I hate going hungry. My stomach growls, head hurts and eventually I turn into a real nasty, cranky animal. So why would I want to purposefully withhold food for periods of time? I have no idea…
But this article in LA Times caught my eye… one of the things I find interesting is the person in the photo. Take a look… He doesn’t look overweight or obese to me. But yet the argument they use to support fasting is that Americans have an eating problem and that’s why there’s so much overweight and obesity. OK, fine… but are there overweight people doing this intermittent fasting to change their hormones, appetite etc?
If so, I want to hear from you. Is it working? How much weight have you lost and kept off… and for how long? I’m interested. I agree with the dietitian in the article that there is a risk of developing disordered eating behaviors as well as the annoyances of being hungry. And forget about sports… you need to fuel appropriately for performance.
So if “IF” is just as effective as long term calorie restriction at best, why not spare the hunger issues and just cut calories? I’m really trying to understand here.
Filed under: adult health, obesity, overweight Tagged: | intermittent fasting
Hi Rebecca.
I am not a regimented intermittent faster but I do fast from time to time. And I do have some things to say, based on my experience, about the questions you ask.
First is that I am not so worried about the particulars of the physiological effects of short term fasting. If you are relatively healthy you should not experience and serious health issues as a result of, say, a water fast for a day. What happens to the body though is only a small part of what fasting does. Unfortunately the article you mention does not get into that very much.
Perhaps just as important is when you fast you are faced with a lot mental challenges. You are forced to think about food, what you do when you are hungry, what may trigger you to want to eat (it is not always hunger), etc. This is extremely valuable. This mental food work helps us to understand our mind and our body in ways that many of use have learned to conveniently ignore. The mental repercussions fasting has on my eating habitats when I am not fasting – and most of the time I am not fasting – is nothing I can replicate in any other way.
You mention getting a bit cranky when you are hungry. Did you ever notice that sometimes you get cranky when you are not hungry and then this leads you to eating something? I am not saying you do this, but just use it as an example of eating habitats people can develop. And these types of things can be discovered, uncovered and potential moved beyond by fasting.
So I guess what I am trying to say is fasting can be an important tool for someone who is trying to be more attentive to their diet and not overeat.
Can fasting be bad for you, in terms of setting you up to eat poorly. Well sure if you want to do that. But there are plenty of diets that people go on where compliance or a backlash is possible. Intermittent fasting can be done in many ways. A one day fast once a month is obviously way different than fasting twice a week and not even get close to enough calories most days. The former is relatively safe while the latter is a bit extreme. I would not advocate extreme calorie deficit diets for anyone.
I also would not talk about fasting, and extreme fasting, in the same sweeping statements. Unfortunately this article is poorly written. First it says this, which implies all fasting is bad:
“Not all nutrition professionals see the merits of fasting. Some think of it as a recipe for disaster, setting up a person for binge eating and metabolic confusion.
Then it talks about extreme fasting and since the writing is not clear, this is linked with the previous silly statement and implies all forms of fasting are dangerous.
“Ruth Frechman, a registered dietitian in Burbank and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn., says she frequently sees such extreme strategies backfire. “You’re hungry, fatigued, irritable. Fasting is not very comfortable. People try to cut back one day and the next day they’re starving and they overeat.”
What gives with that? I could say that not everyone agrees that a vegetarian diet is good for you. Yet I wouldn’t go on to say things like: a vegetarian diet can be a recipe for disaster, or, if you go to the extreme and do not eat meat, you could set yourself up to binge on meat if you do not if fruits or vegetables accessible. That doesn’t even come close to making sense, does it? Why is this different from the statements made in the article.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Be well.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think we agree that it was a poor article for various reasons. I can see your point about lumping in several days of going without food to one day. I have seen research on very low calorie diets being beneficial for weight management. I haven’t seen anything on fasting, but would be open to viewing some.
I think a lot of people eat mindlessly… and I found the Center for Mindful Eating and the practice of it to be helpful.
Thank you for recommending the Mindful Eating website. It looks very interesting.
I like that you say you are open minded to learning more about the health benefits of fasting. Unfortunately there has not been much solid research done in this area.
There is a lot of conjecture, misinformation and outright lies though. Modern day snake oil salesmen (one of today’s versions being detoxifying and internal cleansing products) have really promoted some crazy notions about fasting.
Anyway, I enjoyed your post and the dialogue.
Be well,
Dave
No way am I a good candidate for fasting. I remember in high school fasting for a cause (world hunger perhaps) and fainting before the day was through. I need to eat every 4 hours or so if I want to function.
I JUST HAVE A FEW WEBSITES FOR YOU TO LOOK AT: FAST5, EATSTOPEAT, FREETHE ANIMAL, MARK’S DAILYAPPLE,FITNESSSOLUTION. BEEN DOING IT 7-8 MONTHS AND HAVE LOST OVER 30 LIBS. JUST TURNED 61, AND AM CLOSE TO MY KIDS TIME FOR CROSSFIT WODS
Hi there
I am fasting now and combining that with colonics and enemas every day. The fast will last 5 days. This will clear the mind and body of toxic build up and give the system a rest. Fasting strenghtens the body and allows the large amount of energy taken up by digestion to be refocused on healing. I do not feel hungry but eat porridge at night to avoid waking.