Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#161

Post by 300bps » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:27 PM UTC

adamqureshi wrote: post #130

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I have been on the intermittent fasting thing for about 6 months. I started with 14 hours then 16 hours and now 18-20 hour fast. I dropped 10 pounds. I have a history of diabetes in my family. I took the 28andME DNA test and it said i have a predisposition to diabetes. The doc said to me. You have pre-diabetes just continue to workout and watch what you eat and your insurance does n…

How was your diet before you started intermittent fasting? When I read anecdotal accounts like this, I often wonder if your previous diet was so poor that doing anything to change it would've made it better.

In other words, without a control group that switched from high carb to low carb without intermittent fasting it's hard to know if the benefits you've seen are from intermittent fasting or just from eating better generally.

You and I are about the same age and I've been the same weight the past 30 years. I know what you mean about non-sweet things tasting sweeter - I gave up obvious refined sugar about 6 years ago and the bag of plain raw vegetables I eat every day for a snack tastes amazing.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#162

Post by adamqureshi » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:29 PM UTC

uhtred wrote: post #148

adamqureshi wrote: post #130

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I have been on the intermittent fasting thing for about 6 months. I started with 14 hours then 16 hours and now 18-20 hour fast. I dropped 10 pounds. I have a history of diabetes in my family. I took the 28andME DNA test and it said i have a predisposition to diabetes. The doc said to me. You have pre-diabetes just continue to workout and watch what you eat and your insurance does n…

So do you have to consume the 2000 to 2500 calories that the average person needs, in that 4 hour window? What food do you eat?

I don't calorie count. 4pm meal can be a cheese burger, Chinese food or paki food ( like chicken Karahi) I do an evening workout around 7pm with kettle bell swings to burn the sugar. Then i have a snack after. But Its very odd I am NOT hungry just like "used" to eating as if it's a memory. I am still getting used to this. I can't explain it clearly. I guess you just have to try it. My whole family has diabetes even my little brother who is 10 years younger than me. Could be the bad south Asian genes ( Pakistani) , I don't know. lol. I try to stay away from carbs such as white bread ,no ice cream / sugar etc... or i limit the amount of naan breads i have to like 1 when eating with a curry dish but i do love a chicken bryani once in a while but the portion size is less , i just can't eat like i used too before i started the IF diet.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#163

Post by armitron » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:29 PM UTC

pacoverdi wrote: post #63

monkmartinez wrote: post #14

Anecdote: I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly. Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame.…

I feel like going on IF without some kind of carbohydrate restriction (ideally, ketogenic diet) is a bit like alternating between stepping on the brakes and on the accelerator, i.e. not as healthy or effective. Beer can be high in sugar, especially Belgian/Abbey beers that often include glucose syrup in their ingredients. Something I discovered with horror as they are some of my favorites :/ EDIT: clarification, don'…

None of the great trappist beers contain glucose syrup. Maybe you're mixing it up with candi sugar.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#164

Post by amelius » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:29 PM UTC

monkmartinez wrote: post #14

Anecdote: I tried intermittent fasting for 11 months with very, very little to show for it. I did the 18 hours off and 6 hours of eating plan. I have also tried a strict vegetarian diet for 6 months with no real changes in blood work. My Cholesterol didn't move to the dismay of my PCP and myself quite frankly. Biology: I am a professional Firefighter that ran 1000 miles and bicycled 250 miles during this time frame.…

You could try 5/2 fasting (5 days eating, 2 days fasting)

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#165

Post by becausecombi » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:31 PM UTC

300bps wrote: post #161

adamqureshi wrote: post #130

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I have been on the intermittent fasting thing for about 6 months. I started with 14 hours then 16 hours and now 18-20 hour fast. I dropped 10 pounds. I have a history of diabetes in my family. I took the 28andME DNA test and it said i have a predisposition to diabetes. The doc said to me. You have pre-diabetes just continue to workout and watch what you eat and your insurance does n…

How was your diet before you started intermittent fasting? When I read anecdotal accounts like this, I often wonder if your previous diet was so poor that doing anything to change it would've made it better. In other words, without a control group that switched from high carb to low carb without intermittent fasting it's hard to know if the benefits you've seen are from intermittent fasting or just from eating better…

Not denying IF has an important role, but daily strength & cardio training are surely confounding also.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#166

Post by amelius » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:33 PM UTC

neves wrote: post #131

fouc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you also tried going a whole day without eating, say 8pm as your last meal and then no eating until 2 days later at 8am, basically 36 hours. Doing that once a week or so is pretty effective. There's a whole host of benefits to longer fasts as well. Helps so much with appetite control, resets your hormones, plus autophagy, etc.

