Posted on 01/25/2025 3:56:15 PM PST by ConservativeMind
I agree with you, Metmom, but I think that occasional fasting rests the body, allows the digestive system to catch up, and is overall healthy. Not to mention the spiritual aspects of it. Imagine how much healthier people would be if we followed a more balanced diet and fasted a few times a month doing 12-12, 16-8, etc. I use the 12-12, but should be more consistent with it.
Agree completely.
Fasting for weight loss is just another diet plan.
There are many other good reasons to fast as well.
I don't think metmom said anything about character defects, just that sensible eating tends to resolve being overweight.
There are many hormonal conditions that cause weight gain and prevent weight loss. PCOS, hypothyroidism
Agreed. Then you find a good endocrinologist and find the right medications, hormones, whatever to balance yourself.
It’s a form of virtue signaling and you just had to put it out there.
Maybe. But it's also an expression of frustration that close to half the people you see around you are overweight, some morbidly so, and these aren't the salad eaters and exercisers. You know as well as I that most obese people are there because they will not control their eating. And yes they can ... if someone stood there with a gun and said don't eat that donut you wouldn't eat it. A choice was made.
Most (I know, not all) people that are fat today are so because they eat too much, because they are sedentary, because they stare at screens for hours, that everything today is geared towards less physical activities (drive thrus, Doordash, etc.), that food is EVERYWHERE and every third business is a restaurant. I get it.
But in the end it's on us, and I say that as a formerly fat person. I'm not "superior" but I am someone who wanted to look better and feel better so I got serious and dropped the weight.
Good for you! The longest I’ve done is 7 days, but not recently. I’m good at 2 days at the most. Any fasting has beneficial effects on the body. People tell me I have such great will power. I really don’t. I tell them it’s becaue I practice.
Gin Stephen’s book Feast, Fast, Repeat was (and still is) a great resource for me. I’ve read several others, but she tells the science behind fasting in a way that is understandable to most people and offers ways of starting the fasting lifestyle. If has taught me the difference between ‘wanting’ food and ‘needing’ food.
Thanks for the post. I hope others are inspired by you.
As a rule, I don’t eat after 7pm and have lunch around 11 - 11:30 the next day. Drink only black coffee in the morning.
Also, when I was a kid, obesity was rarely seen.
Clearly something has changed besides genetics.
The vast number of fat people wouldn’t be if they are better and doing a cursory look at what I see people have in their shopping carts at the grocery store shows a high correlation between the person’s weight and how they eat based on what they filled their carts with.
So yeah, cut out the highly processed junk food and soda and other sugary drinks, get more exercise and you’ll be starting to lose weight.
I know somone who has lost over 60 pounds in the last year by just doing those few simple things.
I was trying to research that prolon fast. I can't figure out if that $170 is for only 5 days total or like 5 days a month (170 a month). It seems very steep for a one shot 5 days.
Very wise words.
Partially correct.
You're also eating too much of the wrong foods, mainly pre-made/pre-packaged/unknown chemicals, etc.
I’m seeing it for one single five day fast.
Honestly, you have to watch your electrolytes and such if you do this on your own. I would try it once with their package and then see if you can make your own.
You are only supposed to do one five day fast a month.
It takes 25-30 days to get back to normal to do another.
You are very welcome, thank you for the kind words
One thing that was very helpful to me, a Dr. Naiman published a .PDF on “time restricted eating” or intermittent fasting that really breaks it down. It’s probably still online somewhere. I copied it and refer to it now and then just to reinforce what ai know.
One of the things he pointed out, when we utilize “one meal a day” and restricting calories especially, we naturally start to pay very close attention to what we DO eat. Since we aren’t eating very much, or very often, it looms large. The ingredients themselves, the preparation and presentation.
I think he terms it “mindful eating”. We become very aware of just exactly what it is we are putting into our bodies, and I think that’s true. I don’t drink Soda very often. Once in a while. But, to me, a corn-syrup laden soda pop tastes like crap. Not very sweet, kind of a sour after taste, slimy film. But a good old cane-sugar soda pop is crisp and tasty. If I’m going to “sin” from a diet perspective, I’m gonna do it right.
Quality ingredients cost more usually. But if we cut our calories in say, a third or half as part of our new lifestyle, there is money in the budget for an upgrade. One of the cool things, all those perfectly serviceable clothes hanging in the closet - they fit again! For some that saves a lot of money too.
