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Intermittent Fasting - Is it a good idea?
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magnusthenerd wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »I also don't remember breakfast being invented by cereal companies. I'm pretty sure the term comes from breaking the fast, i.e., the first time someone eats when waking up. The word goes back to Middle English, so as old as ~1066, though that's just for the English word, not the concept.
Strictly speaking, breakfast itself wasn't invented by cereal companies, it was the myth that breakfast "is the most important meal of the day". That was an advertising slogan (Kellogg's? Post? I forget whose) that was repeated so often that it eventually just became accepted as a fact.
If that was what we being referenced as invented by companies, it was stated in a way that wasn't clear. Framed that way doesn't seem particularly relevant either. That companies may have championed breakfast as most important doesn't show something unusual or wrong in having breakfast. It seemed like there was an implication that breakfast is unnatural.
Correct, and I'm pretty sure that's not what the prior poster was trying to say.
It's well known and commonly stated on MFP that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" is a myth and it's totally fine to skip breakfast if that's your natural pattern. Also, no one promotes eating lots of snacks and mini meals unless someone finds that is helpful for them. But that also means that there's no reason to eat in a window or only once or twice a day or to skip breakfast unless that is a pattern that is helpful for a particular individual.3 -
I have just started experimenting with IF using a variety of timings. I find it easier to do 16:8 through the week and then I try a longer fast on weekends. I'm just playing around at the moment but trying to get into the process of making active decisions about my consumption as opposed to inactive. I'm a massive CICO person and have had a lot of success with this in the past but trying IF to get back on the control train Feel free to add me and let's see how this goes!3
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I can't intermittent fast, at least not without health consequences. Last time I tried IF, I almost went into a hypoglycemic coma (was hospitalized). That's when I stopped completely.2
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I have an issue with it suggesting that IF inherently "causes" weight loss; you still need a caloric deficit. Just because someone skips breakfast doesn't guarantee a deficit.
I completely agreed, I gained on IF but that's because I was still eating too much. Timing makes no difference, it's all about how much you ear, or don't.5 -
Breakfast as "eating first thing upon waking" isn't unnatural, although there is some evidence to suggest that spiking your insulin up waking isn't the best way to start your day. At the very least it is not the most important meal of the day because there are a lot of people who don't eat breakfast and are in great shape.
IF is just not eating for a period of time. The point i was making before is that breakfast didn't exist before it was marketed to us, it was just eating. What i mean by that is... we just ate when we had the foods available and then didn't when we didn't.
It's only when people wanted to start making money out of us that we started labeling times of eating as events. The whole eat often and small or 3 meals a day seems counterproductive to me. And while you may disagree because the science is in its infancy you can't really argue with peoples experiences, including my own.
You may say it's due to low calories or low body fat etc but i have been experimenting with my body and how it handles foods for years. I am certain that IF has the benefits that people talk about. I've experienced them myself and i think in a number of years the science will catch up.magnusthenerd wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »I also don't remember breakfast being invented by cereal companies. I'm pretty sure the term comes from breaking the fast, i.e., the first time someone eats when waking up. The word goes back to Middle English, so as old as ~1066, though that's just for the English word, not the concept.
Strictly speaking, breakfast itself wasn't invented by cereal companies, it was the myth that breakfast "is the most important meal of the day". That was an advertising slogan (Kellogg's? Post? I forget whose) that was repeated so often that it eventually just became accepted as a fact.
If that was what we being referenced as invented by companies, it was stated in a way that wasn't clear. Framed that way doesn't seem particularly relevant either. That companies may have championed breakfast as most important doesn't show something unusual or wrong in having breakfast. It seemed like there was an implication that breakfast is unnatural.
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lukejoycePT wrote: »The point i was making before is that breakfast didn't exist before it was marketed to us, it was just eating. What i mean by that is... we just ate when we had the foods available and then didn't when we didn't.
It's only when people wanted to start making money out of us that we started labeling times of eating as events. The whole eat often and small or 3 meals a day seems counterproductive to me. And while you may disagree because the science is in its infancy you can't really argue with peoples experiences, including my own.
This is historically false. Naming meals (even something simple like "morning meal", and having socially customary meals is a really long-standing practice. I cited an example from the mid 1800s above, but that's comparatively recent, just read some really old literature.
Even in pre-literary times or cultures, you get communal eating and rituals -- just eating on your own whenever you feel like is what's probably a-typical, and IMO what is likely related to the obesity crisis (in addition to how cheap and plentiful and easy it is to eat now).
Eat often and small is not for me, but it's one way of dealing with it, as is "eat only within a window" or eat 3 meals and only then. But throughout most of human history eating likely has been largely communal. If what you mean was "there were no special foods that one ate in a morning meal that were distinct from other meals" then sure, but that's not really what you said or relevant to the conversation, and that's the case plenty of places now -- eating rituals vary across the world.
