The euphoria and sharpness of fasting

[Gúzmann]

What kind of food are you eating Guzmann?

I have read that animals with lower calory intake live longer overall, and that a day a week of fasting is good for overall health, it certainly can give an appreciation of food!

 

My eating habits are strange to say the least.

I drink green tea (no sugar no milk) for breakfast, but I eat a small sandwich at about midday, usually cheese or lunch meat. I get home and eat a substantial meal at 3PM and I don't eat anything else until the next day.

I eat a little of everything, but my diet lacks fiber, so I'm trying to get some more salads in my diet. They're light, full of fiber and water. Interestingly, I eat more fatty foods than a regular person, not fast food, I'm talking butter, oils, fish, cheese etc... (fast food makes me sick). Those are the only foods I have found that I can eat in moderate quantities and not feel sick afterwards.

Is it possible that the body can process lipids better than carbs for energy?

Epic Thread Bump! 5 years !

I think all the original posters have starved to death.

I appologise; I felt like this thread was worth bringing up again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like there is much more pseudo-science about diet nowadays compared to five years ago. People don't seem to understand that you lose weight when you eat less, not when you take advice from a stupid add.

[Psylo]

No apology needed, I'm just lightheartedly stirring.

Were discussing this the other day. My neighbour works with a guy that weighed in at over 220kg, he has slimmed right down, but they are forever smelling his heated-up vegie curries in the office at odd times. He also eats 8 times a day, and includes moderate exercise into his regime. Nothing strenuous,just keeping active.

Are there more as on TV today than five years ago ? That's not a loaded question, I seriously dont know (no TV since 2001). I see random ads on the internet, but they are blatant phishing scams, and I don't now how many people are swayed by it.

Kind of like the fat kid who turned into a buff demigod in two weeks advert you see (hmm, with 200 hours of tattoos since the 'before' shot)

I reckon those pre-packaged meals are a fucking scam. They smell like shit when people heat them up, I'm led t believe theyre expensive, and you could just as soon have a tuna salad sandwich

[Gúzmann]

Those meals probably smell awful in purpose. When something smells bad, you don't want to eat it and you reduce your calorie intake. I know someone in my family who went to get advice on how to lose weight and the doctor suggested he ate bread made without salt. The idea was that bread without salt tastes so awful that after a while he would stop eating it altogether.

I see random ads on the internet, but they are blatant phishing scams, and I don't now how many people are swayed by it.

You'd be surprised about how many idiots are swayed by those adds. Some people are really desperate. If no one was swayed by those ads, they would disappear after a while, but it seems like there are more and more every year.

[ThunderIdeal]

fats have the added health benefit that your body needs fats, not just for energy.

if you're seeking dietary advice i'm worried that the members with a good knowledge of nutrition aren't going to click on a thread about fasting.

[woof woof woof]

never done it. but sounds very appealing to me right now. because I did allot of weight training I eat constantly.

One thing I've noticed is that when I drastically cut calories, my skin becomes nice and smooth (silky smooth - the zohan;-) and indeed I feel much more energetic. I usually only cut calories for 2 days and on those days I train intensivly. (high intensity interval training - 80% acitive - 20% rest @ 80% of max) after those 2 days I have to give my body a rest and the nutrients to restore, otherwise I go into a dip.

good thread.

[Gúzmann]

fats have the added health benefit that your body needs fats, not just for energy.

 

I know, that is why I choose fats over carbs and sugars any day of the week. In my mind, arteriosclerosis comes from the consumption of sugar, not saturated fats. Here's something many people overlook, fatty acids get absorbed into the LYMPH, not directly into the blood stream. People think that fats enter directly into the blood stream and clog it up; that's simply not true. They first pass through the lymph, the gutter of the body if you will, where they are further processed and then put back into the blood stream.

Too many people these days speculate from their armchairs and come up with bogus theories that make sense on the surface, those are claims of the worst kind, as they become myths deeply set in people's minds.

[curaezipirid]

There is scientific research proving that in parts of the world with more than average longevity rates, people's diets as children, were hardly more than a starvation diet. Barely more than would leave us malnourised, is opitmal for health.

A good fast, and by day three I feel more stoned than on drugs.

Being also a bit of a foodie, I find it hard to get the fast started, by after one day, the second and third are easier, and Ramadan is blissful, as all Muslims welcome anybody to join in, and if one fasts at the same time as Muslims are praying for the whole of humanity to fast with them, you get a decent bit of insight into Islam.

