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Intermittent fasting.

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
17,965
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
As on a previous thread, I did say that I was going to be a guinea pig, to try fasting after a meal, which would be very low carb, then fast till hungry or go hypo! So after having no breakfast, and then eating gammon and eggs for lunch.
My pre meal reading was 5.6
After one hour..................5.8
After two hours................4.5 cup of tea no milk, no sugar
After three hours.............5.2
After four hours...............4.4
After five hours, which if I had had a carby meal, I would have by now gone well hypo.
.........................................4.7

Wow! Well I never!
That's really interesting!

I have never dared to do that before!
I have always believed that once you start eating, you have to continue small meals throughout the day.
So in conclusion, though one test isn't empirical, it is a start!
It goes against the advice about eating every three hours or so. Or is that if you have a carby meal?
More testing I think!

Comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
Nice one noshy.

I can only go long periods without food (say 5-30 hours) if a couple of things are present:
- I have been very low carb for a couple of days beforehand - presumably I have hit ketosis, or at least fat adaptation, but then I am almost always in that state.
- the last meal before fasting is very low carb and has a fair wack of fat in it.

For instance, I can happily fast for 24hours if the evening meal the night before was meat, fish, eggs, cheese, salad or veg, with mayo or butter. If I carbed up before that fast, I wouldn't last 4 hours. Genuine hungr? carb cravings? Dunno, but I would end up eating, and desperately wanting to eat carbs.

Another example would be a day that started with a Full English (low carb), or coffee with cream. After one of those two I probably wouldn't be hungry for 6-10 hours, so would skip lunch completely, and just have an evening meal.

But if I had eaten carbs with that breakfast (toast, hash browns, etc) I would probably have felt wobbly within 4-6 hours.
 
Will now have to rethink my fasting wether intermittently or a day and what time of day to do, also to take working hours into consideration.
Will give a lot of thought to this, this will also help with traveling as well I believe.

Might have to edit the newbie information.

Just had my first meal since this morning, over five and a half hours!!
Roast fresh Chicken and tomatoes. It was really good and I wasn't really hungry.
First day without salad for ages!
 
I wouldn't go changing the newbie info just yet.
Try it out several times, and see how much fat you need to keep going.
- working up to High Fat is a bit of a shock to people who aren't used to it, and eating regularly with fewer carbs is an easier adjustment in the first instnace - remember noshy, we have been doing this a while...
 
No way would I mess with the information without a good long think and your say so!
I will be having another go next week but I'm going to do my usual fast over the weekend.
I haven't thought about upping the fat as part of intermittent fasting and the impact it would have as you say, we have been at this a fair while, we are use to our higher full fat by now! But take it under advisement.
I think that, being so long in normal blood range that I would have felt my bloods go up or down. I have felt really good all day doing lots of jobs around the house, walking the dogs and so on. I love feeling this good!
 

Gosh Nosher, that must be a very potentially liberating probable finding for you. I don't snack and never have, so for me, the prospect of all those eating episodes you have used up until now would drive me totally bonkers. Don't you ever just get fed up of visiting the fridge, or whatever?
 
Having been convinced that eating every three hours is necessary to maintain my well-being and providing enough nutrients to keep me healthy for work and life in general. That is what I believed.
In all the papers that I have read it states to eat small meals to prevent hypos.
However, it has dawned on me that most of these papers recommended a reduction in carbs and eat only complex carbs. Which I have found to be totally intolerant to my system. Also, when replying to posts, I offer the advice of don't hyper and you won't hypo!
So it seemed logical that in having one meal then fasting as long as I had very low carb meal, so I wouldn't hyper, so it followed that I shouldn't hypo!
So the guinea pig trial today!
Since I started intermittent fasting a while ago now. My choice and amount has reduced quite a bit and from nearly constantly very small meals (snacks) every day to sometimes only three small meals a day. Which has to be healthy.
If I can eat even down to two meals and something before bed, I will be even happier.
I'm writing this having my yoghurt and berries with some chocolate.
I'm in permanent ketosis and really happy there.

And the real answer to your question is yes!
It does get on my nerves knowing I have to eat and come up with something different especially after the trial and error of testing during my first year after diagnosis.
I do eat a lot of salad and fresh meat, I also don't get a lot of time to cook because of my full time job. But, acceptance of my condition came about.
I am constantly thinking of ways to be open minded about my dietary needs.
I never believed I could fast for days upon end and feel regenerated and more energy.
I always believed that food was a three square meals a day thing. Meat and two veg, etc. Food was a necessity, now it is not refilling up the tank thing, it's to provide necessary vitamins and minerals in small doses, the smaller the better!
It is a wonderful invigorating release, when you realise, some people survive and live healthy lives eating next to nothing!

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't eat bigger meals if I tried. I become full on rations now!

I will repeat my test next week and post the results.
 

Nosher, even when I was working in a proper job, with a 2 hours each way commute, a couple of times a week, I still cooked from fresh. I didn't do ready meals, even when MrB was away.

I often (like yesterday) put something into the slow cooker when I have breakfast (almost certainly well before 9am, 95% of the time) and leave it on all day. Roasts, then cold cuts, vats of chilli (with or without kidney beans), coleslaw, crackslaw, cauliflower rice and so on, can be made in the same time as a couple of portions, with the remainder frozen (maybe no freeze the cauli rice) for future use. Aside from omelettes or bacon and egg, I rarely just make enough for one meal. My time is too precious; proper job or not. So much of it is in the initial couple of hours investment in the first one, or two batches of anything.

