Why Intermittent Fasting Actually Works (it’s Not What You Think)

[Hans]

"The reduction in gut irritation and subsequent inflammation" definitely explains why I felt good when IF. That came with cold hands and feet

I may try it again using the whole fruit/fruit juice tweak to see what happens. Go until noon before doing my usual milk/coffee combo followed by eggs and OJ.

If you get cold hands and feet from IF, then the fruit might also have the same effect. Try something salty instead. Or if you're game for it, try some sodium bicarb mixed with your fruit juice.

 

[Hans]

• Do a fruit fast, which is basically when you eat whole fruits and/or drink fruit juice during the fasting period.

In your article you mention a fruit fast. I like that idea but why do so many say you should never eat fruit or any other sugar without a protein?
If I eat fruit only in the mornings will it cause some kind of blood sugar issue?

It's totally fine to have whole fruit or fruit juice on its own, but then you just need sufficient protein during the day. Low protein diets can lead to blood sugar or liver issues, so as long as your having sufficient protein, you should be good.
In the past when I had a grain and starch-rich breakfast, I would get blood sugar issues, but if I have meat with milk or fruit juice I'm fine. I just like to have protein in the morning, else my appetite gets out of control for the rest of the day.

 

[Hans]

Eat fruit by itself (away from protein or fat by 3+ hours), with fiber (preferably from the fruit itself), and in smaller quantities so as to not overwhelm the liver with an excess of fructose.

Fruit fasting for a few days is very powerful imo, but you'll definitely run into issues if you slam too many fruit juices or eat until satiety on just fruit. In my experience it was either nausea or immediate fatigue.

I'll add that I spent about a month where 95% of my calories came from grapes or oranges, no animal products at all, just herbal supplements a couple times a day... And the benefits plateaued after about 3 weeks. By the second month of keeping this up (had rice and beans a few times) I was pretty shot.

There was definitely a gut-cleansing benefit for a while there, though. Felt worse after a week, then amazing, then slowly degraded into a wispy blade of grass with little exercise potential.

Sounds rough man, why did you do such a long term low protein diet?

Thanks for all of the content, @Hans

 

[Coderr]

What do you think of glucosamine? Said to imitate intermittent fasting

 

[Ableton]

What are your go to dinners?

Steamed veggies, if possible including broccoli. With rice/potatoes. And some form of steamed animal protein (fish, liver pate, sea food). Often 1 boiled egg additionally. Sometimes oyster stew. Quarter teaspoon of cold pressed olive oil before for absorption . A drink with pea protein inside

all foods prepared without heated fats. Generally low fat. Salt to taste

seems like a lot of inflammation is clearing up for me since ditching heated fats and sticking to this plan

 

[yerrag]

nly one 2 day fast helped solve your hunger issues and actually halted weight gain and even started promoting fat loss? Is this without doing anything else?

It was a 2-day dry fast, with nothing else done.

Since I was able to identify what caused my journey into blood sugar dysregulatiin and overweight from a state of blood sugar optimality and normal weight, seeing that it was caused by the release of immune complexes into my system, I had no other recourse but to throw a hail mary pass. It worked. Glad it did.

 

[Hans]

It was a 2-day dry fast, with nothing else done.

Since I was able to identify what caused my journey into blood sugar dysregulatiin and overweight from a state of blood sugar optimality and normal weight, seeing that it was caused by the release of immune complexes into my system, I had no other recourse but to throw a hail mary pass. It worked. Glad it did.

Sweet, glad it worked so well for you.

 

[Hans]

What do you think of glucosamine? Said to imitate intermittent fasting

I haven't specifically looked into glucosamine yet.

 

[TheBeard]

My pleasure man. Long duration fasts do have benefits and they are well-documented. However, I just think that doing them repeatedly in close proximity will do more harm than good. Aging is a catabolic process, so adding more catabolism will not be all that good. So as long as you make sure your regeneration is in check, then occasional longer-term fasting might not be that harmful, but then again I'm also skeptical of how useful longer-term fasting will be.
For example, how do the health benefits of longer-term fasting compare with keeping the gut healthy, keeping inflammation low, optimizing steroidogenesis and thyroid, keeping stress low, etc., without fasting.

