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Please help with this argument- Intermittent fasting related
Replies
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michaelsvance wrote: »According to research, there has been some really good benefits to IF. Yes, it is a way to restrict calories without necessarily counting them, but it has also been proven to help with blood pressure, blood sugar, and your overall digestive health, because you are extending your time without food, it gives the digestive system extra time to clear everything out and process everything. You feel less bloated (at least I do) you have more normal bowel movements and it helps regulate hunger because we all know that we are creatures of habit, so times feeding like IF helps teach your brain when to increase Ghrelin, the hunger hormone. You can combine it with Keto, low carb, low fat, Paleo, Mediterranean, DASH, or any other diet because essentially IF isn't a diet. It only controls when you eat, not what you eat. Hope that info helps some.
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michaelsvance wrote: »According to research, there has been some really good benefits to IF. Yes, it is a way to restrict calories without necessarily counting them, but it has also been proven to help with blood pressure, blood sugar, and your overall digestive health, because you are extending your time without food, it gives the digestive system extra time to clear everything out and process everything. You feel less bloated (at least I do) you have more normal bowel movements and it helps regulate hunger because we all know that we are creatures of habit, so times feeding like IF helps teach your brain when to increase Ghrelin, the hunger hormone. You can combine it with Keto, low carb, low fat, Paleo, Mediterranean, DASH, or any other diet because essentially IF isn't a diet. It only controls when you eat, not what you eat. Hope that info helps some.
You know how I know you didn't read through the entire thread? Seriously, this is like the same *kitten* on repeat, and it's obvious that these people haven't read anything other than a blog post on a pro-IF site, or some other "expert" who is selling magical weight loss cures to sell books. It cracks me up when I hear claims about a diet "teaching" the body anything, because that assumes that our internal organs need to learn how to work properly. Thats not how it works. Thats not how any of this works.
Yup! That's right up there on the bs scale along with your digestive system needing a rest. If that's true, don't your heart and lungs deserve a few hours off every once in a while, too?4 -
So has this thread settled the debate on IF?2
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NorthCascades wrote: »So has this thread settled the debate on IF?
No, but this article most positively and certainly does. Nothing at all to add, here.
Are There Benefits to Intermittent Fasting? (NY Times)
"The best diet is the one where you are healthy, hydrated and living your best life. If you want to fast, it offers similar weight-loss benefits to just cutting calories."
https://nyti.ms/2KNpYVM5 -
NorthCascades wrote: »So has this thread settled the debate on IF?
This debate will never end...Today. tomorrow, next week, next month. Just like the hundreds of pages that preceded this diatribe. Someone will ask again and again and off we go... again. lol1 -
haha. i thought this would be just two pages when i started it awhile ago. The fact that it went to Nov 27th is heartwarming haha0
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I didn't read the whole thread, yet but I will because i think IF has health benefits important to ME. When my DH was hospitalized for weeks last year I was not eating dinner because I didnt want to cook for 1. I ate breakfast, lunch at the hospital. Nothing again until the next morning. 15 lbs lost, blood sugar improved so much I cut my diabetes meds way back. This could have been from the weight loss, but my arthritis pain went away, and so did my urge incontinence. That was the biggest shocker of all. Now that I'm back to eating through the day I've gained back only a few lbs, but my arthritis is back and so is the incontinence. I want those benefits again. But this is for me. I don't try to push my ideas on others. We are all different.5
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I didn't read the whole thread, yet but I will because i think IF has health benefits important to ME. When my DH was hospitalized for weeks last year I was not eating dinner because I didnt want to cook for 1. I ate breakfast, lunch at the hospital. Nothing again until the next morning. 15 lbs lost, blood sugar improved so much I cut my diabetes meds way back. This could have been from the weight loss, but my arthritis pain went away, and so did my urge incontinence. That was the biggest shocker of all. Now that I'm back to eating through the day I've gained back only a few lbs, but my arthritis is back and so is the incontinence. I want those benefits again. But this is for me. I don't try to push my ideas on others. We are all different.
Often losing weight/eating at a deficit has benefits if one is overweight even before significant weight loss. I think that's likely the explanation for your experience. But it is true that the studies I've seen about IF are more likely to show a benefit for meals eaten earlier in the day (something about circadian rhythm) vs. late in the day (even though the latter can be very beneficial for some in controlling cals too).
Here's one interesting study: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30253-5 (For some reason my link isn't posting right, so you have to cut and paste it.)
