I am a big Dr Fung fan (as well as Prof Taylor) and we are so lucky to have these practitioners on the diabetes platform delving into the causes, and therefore the solutions to diabetes.
But, as long as I have been reading up on both these dudes, I personally don't believe they do we diabetics any favours by making blanket statements about the
ease of the fasting treatment (and the low-cal treatment a la Taylor). I was surprised to read in the Part 17 -
"Here’s the ‘spare me the details’ bottom line.... No, You will NOT be overwhelmed with hunger."
And anyone who has read me knows - I am one of those folk who experiences hunger very keenly. Some other folks in the forum also do. So I get surprised when I hear/read such as that from the practitioners. (Please - bear in mind I am a BIG fan!) And I cannot express more how delighted/relieved/interested I am with fasting as a medication-less method of dealing with diabetes. But. In passing on the effectiveness and sound theoretical basis of fasting as an excellent method - I would not underplay the what can sometimes, for some folk, be uncomfortable hunger, uncomfortable weakness. And, even, maybe - it could be experienced as overwhelming.
I personally don't know if a leptin imbalance is the reason for me experiencing hunger and weakness from lack of food, or, (which I think is more likely, as these are traits I share with family members) - a keen appetite, or a bit of both, but, whatever the reason, it is the reality for me, and it always has been as long as I can remember. I doubt that I am alone! (I know I am not alone in this amongst my siblings, who had nicknames like 'Hollow Legs' and so on in our youth.) (I was the one in the family who had metabolic syndrome though.) But there must be a fair amount of foodies, gourmants, chefs, and - just folk, out there who love the sensation of food and eating more than others, as a sensory thing, who as part of their make-up feel very sensitive to food, and the lack of. ie folk such as me must be a part of the general spectrum of humans! And therefore also diabetics.
It is far more helpful for me, and is why I bring this up (probably too constantly!) in fasting (and in the low-cal) threads - to acknowledge the possibility of uncomfortable hunger. Much better to put it out there as a very real possible outcome of fasting - so it doesn't come as a shock? Rather than say it doesn't happen. (So the faster does not have possible feelings of inadequacy? And give up on fasting too soon?) And introduce ways of dealing with unpleasant/uncomfortable (even possibly feeing overwhelming - to us Dr Fung's word) - is my thought on the subject at any rate. Just putting it out there.
