fasting faq?

I read a couple articles on Davis's site re. fasting and it made me curious.
I did a search for fasting on the Internet and everything I found had to do
with religion or colon cleansing. "Fruit juice fast"? Gimme a break.

I'm just curious if there's any decent info out there online so that I can
learn a little more about the subject. Based on Davis's blog, I am toying
with the idea.

Mike

"em" writes:
I'm just curious if there's any decent info out there online so that
I can learn a little more about the subject.

You don't want a pure fast, as your body requires a minimal amount of
protein, EFAs, vitamins, and minerals. Much better is a PSMF -
Protein Sparing Modified Fast - where you eat only those things you
need to survive, like protein. I recommend Lyle's PSMF book:
http://rapidfatloss.lylemcdonald.com/

Although note that even Lyle does NOT recommend a PSMF for most people
- he recommends a more long-term approach with a less drastic diet.
But as he says in his book, if you're desperate enough to do it, you
should at least do it right.

Note that a true fast is very different from an Atkins "fat fast",
which has nothing to do with fasting and everything to do with a
metabolic kickstart.

em wrote:
I read a couple articles on Davis's site re. fasting and it made me
curious. I did a search for fasting on the Internet and everything I
found had to do with religion or colon cleansing. "Fruit juice fast"?
Gimme a break.

I'm just curious if there's any decent info out there online so that I
can learn a little more about the subject. Based on Davis's blog, I am
toying with the idea.

Mike Eades has a few blog entries about intermittent fasting.

I find the most intriguing bit of the fasting idea about... well, taking
a break from it all. I am on basal insulin, bolus insulin and Symlin -
a total of 8 shots a day. I have to calculate what I'm going to eat
ahead of time to dose those meds. Plus, I'm on other meds and
supplements as well.

I thought... damn, it'd be nice to just not think much about this stuff
for a day. But some of my meds must be taken with food, so I *can't*
not eat. And since I'm still recovering from the surgeries, I probably
*shouldn't* not eat.

So I compromised. Yesterday, I mixed up a protein shake (about 500
calories) and had half for breakfast and stuck the other half in the
fridge and reblended it for dinner. The rest of the day was decaf
coffee and stevia-sweetened lemonade.

That bought me a bit of a vacation from thinking about it all so darned
much and was a relief. I enjoyed having a partial day-off.

Surprisingly, I wasn't particularly hungry yesterday, nor today when I
woke up. I had a normal breakfast and lunch today. I think this might
be because of the Symlin as I expect I'd normally be pretty hungry after
a 500-calorie day.

I might do this a few times a month when I want a break. Not more often
though, cause I am being evaluated for thyroid problems and don't need
to be trashing my metabolism.

But I found it a pleasant break.

--
http://www.ornery-geeks.org/consulting/

DJ Delorie wrote:
You don't want a pure fast, as your body requires a minimal amount of
protein, EFAs, vitamins, and minerals. Much better is a PSMF -
Protein Sparing Modified Fast - where you eat only those things you
need to survive, like protein. I recommend Lyle's PSMF book:
http://rapidfatloss.lylemcdonald.com/

Although note that even Lyle does NOT recommend a PSMF for most people
- he recommends a more long-term approach with a less drastic diet.
But as he says in his book, if you're desperate enough to do it, you
should at least do it right.

Note that a true fast is very different from an Atkins "fat fast",
which has nothing to do with fasting and everything to do with a
metabolic kickstart.

I think Lyle's version of the PSMF is the best possible rapid weight
loss diet if someone wants to go there. But... it's not the same thing
as a fast anymore than the fat fast is.

At least part of the point of a fast is to have not have to deal with
food, no meal planning, shopping or eating, etc.

--
http://www.ornery-geeks.org/consulting/

Jackie Patti writes:

em wrote:
I read a couple articles on Davis's site re. fasting and it made me
curious. I did a search for fasting on the Internet and everything I
found had to do with religion or colon cleansing. "Fruit juice fast"?
Gimme a break.
I'm just curious if there's any decent info out there online so that I
can learn a little more about the subject. Based on Davis's blog, I am
toying with the idea.

Mike Eades has a few blog entries about intermittent fasting.

Those are very informative. To sum up, you fast for 24 hours, then eat
for 24 hours. But instead of starting each time period at midnight, you
start it right after supper one day. So if you finish supper on Monday
at 7pm, you don't eat again until after 7pm Tuesday. Then you start
fasting again 7pm on Wednesday. So you're really just skipping two
meals every other day.

I did it a couple days. It wasn't horrible, considering I expected it
to be torturous. I don't normally miss many meals. :-)

I find the most intriguing bit of the fasting idea about... well,
taking a break from it all.

