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Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

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Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#41
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

black coffee + ghee/coconut oil is part of keto. He must be doing keto + IF.

Having done keto for a long time I can only recommend two options besides Tea. 1. Become a weird coffee person and put some nerd energy into it so black coffee doesn't taste disgusting on it's own. James Hoffman on YouTube is a great way into this. 2. Eschew the coffee and take a teaspoon of MCT Oil before your can of zero-calorie Energy Drink (Coke Zero Energy is my favorite atm). It may be dirty and people are goin…

If your black coffee tastes disgusting on its own, you need to buy better coffee.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

black coffee + ghee/coconut oil is part of keto. He must be doing keto + IF.

Having done keto for a long time I can only recommend two options besides Tea. 1. Become a weird coffee person and put some nerd energy into it so black coffee doesn't taste disgusting on it's own. James Hoffman on YouTube is a great way into this. 2. Eschew the coffee and take a teaspoon of MCT Oil before your can of zero-calorie Energy Drink (Coke Zero Energy is my favorite atm). It may be dirty and people are goin…

I would say you have more options, if you expand your definition of tea to other things than literaly tea-leaves brew :-)

I.e. I had my wakeup ritual with Mint/Nana for a bit and it was nice :-)

But I did discover James Hoffman on youtube and am on a verge of becomming a weird coffe nerd :D

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#43

He lost 45 lbs, that’s what probably removed his sleeps apnea. Not because of some other magical ability of intermittent fasting. One of my friends also lost a lot of weight and his apnea went away, he went off of his CPAP machine.

You're probably correct, in that losing a lot of weight greatly improved his health. That said, losing weight is freaking difficult, and if intermittent fasting is a path towards that, it'd be very useful. I've done a lot of fasting. The results seem pretty good. Pulling it off is non-trivial. At this point, we need "magical", because nothing else has really seemed to work in general for losing weight. (And no, didn'…

I agree that IF is for me the easiest way to lose weight, people should really give it a try. But in regards to the need of something magical because it’s difficult, as someone who has lost a lot of weight and stopped smoking, the latter was orders of magnitude harder. Wanting to smoke a cig was like being tempted by a cookie AFTER a fast. Also controlling my weight is child’s play compared to building muscle with a good muscle/fat ratio.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#44

My experience with IF has taught me that I’m much better at complete denial, rather than moderation. So if I want to reduce my caloric intake it works better for me to say No to everything for 16 hours and only eat for 8, then to try to just eat less and in moderation all day. It also applies to carb and other reductions. If I allow myself any bread, sweets, etc, I will eat too much. It’s easier for me to eat 0, then…

Likewise. I think it's true for a lot of people.

Its why pregnant women are told not to drink alcohol at all. The reality is that the liver is amazing and can remove low levels of it so well that a small amount of drinking is fine. The problem is that it's really hard to a) effectively communicate what the safe level is b) get people to stick to it. It's much easier to avoid it entirely.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#45
I lost a little over 50lbs a number of years ago, following a 5:2 diet. Quite frankly, I found it pretty horrible. Selecting 2 days in which you won't eat (much) is pretty tough, and the obvious candidates would be your working days, but you should expect to be grumpy AF during them in all honesty.

These days, I generally stick to a 16:8 approach of IF (I typically eat between 13:00-21:00). I find that it works pretty well for me. I should note that I'm very active (exercise every day, running, cycling, or lifting weights), and that I still typically eat 3 meals, albeit within a smaller window. I think being sceptical of food science is smart, so all I can say is that it works for me.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#46
post #5

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/esoe-cif0516... warns you intermittent fasting diets could increase diabetes risk. I wish I had data from before but after I attempted intermittent fasting I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It's possible I had it before, I alas haven't had blood work done for a few years prior. I changed my diet, never attempted fasting again and the 6.8 HbA1c dropped to and stayed…

... in rats, doing alternate-day fasting.

Regardless, good on you for getting better.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#47
There is also antifragile[1] theory of fasting - body metabolism needs randomness to prosper. So the idea is to not only do intermittent fasting, but also do it randomly, randomly change your food habits, etc. Of course, even with randomized food rations you need to keep them healthy.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13530973-antifragile

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#48
post #10

> How do you start? Agatston told me to start by skipping one meal a day, usually breakfast. (Yes, you can have black coffee in the morning, into which he adds ghee, a type of clarified butter, and coconut oil to reduce hunger pangs. It’s not your typical cup of coffee.) This may be ok to start with, though black coffee by itself has the ability to kill hunger without these crutches. Adding ghee or coconut oil in bla…

> This may be ok to start with, though black coffee by itself has the ability to kill hunger without these crutches.

I always wonderered how much ok it really was. Dreaking coffee will activate some digistive processes, and make the liver work. So you are not exactly fasting.

I never could find a study comparing with, and without coffee.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#49

I have been following IF on-and-off over the past few years. It has helped me lose weight initially and then maintain it at a good spot. I have not done detailed before and after blood work to know whether it has had other effects. But one problem I have started having recently is acid reflux and acidity. People immediately pounce on this and tell me that skipping breakfast is what is causing increased acidity levels…

I had acid reflux for a number of years. It got more and more acute until it felt almost like how I imagine a heart attack to feel. In the end after a week in hospital I had my gallbladder removed and subsequent to that any very occasional mild acidity has gone away after a drink of water. Another anecdote that might be worth adding to the collection.

Re: Intermittent fasting works – not only for weight loss but also for heart health

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having done keto for a long time I can only recommend two options besides Tea. 1. Become a weird coffee person and put some nerd energy into it so black coffee doesn't taste disgusting on it's own. James Hoffman on YouTube is a great way into this. 2. Eschew the coffee and take a teaspoon of MCT Oil before your can of zero-calorie Energy Drink (Coke Zero Energy is my favorite atm). It may be dirty and people are goin…

If your black coffee tastes disgusting on its own, you need to buy better coffee.

And use good water, and follow best practices for whatever brewing method you prefer.

Failing any of these (including getting quality beans that are recently brewed), and your coffee may be much worse than it needs to be.

I despise Nestle business and social practices, but a Nespresso machine with Nespresso pods is probably the best coffee that most people could hope to make.

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