I have made many attempts at fasting. I'm skinny as a rake and get very weak without some kind of constant caloric intake. I also get "hangry" and make bad decisions on an empty stomach.
Is this just me? Or is this a thing that everyone has and just works through?
1.) Start slow, you can start with something as short as 12hrs fasting (sleeping time counts) and just add an hour to that every week or two. Personally I added an hour as I get used to it. 14 hour fast and still not hungry yet? I'll add an hour to it this week. Now I generally just eat one meal per day unless I'm very active. 16hours fasting, 8 hours feeding window is the most common spot for people to stop.
2.) This is exactly why people who do intermittent fasting are often eating keto, which is a low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. Carbs spike your blood sugar. Then it comes crashing down and puts you in a relative "low", so your body craves more of that quick energy and boom you are hungry/want carbs again.
Fats and proteins on the other hand give you a more stable energy level by not spiking your blood sugar as much. You stay full. The reason for only moderate protein is because excess protein is also turned into glucose through gluconeogenesis.
For the record my boyfriend is a black hole when it comes to food. He's fairly muscular and active so he gets hungry pretty quickly. But if he eats keto macros he can handle 1 meal a day too. He actually gets a bit sick eating carb heavy meals now.
I've seen people do it without doing keto and still get weight loss success, but a LCHF diet of some sort is the most common diet I see. Also the article mentions specifically keto diet linked to longevity.
Read through the sidebar info on the keto reddit if you want an idea of where to start.
Yeah, came here to echo the idea that fasting is MUCH easier on a low carb diet. If you start reading about keto, you'll probably see the classic macro ratio of 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbohydrate – sometimes even higher percentage from fat.
My advice is that starting out, I wouldn't get too hung up on the ratio. It's actually pretty hard to get 75% of calories from fat. IMO, the important part is to limit the carbs. If you're hitting something like 60% fat, 30% protein, 10% good carbs (mostly green veggies, maybe some berries), you'll still see most of the keto benefits in terms of fewer mood swings and cravings, ability to fast more easily, etc.
Healthy eating is one of those areas where a lot of people (myself included) let perfect become the enemy of good. Even moderate low-carb, just eating cutting out sweets and starches, can be enough for a lot of people to see waistline and mood stability improvements.
I'm like you pretty skinny. I started IF and also going to the gym to try and put on weight. I never liked eating breakfast but did it because I thought it was something I had to do.
It took me maybe a week or two of not eating breakfast until it felt normal - but now I could never go back. I feel much more in control. Before if I missed breakfast i'd be a mess and my stomach would be making all kinds of noises in meetings. Another plus I can eat massive lunches and dinners to make up for what I didn't eat at breakfast. I've still been able to gain weight this way!
Black is fine. But protein (creamer) or sweetener(sugar/artificial) both spike your insulin which lessens autophagy. As the OP Article points out, autophagy leads to longevity in mice and lessens your chance of neurological disease.
In 2016 a Nobel prize was given to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his work on autophagy.
"After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading intracellular bacteria and viruses. Autophagy contributes to embryo development and cell differentiation. Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for counteracting the negative consequences of aging. Disrupted autophagy has been linked to Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and other disorders that appear in the elderly. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause genetic disease. Disturbances in the autophagic machinery have also been linked to cancer. Intense research is now ongoing to develop drugs that can target autophagy in various diseases." [1]
That said, Dr. Jason Fung says black is better but he allows creamer if needed so that people stick with their fasts.
Ya, black coffee is fine. I can't remember the number but if it's under like 50kcal I think you'll stay in the fasting state, so you can even have like a small fruit. Definitely double check this though :p
This could just be broscience (I have no formal education in these matters) but I've heard that the need to constantly have calories can be mitigated by eating a ketogenic diet, as it prepares your body to be able to run off of your fat reserves efficiently. If you are in ketosis due to diet all the time then it is easier to fast because your body is already in ketosis. Obviously if you are skinny as a rake you will want to make sure to make up for fasting periods by eating a lot of food during your feeding window, as I doubt you are trying to lose weight.
I will state from first hand, anecdotal experience that a ketogenic diet greatly reduced hangry feelings for me. I ate to satiation at meals, and I could go much longer without eating.
Is this just me? Or is this a thing that everyone has and just works through?