(I will note that despite this, I ate 3 meals, no snacking, and dinner quite late -- I would usually go from a lunch around noon to dinner around 9, which was just about as long as the fast period between the end of dinner and when I'd eat in the morning some days, and lost weight quite easily and without hunger, so I don't think eating late is a big problem at all if someone finds that an easier schedule. Generally I think people pursue a strategy that is easiest for them specifically to achieve goals, as that will be easier to maintain.)1 -
I didn't read the whole thread, yet but I will because i think IF has health benefits important to ME. When my DH was hospitalized for weeks last year I was not eating dinner because I didnt want to cook for 1. I ate breakfast, lunch at the hospital. Nothing again until the next morning. 15 lbs lost, blood sugar improved so much I cut my diabetes meds way back. This could have been from the weight loss, but my arthritis pain went away, and so did my urge incontinence. That was the biggest shocker of all. Now that I'm back to eating through the day I've gained back only a few lbs, but my arthritis is back and so is the incontinence. I want those benefits again. But this is for me. I don't try to push my ideas on others. We are all different.
Often losing weight/eating at a deficit has benefits if one is overweight even before significant weight loss. I think that's likely the explanation for your experience. But it is true that the studies I've seen about IF are more likely to show a benefit for meals eaten earlier in the day (something about circadian rhythm) vs. late in the day (even though the latter can be very beneficial for some in controlling cals too).
Here's one interesting study: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30253-5 (For some reason my link isn't posting right, so you have to cut and paste it.)
(I will note that despite this, I ate 3 meals, no snacking, and dinner quite late -- I would usually go from a lunch around noon to dinner around 9, which was just about as long as the fast period between the end of dinner and when I'd eat in the morning some days, and lost weight quite easily and without hunger, so I don't think eating late is a big problem at all if someone finds that an easier schedule. Generally I think people pursue a strategy that is easiest for them specifically to achieve goals, as that will be easier to maintain.)
I find the circadian angle interesting. Before artificial light made daytime a 24 hour period, we probably slept whole lot more. What do you not do while you're sleeping? Eat. Much like we exercise to try and replace an overall less active lifestyle, maybe fasting is a way to mitigate all those extra hours we are now awake when we probably didn't used to be...3 -
I fast periodically. At noon, I will have completed a 24 hour fast. The truth is that most people do not have the discipline or self regulation to fast. I won't get into the many benefits of fasting because if you haven't done your own research, I'd just be wasting my time... The geniuses here are much more credible than any documented research and you should trust their opinions. My husband has done many fasts over several days. My longest has been a 41 hour fast. I maintain 105 pounds at 5 foot tall.4
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I didn't read the whole thread, yet but I will because i think IF has health benefits important to ME. When my DH was hospitalized for weeks last year I was not eating dinner because I didnt want to cook for 1. I ate breakfast, lunch at the hospital. Nothing again until the next morning. 15 lbs lost, blood sugar improved so much I cut my diabetes meds way back. This could have been from the weight loss, but my arthritis pain went away, and so did my urge incontinence. That was the biggest shocker of all. Now that I'm back to eating through the day I've gained back only a few lbs, but my arthritis is back and so is the incontinence. I want those benefits again. But this is for me. I don't try to push my ideas on others. We are all different.
Often losing weight/eating at a deficit has benefits if one is overweight even before significant weight loss. I think that's likely the explanation for your experience. But it is true that the studies I've seen about IF are more likely to show a benefit for meals eaten earlier in the day (something about circadian rhythm) vs. late in the day (even though the latter can be very beneficial for some in controlling cals too).
Here's one interesting study: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30253-5 (For some reason my link isn't posting right, so you have to cut and paste it.)
(I will note that despite this, I ate 3 meals, no snacking, and dinner quite late -- I would usually go from a lunch around noon to dinner around 9, which was just about as long as the fast period between the end of dinner and when I'd eat in the morning some days, and lost weight quite easily and without hunger, so I don't think eating late is a big problem at all if someone finds that an easier schedule. Generally I think people pursue a strategy that is easiest for them specifically to achieve goals, as that will be easier to maintain.)
I find the circadian angle interesting. Before artificial light made daytime a 24 hour period, we probably slept whole lot more. What do you not do while you're sleeping? Eat. Much like we exercise to try and replace an overall less active lifestyle, maybe fasting is a way to mitigate all those extra hours we are now awake when we probably didn't used to be...