How do you keep productive doing this? When I fast for more than 16h, my ability to focus decreases a lot. I don't have this luxury as a software developer. Sure I can fast in the weekend, but holy sh*t, my weekends aren't for suffering. It's the time I spend with my family.

Perhaps check [1] for practical tips. (I found this link through the page on gwern.net someone else linked to).

[1] https://gettingstronger.org/2010/11/learning-to-fast/

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#167

Post by Ididntdothis » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:36 PM UTC

sodafountan wrote: post #158

Ididntdothis wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s that different from other diets. The money is in books and consulting. People also need to know what to eat when they aren’t fasting so there is an opportunity there.

IF is actually very binary, you just don't eat when you're fasting and eat whatever you want when you're not. (But try to keep it under 600 calories if you're a man, 500 if you're a women. And of course the healthier the food the better, think fish, greens, etc.) It's that simple. I like OP's point, this diet works and it can't be sold to people en-mass which causes confusion when different retailers put their own li…

I think you are underestimating the capabilities of marketers to create products and then selling them. I also don’t think IF will be healthy if people eat whatever they want during non fasting time.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#168

Post by becausecombi » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 3:47 PM UTC

adamqureshi wrote: post #130

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I have been on the intermittent fasting thing for about 6 months. I started with 14 hours then 16 hours and now 18-20 hour fast. I dropped 10 pounds. I have a history of diabetes in my family. I took the 28andME DNA test and it said i have a predisposition to diabetes. The doc said to me. You have pre-diabetes just continue to workout and watch what you eat and your insurance does n…

Glad it's working out for you! I tried IF a couple years ago, for a 4 month period. After an adjustment period of about 2 weeks, which included short periods of intense hunger and mild head aches, I felt great! I wasn't in bad shape before the IF, so I only lost about 6lbs/3kg, but my energy levels where much more consistent throughout the day, focus was easier to achieve and maintain, and I just had a joie de vivre.

Like you, I started off with a wider eating window, of about 4 hours, and I started without really caring what I ate. But I slowly reduced the window to about 1-2 hours and a strange thing happened. Avoiding unhealthy food became a very easy act of will. Maybe it was just the realization that the only thing I was putting in my body for the entire day, the only thing that it would use to repair and refuel itself, was what I was eating at that very moment.

I've never really had New Year's resolutions, but this December I've been slowly weaning myself off my morning coffee, anticipating an early January start to my new IF schedule! I'm also really excited to continue this experiment to see where it goes!

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#169

Post by Ididntdothis » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #113

thegabriele wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many people there's no snacking or eating outside regular meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). In this case 16/8 IF would be skipping breakfast which is exactly my case for many years now.

> For many people there's no snacking or eating outside regular meals Just not many people in the US...

Unfortunately the rest of the world is catching up quickly.

Re: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease [pdf]

#170

Post by throwaway_tech » Fri, Dec 27, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

adamqureshi wrote: post #162

uhtred wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So do you have to consume the 2000 to 2500 calories that the average person needs, in that 4 hour window? What food do you eat?

I don't calorie count. 4pm meal can be a cheese burger, Chinese food or paki food ( like chicken Karahi) I do an evening workout around 7pm with kettle bell swings to burn the sugar. Then i have a snack after. But Its very odd I am NOT hungry just like "used" to eating as if it's a memory. I am still getting used to this. I can't explain it clearly. I guess you just have to try it. My whole family has diabetes even m…

>4pm meal can be a cheese burger, Chinese food or paki food (like chicken Karahi) I do an evening workout around 7pm with kettle bell swings to burn the sugar.

If I can make a suggestion...if possible continue the fast into the workout. If you find you don't have the energy to get through the workout or performance suffers try replacing the meal with a sugarfree pre-workout to get through, then eat the carbs with some protein post workout.

The general idea is the sugar/carbs you eat at 4 will not truly be available to burn at 7, but you will have probably spiked insulin so your body is trying to store energy while you are in the gym trying to access the energy. Whereas if you can make the workout fasted, you will be in ketosis burning fat and have naturally spiked you HGH from the fast, then after the workout while you are catabolic you will eat carbs/protein to trigger anabolism (recovery/repair) of the muscles while filing up your depleted glucose/glycogen aided by the carbs/insulin.