Yeah, that's one thing I found attractive too. Sometimes it seems like
I'm constantly planning, cooking, eating, or cleaning up after meals,
and I don't do a lot of fancy cooking. The idea of being able to just
forget about all that for most of a day is pretty appealing.

Aside from a break from all that, I know it would be good for me to mix
things up and get away from eating being such an automatic thing. The
worst thing about the hunger wasn't the physical sensation; it was the
constant mental distraction. I must have started to get out of my chair
1000 times that first day, thinking "Hmm, what should I eat?"

I might do this a few times a month when I want a break. Not more
often though, cause I am being evaluated for thyroid problems and
don't need to be trashing my metabolism.

I'm going to try to do it more often, but I don't know if I'll ever get
up to every other day. Maybe two days a week. For one thing, every
other day means it would switch days every other week, and weekends
would be harder. I think it'd be easier for me to do it 2 or 3 days a
week, always on the same weekdays.

But I found it a pleasant break.

I did too. That seems like an odd thing to say about some serious
hunger pangs, but it really was.



--
Aaron -- 285/254/200 -- aaron.baugher.biz

"Aaron Baugher" wrote in message
...
Jackie Patti writes:


I did it a couple days. It wasn't horrible, considering I expected it
to be torturous. I don't normally miss many meals. :-)

I find the most intriguing bit of the fasting idea about... well,
taking a break from it all.


Well, I had a small snack when I woke up yesterday morning around five and
haven't eaten since. Surprisingly, it's not been difficult at all. Its been
a real freedom from having to plan meals, prepare them, etc. Its like a
vacation!

I'm not doing this for weight loss. I'm thinking it might be a good
opportunity to get to understand my appetite and learn to control it a
little more. For, I dunno, more than twenty years now, allowing "that
feeling in my stomach" to tell me when to eat has been the path to hell.

I feel sharp as a tack, energetic and extremely focused. I'm wondering if my
ADD is related to a food intolerance. Or maybe my mind is just kicking into
some primal state because it thinks food is scarce and its trying to keep me
on my toes :-)

I didn't set a time as to when I plan to eat again. I just figured what the
hell and started to fast. I have a date tonight and that usually involves
going to a restaraunt, so we'll see. I wouldn't mind hanging on until
Sunday. I wouldn't want to go any further than that because I don't want to
mess with my metabolism.

Somebody in this group, I forget who, wrote about learning to look at food
as a way to nourish their body as opposed to a way to satisfy their hunger.
That statement impressed the hell out of me. I'd like to learn to live that
way.

Mike

"em" writes:

I'm not doing this for weight loss. I'm thinking it might be a good
opportunity to get to understand my appetite and learn to control it a
little more. For, I dunno, more than twenty years now, allowing "that
feeling in my stomach" to tell me when to eat has been the path to
hell.

Same here. When I start to get hungry, it's very hard for me to focus
on work or anything else until I eat. It's far better on a low-carb
diet than on a USDA diet, but it's still a problem. (On a high-carb
diet, it's almost like I black-out at the keyboard and find myself
standing in the kitchen; it takes over that automatically.) I want to
get away from that level of dependence, regardless of whether it leads
directly to any weight loss.

I feel sharp as a tack, energetic and extremely focused. I'm wondering
if my ADD is related to a food intolerance. Or maybe my mind is just
kicking into some primal state because it thinks food is scarce and its
trying to keep me on my toes :-)

It's interesting how many people report feeling that way when they
fast. I suppose it makes sense in one way: if my body isn't using
energy to digest and convert food, maybe there's more energy for other
things. I don't know; just a thought. It does make sense, from an
evolutionary standpoint, that most of our ancestors wouldn't have had
three square meals a day, so we should be built for fasting and
irregular meal times.

I didn't set a time as to when I plan to eat again. I just figured
what the hell and started to fast. I have a date tonight and that
usually involves going to a restaraunt, so we'll see. I wouldn't mind
hanging on until Sunday. I wouldn't want to go any further than that
because I don't want to mess with my metabolism.

Yeah, I seem to recall that things get tricky after 24 hours, but I
don't remember the details.

Somebody in this group, I forget who, wrote about learning to look at
food as a way to nourish their body as opposed to a way to satisfy their
hunger. That statement impressed the hell out of me. I'd like to learn
to live that way.

Might have been Roger; I think he's talked about seeing food as fuel and
not a lifestyle. That makes sense, but I can also see it the other way,
where learning about your food--where it comes from, what it's made of,
how to prepare it so it's as healthy and tasty as possible--could make
the diet more interesting and easier to stick with. I suspect this is
one aspect that varies greatly from one person to the next. But in
either case, I think it's possible to put food in a better perspective.



--
Aaron -- 285/254/200 -- aaron.baugher.biz