I suspect it was more typical to just eat when it was light too, as it's hard to eat when dark and there are no artificial lights to make it seem light inside (I also think there were likely communal rhythms to eating). Both of those would naturally limit amounts eaten (as would food scarcity, of course). Much less mindless eating because food is there or because you walk through the kitchen and notice something that looks delicious.
Also, your post made me think about this cool book on the history of sleeping patterns: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/30/featuresreviews.guardianreview80 -
I fast periodically. At noon, I will have completed a 24 hour fast. The truth is that most people do not have the discipline or self regulation to fast. I won't get into the many benefits of fasting because if you haven't done your own research, I'd just be wasting my time... The geniuses here are much more credible than any documented research and you should trust their opinions. My husband has done many fasts over several days. My longest has been a 41 hour fast. I maintain 105 pounds at 5 foot tall.
I lol'ed, cheeky
Did someone flag you though? 2 -
fitnessguy266 wrote: »I fast periodically. At noon, I will have completed a 24 hour fast. The truth is that most people do not have the discipline or self regulation to fast. I won't get into the many benefits of fasting because if you haven't done your own research, I'd just be wasting my time... The geniuses here are much more credible than any documented research and you should trust their opinions. My husband has done many fasts over several days. My longest has been a 41 hour fast. I maintain 105 pounds at 5 foot tall.
I lol'ed, cheeky Did someone flag you though?
Lol, no! Why?!? 😉1 -
I fast periodically. At noon, I will have completed a 24 hour fast. The truth is that most people do not have the discipline or self regulation to fast. I won't get into the many benefits of fasting because if you haven't done your own research, I'd just be wasting my time... The geniuses here are much more credible than any documented research and you should trust their opinions. My husband has done many fasts over several days. My longest has been a 41 hour fast. I maintain 105 pounds at 5 foot tall.
There are many promising things fasting "may" be good for, sadly, at the moment the only thing we know for sure is it helps with controlling energy in. I am certainly no "genius", just pretty good at sifting through the bs...4 -
fitnessguy266 wrote: »
I don't agree with this ^.
I would say instead that there are many very knowledgeable people here at MFP whose experienced stories can be useful to others, and, there are credible forms of documented research available to support the findings in the MFP community posts.
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I fast periodically. At noon, I will have completed a 24 hour fast. The truth is that most people do not have the discipline or self regulation to fast. I won't get into the many benefits of fasting because if you haven't done your own research, I'd just be wasting my time... The geniuses here are much more credible than any documented research and you should trust their opinions. My husband has done many fasts over several days. My longest has been a 41 hour fast. I maintain 105 pounds at 5 foot tall.
I am not an authority on most people. You really should not try to be either. It could be that most people would not even attempt to fast without a medical requirement.
I am not sure why you would want to be fasting. You are at a very lean weight which means that once your glycogen is used up your body may burn through a lot more protein which it will take from muscle. This is a serious negative for overall fitness.10 -
fitnessguy266 wrote: »
I don't agree with this ^.
I would say instead that there are many very knowledgeable people here at MFP whose experienced stories can be useful to others, and, there are credible forms of documented research available to support the findings in the MFP community posts.
There are no credible forms of documented research of any additional benefits to humans beyond energy control. There are some studies that show correlation with improved insulin sensitivity and reduced hunger signaling. I have not seen definitive studies on these benefits yet (although my n=1 experience shows it to be true for me).
Any additional benefits have only shown in animal studies and are unproven in humans at this time. It is an interesting area for additional study.
As of today, that is where the evidence stands despite the claims of advocates like the person you quoted.3 -
fitnessguy266 wrote: »
I don't agree with this ^.
I would say instead that there are many very knowledgeable people here at MFP whose experienced stories can be useful to others, and, there are credible forms of documented research available to support the findings in the MFP community posts.
There are no credible forms of documented research of any additional benefits to humans beyond energy control. There are some studies that show correlation with improved insulin sensitivity and reduced hunger signaling. I have not seen definitive studies on these benefits yet (although my n=1 experience shows it to be true for me).
Any additional benefits have only shown in animal studies and are unproven in humans at this time. It is an interesting area for additional study.
As of today, that is where the evidence stands despite the claims of advocates like the person you quoted.
For the person that disagreed, feel free to post the studies that prove me wrong. Credible, peer reviewed, high participant ones and multiple. One study not replicated is pretty meaningless.
I'll read them with an open discerning mind.6 -
I read that a 16 hour fast helps cells renew themselves.1
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Annie it would be more helpful if you posted link to where you read that.
I mean, one can read all sorts of things but obviously that doesn't make them correct.4
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