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r/ fasting
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IMPORTANT
Disclaimer: all material on this website is provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being.
Let's get started with the simplest of definitions of fasting:
"Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food,
drink, or both, for a period of time." - Wikipedia
"Abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a
religious observance." - Oxford Dictionary
So, fasting, in it's most broad definition is the voluntary withholding of food for any reason (health, spiritual or other) for a period of time, from a few hours to months.
Technically speaking, fasting is the metabolic state of a person who has completed the digestion and absorption of a meal, which happens in as little as 3 to 5 hours after consumption.
Fasting is nothing new. Ancient Greeks such as Hippocrates (considered father of modern medicine) prescribed fasting.
Also virtually all major religions practice fasting, not as punishment, but as a way to purification and healing.
Today, fasting has become the subject of study because of it's amazing effects on health, that range from weight loss to fighting cancer.
Don't call "fasting" a diet. "Diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism" Wikipedia).
However, the diet we follow, regardless of fasting or how long we fast, has a deep impact on our health, so it is also important to assess with care what are we eating and why.
Fasting is not a "miracle cure" for our binges, eating disorders and/or complicated relationships with food. Fasting has a place, along with diet, to help us stay healthy and live a long, high-quality life.
A popular combo, because the Keto diet keeps the body burning fat for fuel.
That's exactly what happens when we fast for longer than 24 hours; our glycogen stores deplete and our bodies start using fat to keep us alive. So, by keeping the body using fat (or more properly, ketone bodies) we can prolong many of the fasting effects while eating.
Sure, it's not a perfect fit for everybody and it can be quite difficult to adapt to, but according to the science, it is worth it.
You can eat whatever you like, but fasting is neither an excuse to binge or an effective way to cancel a bad diet. When you eat, make it count! Eat healthy!
You can fast once a month or week, you can fast everyday of your life. You can fast for a week every month and then do 18:6 for the rest of the month, yes, you can combine protocols as you see fit.
Fasting is so versatile and flexible, it can be introduced to any kind of diet.
Vegetarian? you can fast.
Jewish? you can fast.
Hindu? you can fast.
Paleo? you can fast.
Nut or gluten allergy? you can fast.
Standard American Diet (SAD)? you can fast!
Fasting comes in many flavors. Some are expressed in the amount of hours of fast vs the feeding window, such as 16:8 (16 hours fasting, 8 hours to eat, 16 + 8 = 24).
5:2 is 5 days eating normally and fasting for 2 days (5 + 2 = 7 days).
There's no need to be super-precise when considering the moment you stopped eating and started eating again, there's no need to be too strict, don't be, try to enjoy yourself.
Which one to choose? Depends on your courage and experience. If you have never fasted, try 16:8, which is equivalent of skipping breakfast.
Maybe the most natural, simple fast. It's very easy to follow.
You probably won't lose weight, but if you are otherwise in good health and in your desired weight, it's more likely that you'll stay there more easily.
This the shortest time fasting that has show to have a positive effect. You had dinner at 7pm and your next meal is at 7am the next morning. That's all there is to it, you fast while you sleep.
Eat whatever you like (for your sake, make it healthy!), just make sure that 12 hours have passed between your last and next meal.
Probably the most popular intermittent fasting protocol.
Very helpful for losing weight and staying in ketosis (if that's your thing). Other hormonal changes may kick in, although for a shorter period of time.
It usually involves skipping breakfast, and eating lunch after 16, 18 hours from your supper. That is, you had supper at 7pm and eat your lunch at 1pm the next day.
Have your water, coffee, tea, broth in the morning, we'll go into the details of those drinks further in the WIKI, but for now, non-caloric, unsweetened drinks are allowed as much as you like.
When it's time to eat, enjoy your food, and try to make healthy choices! Eat slowly and avoid over-eating. Plan ahead so that you eat what you should eat, it could be to make your own food or to chose carefully where and what you will order if eating out.
If you don't feel like skipping breakfast, then skip another meal, it doesn't really matter, just make sure that 18 hours have passed between your previous and next meal.
When fasting, it can be hard to ignore the hunger. That's why it is important to keep busy and drink water (or the other allowed drinks).
Another popular intermittent fasting protocol, only a little bit harder than 16:8. The extended period of time allow to go deeper into the benefits of fasting, while eating at regular intervals.
