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

You really have an odd bone to pick with fasting...so how about the ancient Greeks? They didn't practice the Abrahamic religions and the Greeks serve as the foundation of Western thought and logic. In fact lets take Plato and Artistotle who both fasted purely for the physical and mental benefits not for the Gods, as was common, for example:

"Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness." -Hippocrates

"Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day." - Plutarch

>It was used as a way to reduce epileptic seizures, not because it was thought of as the optimal way for humans to eat.

It was already known fasting prevent seizures. Keto was developed as a way to mimic those benefits of fasting without having to abstain from food/fast.

>It's what our bodies have evolved to do.

Well from an evolutionary perspective, the human brain more efficiently runs off of ketones than glucose. Biologically humans need insulin to clear glucose from the blood and biologically humans become resistant to insulin over time (so its not much of an evolutionary argument). Not to mention the recent Nobel Prize for discovering Autophagy which is the process of cell recycling triggered by...fasting.

I started with 36 hours once a week because I made money based on the appearance of my body. It works tremendously well in the short-term, but it’s deceptive. The tissue loss is mostly fat, which looks great, but there is definitely some muscle loss, which is an order of magnitude harder to gain back, so the long-term effect is muscle wasting and fat rebound as caloric demands drop. It’s easy to see in my photos. Later I did OMAD several times for stretches of about a year with roughly similar short and long-term effects. Recently I completed a 100-hour fast.

There are a few basic issues. First, with IF you’re not really fasting as long as you think you are. Small intestines take about 6 hours, and the colon turns fIber into MCTs for days. Second, the insulin surge becomes preferential to fatty acid storage over muscle glycogen. Third, you lose the ghrelin-induced GH that releases fatty acids throughout the day to feed the muscles. There may be autophagy benefits, but that may be as true for satellite cells as it is for cancer, and maybe more so because cancer usually originates in fatty tissues with lots of energy nearby.

At this point, by experience and by science, I don’t think IF is the best diet protocol if you have the discipline for a more continuous protocol. I don’t, so I can’t say I’ve tried that, and I hate the fat on my body, so I’m not sure where to go from here. I’m not 100% convinced either way, but I wanted to give a balancing perspective.

Honestly, what most likely will reverse your prediabetes is that you are now working out more, eating less, and dropped 10 pounds. The IF was simply a compliance tactic to help you achieve that goal. Just something to keep in mind... it's okay if you eventually stop doing IF, what's more important is you maintain the healthy eating and active lifestyle.

Counter-example: I was on Keto for 2 years and my blood levels became prediabetic (105 and 100 in 2 blood tests over the course of 2 annual doctor visits).

As soon as I reintroduced carbs to normal levels (I bought a glucosometer) my blood sugars went back down to optimal (85). My most recent blood work was at 90.

Your mileage may vary and everyone's GI responds differently to different foods.