[curaezipirid]

Also, . . .

. . . how many times will I write that word "also" before I get sick of typing here today . . .!

(listening to Bark + a "history of healing" lecture for school)

. . . I don't think calorie counting is the only method. Not that calorie counting is bad, in fact it is excellent, and we all need keep an eye on the calorie intake.

But some days, the body wants its energy from fats, and other days from carbohydrates, and each individual needs to get a handle on the patterns of its own body.

I first lost about 25 kg, and went quite suddenly down to about 52 kg, from one of those low carb diets, but I don't advocate for trying than more than once in a life time.

Low carb intake is for kickstarting an inactive liver. But the thing was, that without eating fats every day, I could have fasted a longer time, without even losing weight, because my liver was underactive. Now that my liver works normal again, I just try to keep a balance. But sometimes, that balance might mean that if I drink a sweet drink, which I do not normally, (like a big boost juice once a month is my upper limit of sugar intake), then I crave fats straight away, to balance myself out these days.

I think we need limit our calorie intake over like a week, or month, so we fit in a few occasions of splendid feasts, and a few fasts. Like hunter gatherers, my digestive system actually works best like that. And I have a stomache that works in one range of sizes when I am looking after myself, but if I overeat too often in a month, my stomache size increases, and then I have to fast to get it back to small healthier intake size again.

But the balance between fats and carbohydrates is the point I needed to make. Like if I drank a milkshake, then I might want to eat an oily dinner too, but the next day would wake up feeling still full, and want less.

[CβL]

I find fasting to be an interesting topic. What I do know is that there is a limit to the time you can exist without food while remaining healthy. I also know that that limit depends on the food intake prior to the beginning of the fast. I.e. if you have been on 7000kJ/day and stop that cold turkey - your body's "metabolism momentum" will make you crash a lot harder than if you had reduced slowly over the prior few days. It will be forced to taper off by clumsily eating itself wherever it can.

I think it also is MUCH easier to begin fasting from a diet of predominantly fats and proteins, than the neo-traditional bread and pasta western food-pyramid diet. This is almost certainly because the former diet will raise the same enzymes which can consume your fat stores efficiently. This is supported by my personal experience, you almost cannot hypo on the first diet.

And lastly, the calorie reduction path to longevity is not linear. From memory it was extrapolated that a human would need to be near starvation and unable to do any exercise to reach the levels the mice were on. It did not sound fun at all. Isn't it obvious that a long, shitty life is not as enjoyable as a well-paced invigorative one?

[Gúzmann]

And lastly, the calorie reduction path to longevity is not linear. From memory it was extrapolated that a human would need to be near starvation and unable to do any exercise to reach the levels the mice were on. It did not sound fun at all. Isn't it obvious that a long, shitty life is not as enjoyable as a well-paced invigorative one?

I disagree. Calorie reduction is just a theory that if you metabolise less food, you generate less free radicals (O₂^-1, ·OH, O₂^-2 among others). Such reductions ensure that your cells age less quickly.

Also, this theory implies that your metabolism slows down to a reasonable rate for a human, not down to that of a mouse.

I have to disagree with "living a shitty life". Don't speculate from your armchair; armchair speculation is one thing I loath above everything else. This is how we came up with "fats are bad for you because they enter your bloodstream and clog it up".

Having lived both in excess and through voluntary calorie restriction, I can tell you that calorie restriction was the best thing I did for myself. Strange "allergies" "eczema" and other health problems disappeared when I started eating less. I encourage anyone considering restricting their diet to go right ahead.

[Distracted]

This thread reminds me of Dr. Rudy.

 

Anyone care to comment on Bear Owsley's caveman diet?

[C_T]

when we don't eat carb's and the glycogen stores in our muscles, liver and bloodstream deplete, we enter whats called ketosis, where fats are converted to glycogen as fuel (the brain uses 2/3 of the body's glycogen).

so initially as blood sugar (glycogen) drops, moody and irritability arises, as you push through, ketosis begins (after about 2 days), along with a few other processes, which can give euphoric, energetic effect.

i personally don't like it, i find it puts unnecessary strain on the kidneys, leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and sweat smells like ammonia. im also quite paranoid about insulin and diabetes, which ketosis can stress. cycling carbs day to day (have low carb days, med and a high carb day each week) is a much better, long term way to manage calories a more healthy way.

its not healthy to be in permanent ketosis. i better stop here before i ramble too much...