Type 2's: What's the theory behind intermittent fasting?

Alisonjane10

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I regularly read posts on the Type 2 forum where members intermittently do a 24 hour fast. I've never done so myself. But, I'm interested in why & how some members do. How does it help with glycaemic control & what is actually eaten/drank during a fast? What are the benefits? I'd be most interested in hearing from Type 2's who fast. Thank you.
 
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AndBreathe

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I regularly read posts on the Type 2 forum where members intermittently do a 24 hour fast. I've never done so myself. But, I'm interested in why & how some members do. How does it help with glycaemic control & what is actually eaten/drank during a fast? What are the benefits? I'd be most interested in hearing from Type 2's who fast. Thank you.

I think many people do actually intermittently fast, without knowing it, in a modest way. In essence, it is having an "agreed" eating window, which could be 8 hours, say, when all eating and calorific drinking have to be done, and the balance of the time, water only. Obviously, some of that time would usually be spent asleep.

The most recent "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor" programme on BBC did a slot on IF, presented by Chris van Tulleken. It'll be on iPlayer. Although it was explained at a fairly high level, it probably captures the highlights and point you in the right direction in order to consult effectively with Dr Google.
 
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urbanracer

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I tried the 5/2 diet prior to my diagnosis of diabetes with some success.

I believe that basically it is supposed to fool the body into starvation mode so it burns fat for energy.
 
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mfactor

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I am predominantly doing LCHF but I do tend to also do 16/8...........


lots of info here



 
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Alisonjane10

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I am predominantly doing LCHF but I do tend to also do 16/8...........


lots of info here




This looks interesting. I'll be watching it later today. Thank you for posting it.
 

Larissima

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I currently fast twice a week (Mon & Fri) in such a way that I don't eat any solid food; I just drink lots of water, green tea, black coffee and one mug of broth (homemade, or from a Kallo stock cube). I built up to this through 5:2 when I was eating a 500 cal meal on a fast day, but I found it so easy (thanks to LCHF and being in ketosis) that I decided to try not eating at all. There are many other ways of fasting, including a timed period like 16:8, where you eat all your meals within an 8-hour window. Another possibility is not eating for a stretch of 3-4 days on a monthly basis - I understand that is what @AloeSvea does.

Why I do it? To heal my T2D and get rid of excess fat. Here's a post that explains a little about it: https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fasting-cures-diabetes-t2d-4/ but there is a whole series of fasting posts on that site that give a fuller picture. The diabetes and obesity series are also eye-opening.

I have not been prescribed any medication, so if I want to not develop complications further along, I have to control my diabetes through my behaviour, mostly eating. LCHF was a great start, it helped me reduce my HbA1C fro 49 to 36, and my weight from the BMI of 40 to 34. With added fasting, my FBG has reduced from 6+ to around 5, and I'm solidly shedding fat - at 30.5 BMI now. I imagine that when I reach some kind of normal weight (I'm not sure what it is, as I've been overweight and obese my whole adult life) I will reduce my fasting to some kind of maintenance - maybe one day per week of 500 cals. But there is evidence that fasting is good for all sorts of health outcomes in addition to weight and glucose management - blood pressure, autoimune diseases and longevity are also positively affected, so I plan to continue some form of fasting for life (The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley explains more as well).

I hope I've managed to explain what I do and why, but feel free to ask more questions!
 
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Brunneria

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With my particular issues (concern for hypos), I don't fast in the orthodox manner. I fat fast instead - which is basically only having fat between dinner and lunch the next day, Mon-Fri (fat balls, cream in drinks, etc). Then I have a fat-protein lunch, and a fat-protein-carb dinner.

I'm not doing it for weight loss, so cruise along on coffee and cream or coffee and MCT oil for breakfast.

I do it because any carbs at all at breakfast sends my bg wangy for the rest of the day, and I can only really tolerate them when my insulin resistance dips after lunch.

