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Fasting Affects the Brain

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Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#31

Post by qntty »

wyldfire wrote: post #27
mcfunk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be interested to see where the scientific consensus is in 10 years. I think the evidence is very much on the side of the hormonal theory of obesity and fasting, especially given the monumental failure of the "calories in calories out" model.

> especially given the monumental failure of the "calories in calories out" model. Can you explain this in more detail? CICO seems like it might oversimplify things but it always seemed like a really sane basis for helping shape your diet. If you need to lose weight, you should plan meals to create a calorie deficit. But yes, I would not be surprised to learn that fasting on day X and consuming double your normal cal…

This article makes a case against a calorie-centric approach to dieting. It boils down to something like Michael Pollan's "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." A guy (who has since become an expert in public health) wasn't able to control his weight using standard calorie-counting techniques and had a lot of success changing his diet to "high quality" (as opposed to "highly processed") food. The article isn't super clear on specifics of what that means but it sounds like there might be something to it. Also worth noting that he began exercising in between this switch.

https://www.1843magazine.com/features/death-of-the-calorie

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#32

Post by x1ph0z »

sepisoad wrote: post #19

yes fasting can have benefits, but the way most Muslims do it (in summer specifically) actually hurts. your body needs a minimum amount of water and salt to work properly throughout the day.

Wouldn't that be mitigated by having enough water before he fast begins? I usually gorge water before and after my fasting for the day.

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#33

Post by false-mirror »

Angostura wrote: post #21
istjohn wrote: post #9

I wonder how these findings can be reconciled with the research on the importance of breakfast for school children. There are obvious differences between the two issues, but nevertheless when I think about how to apply these insights, they seem to conflict, and I'm not sure how to resolve those conflicts. Edit: The biggest difference is age, but conventional wisdom says adults, too, should eat a good breakfast before…

There is really no good evidence that breakfast is "the most important meal of the day", despite what folk wisdom and cereal advertising say. For many people it can easily be skipped.

It's far healthier to skip dinner though. Breakfast is the easiest to skip (for social/practical reasons), but generally your body will digest things better when ingested earlier in the day.

An easy compromise is to get most of your calories around lunch time (or earlier).

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#34

Post by ravenstine »

I sometimes intermittently fast for 24 hour periods, but recently I've switched to skipping breakfast, which effectively works out to be a 17 hour fast for me if I eat dinner at 6pm and have lunch at 12pm. Everyone says it's the most important meal of the day, but I haven't found convincing evidence of this(especially that which isn't sponsored by grain and sugar producers), and not having a huge insulin spike at the beginning of the day seems beneficial.

The results are profound. I'm a lot more focused and emotionally stable. The only distraction is the frequent "gotta find food" feeling, but that usually subsides within minutes. It's usually not even true hunger, but an impulse instilled in me by a culture focused on eating and "never starving".

Pro-breakfast proponents say that eating breakfast results in eating less throughout the day, but I can't say this has been true at all for myself. When I ate breakfast, I also would snack more throughout the day. Without breakfast, I look forward to meals more and those two meals, which are almost always ketogenic, are more satisfying.

The only negative effect I'm having is that my sex drive has plummeted to near-zero. I suppose that's a good thing for focusing on work, but I wouldn't want to keep that up forever.

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#35

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

mcfunk wrote: post #20
coldtea wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Highly recommend the book "The Complete Guide to Fasting" by Dr. Jason Fung. Such books and doctors, promoting this or that diet, heavily cherry-pick from research papers, they don't reflect the scientific consensus on the matter.

I'll be interested to see where the scientific consensus is in 10 years. I think the evidence is very much on the side of the hormonal theory of obesity and fasting, especially given the monumental failure of the "calories in calories out" model.

> especially given the monumental failure of the "calories in calories out" model.

I don't think that's the case at all - do we have examples where people, strictly observed didn't lose weight when eating under their caloric requirements?

There absolutely is a pile of mitigating factors in how someone eats or lives, but that's like saying "exercise has been proven to not help people run marathons" just because most people who try to run a marathon don't succeed.

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#36

Post by faissaloo »

Zaak wrote: post #17
istjohn wrote: post #9

I wonder how these findings can be reconciled with the research on the importance of breakfast for school children. There are obvious differences between the two issues, but nevertheless when I think about how to apply these insights, they seem to conflict, and I'm not sure how to resolve those conflicts. Edit: The biggest difference is age, but conventional wisdom says adults, too, should eat a good breakfast before…

If I had a big test coming up, I wouldn't experiment with fasting on the day. However, if you've been fasting while studying and you find it to be a help, then fasting the day of the test is probably a good idea.

I know it's anecdotal but I've only managed a few points increase by fasting.

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#37

Post by bluedino »

rossenberg79 wrote: post #30

I stopped doing fasts because even though I did notice a boost to my productivity, most of it was due to not having to stop in the middle of the day to eat or waste time thinking about eating. In terms of cognitive benefits, going for a run for 30 minutes in the morning still seemed far superior.

>> going for a run for 30 minutes in the morning still seemed far superior

Why not both?

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#38

Post by UpperBodyEimi »

ravenstine wrote: post #34

I sometimes intermittently fast for 24 hour periods, but recently I've switched to skipping breakfast, which effectively works out to be a 17 hour fast for me if I eat dinner at 6pm and have lunch at 12pm. Everyone says it's the most important meal of the day, but I haven't found convincing evidence of this(especially that which isn't sponsored by grain and sugar producers), and not having a huge insulin spike at the…

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" was an advertising slogan for Kellogg's.

Re: Fasting Affects the Brain

#40

Post by blotter_paper »

arkitaip wrote: post #18
istjohn wrote: post #9

I wonder how these findings can be reconciled with the research on the importance of breakfast for school children. There are obvious differences between the two issues, but nevertheless when I think about how to apply these insights, they seem to conflict, and I'm not sure how to resolve those conflicts. Edit: The biggest difference is age, but conventional wisdom says adults, too, should eat a good breakfast before…

I'm not sure this research applies to kids. Also, you can totally have breakfast and still be fasting, i.e. by following a 16:8 diet (fasting during 16 hours, eating during a 8 hour window).

Oh, come on now, we call that intermittent fasting (or time restricted eating) for a reason! This like saying that you can pronounce the alphabet aloud while being silent. No, but you can pronounce the alphabet while being intermittently silent :) You're not fasting while you're eating breakfast.
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