Otherwise known as "One Meal A Day" and the similar "Warrior Diet", you eat all your day's worth of food in one sitting. You eat at 1pm and your next meal is at 1pm the next day.
Make healthy choices and eat slowly, enjoy your food! Eat until satisfied, learn to listen to your body. This is what being mindful means.
Same advice as before: keep busy, hunger will come and go, drink your water, plan your meal, and break the fast if you must, you can start again right after you stop eating.
"Alternate Day Fast", it's simply eat as usual one day, fast the next day. Repeat.
This is a good fast to try before an extended fast, because you'll experience more than 24 hours without eating.
Read the advice from other fasting protocols, it's the same.
Five days eating normally, followed by 2 days eating a low calorie diet, 600 kcal per day for men or 500 kcal per day for women.
Any fast longer than 24 hours is considered "extended fasting".
No one will suggest you start an extended fast if you haven't tried a shorter fast previously, really. It can be really hard (or not), frustrating and in more extreme cases a manifestation of an eating disorder.
But, don't be scared. Extended fasts are great if you know what you are doing.
When going into extended fasts, you may experience headaches, cramps or dizziness. They usually means that you lack electrolytes (sodium, potassium and/or magnesium).
Note: Electrolytes are required on extended fasts for your health.
Check out Electrolytes 101 for more info
It is important to be certain to the best of your (and doctor's) knowledge that you don't have any health issues before attempting an extended fast (including, diabetes and heart conditions).
You should also not feel unwell during any fasting period. If you do, then you should carefully break your fast. Listen to and trust your body.
"Fat fasting" is, what the name implies, eating only fats. Good fats, of course.
It's quite controversial, because when you eat anything (fat, protein or carbohydrates) your body starts to process the food, breaking the fast. Check out the "What does fasting do to my body" section to learn what happens when you don't eat food and therefore, what stops when you eat anything.
That doesn't mean you don't benefit from it, you probably see some benefits, but not the ones that rely on a true, no-food fast.
Very, very controversial, mostly for the same reason of a "fat fast". When you drink juice, you drink calories and the body goes to work, breaking the fast, plain and simple.
As with the fat fast, this doesn't mean you can see results with this kind of fast, but you won't get the benefits of a true, no-food fast.
One of the functions of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into our cells to be used as fuel.
Being "insulin insensitive" means that our cells require more insulin to to force the glucose into our cells, which in turn block the use of fats as fuel. Then glucose continue to be stored as body fat. It's a vicious circle.
So, when we fast, our pancreas stops delivering insulin into the bloodstream, making us deplete the glycogen stores and finally use our fat reserves as fuel.
It's been measured that as little as 11 or 12 hours are enough to fight insulin resistance.
Will I lose muscle if I fast? is a very common question and a valid concern.
But the answer is no, you won't.
Fasting won't make you lose muscle, not exercising will make you lose muscle.
If this were true we wouldn't have survived as a species. Our ancestors didn't have food as available as we do. As they learned to hunt, gather and grow food, there were long periods of food deprivation, if muscle were used for fuel we would have gone extinct thousands of years ago.
For muscles to be used as fuel, our body fat would have to be extremely low, like, 4%. For comparison, elite marathon runners carry approximately 8% body fat.
So, not only we don't lose muscle while fasting, but it becomes easier to grow muscle while fasting. Studies show that there is an increase in adrenaline and growth hormone, both which not only prevent lose of muscle, but help build muscle when exercising in a fasted state.
Another important health benefit, is lower cholesterol levels. It has to be the lack of food, right? Well, not exactly.
It's now increasingly recognized that lowering dietary cholesterol doesn't have a direct impact in the level of blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol is made by our livers and when we fast, the liver decreases the production of triglycerides, improving out heart health.
Our bodies are in a state of constant renewal. Cells are born to replace old, dying cells.
When we fast, our insulin levels decrease. When our bodies sense that insulin is low, autophagy is turned on. Think of autophagy as a "garbage collection service". The body prioritizes the preservation of cells, making it discard the oldest, most worn out cells.
Autophagy (in addition to growth hormone) might play an important role in preventing or even treating some kinds of cancer and even Alzheimer's disease.
However, autophagy is delicate. If the body senses that there is enough energy (insulin, glucose or protein), it is turned off. That's why it is recommended to stick to water for 3 to 5 days to make sure autophagy is achieved.