It is fabulous for bg control. I tend to stay in a steady 5.5-6.5mmol/l range from 11pm to about 1pm the next day. Which feels GREAT.
 
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Alisonjane10

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I currently fast twice a week (Mon & Fri) in such a way that I don't eat any solid food; I just drink lots of water, green tea, black coffee and one mug of broth (homemade, or from a Kallo stock cube). I built up to this through 5:2 when I was eating a 500 cal meal on a fast day, but I found it so easy (thanks to LCHF and being in ketosis) that I decided to try not eating at all. There are many other ways of fasting, including a timed period like 16:8, where you eat all your meals within an 8-hour window. Another possibility is not eating for a stretch of 3-4 days on a monthly basis - I understand that is what @AloeSvea does.

Why I do it? To heal my T2D and get rid of excess fat. Here's a post that explains a little about it: https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fasting-cures-diabetes-t2d-4/ but there is a whole series of fasting posts on that site that give a fuller picture. The diabetes and obesity series are also eye-opening.

I have not been prescribed any medication, so if I want to not develop complications further along, I have to control my diabetes through my behaviour, mostly eating. LCHF was a great start, it helped me reduce my HbA1C fro 49 to 36, and my weight from the BMI of 40 to 34. With added fasting, my FBG has reduced from 6+ to around 5, and I'm solidly shedding fat - at 30.5 BMI now. I imagine that when I reach some kind of normal weight (I'm not sure what it is, as I've been overweight and obese my whole adult life) I will reduce my fasting to some kind of maintenance - maybe one day per week of 500 cals. But there is evidence that fasting is good for all sorts of health outcomes in addition to weight and glucose management - blood pressure, autoimune diseases and longevity are also positively affected, so I plan to continue some form of fasting for life (The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley explains more as well).

I hope I've managed to explain what I do and why, but feel free to ask more questions!

That's a great explanation @Larissima. I understand fasting much better now, though I need to follow up with further reading of the thread you've hilighted for me. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post. Thank you.
 
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Alisonjane10

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With my particular issues (concern for hypos), I don't fast in the orthodox manner. I fat fast instead - which is basically only having fat between dinner and lunch the next day, Mon-Fri (fat balls, cream in drinks, etc). Then I have a fat-protein lunch, and a fat-protein-carb dinner.

I'm not doing it for weight loss, so cruise along on coffee and cream or coffee and MCT oil for breakfast.

I do it because any carbs at all at breakfast sends my bg wangy for the rest of the day, and I can only really tolerate them when my insulin resistance dips after lunch.

It is fabulous for bg control. I tend to stay in a steady 5.5-6.5mmol/l range from 11pm to about 1pm the next day. Which feels GREAT.

Hi @Brunneria. Thank you for explaining your fasting method to me. I have heard of "fat fasting" & know some forum members find it extremely useful for getting into nutritional ketosis. If I feel the need to follow suit, you've given me some good tips. It's certainly a handy tool in the good glycaemic control repertoire. Perhaps you'd be good enough to explain exactly what you'd eat over 24 hours on a fat fast, including quantity etc. How do you make your fat balls? Some extra information would be really useful. Thanks Brun.
 
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Pipp

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Hi @Brunneria. Thank you for explaining your fasting method to me. I have heard of "fat fasting" & know some forum members find it extremely useful for getting into nutritional ketosis. If I feel the need to follow suit, you've given me some good tips. It's certainly a handy tool in the good glycaemic control repertoire. Perhaps you'd be good enough to explain exactly what you'd eat over 24 hours on a fat fast, including quantity etc. How do you make your fat balls? Some extra information would be really useful. Thanks Brun.
Oh dear, I have a vision of @Brunneria battling with the garden birds for those fat balls in little nets. :D

@Alisonjane10 I am a fan of fasting, having followed the Taylor, Newcastle diet when it was first mooted.
Since then, I have generally stuck with Low carb and enough fat. However, sometimes I overdo the 'enough', so have a few weeks with low carb, and a small amount of fat. The fasting part of this regime for me means that I don't have anything but water or mint tea between 6pm and noon the following day. I drink plenty of that. At around 12.30 I will have a small amount of full fat greek yogurt, then around 5 pm, large portion of veg with small portion of protein or cheese.. This always seems to help kick start weight loss and regulate BG.

