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

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#191

Post by tracker1 » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:12 AM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #177

swsieber wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. My religion teaches it (along with some other healthy things). It was actually reiterated very recently ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/is-not-this-t... ). The emphasis is much less on the health benefits but they are none-the-less talked about from time to time. I think part of it that doing it a couple of times help reduce the extreme biological need. Also, when did you finish your fast? Dinne…

Be careful not to assume that all of a group's practices are healthy just because one practice happens to be healthy. Also be careful not to assume that such a practice being healthy means that all of the group's claims are valid. As a meta note, in general, it's probably bad form to bring up religion on HN in unrelated threads, especially in a subtly proselytizing way.

I think that a lot of dietary traditions can be rooted in some level of observational benefit... for instance pigs are one of the few animals that can cross-carry viruses between humans and other species, and a lot of mutation happens in them. Not that all things are necessarily proven out, but a lot of them are.

Though, I do think there are also a lot of logical fallacies propagated as "faith". Just the same, I don't think it's worse than what a lot of commercial industries, or interest groups propagate. Look how long it's taking to get past the "fat == bad, lowfat == good" mindset that really took hold in the 80's.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#192

Post by tracker1 » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:14 AM UTC

themartorana wrote: post #187

ams6110 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently did a 3-day fast. It wasn't too bad. I fact I thought I would be ravenously hungry at the end of the 72 hours but I just ate a normal meal and it was fine. I can't say I felt any better after the fast. I had lost a few pounds but nothing else noticable. One problem that people might have with fasting and then wanting to binge is that the starchy, sugary diet that the USDA and FDA have been promoting as "he…

If stupid food scientists would make stupid kale taste as good as yummy chocolate cake I would eat more of it. Seriously though, despite the obvious health benefits, sometimes I can't get the good stuff to be nearly as satisfying as the bad stuff. I wish sugar wasn't so damn addictive. Food is the issue I'm most embarrassed about. I'm not obese, but I'm not svelte either. Self-control is easy right up until the secon…

Agreed... I downright get cravings for pasta and bread... though the really sweet stuff (candy), not nearly as much after a while without.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#193

Post by ux-app » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:28 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…

  > Has anyone here actually ever TRIED fasting a full 24h day?

I've been IF throughout the past 8 months. It's by far the best way of losing weight I've found (10kg in 8 months). I'm planning on doing more fasting this month to lose another 2-3kg which will get me to my goal weight.

The longest stretch for me has been 5 days.

It's hard for me to describe how I go longish periods(some go for a month+), but essentially it is a 100% mental effort. I visualise my hunger as a switch which I turn off. When the switch is off I am immune to hunger. It sounds ridiculous but this kind of visual imagery works for me.

I've tried going into a fast without first spending about half a day "tuning" my brain via visualisation and it was a disaster, just as you describe.

For me fasting has by far been the best (easiest, most effective) way of losing weight. Before this I spent about 3 months cardio training with only minimal dietary intervention which resulted in huge muscle tone in my legs (had a work colleague once remark : "dude! your calves are fricking huge!") and no noticeable abdominal fat loss.

Throughout my fasting I've also been weight training. The results at the 3 month mark are unbelievably cool :)

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#194

Post by shanev » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:32 AM UTC

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.

An easy way to fast frequently is to just skip breakfast everyday. Then you automatically get a 16+ hour fast and keep your eating to a short window during the day. This helps kick in autophagy [1], a process whereby our cells repair themselves; a garbage collector for our body if you will. This is most likely the process the scientists are observing as slowed down aging. It's not really a foreign topic as there's 397 published papers on autophagy on PubMed. No fancy hyphenated diet products needed.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#195

Post by nitrogen » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:33 AM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #191

nitrogen wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful not to assume that all of a group's practices are healthy just because one practice happens to be healthy. Also be careful not to assume that such a practice being healthy means that all of the group's claims are valid. As a meta note, in general, it's probably bad form to bring up religion on HN in unrelated threads, especially in a subtly proselytizing way.

I think that a lot of dietary traditions can be rooted in some level of observational benefit... for instance pigs are one of the few animals that can cross-carry viruses between humans and other species, and a lot of mutation happens in them. Not that all things are necessarily proven out, but a lot of them are. Though, I do think there are also a lot of logical fallacies propagated as "faith". Just the same, I don'…

No doubt good and bad ideas can be found in all places, and some portion of religious and cultural superstitions may be emergent (or deliberate) results of real phenomena (e.g. avoiding pork because the last guy you saw eat pork got sick).

Fortunately we now have science, which basically amounts to a hill climbing algorithm for identifying valid and rejecting invalid ideas over time. I'll note that I was once extremely active in the same community mentioned in the comment to which I replied, so I do have experience on both sides of the aisle.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#196

Post by aviv » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:34 AM UTC

js2 wrote: post #161

aviv wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I lost 35 pounds. I didn't measure anything else, and since ending the fast 2 months ago I regained about 5 pounds. For several weeks following the fast I only ate fruits and veggies which is why I think the weight gain has been so little compared to those who fast and then resume their old diet fairly quickly.

Also, in the first 48 hours of the fast I did a rather extensive physical workout program which is meant to bring your body into a keto state much earlier than it would otherwise.

At the end of the day I feel like I got to know my own body on a whole new level. I didn't do it with the intention of losing the weight, but of course it was a welcome addition to all the other benefits I took away from this experience. In a year or two I plan on doing another one for 40 days.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#197

Post by kbutler » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:36 AM UTC

CuriouslyC wrote: post #184

cgh wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detoxification is a myth: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/05/detox-my... There is no science behind it. There is also no science behind extended fasting, giving your body a "break" from digesting and so forth. By all means fast if you feel like it and you believe there is some health benefit - you are harming no one, after all - but please don't try to justify it with medical science.

Actually, not eating for an extended period does have one very significant effect. It radically changes the makeup of your microbiome. I suspect that people who experience health benefits from "detoxes" typically suffer from dysbiosis, and by restricting food supply they essentially hit the "reset" button on their gut bacterial populations.

...and then the bacteria reverts to previous within a few days of returning to the previous diet. Gut bacteria adapts really rapidly to whatever you're eating, whether you do a "reset" in between or not.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#198

Post by letstryagain » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:40 AM UTC

heimatau wrote: post #117

__z wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detoxing from what? Personally, my liver and kidneys pretty well no matter what I am eating (or not).

Your body is digesting food that remained in your intestines and also fat deposits. Toxins are in the fat and removing undigested food can have a liberating affect.

Undigested food does not stay in your intestines and neither does any toxins.

Can you name any of the toxins?

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#199

Post by digisign » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:42 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…

Wouldnt it be better to have a lunch instead? That way the body has a chance to use excess energy before storing as fat for the night.

Re: Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging

#200

Post by tzamora » Fri, Jun 19, 2015, 4:52 AM UTC

aviv wrote: post #102

marchelzo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry- but you mean that you didn't eat anything at all for 23 days? And you felt energized?

Correct. I did not consume anything but water for those 23 days. And yes, past day four I felt more energized than at any time in the last 10 years or so. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but I guess it's one of those things you have to try to feel for yourself :) Even the people around me that knew I was fasting were surprised to see the progression and how much more energetic I seemed. Anecdotally, I did feel at…

How much time in between prolonged fastings do you believe is healthy to do it? I'm pretty interested in finding a good time eating - time fasting intervals where I could take advantage of the energy given by the fasting time and the reload of food in our bodies? Hmmm a guess for me (I don't know about the topic) would be a 10 days each 2 months, maybe? You did some kind of exercise or some activity that required big efforts?