Twice Weekly Fasting to Improve Blood and Health

Hi,

This is the first week that I have accomplished a 5/2 eating schedule as stated in Michael Mosley's "BBC Horizon 2012: Eat, Fast and Live Longer" program. I watched it again to refresh my mind about the amazing health improving discoveries that were shared in the video in relation to intermittent fasting.

I had been fasting for one day per week but not really seeing much of a decline in weight until I started taking a diuretic that my doctor prescribed for high BP.

Here's is the link to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=Pfna7nV7WaM

5/2 means five days of eating and two days of fasting per week and the two days do not have to be consecutive. Michael Mosley tried it for five weeks then weighed himself and checked his BMI and blood sugar, IGF-1, and blood cholesterol levels.

He said he had dropped about 1 stone (14 pounds) in five weeks which works out to nearly 3 pounds per week. He went from 27 percent body fat to 19.1 percent body fat in that time period. He also said that his blood sugar had dropped into the normal range from having been in the pre-diabetic range. His IGF-1 had reduce to the point that his risk for developing cancer was cut in half and his cholesterol levels reached normal proportions.

As one of the research scientists in the video said: If you can find a way to improve your health in a better more immediate way than with fasting he wanted to see it.

Me too. So I am trying it out.

Oddly enough my doctor's office called me on a day that I was fasting and wanted to check my cholesterol in relation to an echo cardiogram I had recently had done. They refused to tell me what the EC said until they checked my cholesterol.

The nurse on the phone started to say that when I came in for the blood draw I should fast from midnight on, at which point I interrupted her and said that I had been fasting since 4:25 the day before and could I come in that day. She scheduled me to come in at about 2:30 and I went. I have not heard the results yet, but look forward to seeing what it says.

I learned my fasting method from the PDF called "Eat Stop Eat" by Brad Pilon (which I have blogged about before -- http://www.eatstopeat.com/) and since I am accustomed to that method, I simply stuck to it but have now added one more fasting day to my schedule. Week one, done. On to week two.

What I do is arrange my fast from the later part of one day to the later part of the next day, exactly 24 hours later. This means that on, say, Sunday I eat two regular meals making sure the last meal ends somewhere between 4 and 5 p.m. Then I stop eating and don't resume eating until the exact same time on Monday, which leaves a 24 hour gap between meals. When I break the fast on Monday I have a meal and usually one more a couple of hours later, trying to space at least two and preferably three or more food-free hours before bed time.

In essence on one day I have two normal sized meals, then wait 24 hours, and have two more meals at the end of the next day with no snacks. What Mr Mosley does is eat one small meal, wait 24 hours, and then eat three normal meals and snacks or whatever else he eats on a normal day. So over the two day period, I eat about 4 meals, and he eats about 4 meals -- perhaps plus snacks. Same Difference. Normally over a two-day period a person eats 6 meals (plus snacks). It boils down to skipping two meals in a row and making sure the time period is 24 hours between eating sessions. There is a sleeping time in the middle of the 24 hours, so it really is not as bad as you might think.

A normal sized meal in my mind is equivalent to between about 2 and 3 cups of food -- and consists of veggies and protein. It is enough to fill and satisfy me without stuffing me. Occasionally I do eat a huge meal at the end of the fast which can be about twice the normal amount, but only for one meal. If I have a huge meal, I often don't eat again before going to bed, or simply have some water and gum. It varies.

What Mr Mosley did was to, on his fast days, eat one small meal at breakfast, and then not eat again until breakfast the next day. Same difference. He said he preferred that method because it was hard for him to go to work on an empty stomach. It made him feel weak and deprived. Eating his one meal at breakfast solved that problem for him.

I don't have a job since I am retired, and I often prefer to skip breakfast, so I time mine from a late afternoon meal. On the fasting day it just seems easier to me to skip the early eating and enjoy looking forward to eating at the appointed time later in the day.

During the fast I try to drink boat loads of water with a little Plantation Mint tea and some Spry (xylitol) gum (which also helps my teeth). Mr Mosley said he drank water and black tea on his fast days. I have not forgotten that men lose weight faster than women so I am not fully expecting to lose the three pounds per week as he did, but 2 or even 1 every week would be good. I shall not limit myself, if I can lose the 3 that would be excellent.

