Comments on: Fast way to better health

By: Mary Titus

Mary Titus — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Interesting Dr. Eades. I just noticed that you had commented here . My hgb value was 10.9. Don’t know if that is enough info.

I’m not sure without going through a bunch of comments. You’ll have to enlighten me a little more.

By: Mary Titus

Mary Titus — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:48:36 +0000

Keto Jim, I keep my diet truly ketogenic. I rarely eat more than 20 grams of carbs a day. Albeit there are some days when I consume more but it is rare. If you noticed any of my posts here, I also do a 20 hour fast with a 4 hour eating window. However, I sometimes eat only once a day. If you are doing a keto-type diet it is more important to eat more fats since that is where ketones come from and that is your energy source. My metabolism has responded quite well to the combination of low carbing and IF. To me, perhaps it is because I have done this for so long, but it is common sense that the metabolism would improve this way. Afterall, it has to work harder, therefore it gets stronger and it becomes more efficient at burning fat and calories. Just my way of thinking the whole picture. I had a check up and blood work in June and I did quite well. The only thing I find odd is my iron levels were low but my energy was high. Is it possible that my body doesn’t need as much iron/oxygen? I am taking supplements until I visit my doctor again. But I wonder if they are really necessary. I look forward to your comments Dr. Eades

Peace,
Mary

I don’t know how low is low in your case, but many women who are pre-menopausal run chronically low iron levels. Some believe that is the reason pre-menopausal women are protected from heart disease.

By: KetoJim

KetoJim — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:39:03 +0000

I have really enjoyed reading all these post.

I would like to see some studies on how IF and a ketogenic diet (what I am doing) will work together. Like some here I have a problem with the whole IF and eat 200gms of carbs at a time, common sense says that it is WORSE, all the poison at one time. I would think one is asking for messed up metabolic profile.

I am getting blood work at the end of august, well see.

By: Tom N

Tom N — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:38:03 +0000

I don’t think intermittent fasting should be used as an excuse to eat junk food. The SIRT1 gene is great, but why make it work so much harder by eating food that’s bad for us? I wrote about this on my intermittent fasting blog at http://eatingandfasting.blogspot.com/2009/07/eat-whatever-you-want-with-intermittent.html

Tom

By: Marko

Marko — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:38:13 +0000

Google EAT STOP EAT by Brad Pilon. 1 or 2 24hr fasts per week create enough of a caloric deficit for weight loss and you get all the other benefits of fasting as well. Make sure you keep working, preserve your lean muscle and watch the fat disappear.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:41:12 +0000

I am very interesting in IFing. I have been following CAD. I have noticed that I am not hungry for the 2 LC meals, only the RM at dinner time. Dr. Rachael Heller only ate one meal per day before the book was written and that is how she lost over 100 lbs. Later when the Hellers’ wrote the Carbohydrates Addicts Diet book, they found that they could eat the LC meals too. The diet is based on the insulin released for the first 2 LC meals. Because of the small amount of insulin released on the 2 LC meals, insulin is released in a small amount at the Reward Meal (written now that it should be balanced but you are allowed carbs) within the first 60 minutes. I do have 2 questions. If this is true, will only having the RM make me more insulin resistant? Should I have the same effect of low amounts of insulin release at the RM? or is it just less calories? My second question is I have a trainer that works me out now 3 times per week and I don’t eat until everyday at 8 pm, will no food give me less energy or hurt me at all in my workouts? Thank you very much for all the information that I have read so far. I really have no appetite during the day now and really enjoy regular amounts of food at dinner and have no cravings for junky food.

I think it is untrue that if insulin is low during the day, the RM won’t provoke a large insulin response. It has to. The body has to deal with the sugar contained in the meal. If it doesn’t the hugely elevated blood sugar levels would be harmful and create enormous problems on their own. So, yes, the RM does provoke an insulin response large enough to deal with the carbs eaten. And a large insulin response can indeed worsen insulin resistance in one already afflicted with the problem.

I don’t think the food intake schedule will affect your workouts in a negative way.

