Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging • Hacker News Board

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#161

Post by js2 » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 12:49 AM UTC

aviv wrote: post #84

rlucas wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've got to get past about 36 hours before your body / brain stop acting so "berserk." After that, you stop being hungry and you can look at food with relative equanimity.

I agree. Earlier this year I fasted for 23 days (consuming only water) and the hunger and desire to eat went away after the third or forth day. The need to eat was replaced by a burst of energy that lasted for the remainder of the fast and several weeks after.

How much weight did you lose over this period? With a TDEE of 2400 cal/day, you'd theoretically lose almost 5 lbs/week, though I imagine your metabolism slows down. Still, I'd guess you lost 10-15 lbs?

Did you happen to get measures of your body fat pct before and after?

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#162

Post by slyall » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:02 AM UTC

pbreit wrote: post #137

reasonattlm wrote: post #27

There is much more background info on Longo and his work on intermittent fasting if you go digging. More interesting than this particular piece, which is very short on context and science relating to the study of intermittent fasting, calorie restriction as adjuvant cancer therapy, immune regeneration via fasting, etc. http://gero.usc.edu/faculty/longo/ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/uosc-fts06021...…

Do any of these reveal the diet basics? I wonder if a Soylent-like product could deliver?

The Soylent Clone "Jake" https://jakeshake.eu/ has a "Jake Light" version that is just 1500 kcal per day:

https://jakeshake.eu/product/jake-light/

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#163

Post by hoodoof » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:05 AM UTC

Avshalom wrote: post #89

hathawsh wrote: post #19

The authors disclosed they have equity in a company called L-Nutra, which intends to sell diet food packs: http://www.l-nutra.com/index.php/products/prolon Nothing for sale yet, but hopefully the price will be competitive with do-it-yourselfers. I am cautiously optimistic about this direction.

it is going to be very hard to be price-competitive with "not eating"

Perhaps. I remember when bottled water became a big thing. I thought "What the? This is stupid, choice between free at the tap or buying a bottle of water? This will never work."

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#164

Post by redmaverick » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:08 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #138

Rainymood wrote: post #38

I currently intermittent fast by skipping breakfast + lunch, partially because I'm lazy, partially because it allows me to easily eat 'all my calories' in the end of the day. I really like this as it provides a 'buffer' for unexpected food, such as random cake, or random lunches with colleagues etc. Has anyone here actually ever TRIED fasting a full 24h day? I have. I HATED it. Well, the fasting itself wasn't that ba…

Yes. For the last year, I've been eating 1-2 meals a day in a 2PM-8PM window, which is something I started doing after accidentally fasting 24+ hours a couple times and realizing that it wasn't that big a deal. I can get a full 24 hour fast simply by holding off until 8PM for dinner, which I do sometimes too. I definitely don't get berzerk-mode hungry after 24 hours.

Did it have any impact on your ability to do a good days work? Were you more focused? I wouldn't mind fasting if it makes me more focused and productive.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#165

Post by diet_poop » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:09 AM UTC

Rainymood wrote: post #38

I currently intermittent fast by skipping breakfast + lunch, partially because I'm lazy, partially because it allows me to easily eat 'all my calories' in the end of the day. I really like this as it provides a 'buffer' for unexpected food, such as random cake, or random lunches with colleagues etc. Has anyone here actually ever TRIED fasting a full 24h day? I have. I HATED it. Well, the fasting itself wasn't that ba…

It is _really_ important to bookend a fast with healthy food. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables the days leading up to and following a fast will leave you feeling a ton better.

And for those pursuing longer fasts: day 3 is when most people turn a corner and the hunger is no longer horrible. I haven't gone that far, but am planning on it soon. And I've been told there are some remarkable physiological and psychological cleansing process that kick in on day 3. They say you become hyper-alert, clear-headed, and focused.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#166

Post by tptacek » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:11 AM UTC

redmaverick wrote: post #164

tptacek wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. For the last year, I've been eating 1-2 meals a day in a 2PM-8PM window, which is something I started doing after accidentally fasting 24+ hours a couple times and realizing that it wasn't that big a deal. I can get a full 24 hour fast simply by holding off until 8PM for dinner, which I do sometimes too. I definitely don't get berzerk-mode hungry after 24 hours.