Oh yes for sure fasts will never replace having a good understanding of everyday inflammation + endotoxin reduction through appropriate diet, but so far I haven't found such diet, so I have to work with fasting "bandaids" every once in a while.
They work as a reset for me, from all the damage I'm doing daily.

I think, as you have found, a fiber free starch free diet may be the solution to fixing issues, I just haven't found the strength to make it last more than two weeks at a time: the harshness of the adaptation phase + the social life implications make it hardly sustainable.

I find it way easier to do 5 day fasts twice a year.

 

[Hans]

Oh yes for sure fasts will never replace having a good understanding of everyday inflammation + endotoxin reduction through appropriate diet, but so far I haven't found such diet, so I have to work with fasting "bandaids" every once in a while.
They work as a reset for me, from all the damage I'm doing daily.

I think, as you have found, a fiber free starch free diet may be the solution to fixing issues, I just haven't found the strength to make it last more than two weeks at a time: the harshness of the adaptation phase + the social life implications make it hardly sustainable.

I find it way easier to do 5 day fasts twice a year.

The starch free diet definitely needs some individual tweaking to make it work. I've found that once I've adapted to it, or at least my inflammation has been minimized, I can eat starchy meals once or twice a week without issues if my wife and I want to treat ourselves with sushi or something like that.

How long do you feel that the benefits from a 5 day fast last for you?

 

[TheBeard]

The starch free diet definitely needs some individual tweaking to make it work. I've found that once I've adapted to it, or at least my inflammation has been minimized, I can eat starchy meals once or twice a week without issues if my wife and I want to treat ourselves with sushi or something like that.

How long do you feel that the benefits from a 5 day fast last for you?

About two weeks of feeling super human, then slowly getting back to my old self over the course of one or two months.

 

[Ableton]

About two weeks of feeling super human, then slowly getting back to my old self over the course of one or two months.

do you refeed with sugar immediatly when coming off a fast?

 

[David90]

Interesting Article @Hans

Before Peat, i was doing IF regularly. Does somebody Know Greg O Gallagher (Youtube: Kinobody)?. He was (back in 2016) The Reason, I took Weightlifting (Greek God Programm at that Time) and IF seriously.

Back then, i was doing Fasts mostly between 16-20 Hours. I Remember one Time, i was doing even a 22-Hour Fast. Nowadays i would not do IF again (or at least limit it to a bare minimum). It has still very healthy Effects. Even the Ancient Greeks have done something like IF in the Past (at least with 2 Meals per Day).

Something i noticed back then was, that if i was drinking my First Coffee without Salt and Sugar/Fruits, my Hands and Feet would get cold. Possibly a sign of Low Thyorid (?). But if i put 2-3g of Salt and a bit of Fruit or Sugar/Honey/Maple Syrup in it, everything was fine. Even Martin Berkhan himself (he was the first, that made IF so popular) was saying, that you can have 50kcal throughout your Fast and not breaking your fast.

It's totally fine to have whole fruit or fruit juice on its own, but then you just need sufficient protein during the day. Low protein diets can lead to blood sugar or liver issues, so as long as your having sufficient protein, you should be good.
In the past when I had a grain and starch-rich breakfast, I would get blood sugar issues, but if I have meat with milk or fruit juice I'm fine. I just like to have protein in the morning, else my appetite gets out of control for the rest of the day.

Same Here (with the Protein in the Morning). Mostly it's 3 Whole Eggs with Cheese and Cornichons (Pickled Vegetable) and some OJ and Coffee Con Leche / Milked Coffee (and Lot of Salt of course)

 

[Steve]

It's totally fine to have whole fruit or fruit juice on its own, but then you just need sufficient protein during the day. Low protein diets can lead to blood sugar or liver issues, so as long as your having sufficient protein, you should be good.
In the past when I had a grain and starch-rich breakfast, I would get blood sugar issues, but if I have meat with milk or fruit juice I'm fine. I just like to have protein in the morning, else my appetite gets out of control for the rest of the day.