Re: you can't disagree with experiences -- if the claim is "this is one possible way to eat that can have positive effects for some (for whatever reason)" then sure. I think IFing can help some people achieve goals. But saying "this worked for me" doesn't support a claim that "this is a better way to eat than other ways" since other people have found other ways of eating to work for them.9 -
I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .17
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_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Why does your body need a rest? That would be like holding your breath to give your lungs a break.20 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.8 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Why does your body need a rest? That would be like holding your breath to give your lungs a break.
It gives you're body rest from food intake .18 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.19 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
No, it doesn't.7 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
No, it really doesn't. Just like your lungs don't need a rest from breathing or your heart from beating.9 -
lukejoycePT wrote: »Breakfast as "eating first thing upon waking" isn't unnatural, although there is some evidence to suggest that spiking your insulin up waking isn't the best way to start your day. At the very least it is not the most important meal of the day because there are a lot of people who don't eat breakfast and are in great shape.
1.IF is just not eating for a period of time. The point i was making before is that breakfast didn't exist before it was marketed to us, it was just eating. What i mean by that is... we just ate when we had the foods available and then didn't when we didn't.
2. It's only when people wanted to start making money out of us that we started labeling times of eating as events. The whole eat often and small or 3 meals a day seems counterproductive to me. And while you may disagree because the science is in its infancy you can't really argue with peoples experiences, including my own.
3. You may say it's due to low calories or low body fat etc but i have been experimenting with my body and how it handles foods for years. I am certain that IF has the benefits that people talk about. I've experienced them myself and i think in a number of years the science will catch up.magnusthenerd wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »I also don't remember breakfast being invented by cereal companies. I'm pretty sure the term comes from breaking the fast, i.e., the first time someone eats when waking up. The word goes back to Middle English, so as old as ~1066, though that's just for the English word, not the concept.
Strictly speaking, breakfast itself wasn't invented by cereal companies, it was the myth that breakfast "is the most important meal of the day". That was an advertising slogan (Kellogg's? Post? I forget whose) that was repeated so often that it eventually just became accepted as a fact.
If that was what we being referenced as invented by companies, it was stated in a way that wasn't clear. Framed that way doesn't seem particularly relevant either. That companies may have championed breakfast as most important doesn't show something unusual or wrong in having breakfast. It seemed like there was an implication that breakfast is unnatural.
1. I'm not sure I even know what that means. People didn't use the word breakfast before cereal companies existed? That's just a bizarre claim and one that historical literature can show false.
2. I can't argue with someone's experience? Of course I can. I can't tell someone they're not having the sensory experience they're having, but certainly you'd have to agree people's perceptions can be wrong, correct? I mean, I'm certain you don't hold that standard when a schizophrenic says they're experiencing pink elephants - you'd tell them that while that might be their sensation, that elephant doesn't exist, surely?
One of the entire points of science is to remove our restrictions from when we have false attributions and motivated perceptions. Actually being able to tell us what we think we know is wrong is arguably the best part of science, better than learning things we don't know.
3. I might say what is due to low calories or low body fat?6 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
Are you eating while you sleep?2 -
_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
Are you eating while you sleep?
I had a friend in university who would legit eat while sleepwalking. Her body was able to process that food just fine. She did, however, gain weight.
We ended up having to tie the cupboards and the fridge shut at night so she wouldn't eat us out of house and dorm, though. For some reason, her sleepwalking brain couldn't figure that out.3 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
Are you eating while you sleep?
I had a friend in university who would legit eat while sleepwalking. Her body was able to process that food just fine. She did, however, gain weight.
We ended up having to tie the cupboards and the fridge shut at night so she wouldn't eat us out of house and dorm, though. For some reason, her sleepwalking brain couldn't figure that out.
That's funny lol.
For anyone interested, a friend recommended this read regarding IF.
https://humankinetics.me/2019/06/21/intermittent-fasting-healthy/
Tis a pretty informative read.2 -
I just started doing 16:8 and really like it so far. I do it in combination with keeping track out calories, and doing cardio and weightlifting 5 days a week.
I find it also really help me keep my calories down simply because I get full restricting all the eating within those house. I'll have days when I log my food and realize I'm still about 100-200 calories under my goal, but am so full I don't want to force myself to eat anything else.5 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »_Paparazzi_ wrote: »I like the idea it gives you're body a rest when you do 16:8 .
Your body rests when you sleep.
Yes. And you're body needs rest from food.
Are you eating while you sleep?
I had a friend in university who would legit eat while sleepwalking. Her body was able to process that food just fine. She did, however, gain weight.
We ended up having to tie the cupboards and the fridge shut at night so she wouldn't eat us out of house and dorm, though. For some reason, her sleepwalking brain couldn't figure that out.
I sleep-ate once last year around this time. It was a very unsettling experience because I cooked chicken from raw for myself. The thermometer was out so my OCD about stuff like that must still work in my dreams.6 -
For me, IF is a great way to structure my eating. I love it. I prefer being satiated by two meals rather than smaller meals and snacks. I absolutely track my calories. There are many, many ways to structure how a person can eat to lose weight but a calorie deficit is the must for each plan. No type of eating, diet or plan is magic. And my body does feel better taking a break from processing food all day long.5
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