I can honestly never say I have nothing to eat. I may bot always salivate at absolutely everything I have prepared, but I always have credible food that has caused me minimal trauma in preparation or cooking.

Do try to find yourself in the kitchen for a couple of hours harnessing a great big dollop of mine, ginagerous pack of chicken legs/thighs or brisket (yesterday's triumph) and a tame slow cooker or low oven. It'll pay you back, with interest.
 
You're preaching to the choir, I do spend time in the kitchen cooking for myself and the wife. I plan, shop and cook, soups, curry, and always cook from fresh. I have to be so careful about additives, processed sugars and the like.
I like the sound of your concoctions, and might have a go at my version of it!
 
Okay, nearly a week since I last posted, my guinea pig trial is well and truly taking shape. Fasting at different times, fasting between meals, having longer periods without food. All looking quite good.
Have a couple more days to satisfy myself that my experiences are not wrong or skewed by work, traveling, the hot weather or by what I'm eating.
Wish, I could afford a cgm to really get full bsg levels.
But my fingers are sore because I have saved enough testing strips to cover the extra testing.
I'm really excited by the results so far.
Hopefully will post by this time next Thursday!
 
Since my last post, I have been alternating days of different intermittent fasting.
I am learning so much about how best to achieve my targets and how it all works and makes me feel good all day and have greater energy, no lethargy and more importantly keeps me really healthy.
But I did have one blip along the way, and like me, it was really weird.
I have tried no breakfast, fasting till 3pm. Having breakfast then nothing till 6pm.
Eating breakfast and mid morning then nothing till 9pm. Having nothing till 10.30pm on a footy trip. Having not to worry about having small meals all day, and not cooking and preparing along with shopping and planning especially at work.
All meals, very low carb.
I didn't come out of ketosis on these days.
The blip I referred to was on a day when I'd had my first small meal around midday at home, then I had an apple for my afternoon meal, within half an hour, I started to get a headache, my eyes started going blurry, I warmed up, started shaking and didn't feel good like I have been doing. During my intermittent fasting I had cut right down on my fruit. So I reached for my monitor believing I was having a hypo. First reading 7.3!
So I changed lancett and a checked again 7.1! Rewashed myi hands, changed it again and this time 7.4! So why did I feel awful?
I think that my body reacted to the glucose derived from the apple and boosted my bsgs up quickly. Being not used to the higher level of bloods, the symptoms told me to do something, obviously other than testing, so I went for a walk. I had a slice of cooked gammon with fat on it, to prevent my body from going hypo.
I still felt dreadful even though I ate responsible and got back into control.
My sleep wasn't as good as its been, but after this, I was back to my normal controlled self, good energy and feeling good!

Back to intermittent fasting, my trials and testing has provided me with a different outlook to how I treat my condition and I can live my life as healthy as possible.
Intermittent fasting is working for me in a way I never thought possible.
No salad every day!
I have come to the conclusion that I don't need food to be healthy. I think my body is telling me enough is enough already!
I am better without food!
My mindset has changed, I don't need carbs at all, I don't need to eat all the time, I don't need food to work, I can manage on two small balanced meals a day at opposite ends of the day, there was one day I just didn't want to eat but I did and I really enjoyed it. I am throwing away food that I don't want. Very exciting.
Will try this way of living and see if I have any setbacks or repercussions from it.
Other than the blip, I think, the obsession of making sure I eat to stop me going hypo has been well and truly binned.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@nosher8355

This has been my experience too. I remember feeling incredibly liberated, just as you are by not having to eat. Wonderful, innit?

And I'm v interested in your apple experience. It reminds me of the times i have put quick release carbs in on an empty stomach - not pleasant! Makes me think the quick rise is as much to blame for the grotty feelings as the quick drop that comes after. What do you think?

And i am certain that the steadier and more 'normal' we keep our bgs, the more aware we are when we stray out of that range.
 
Couldn't agree more!
I think I have become obsessed about how to treat this thing with food, when no food is the answer, it is very liberating, it's like getting your heavy working boots off at the end of a long day!
Since being in normal range for so long it is sudden glucose rush, I'm convinced of it.
I think it was probably because I hadn't eaten in a good few hours rather than having only a two to three hour gap before having an apple. Also I have cut down more on my fruit! Puts me in mind of my nan telling me not to eat something on an empty stomach! Ha!
Being in normal range and eating only when hungry (low carb of course) is only one way to tackle this condition.
I think for someone either new or has been eating carbs because of either other problems or convinced by dieticians, a small meals approach (low carb) is the right way to go.
 

Nosher, your post refers to you changing your lantus between finger prick tests. I'm assuming you meant lancet? I don't want to change it for you without being sure it's an error.
 
AndBreathe said:
Nosher, your post refers to you changing your lantus between finger prick tests. I'm assuming you meant lancet? I don't want to change it for you without being sure it's an error.
Click to expand...

Please change it!
My kindle is having a few spelling hiccups today.
Thanks
 
Interestingly when I have been at my most ill whether it be high or low it has been shovelling in carbs when starving! Collapsed x twice, stuttering another time and multiple occasions of dizzyness blurred vision and sleepiness xx
 
Linagirl said:
Interestingly when I have been at my most ill whether it be high or low it has been shovelling in carbs when starving! Collapsed x twice, stuttering another time and multiple occasions of dizzyness blurred vision and sleepiness xx
Click to expand...

You should know by now that carbs are poisonous and evil!
 
No no. Not anymore.
I meant before I realised and reformed my character!!
 
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