I used to feel great eating fruit only until noon, light and mentally sharp, but I haven't tried that in a years.
I kept reading never eat fruit alone and got worried about messing up my blood sugar.

I don't understand milk. You said, "...but if I have meat with milk or fruit juice I'm fine."
I thought the body saw milk as a protein, but since you mentioned a combo of meat & milk it sounds like the body must see it as a carb.
Is that right?

I thought I read people combine milk & sugar to balance it out, or have fruit and milk.
Milk is so confusing to me!

 

[Ableton]

the question is, how do we get the benefits of a fast without running low on thyroid/metabolism?

what happens if you fast on mdma or lsd to artificially keep your metabolism up while fasting? obviously would have to be done very carefully

note that this is in a way already common practice. no one who is rolling on those drugs gets enough calories while doing it.

my experience is that i have an energy collapse afterwards, followed by lots of sleep for 2-3 days. afterwards, apart from some kind of brain reset, there is some metabolic reset also. i'm warmer. always thought its the drugs themselves, but it might be the fast accompanying them.

i do this maybe 3 times a year

 

[cedric]

We could fast fighting endotoxemia, but still we can deliver calories/coconut oil through the skin together with infrared light.
Topical application of coconut oil to the skin of preterm infants: a systematic review
Pupala, S.S., Rao, S., Strunk, T. et al. Topical application of coconut oil to the skin of preterm infants: a systematic review. Eur J Pediatr 178, 1317–1324 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03407-7

" Overall, infants in the coconut oil group had decreased water loss, decreased infection rates, better growth and skin condition. There were no significant adverse effects associated with coconut oil application. The overall quality of evidence was considered moderate for the outcome of HABSI and low for the outcome of physical growth based on GRADE guidelines."

 

[LLight]

Since IF lowers inflammation, it's bound to have benefits. Inflammation inhibits proper autophagy whereas anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-10 promote proper autophagy.
IF can be a useful tool, but I don't think it should be forced if it doesn't work for someone.

Thanks for your answer.
My hypothesis is that (paradoxically) the fasting metabolism is not "free" at all. That's why people could see improvements in the short term and then worsen when they are depleted.

 

[tankasnowgod]

the question is, how do we get the benefits of a fast without running low on thyroid/metabolism?

what happens if you fast on mdma or lsd to artificially keep your metabolism up while fasting? obviously would have to be done very carefully

note that this is in a way already common practice. no one who is rolling on those drugs gets enough calories while doing it.

my experience is that i have an energy collapse afterwards, followed by lots of sleep for 2-3 days. afterwards, apart from some kind of brain reset, there is some metabolic reset also. i'm warmer. always thought its the drugs themselves, but it might be the fast accompanying them.

i do this maybe 3 times a year

I think Hans did a good job of answering your first question in his article.

As for IF, even Peat has said that a fast of up to 24 hours can be beneficial as long as there is enough glycogen. This can obviously vary from person to person. Occasional meal skipping or IF (maybe once a week, or once a month) might be a better approach.

Using any agent to keep "metabolism up" while doing a fast is likely to lead to a stress response. I don't think most people who use mdma or lsd are doing it for the health benefits.

 

[tankasnowgod]

I thought the body saw milk as a protein, but since you mentioned a combo of meat & milk it sounds like the body must see it as a carb.

Your body doesn't see it as either. Milk contains protein and carbohydrates, and fat too, as long as it's not skim. What's confusing about that?

 

[Hans]

I used to feel great eating fruit only until noon, light and mentally sharp, but I haven't tried that in a years.
I kept reading never eat fruit alone and got worried about messing up my blood sugar.

I don't understand milk. You said, "...but if I have meat with milk or fruit juice I'm fine."
I thought the body saw milk as a protein, but since you mentioned a combo of meat & milk it sounds like the body must see it as a carb.
Is that right?

I thought I read people combine milk & sugar to balance it out, or have fruit and milk.
Milk is so confusing to me!

Milk contains 30g protein and 50g carbs per L, so it's higher in carbs than protein. So if I have it with meat, I add honey to my milk to increase the carbs even more.