Improves mental clarity and concentration (increased adrenaline)
Induces weight and body fat loss (decreased insulin)
Lowers blood cholesterol (decreased liver production of triglycerides)
Possibly (theoretical, unproven) helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease and some kinds of cancer (autophagy and growth hormone)
Fasting can help reduce or even eliminate Diabetes type 2.
VERY IMPORTANT
Diabetes type 2 is a serious, dangerous condition. If you are diagnosed as a Diabetic type 2 and are on medication, it is absolutely important that you talk to your doctor to adjust your medication and monitor your insulin levels carefully.
Please, don't go into fasting without medical supervision if you are Diabetic type 2 or type 1.
Stop eating
Drink water
Eat after 12 or more hours (days, whatever you can handle)
Repeat
That's all there is to it, basically. You might need electrolytes and you might feel sick if you transition from using glycogen to fat, but it shouldn't be more than a discomfort, you shouldn't feel sick while fasting. Remember: if you are extended fasting (24+ hours), you must supplement electrolytes
If you want to achieve the very best benefits of fasting, you should stick to only water.
Whatever your reasons for fasting, you can also drink:
water, can be infused for flavor (meaning adding slices of lemon, orange, berries or cucumber, but not eaten or squeezed into the water), just don't add artificial flavors or sweeteners. Adding some apple cider vinegar is also a popular choice.
tea, all kinds, and herbal infusions as well.
coffee, caffeine is known to be a good appetite suppressant, but decaffeinated is good too. Black, no sweeteners is preferred..
broth - good for supplementing sodium
bone broth - will disrupt autophagy and break your fast but a good way to get protein, If you're fasting for weight loss then this is fine
diet drinks - will not disrupt autophagy or break a (non-pure water) fast
If it has calories, protein, carbs or fats in any measurable amount, it will technically break a fast. However, that doesn't mean that you won't see benefits of fasting, even with very small amount of calories in your drinks.
Ghrelin
is a hormone produced by enteroendocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the stomach. It is called the "hunger hormone" because it's what signals your body to make you hungry so you'll increase food intake. Ghrelin production stops around hour 48 of extended fasting.
This means that after the second day, the biggest hurdle extended fasters face is "emotional" or "psychological hunger" (ie: wanting to eat because you're bored).
Keep busy
When you stop eating, both your circadian rhythm and your life-long conditioning to eat a certain time say: "hey, it's 1pm (or whatever your usual lunch time is), let's eat! what are we having?".
So keep busy. Do whatever you need to focus on something that will keep you mind off of food.
Work, sound awful, but if you can't or won't leave your office, then keep doing what your are doing.
Do some house/office keeping: rearrange that drawer, clean up your kitchen (if you haven't been cooking, there's probably not a lot to clean up), your room, the garage... you get the idea
Do some puzzles, like sudoku, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, etc.
Read, listen to podcasts, watch TV
Go for a walk, go to the gym, run an errand, take a nap, play with your dog/cat/pet
Meditate, do some yoga
Remember: you will feel hungry
This is something that simply cannot be avoided; not entirely, not always. But:
You will not feel hungrier, eventually, you will notice that hunger does not increase beyond a certain point, that is, you will not feel hungrier on day 1 than on day 5, or 10
Hunger comes and goes, learn to ride the waves.
your state of mind will change, sometimes you will fell sharp as a razor, sometimes dull and lack of energy. If you're feeling terrible, end your fast, no shame in that, but if you feel uncomfortable and feel like you can ride it, then keep going!
It's always ok to end the fast
You can always get started again once you stop eating. Don't be too hard on yourself.
You'll experience some discomfort, but you shouldn't feel sick.
You wouldn't expect to walk into a gym and lift 500 lb just like that, would you? Same with extended fasts, and that's a good thing, you can build into it. Fast one more day than the last time.
Some don'ts, if you can afford them
Don't watch cooking shows
Don't browse food subreddits!
Stay away from the farmer's market, don't shop for food
When we are fasting, having only water might make us slightly dehydrated and, without the minerals in our food, we might experience the lack of electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and/or magnesium. In such case, a multivitamin or supplement will help reduce these symptoms. See: Electrolytes 101
It can happen during day 2, 3 or 4, depending on your glycogen stores. This is usually the point where the body starts to adapt to use fat as fuel, instead of glycogen. Once the body adapts to fat, the energy comes back and the fogginess goes away.