Sometimes you’ll hear the experts say everyone got fat eating “inexpensive carbs”. That isn’t really true. Chips and soda and candy are the most expensive things in the store! It isn’t even close. Corn chips are made with field corn, iirc, some sort of industrial grease, and salt. The bag itself (and transportation costs); advertising - that’s why they cost 7 bucks for this twee little sack.
To feed my salty snack cravings I pop corn in bacon grease or usually coconut oil. Even beef tallow is tasty. Won’t screw gut up. A 10 pound bag of taters is about the same price as an 8.3478 oz bag of chips. “Ho-jos” or potato spears are pretty tasty, olive oil with lots of salt, garlic, spices and such.
A lot of recipes I like are very simple, almost like the fewer ingredients the better. Chili, or maybe hamburger casserole. Meatloaf. Even a tuna sandwich will about the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Time is most definitely an ingredient, and so is hunger. What’s weird about fasting - after the initial break-in period, hunger is gone. “Did I eat today??” isn’t unusual. “Hm .. let me think… No!! Well, heck let’s have a pizza!”
Amusingly the people who have never tried it will authoritatively declare that although IF works in the real world, it can’t possibly work in theory, or that it is dangerous. One study cited maybe an increased risk of heart attacks.
Maybe, but heart disease is Already a huge factor with Obesity. Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances. What is better, 75 pounds overweight or maybe getting down to (and maintaining) a healthy weight?
Embrace the power of “And”; it is no coincidence that every major and not so major religion has fasting, or at least the vestigial remains of fasting as part of their … doctrine or whatever it’s called. It does seem to focus the mind, and what we choose to focus on, that might be a different matter. I do think it will nudge folks in the right direction in any event.
Bone broth or Bouillon takes care of this. It is very important to stay well hydrated and to replace electrolytes when intermittent or fasting.
A somewhat dilute solution of salt water will both kill hunger pangs and keep electrolyte levels correct. “Hunger” pangs (how can anyone be hungry when they are 80 pounds overweight? Think about it) . No special subscription required here either.
Black coffee, and Tea is excellent for fasting. Tea is first a medicine, really. It really helps with gut issues and unmentionable elimination issues that often loom large, having an affinity or beneficial “bad bacteria” in our guts that, just like humans have a taste for glucose. When scientists want to grow nasties in petri dish, they feed them sugar. Our guts work the same way. Gas, bloating and other problems ensue.
Chronic elevated insulin levels are the main culprit. This goes on for years. By restricting calories and intermittent fasting, glucose is consumed first, preferentially. No fat burning can occur unless and until glucose levels are exhausted. This forces the body to mobilize fatty acids, and utilize them for energy. Our bodies were created to do this, Or adapted if you must. There are equal and opposite hormones to Insulin that are produced when in the fasting state. Even down to the tiny cells in our bodies, the mitochondria, they will show a marked preference for glucose. The problem is, over many years the pathways for the uptake and regulation for fat burning become atrophied from disuse. One meal a day will most definitely achieve all these benefits, assuming calories are restricted to basal rate. Under a 1000 calories daily will do this quite effectively for most people. We as a society have become “Sugar burners”. Glucose is great for extreme exertion, but it is a toxic poison for sedentary people. It’s like rocket fuel. I’ve likened it to the AFR in a gasoline engine. Too much fuel, and idling all day, no load on the engine - fouled spark plugs, and sludge buildup in the crankcase, etc. Intermittent fasting and calorie restriction is very similar to exercise - it is a metabolic workout. Blood sugar, blood pressure, blood lipid parameters such as HDL/LDL, cholesterol markers are all improved by this. No Pills required. Amazing, huh?
Yes, absolutely right (especially about people using it just as a diet plan).
I learned something new in each sentence.
Thanks for your response. Do you think Almond milk and stevia would be ok in coffee in the morning? Almond milk is less than one gram of carb, and stevia has no carb. I haven’t been able to drink coffee black yet.
Awesome! It really is kind of a way of life, it isn’t a “diet” for sure. Or in any case losing the weight is kind of the easy part, as tough as it is, keeping it off over the long term is what counts.
Now I remember, in the spring of ‘19 how I stumbled onto it. Long road trips, and then getting onto the trail, maybe poor diet on the way out, weird camping food etc, in the past, this caused …. issues out on the trail. I got to thinking maybe stop eating for a couple days before hitting the road, it’s only a couple days that won’t hurt anybody.
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