Edit: I only do this for 3 or 4 days at a time, and only once a month. It works for me, but that does not mean I am advocating it as a method for others. Up to the individual to decide best method for them.
 
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Brunneria

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Hi @Brunneria. Thank you for explaining your fasting method to me. I have heard of "fat fasting" & know some forum members find it extremely useful for getting into nutritional ketosis. If I feel the need to follow suit, you've given me some good tips. It's certainly a handy tool in the good glycaemic control repertoire. Perhaps you'd be good enough to explain exactly what you'd eat over 24 hours on a fat fast, including quantity etc. How do you make your fat balls? Some extra information would be really useful. Thanks Brun.

Weeellll...

Fat fasts are really as variable as the people who do them. They first became 'trendy' as a quick way to enter ketosis and/or kick start weight loss, and (I think) started as several little 200 cal snacks of mainly fat each day - fat ball, cream cheese, kinda thing.

Personally, my fat fasty thing grew organically. I simply couldn't find a breakfast-containing-any-carbs that didn't spike me (e.g. yog) which meant I was eating too much protein. That made me feel sluggish.

So I switched to bulletproof coffee for breakfast. Grew to resent the washing up and accompanying phaff. Downgraded to coffeencream, and have happily stuck there for nearly 6 months. Have this for brekkie Mon-Fri. And if I am the slightest bit peckish before bed in the evenings I have a low carb hot choc (cocoa powder, cream and erythritol), because I can never sleep if hungry. That gives me 17 hours or so on just fat.

Here is a link to the gloriosity that is the fat bomb/ball.
Think low carb fudge, chocolates, lemon clouds...


The thing about fat fasting is that you never need be hungry, and your body realises very quickly that it needs to switch to ketosis.
 
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Pipp

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Those wee birds wouldn't stand a chance... :D:D:D
@Brunneria, I have been looking at those fat bomb recipes you posted, and I don't dare make them, because I would never have the discipline or self restraint to store them in the fridge. They would be devoured in seconds.

They look delicious though, and maybe I will try some when I know there will be plenty of chums around to share and save me from myself.
 
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Brunneria

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@Brunneria, I have been looking at those fat bomb recipes you posted, and I don't dare make them, because I would never have the discipline or self restraint to store them in the fridge. They would be devoured in seconds.

They look delicious though, and maybe I will try some when I know there will be plenty of chums around to share and save me from myself.

I have only made a few. Chocolate bark, lemon coconutty blobs and a peanut butter cup thing. They were beyond divine. I do better with cream in drinks, because I know that there are 140 calories in a tablespoon of double cream.

That is a rather sobering thought.
So I am able to (usually) control my pouring hand.

Fat bomb/balls though? Who knows the cal content? One of the mysteries of the universe. And I could happily ponder the question while munching through quite a few of them.
 
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Munkki

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I found that two 24-hour fasts work well for me. I eat breakfast, and then again breakfast the next day. In-between I drink a lot of water, with salt, or just lick some salt granules when sitting at my work desk, and drink herbal/green/black tea. This is a simple way, as it spares me the effort of two meals, and I tend not to overeat when having breakfast.
 

seanj67

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I just looked up the fat bombs.... I can feel a whole new world of food opening up. Luckily I'm not a sweet fan, but the bacon & egg ones... oh my :)
 
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walnut_face

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I go without solids for 23 hours now and again. In between I drink water, green tea, black coffee. I have never got my head round the science, all I do know is it brings my BG down by about 1 mmol a day later. Once BG rises again I repeat. Most days I skip breakfast as I find that once I start eating, I start grazing
 
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