It may come back a few days later (6th day or after). Make sure you are supplementing your electrolytes and/or have a bowl of bone broth, drink it slowly.
You probably need to stop your fast. Ease into eating, slowly and small portions. Then try again. Don't be discouraged! While some people might find fasting easy, some might find fasting more challenging, especially extended fasts. Try shorter fasts for several days before going into an extended fast.
Isn't it obvious? children under 18 are still developing, and even with obesity, fasting more than 24 hours is not advised. At this stage is more important to make proper, healthy choices of nutritious, unprocessed natural foods.
The health of both the mother and baby are at stake here. Don't fast. Period.
If you haven't fasted before, if you have never skipped breakfast or dinner, start working your way up. Try each protocol for a week or a few days, see how you feel and take it to the next level.
For short fasts (less than 4 days and all IF protocols) don't require supplements other than electrolytes.
For longer fasts (a week or more) it depends. If you have any medical condition or you want to play it safe, you should talk to your doctor. If you're doctor is unwilling to listen to you about fasting, you may want to find one who is more open-minded and up to date on recent medical research. Be your own advocate.
Electrolytes 101
Take any multivitamin you wish while fasting, they don't hurt.
A short fast is less than 1 day. Eat as you normally would, pretend nothing happened. Just make it count! Eat something healthy! A high carb meal may cause gastrointestinal distress so experiment with works best for you and you can always start off with low carb and add more carbs during your next meal if you wish.
Don't break extended fasts with fruit or other carbs! Coming straight out of ketosis with a carb-heavy meal will make you feel terrible (carb hangover). Definitely experiment to find what works best for you but you should always start your break with minimal carbs and gradually add them as you wish.
Some people report distress when breaking fast with eggs. Did you had eggs? avoid them next time.
If you want to go gently, that's ok. Try some fatty foods in small quantities, like macadamia nuts. You could try a small salad with cottage cheese. Have some raw vegetables with olive oil and vinegar.
Chew thoroughly, take your time and enjoy. Let your stomach work for a few hours before eating normally.
Fasting is the voluntary absence of food for a period of time while having a healthy, regular diet when you eat.
Eating disorders have a psychological component, a complicated relationship with food and self-image.
While fasting is self-imposed and disciplined action, an eating disorder is extreme and emotionally charged.
It's like saying that washing your hands will make you OCD. No, it doesn't.
However if you find yourself bingeing on food and then "fasting" to make up for the excess constantly, then you should probably see a therapist.
What's wrong with what we eat - https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat
Why fasting bolsters brain power: Mark Mattson at TEDxJohnsHopkinsUniversity https://youtu.be/4UkZAwKoCP8
The Mystery of Fast-5 and D.I.E.T.: Bert Herring, MD at TEDxRiversideAvondale https://youtu.be/xHQbg4xH9lw
Ray Cronise on Cold Thermogenesis, Intermittent Fasting, Weight Loss & Healthspa - https://youtu.be/uNzZod_d18A
Dr. Guido Kroemer on Autophagy, Caloric Restriction Mimetics, Fasting & Protein Acetylation - https://youtu.be/Gm626MgpveI
"The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended" By Fung, Jason; Moore, Jimmy
Intensive Dietary Mangement (Dr. Fung's blog)
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/
Intensive Dietary Mangement (Dr. Fung's blog)
http://www.fastingtalk.com/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting
Autophagy: process and function - http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/21/22/2861.full
Methods in Mammalian Autophagy Research - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2852113/
With fasting, enzyme turns off body’s production of fats, cholesterol - http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/06/with-fasting-enzyme-turns-off-bodys-production-of-fats-cholesterol/
Running on Empty - http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/49462/title/Running-on-Empty/
Transcript: Dr Rhonda Patrick on Exploring Smart Drugs, Fasting, and Fat Loss - http://tim.blog/2017/05/25/transcript-dr-rhonda-patrick-on-exploring-smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss/
Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system - https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/
A 12-week randomized clinical trial investigating the potential for sucralose to affect glucose homeostasis - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273230017301265
The secret to a long and healthy life? Eat less http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170601-the-secret-to-a-long-and-healthy-life-eat-less
Resveratrol induces autophagy by directly inhibiting mTOR through ATP competition - https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21772
Last revised by
Gangreless
- 2 years ago
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