IF comes quite naturally and is painless. I'm not one to spot diet trends, but my intuition says that keto/IF will be a big thing over th…

I'm doing keto too, not for weight loss (heck I could use some weight gain), but to reap some benefits of more stable energy, avoiding carb crashes. I bought some test strips and MCT powder, it took a week to finally reach deep ketosis (according to my test strips). I'm unexpectedly hungry a lot, but I found that coconut milk + MCT oil is very filling.
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