Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body • Hacker News Board

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#71

Post by robbiep » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:02 PM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #52

Theodores wrote: post #39

A lot of the diets mentioned on this thread are a long way from the diet used in this article. Note it is not mentioned in the article, however it is mostly vegetables with some fish. That is a long way from 'chipotle'!!! It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. Grains want to be carried away by the wind to plant themselves somewhere else. Their ancestor…

> It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. What they want is irrelevant. As they evolved to avoid being eaten, so we evolved to be able to obtains, eat and digest it. It's not a one-sided process of providing us with a ready made menu. > At this stage the cult of eating dead animals was borne Why do you assume we did not eat animals "in the trees"? Is th…

Excellent, strong and relevant counterpoints

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#72

Post by AltanS » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

notdrunkatall wrote: post #64

AltanS wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I can answer this question, been on a ketogenic diet for over a year now. As mentioned above there is an adaptation period to the diet that can take up to 4 weeks. During that time symptoms can be flu like, this is caused by an initial hormonal change due to low blood glucose levels and in return a low and stable insulin level. Because of this the kidney excretes more sodium, potassium and water, leading to low…

HGH? Human Growth Hormone? Just curious, what benefit does this provide?

From the wikipedia page: "In addition to increasing height in children and adolescents, growth hormone has many other effects on the body: - Increases calcium retention, and strengthens and increases the mineralization of bone - Increases muscle mass through sarcomere hypertrophy - Promotes lipolysis - Increases protein synthesis - Stimulates the growth of all internal organs excluding the brain - Plays a role in homeostasis - Reduces liver uptake of glucose - Promotes gluconeogenesis in the liver - Contributes to the maintenance and function of pancreatic islets - Stimulates the immune system"

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#73

Post by shiven » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #39

A lot of the diets mentioned on this thread are a long way from the diet used in this article. Note it is not mentioned in the article, however it is mostly vegetables with some fish. That is a long way from 'chipotle'!!! It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. Grains want to be carried away by the wind to plant themselves somewhere else. Their ancestor…

A more general pattern appears to be along the lines of Monocotelydons[1] vs other types of plants that bear edible fruits. I forget where I read this but it appears that monocots are going to be the dominant class of plants across the globe, hand-in-hand with climate change.

Another interesting parallel in eating seeds is between seeds from angiosperms like pine seeds and those from grasses like wheat. Two very different types of plants, but primates ate the same part of each.

Also, did humans evolve to carry gluten digesting genes over time, hence a subpopulation that cannot handle gluten?

[1]http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocotyledon

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#74

Post by muraiki » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:13 PM UTC

piyushpr134 wrote: post #18

This is not really a new thing. In India, fasting is a like a culture. More common with females though. Some of them fast like once every week. There are festivals which are based around fasting. Like Karvachauth, in which girls fast for their husbands etc (we are not very feminist yet). There are festivals during which people fast for straight 2-10 days! (chath, durga puja, somwari etc). Even in Islam, during ramzaa…

Orthodox, Coptic, and other pre-Great Schism Christians fast twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays), where fasting is defined as eating only vegetables and grains. In addition, there are various other periods of fasting throughout the year, such as the 40 days before Pascha (Easter) and Christmas.

The intent of the fast isn't for health reasons, although from my own anecdotal experience it does seem to have healthful effects, such as sharpening the mind. The rules aren't set in stone but are an ideal for the purpose of cultivating self-discipline and a humble awareness of our limitations. If a person fasts from food but "consumes" their neighbor (through anger, jealousy, etc.), then the whole point of the fast has been missed.

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#75

Post by AltanS » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:22 PM UTC

dhimes wrote: post #68

AltanS wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of scientific evidence supporting a ketogenic lifestyle, distinguishing this movement from fad diets and Attia from a Guru status. If you're interested I would recommend the following book: http://amzn.com/0983490708

Better would be peer-reviewed journal articles. A lot of books have a tendency to promote the views of the author over providing a balance of information.

