Two Books on Fasting and My Own Experiment

Hi,

I've tried out a couple of fasting ideas and found some more useful information on the subject of intermittent fasting.

I was in the process of beginning to do 16 hour fasts with 8 hour eating periods when, on day three, an appointment got in the way of ending my fast. I had been reading about doing 24-hour fasts once or twice a week and I decided to just let the appointment have its way and continue to fast.

It was quite interesting to me. I did not feel stressed out as I would have, had I not been reading about fasting and realizing that missing a meal or two is not the end of the world. I decided to just observe what it was like to do the fast. It ended up that I did only 21 hours but, hey, I think that was pretty good, considering that I am a newbie, and this was a spur of the moment decision.

My plan had been to continue to eat what I am now eating which means the only change I was introducing was the amount of time between meals rather than anything about the content. The actuality was not quite that.

It ended up that at about 4:30 when I decided to end the fast I felt this compulsion to get a pizza and eat. I tricked myself! I should have eaten a real meal, but instead, I ordered a medium pizza and for some odd reason, I felt compelled to eat the whole thing, even though I had to force the last half of it down. So odd. But that is what happened.

I had one more meal and a snack after that before going to bed -- the snack came first because I was still feeling stuffed from the pizza. But I began again the next day. I finished my last meal at about 1 a.m. that night, and did not eat again until about 4:30 p.m. the day following. That turned out to be a 15.5 hour fast. Again I was really hungry at the time I ended the fast, but I was more sane this time. I really did not want to experience the compulsive stuffing again so I thought about how I was going to end the fast in a better way.

I decided to go to Panda Express. I still could not wait to eat so decided on fast food rather than prepared at home food. ( I was hungry NOW.)  If I had had a salad already made that would not have happened. I ordered the Shanghai beef, green bean chicken, and mixed veggies, plus one chicken egg roll. Wonder of wonders I could only eat half of it. Actually the same thing had happened the day before but I ignored my body and ate the pizza, but today, I did not ignore my body. When I felt full I stopped eating. Yeah! That felt better!!

I actually put on about 3 pounds overnight with the pizza stuff! But I'm not stopping the fasting experiment, just yet. I need to give it some time and see what really happens after I get settled into it.

I've been really impressed with two sources of information I found on the internet which are:

1.  http://eatstopeat.com/ -- which is a book you have to buy [$37] (but the infomercial part has a lot of good information about the author and fasting) even if you don't buy it. I bought it because I wanted to get as much information as I could. This plan advocates the 24-hour, once or twice a week fast, and has a ton of just good information about fasting, itself.

2.  http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting -- which is a free book-sized PDF -- this one has a more "this is my story" approach but still backs everything up with research. This one also advocates more of a DIY fasting with instructions on how to fast according to your life style and goals. This one recommends a daily 16-hour fast/8-hour feed for men, daily 14-hour fast/10-hour feed for women or newbies of either gender, and also the 24-hour once a week fast just like number one above suggests. Dr. Berardi makes it perfectly clear that you can choose to do a 12-hour fast/12-hour feed, too -- or any combination that you are able or willing to try -- with guidelines.

I got a lot of good information out of both of them. The "Eat Stop Eat" has much more of the science and reasons and background of fasting and how the body responds over differing fasting time periods. It gave me enough proof to believe that fasting will end up actually being good for me health wise and also help me lose weight. The author, Brad Pilon, shares his own education background and I really do recommend his book to anyone else who is interested in an excellent basic primer on fasting.

The second one "Experiments with Intermittent Fasting" by Dr. John M. Berardi with Dr Krista Scott-Dixon and Nate Green will give you all the information you could ever use about how to incorporate the fast neatly into your life. It will help you figure out which one to start with and how to go about it. I highly recommend this one, too. And of course number 2 is FREE which is always a plus!! They are both PDF downloads, too, so you get the information instantly, which I always like.

So far, for myself, I'm enjoying the new experience of feeling what hunger really feels like. It does not come with pictures in my head, which is a sure sign of "mental hunger" and addiction rather than actual physical hunger. There is a particular feeling that shows up in my stomach area and since I now know that fasting for a few hours is actually healthy, I embraced it and enjoyed the new experience!!

Of course, I have actually felt this before, but now that I am better educated on the subject of fasting, I did not feel alarmed or compelled to go and get something to eat right this very minute. I could wait and knew that it would not cause trauma or injury, of any kind, to me. The new "fast" information set me free from the fear that I might injure myself if I missed a meal or two or three in a row! It is so funny that we actually fear missing a meal. We don't think about that. We just feel it and eat, but once you begin to notice it, and have backed up the experience with education, then it is simply NBD (No Big Deal).

I kind of like it. Of course, what you eat in between the fasting hours is also important. Both of these men suggest that you not change "what" you eat, just "when" you eat to begin with. Especially if you are already following a particular eating program. Brad Pilon even suggests that you don't have to diet at all, if you follow his program of twice a week 24-hour fasting. The fasting will be the thing that reduces your caloric intake and you won't have to weigh, measure, and count what you are eating the rest of the time. You should eat sensibly meaning healthy kinds of food, in healthy amounts when you eat, and simply stop eating for a short time and then eat again. That is why his book is called "Eat Stop Eat."  You eat good food, not junk food, then fast, then eat good food again.

I'm still not exactly sure which one I will end up doing. I would like to do the 16/8 but since I am a woman maybe I should do the 14/10. So far it is not so bad. I'll let you know how it goes.

Be back soon,

Marcia