16 hour daily fast?

[SAMbike]

Has anyone else seen this story?
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/01/...o-weight-loss/

I don't know if I can go that long each day without eating (I get cranky when I get hungry) but I might give it a try. I just ate breakfast about 30 min ago so don't think today's the day to try it!

sam

[emily_in_nc]

Interesting. I would think it would matter which eight hours you eat in. If you eat breakfast early, lunch, and an early dinner, I can see this working as you have more time to burn off what you've eaten that day. But if you skip breakfast and just eat lunch and dinner, isn't that the exact pattern that's been said to make people fatter and less healthy, since eating a good breakfast seems to be so important to metabolism and health?

[OakLeaf]

I would think good blood sugar control is a must before starting on something like that. It doesn't sound like you have that?

Lots has been written about how Muslim athletes fuel for training and competition during Ramadan. If I were thinking about doing something like that, I'd look at their and their trainers' discussions.

More generally, it annoys me when evolutionary justifications are advanced, without evidence, for various practices that might or might not be valid. True, the earliest hominids evolved in equatorial regions where night and day were close to equal, year round. But it's also true that human DNA changed quite a bit while we were developing agriculture (emphasizing carbs and relatively empty calories that enabled them to work more hours of the day) and dispersing throughout the world (possibly making localized adaptations to seasonal changes - such as what we've been talking about in the hunger/cold thread). I would think that anyone whose ancestry comes mostly from temperate climates would do better to tailor both activity and nutrition to the available natural light. Not that anyone with a job outside of agriculture can do that in the 21st century - and even a lot of agricultural work is no longer dependent on light any more, with GPS-guided farm equipment.

[Crankin]

This is not based on any empirical evidence, but there is no way I could do this. I can barely go 2 hours without eating! I have never been able to fast, even on Yom Kippur. The most I could do is drink herbal tea/diluted oj until about 6 PM, and even then, it was not worth the wicked headache I got. It doesn't seem like this is a practical way to live, without even thinking about things like fueling for training.

[Catrin]

There are those in the Paleo/Primal community who do intermittent fasting (IF) once their bodies have become accustomed to burning fat for energy. It works for them (some quite long-term), but many appear to be male. I've heard there is research that shows that this doesn't work as well for women but I've not read the studies myself as I am really not interested in going this route. Part of it is knowing our individual bodies and what works for us.

[e3rdpower]

There's been a lot of chatter about IF for women lately. Long story short it appears to mess us up more often then the men folk. I personally did not do well with IF (this was in a period of time when I was not riding, and I imagine it would be worse with riding.)

http://www.paleoforwomen.com/shatter...he-literature/

http://www.stumptuous.com/rant-66-de...e-of-fast-club

http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/train-man-eat-woman

http://www.fitnessbaddies.com/train-...ous-for-women/

[DocZan89]

I agree with you Emily. If I could eat from 7:00 AM to 3:00PM and drink warm drinks, I could probably do it. But my schedule doesn't allow for this. Guess it'll just have to be sensible eating for me.

Rosanna

[Crankin]

I bought the book and read it yesterday, as we had a "snow day," GLC. Interesting, but I don't think I could give up wine for 30 days! And even though my grain consumption is way down, that would be hard, too.
It did make me realize that I have been much less bothered by allergies and sinus stuff since I've reduced the grains.

[tulip]

Seems like the best way to control blood sugar fluctuations is to eliminate sugar (and related simple carbs). I've done it, it's hard to do, but the results are positive for me: more alert, less grumpy, more energy, better sleep, and lost weight. I did a 30-day no-sugar/simple carbs (anything white, essentially) trial and after the first 10 days I really began to feel better. The other part is eating good quality, non-processed foods--just not with sugar or flour. That eliminated a whole slew of foods. Cookies were definitely out! Frozen berries were in!

The exception to the no-white-food rule for me is dairy. I eat dairy--milk, half-and-half in my coffee, and yogurt (plain--full fat if I can find it). Yes, fats are okay. They make you feel full and satisfied.

