Intermittent Fasting

I recently watched a BBC documentary called Eat, Fast and Live Longer. (I know, Oxford Comma problems with the title, but we’ll ignore that for now.) This documentary explored the concepts of fasting and severe calorie restriction. Here’s a news article summing it up. If your local PBS is running this program, it’s definitely worth checking out.

The documentary’s presenter came up with a way to combine calorie restriction and fasting based on medical trials at various US universities – five days of feasting, and two days of fasting. On the two fasting days, 25% of calorie expenditure for the day is consumed. That’s probably ~500 calories for a woman. Here is some more information on Alternate Day Fasting (ADF) from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The presenter, a physician in his mid-50s with high cholesterol and borderline diabetes, along with some family history of cancer. Naturally, he was concerned about his overall health. His results after five weeks of ADF were remarkable.

This system really appealed to me. I have considered full-on fasting before, but have not had the courage to follow through. ADF, however, seems quite manageable. There are a few reasons that I want to try this: both physical and emotional.
Physically, I need to worry about diabetes – it runs deep on both sides of my family and I’ve tested on the high side of normal. My grandfather also had dementia, something mentioned in the documentary. I anticipate living a long life – both of my grannies were quite elderly when they passed – and I want it to be as healthy as possible.  My BMI has been lowered from borderline obese to just plain overweight, but there is still room for improvement there.
Emotionally, I have a food problem. I can’t not eat, even if I’m not hungry. Controlling my appetite is an on-going battle for me. I know the reason for it – childhood food insecurity – but I’m an adult now with full cupboards so it’s time to get over it. Fasting is the discipline I need.

So, I decided to try this today.

I’m not going to lie, I’m hungry. The early part of the day was okay, since I spaced out the food. I don’t usually eat meals anyway – I graze all day long – so that was fine. I still ate about the same rate, just not the same amount. I even got in a couple of workouts.
But now, I’m quite hungry and feeling a bit loopy. I can last until bedtime, though.

I also thought it was interesting that one of the scientists stated that people need to eat less protein. (He’s a Trojan so I’m sure he’s correct.) That is completely opposite of everything I read relating to exercise and body recomposition, that 50% of calories should come from protein. I think I’ll give it a try though. I stopped eating meat because 유씨 did, and I’m glad for that. We both still eat seafood, but if I don’t need to eat so much protein…I can cut that way back and save it for sushi.

I’m very hopeful for good results from ADF! I’m due for an annual physical, but I’ll hold off for a few weeks to see how my blood work changes from last year.

Wish me luck! And do try to check out this documentary if you’re interested in longevity, health, and weight control.