By: Liv

Liv — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:39:22 +0000

Hi Dr. Eades,
Fantastic study! I am a personal trainer and so I am always experimenting on myself with various things, just to get a feel and understand different things. I am currently trying my most extreme experiment which is water fasting for five days (I’m done tomorrow). I have been reading all i can about fasting and really like the idea of intermittent fasting, that will be my next experiment, once my body recovers from this food drought I put myself through.
Looking back I realize I did this a lot of IF when I was younger, some days not eating much if anything other days eating normally and enjoyed fantastic health. It wasn’t until I began to worry about weight and what I was eating, how often each day etc that I begin to struggle to keep that level of health–interesting!

I will let you know what I discover, I am going to try fasting 24 hrs. once a week for the next month (5pm til 5pm next day) and then once I feel steady after this prolonged fast I’m currently on. I’ll try it two times a week. Do you want me to keep you posted? This is incredibly interesting. I’m still young and healthy so I think this should be fun.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:26:40 +0000

You said in a previous post, “You don’t force gluconeogenesis by eating protein. You only undergo gluconeogenesis if your blood sugar levels start to drop too low.” Yet, I experience a much higher than usual rise in my BG when I eat much more meat than is typical for me on my LC diet — I monitor my BG regularly as diabetes runs in my family. I take no medications of any sort and have no health problems.

I typically eat 1 to 4 oz. meat or other protein per meal or sometimes a snack. My pre-meal is usually in the 80s and my post can be up to 105. However, if I eat much more than 6 oz meat at a meal, it will easily be 115. This is one problem I am trying to work out while doing the IF and even doing the Protein Power by the way. With the IF, I know I won’t be able to eat all I want when the fast is over because it will raise my BG too high even if it is LC. By the way, I am 58, female, 5′3″, 130 lbs, very small framed and need to lose about 20 pounds from my middle mostly. I am going to start the Slow Burn if I can work all this out and do it all in a healthy fashion.

Please explain why this statement is untrue in my situation. Do diabetes or Insulin Resistance related factors cause gluconeogenesis prematurely when a certain amount of meat is eaten? It’s only when I eat well over 5 oz. that my BG rises too high. What can I do to get enough protein without causing this reaction? How can I get enough protein if I do the IF?

Kab

I don’t think a blood sugar post meal of 115 is all that high. Protein will run blood sugar up a little, especially if it is consumed with some carbs. But the elevation in your case isn’t out of the ordinary. I wouldn’t worry about it.

I’ll do a long post on protein and blood sugar in due course. It seems to be a topic that has a lot of interest.

By: rachel allen

rachel allen — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:38:12 +0000

hello dr. eades!

after reading your updated ideas on IFing, i thought i would add that, after IFing for months on end (six to date), im finding it a wonderful lifestyle. diet plan not so much. i’ve shrunk my eating window from 4-6hr to 1-3hrs most weekdays, and incorporated longer, more carb based cheats on the weekends. ive lost several pant sizes and continue to lose body fat, but not as fast now. it feels to me, that longterm IFing with no overt calorie restriction has improved my health and energy levels greatly and is changing the shape of my body consistently on a week to week basis. but dreams of drastic reduction is short amounts of time have not happened longterm for me. i just love to eat. im doing 5oish carbs a night , so ive adopted the more low carb approach. thanks for the your blog as it intially helped motivate me in many ways to get started. my continued experiment is being documented at
http://rachel421-intermittentfasting.blogspot.com cheers!!

I’m glad to hear you’re doing so well. And I’m glad my blog was a source of motivation. Keep it up.

By: Wuwan

Wuwan — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:31:57 +0000

Just to leave an interesting comment. I’m an adult with ADHD treated with Adderall which kills the appetite while the medication is in effect. For the past 2 years or so I’ve been on a very erratic work schedule which at times leave me on diet coke for 36 hours even when I do get 4-6 hours of sleep.

I haven’t caught a cold in these past 2-years and just when I was worried that my health was being jeoprdized with my irregular eating habit. I discovered the intriguing information about intermittent fasting and and this blog. Which leaves me with an interesting question.

Q: How does the effect of amphetamine work with the fasting?

I don’t know about how amphetamines would work with IF; I haven’t had any hands-on experience with them.