I had seen the results of a recent urine test from a day that I was actually dehydrated and realized I really needed to drink a whole lot more water than the nearly 64 ounces I had been drinking per day. I am taking a small dose diuretic which adds to the reason that I must increase my water drinking rather drastically, in my mind.

The diuretic is to help lower the blood pressure (it reached130/70 which was very pleasing to me). I also see it as a way to reduce the ankle swelling to nearly zero levels, but the process eliminates too much water for my kidneys to function well and stay clear from calcium crystals so doubling my water intake will, I hope, solve that problem for me.

Oddly enough, drinking more water works well for the kidneys but it has brought my blood pressure back to my former "normal" levels. "My normal" meaning the levels I was at before I had the BP scare a few weeks ago. When I was dehydrated my BP reached 130/70 but for someone who only takes one BP medicine plus a small diuretic 140/77 is OK. That is my opinion. This morning it was 145/77. Which bothers me a little.

If fasting will clear this up too, as some of the researchers in the video suggested it might, then I will be very happy with that, too. I shall continue on and see if it does.

I know that in my last blog post, I thought I wanted to try the three days per week fast schedule but I just don't think I am up to that, yet. I actually did try to fast again about the second day past a fasting day and I simply was too weak to do it. That was during the time I was having the health issues noted above, so I decided not to put that much pressure on myself during that time and may try that at a time when I feel more fit.

It has occurred to me that my new doctor may actually be looking for something wrong with me, simply because I am obese. I suppose that is not beyond reason, but it feels a little insulting. I know that the serapeptase that I've been taking for about 15 months now should have really cleaned out my blood veins and vessels so perhaps her checking things out will reveal whether it really has or not. I really would like to know if it has worked.

I am really interested in the fasting because it seems to be a way for me to have my cake and eat it, too. (Not actually cake -- I'm just using the expression.) It forces me to eat less. My weekly total calorie intake is highly reduce by two 24 hour fasts per week, but on the feeding or feasting days, I really can eat what I like to eat. I still remain low carb, but do include a few, usually on the breaking fast meal. I cannot allow myself to go overboard on the feast days. My body is far to sensitive to certain things to become lax in that area.

Mr Mosley did not reveal what he eats on his feed days but one of the scenes in the video shows him and a researcher having what appears to be a burger and fries at a drive in fast food restaurant. The video showed him when he was at home in England again and he appeared to be cooking in his home, but it showed him making his breakfast on a fasting day, so I don't know what he eats in between.  The researcher had said that it did not seem to matter whether it was high fat or low fat, on the feed days, the health improvements were identical.

The same researcher in the video also pointed out that people who do intermittent fasting do not tend to over eat on the feeding/feasting days. She had thought when she started her research that people would simply over compensate on the days they were allowed to eat anything they wanted, for the food they had not eaten on the fast day. This did not prove true. She found that on the feed days they only increased their eating about 10 percent and not the 50 percent she had expected.

This seems to be true for me also. On my feeding days, I am not bothered by cravings and a huge desire for food. I simply relate to it normally. If I'm hungry I eat, if I'm not, I don't. Simple easy. Healthy. I do occasionally have something that maybe I should not, but it does not seem to be a pressing issue. I am not pressed to eat junk food. I'm simply attracted to healthy food, which to me is meat and veggies -- lo carb.

One more thing:

As I was reading my bible I came across these two verses: Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

I really had to stop and take a second look at what it said because it just really surprised me. It seems to be saying that a childish leader and people eat every morning, but noble leaders and people eat "in due season" or postpone their eating until they need food for strength. They are not addicted to food. Eating is not a pastime or entertainment. It is simply done to keep up strength as needed.

The noble people do not overindulge in food to the point of "drunkenness" as the childish do. Drunkenness in relation to food would seem to be those times when you eat so much food that your body feels overpowered and sick. Your belly gets uncomfortable with the excess rather like drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and becoming sick from it.

The noble people don't actually eat food as the first thing they do. They go about their business and eat when the body needs food for strength or health. Childish and addictive eating brings woe like drunkenness does. Fasting and noble living brings blessings. This seems like a validation for the idea of fasting, to me, and it was written about 3,000 years ago. There really is nothing new under the sun.

Anyway, that is where I am, today. How about you?

Be back soon,

Marcia