Fasting

[Yellow Fang]

Is anyone else trying this fast diet (fast as in not eating rather than quick)? There are several ways of doing it, I gather. One way is to cut your diet down to 600 calories for two days a week. I can't be bothered to count calories, so I have decided just not to eat anything at all for one day a week. I tried it for the first time yesterday. There was a Horizon programme on the telly last summer that said it was a good way of keeping healthy for longer. I also read an article in the New Scientist that said there were a lot of benefits. One of its benefits was in fighting brain cancer. That would have been of interest to my father, but he's too far gone now. I don't have brain cancer, thank God; however, my knee is dodgy and I find I cannot exercise as much and so my weight is creeping up. I need to do something and calorie counting is not for me. I have a friend who is doing the 600 calorie thing twice a week. He had a stroke a year ago, so basically he is doing anything that he thinks might help. Fasting is supposed to help brain function, I believe.

 

[Rob3rt]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I fast while I sleep!

 

[The Jogger]

The fast diet has really taken off, I watched it, got the book and am doing it, a few on here have done it, search calorie restriction on here and you will find the thread.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Is anyone else trying this fast diet (fast as in not eating rather than quick)? There are several ways of doing it, I gather. One way is to cut your diet down to 600 calories for two days a week. I can't be bothered to count calories, so I have decided just not to eat anything at all for one day a week. I tried it for the first time yesterday. There was a Horizon programme on the telly last summer that said it was a good way of keeping healthy for longer. I also read an article in the New Scientist that said there were a lot of benefits. One of its benefits was in fighting brain cancer. That would have been of interest to my father, but he's too far gone now. I don't have brain cancer, thank God; however, my knee is dodgy and I find I cannot exercise as much and so my weight is creeping up. I need to do something and calorie counting is not for me. I have a friend who is doing the 600 calorie thing twice a week. He had a stroke a year ago, so basically he is doing anything that he thinks might help. Fasting is supposed to help brain function, I believe.

So you're eating too much and are looking a quick,relatively brainless effortless solution?

I think I just gave you it

 

[Yellow Fang]

So you're eating too much and are looking a quick,relatively brainless effortless solution?

I think I just gave you it

It's hardly brainless if it was featured in New Scientist, ignorant troll.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It's hardly brainless if it was featured in New Scientist, ignorant troll.

It was in the Daily Mail too, that must make it peer reviewed.

 

[screenman]

YF you sound a tad lazy to me.

 

[carolonabike]

I've been doing it since September. It's an easy way of reducing your calorie intake without feeling as if you're on a diet which can be dispiriting. My father died last year after suffering from Alzheimers for a few years so I was mainly interested in the potential benefits with regard to brain health, blood pressure and cholesterol. I don't need to lose weight particularly but I was pleased with the 4lbs I've also managed to shed.

 

[Arsen Gere]

Three people at work tried it with some success. I think this was the original prog. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

 

[bainy16]

is going without food a good thing???????? i thought you need to reduce your in take not starve yourself as when you do eat again your body stores more fat to combat the next sarvation period? surely a balanced diet is much better for you dont you need the energy to cycle or the body eats away a muscle? is this just one of them quick fix celeb diets that acualy makes you put on more weight once you stop.......good look with it would like to hear more feedback from people what have alraedy tried it.

 

[Rob3rt]

It's hardly brainless if it was featured in New Scientist, ignorant troll.

LOL

BTW, even if something is published in a scientific journal it doesn't mean that the authors assertions are correct (or indeed that the author has any assertions), there are plenty of contradictory papers around many subjects.

 

[carolonabike]

Well you're not going without food. It's a low calorie day rather than a fast, 500 calories for women and 600 for men. You can easily manage a healthy breakfast (porridge) and another light meal. I usually do a normal breakfast, a light lunch then just miss supper. It's not as difficult as you might think. Because it's only one day it also seems to avoid the tendency to overeat on the other days to compensate.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

is going without food a good thing????????

Is going without air a good thing?

i thought you need to reduce your in take not starve yourself as when you do eat again your body stores more fat to combat the next sarvation period?

It takes a lot longer to get to that stage than 5:2 fasting allows

surely a balanced diet is much better for you dont you need the energy to cycle or the body eats away a muscle?

For the majority of purposes yes. It's really not that quick a process.

is this just one of them quick fix celeb diets that acualy makes you put on more weight once you stop.......good look with it would like to hear more feedback from people what have alraedy tried it.

IIRC it started out as a method in which to live longer, although nobody has actually brought forward any actual proof that it works. If there has been any, I must have missed it.

A side effect of eating less than a baby two days a week appears to be weightloss.

Well you're not going without food. It's a low calorie day rather than a fast, 500 calories for women and 600 for men. You can easily manage a healthy breakfast (porridge) and another light meal. I usually do a normal breakfast, a light lunch then just miss supper. It's not as difficult as you might think. Because it's only one day it also seems to avoid the tendency to overeat on the other days to compensate.

I would call spending 2 days consuming 1900ish calories less than UK average (male) "going without food".

 

[Yellow Fang]

Three people at work tried it with some success. I think this was the original prog. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

That's the chap who was in the Horizon programme, and who was on television this morning.

As far as being lazy, I used to run about 30 miles a week, but if I tried to run as much as I used to then my knee would start hurting. I used to do a fair bit of swimming, circuits and I used to do more cycling too, but circumstances have changed. If I could regularly run 15 miles a week, I would be happy. Constant calorie counting is not for me. I couldn't keep it up. Life's too short to constantly weigh out portions or read food packets. I don't see how going without food a day a week is a particularly easy option, but so what if it was?

Part of the idea of fasting, rather than dieting is that it forces your body to metabolise ketones rather than glycogen. There is such a thing as a ketogenic diet, which is similar to an Atkins diet but contains less protein (I think). The ketogenic diet was used to control epileptic fits before anti-seizure drugs were developed. A scientific paper that I downloaded asserted that cancer cells, well at least those in brain tumours, are not good at metabolising ketones, preferring glycogen instead. It recommended a restricted ketogenic diet for brain cancer sufferers. I don't have any sort of cancer, thank God, but maybe a lot of cancers don't like being short of glycogen.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Why are you so dismissive of actually having some clue about food ie: it's contents - it's caloric value - it's GI - it's sugar/fat/protein/blah content?

It takes little effort to read a packet or label, yet people still seek solutions that are even easier,fasting being one of such - and weight loss isn't even the point of it.