Did it have any impact on your ability to do a good days work? Were you more focused? I wouldn't mind fasting if it makes me more focused and productive.

Meh, I mean, apart from never being distracted by wanting a snack anymore.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#167

Post by robbiep » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:18 AM UTC

teach wrote: post #119

Rainymood wrote: post #38

I currently intermittent fast by skipping breakfast + lunch, partially because I'm lazy, partially because it allows me to easily eat 'all my calories' in the end of the day. I really like this as it provides a 'buffer' for unexpected food, such as random cake, or random lunches with colleagues etc. Has anyone here actually ever TRIED fasting a full 24h day? I have. I HATED it. Well, the fasting itself wasn't that ba…

Just for the record, skipping breakfast + lunch has nothing whatsoever to do with fasting. It's not even remotely similar in terms of how your body reacts to it. And as others have commented yes there are many of us who have fasted for days at a time for religious reasons.

Biochemically, once you have not consumed anything for around 12 hours you are fasting (ie your liver is out of sugar and you are shifting to ketosis). So really it depends on your definition of fast, but scientifically skipping breakfast pushes you to the definition.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#168

Post by Splendor » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:41 AM UTC

MCRed wrote: post #63

stevebmark wrote: post #29

Ketosis also "mimics fastings", the main metabolic difference being nutritional ketosis is 0.5 - 3 mmol/L, while fasting is 3 - 5 mmol/L (betahydroxybuterate in the serum). The benefits of ketosis may also add longevity, possibly with similar mechanisms to fasting. It's likely intermittent fasting put the subjects of the study into mild ketosis. Bottom line: Ketosis may have benefits similar to fasting in terms of ag…

I've combined the two. I've been doing an IF of 8/16 where I only eat within 8 hours. Whenever I have lunch, I then have 8 hours to have dinner. I don't have the same schedule each day so sometimes I might start the next day late and fast for 20 hours. However, since I've been doing this for a couple weeks, I recently stopped eating the second meal. I just wasn't hungry. I don't have the psychological stress- because…

What's your favorite sugar-free water enhancer?

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#169

Post by krmmalik » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:41 AM UTC

Guest1827 wrote: post #120

bradleyjg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really interesting comment. It's a sort of natural experiment. I wonder if there's any observational studies on the effect of Ramadan fasting on health. Religious Jews do some fasting, but they are two 25 hour fasts and a few other 12 hour fasts all spread throughout the year.

There's nothing but muslims' so called studies on health benefits of islamic fasting. Islamic fasting may be anything but healthy. It goes like this: wake up in the middle of the night. Eat yourself full and maybe more. Sleep. Wake up. Don't eat or drink anything until the sun goes down. Eat yourself full and maybe more. Sleep until the next cycle begins. Putting on more unhealthy weight during and after ramadan is n…

Did you create a brand new, anonymous account just to leave this comment? A bit strange and suspect. Wikiislam is not an authentic source of information

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#170

Post by chaz72 » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 1:45 AM UTC

cag_ii wrote: post #139

chaz72 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it can't be independently verified, it can't be called science, no matter how promising the study is when they run it.

Why do you think it can't be independently verified? There is a link elsewhere in this thread to the related patent application which I would think contains enough info to verify.

Well, to be fair, I have no idea. I saw some reference here in the comments that there was not enough data for someone to replicate it. I saw some other reference here in the comments that they are going to sell diet packs and have a commercial interest. That's not really enough to draw a conclusion, is it?

Thing is, it isn't my intent to draw a conclusion. Merely to say that if they do not make it reproducible and testable by another team, then all the studies and data in the world do not qualify as science.