Here is a short list of both author's peer-reviewed research papers on the topic. http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/research/

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#76

Post by Xephyrous » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:23 PM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #52

Theodores wrote: post #39

A lot of the diets mentioned on this thread are a long way from the diet used in this article. Note it is not mentioned in the article, however it is mostly vegetables with some fish. That is a long way from 'chipotle'!!! It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. Grains want to be carried away by the wind to plant themselves somewhere else. Their ancestor…

> It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. What they want is irrelevant. As they evolved to avoid being eaten, so we evolved to be able to obtains, eat and digest it. It's not a one-sided process of providing us with a ready made menu. > At this stage the cult of eating dead animals was borne Why do you assume we did not eat animals "in the trees"? Is th…

Spot on critique. Two additions:

What about pure carnivores? Surely their food doesn't want to be food, but carnivores do just fine.

While I agree that the amount of corn we eat is absurd, to call it inedible is ludicrous. Raw corn on the cob is plenty edible, and sweet corn is quite tasty, although that's admittedly not what's grown on large corn plantations.

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#77

Post by ronaldx » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:28 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #39

A lot of the diets mentioned on this thread are a long way from the diet used in this article. Note it is not mentioned in the article, however it is mostly vegetables with some fish. That is a long way from 'chipotle'!!! It is worth bearing in mind that a lot of things we consider to be food really does not want to be food. Grains want to be carried away by the wind to plant themselves somewhere else. Their ancestor…

> Not one single animal, insect or fish has evolved specifically to be eaten.

This is an attractive statement but is not trivial: I would question it. (with the caveat that evolution is a passive process)

Species may gain evolutionary benefit from being eaten: the weakest of the species are pruned, leaving the strongest candidates.

Using toxins to avoid being eaten might have a short-term benefit but a longer-term penalty as less robust creatures get a temporary escape pass: plus, maintaining adequate toxicity creates an arms race that has significant evolutionary cost.

As part of participating in a healthy ecosystem, it is likely better for many species to allow some of their members to be eaten.

The fact that mammals generally do not maintain toxicity suggests there are more downsides than upsides.

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#78

Post by nkuttler » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:47 PM UTC

lambda wrote: post #69

nkuttler wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Producing ketones is perfectly normal. The flu-like symptoms can usually be avoided by easing into a low-carb/keto diet and/or ingesting sodium, chicken broth is normally recommended at the early stages. Potential consequences of reduced carb intake are weight loss. It can be used to treat type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, a wide range of neurological disorders, some cancers (yeah, really), and much more. I'm not aware of a…

Here's a study that shows that while low-carb diets achieved effects faster (involved more weight loss in the first 6 months), after a year the difference in weight was negligible. Low carb diets led to higher levels of LDL cholesterol, which is generally considered to be bad, though were also correlated with better levels of HDL cholesterol, which are considered to be good. http://www.ceb-institute.org/fileadmin/upl…

Thanks for those links. Yes, I should have been more specific, the diet I was talking about is low carb high fat (LCHF), not low carb high protein. Increased protein intake can indeed be a problem and seems to be common with low carb eaters.

Edit: Let me also add that meat consumption seems to be mostly problematic with processed meat (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23497300)

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#79

Post by eswat » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 2:52 PM UTC

hessenwolf wrote: post #50

maxerickson wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a big plate of bacon? 5 or 6 slices of bacon and 3 eggs is in the ballpark of 500 calories, which is a fairly light meal for someone at 200 pounds.

Waxy fat though. Gotta watch those arteries. Damn tasty pork.

There’s a growing amount of evidence and debunking of past research showing that fat - predominantly the saturated fat found in stuff like bacon - doesn’t clog arteries.

Re: Intermittent fasting: The good things it did to my body

#80

Post by dharmach » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 3:02 PM UTC

sn0v wrote: post #10

stickydink wrote: post #3

I don't think we're even close to really understanding how the body works here. I'm not obese, but I gain weight from eating a little more, very easily. Last summer, I followed a Keto ("ultra low carb, high fat, medium protein") diet for about 4 months. After the first week of feeling terrible, a well-known side effect, I felt perfectly fine. It felt like I was binge eating, I limited what I could eat and just went m…

Did you notice any long term (lasting) effects after those four months? Also, any particular reason you stopped? Thanks.

The book "The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" mentioned about the group not able to eat carbohydrate for months. They had only animal products available to survive. They complained about lack of stamina and each physical tasks taking a lot longer to complete.