I lost 9 lbs in the process. I stuck with it full-on for about 3months. It wasn't a burden after the first hard patch. I've since let sugar slip back in, but not to the extent that it was before. The main healthy habits have stuck, although I think another focused month is in order soon.

I love making bread but I don't anymore. I miss that most of all.

[Catrin]

It was challenging for me to cut out all grains and almost all sugar (outside of the very occasional dollop of honey). The results made me feel so good that I've not been tempted to cheat since I started 6 months ago. It isn't that I am trying to keep some rule, I just feel really good eating the way that I do! I've lost 10 pounds since starting, almost all of my physical issues have reversed themselves, and frankly, I love having bacon for breakfast and putting real cream in my coffee

The only dairy I consume is real cream in my coffee, and very occasionally, some goat cheese or full fat yogurt. I eat no grains or pseudo-grains and no processed foods. Fat isn't our enemy, sugar is. It is the combination of high carbs with high fat that causes problems, but with low-moderate carbs fat isn't the problem. I consume much more fat and animal protein than I once thought possible and my trigs have dropped way down, and my HDL/LDL ratio is far better than when I was on a conventional low-fat diet. I once thought I couldn't give up bread, but I wouldn't give up the way I feel for any amount/type of food.

[Crankin]

I would say my eating is very much like yours, Tulip, and it isn't hard for me. Doing away with all grains would be.
Last year I lost 6 lbs. and now I am having difficulty maintaining.

[Eden]

back on the OT.... for me no way I could follow a diet like that.

I can't drink any kind of liquid on an empty stomach. It makes me almost immediately severely nauseous. Hot or cold, water, tea, clear juice it doesn't matter, makes me feel like barfing and going 16 hours at a stretch with no liquids doesn't sound like great idea.

[GLC1968]

I bought the book and read it yesterday, as we had a "snow day," GLC. Interesting, but I don't think I could give up wine for 30 days! And even though my grain consumption is way down, that would be hard, too.
It did make me realize that I have been much less bothered by allergies and sinus stuff since I've reduced the grains.

You read the book in one day? Holy cow, you read fast!
I haven't give up wine forever...just for 30 days (or in my case, 90 or so until my first tri of the season). And I'll eat dark chocolate and raw honey and sushi and a few other things that I'm not eating now one day again too. But I will say that not eating those things was WAY easier than I thought it would be once I cut them out cold turkey.

It was challenging for me to cut out all grains and almost all sugar (outside of the very occasional dollop of honey). The results made me feel so good that I've not been tempted to cheat since I started 6 months ago. It isn't that I am trying to keep some rule, I just feel really good eating the way that I do! I've lost 10 pounds since starting, almost all of my physical issues have reversed themselves, and frankly, I love having bacon for breakfast and putting real cream in my coffee

The only dairy I consume is real cream in my coffee, and very occasionally, some goat cheese or full fat yogurt. I eat no grains or pseudo-grains and no processed foods. Fat isn't our enemy, sugar is. It is the combination of high carbs with high fat that causes problems, but with low-moderate carbs fat isn't the problem. I consume much more fat and animal protein than I once thought possible and my trigs have dropped way down, and my HDL/LDL ratio is far better than when I was on a conventional low-fat diet. I once thought I couldn't give up bread, but I wouldn't give up the way I feel for any amount/type of food.

I 100% agree. I can't get over how much fat I eat now and yet I am getting leaner, feeling better and my blood work is literally off the charts. My triglycerides didn't register on the scale and my HDL/LDL ratio is spectacular. I had really good cholesterol numbers before I started this...now they are just remarkable (as the biometrics lady told me in October).

[Crankin]

I do read really fast, GLC, always have. I did skim over some of the stuff I felt I already knew.
I eat a lot more fat now, too. My HDL/LDL ratio has always been off the charts great, but my total cholesterol went up last year to a bad #. It's always been borderline. When I had it retested after 2 months, it was back to the borderline level, after almost entirely cutting out red meat. I do wonder if this was because I had been eating a lot more meat in the 3 months before I had the first test. It will be interesting to see what it's at now.