9 Fasting is easy
http://healthfully.org/rjk 10/23/16
What has gone wrong: It all
starts with too much of the very reactive sugar fructose (net 15 times more than glucose), which damages the live. The liver is part of the glucose regulatory system and this damage causes insulin resistance. Because of insulin functions to cause the cells to take up glucose and burn it; it also causes those cells
to stop burning fat and to store it. With insulin resistance, they require a
higher than normal level of insulin to lower the blood sugar, and thus they have
a higher than normal rate of fat storage.
Those people are prone to storing more fat than they burn. Over 90% of
people of the long-term obese have what is called insulin resistance, and
its consequence a fatty liver (NAFLD, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease).
Why fasting works: The fix is to burn the
excess fat in the liver (and if diabetic in the pancreas), and to continue in the fat burning mode by fasting. Without a signal from blood insulin, the cells throughout the body switch to burning the stored fat, this
is what occurs while sleeping. Staying in fat burning longer by fasting allows
the liver to gradually ship-out and metabolized the excess fat it stored. Once
the liver heals by both lowering the sugar in the diet and by eliminating the excess fat in the liver, the liver’s contributions
to the control and metabolism of glucose normalizes and insulin resistance is cured.
A healthy liver is essential in the long-term fix of the weight regulatory system and thus being able to lose weight
and keep it off.
The use of fasting along with a low carb diet reverses obesity and type-2 diabetes. This fix has been growing in popularity, though food manufacturers and pharma ignores
this fix and gives us the wrong message, that of eat less and exercise more. This
doesn’t work for the long-term overweight because their weight-regulatory
system has been reset to their current weight, and attempting to lose weight only results in the yo-yo diet. I have extensively research the topics of diet and fasting. With
the insights of this research I shall use my experiences to illustrate why fasting with reduced carbs is the fix for insulin
resistance, NAFLD, and excess fat.
My Experience: I never had
a protracted weight problem. By logic I had used the short-term fast when I gained
20 pounds during the winter of 1969-70. I was in graduate school, philosophy,
University of Manitoba. At the age of 26 during the winter my metabolism slowed
down, and so I didn’t burn off rapidly the now excessive calories. I had
developed a fatty liver, and thus was putting on abdominal pounds. It took 3
months of reduced meals and short-term fasting to lose the weight around my middle.
It stayed off because it was short-term weight gain; my white adipose tissue through leptin had NOT reset my weight to 178 pounds. After that, whenever I gained
5 pounds, I simply cut back on portions, quit eating by 7 PM, and skipped breakfast several times a week. The second change was exercise. I moved from Winnipeg to southern
California in 1974 and became in 1975 a sports addict. I started regularly playing
volleyball, cycling, and running, In 1980 I added moderate weight training and
singles racquetball. In 1993 my diet changed for the worse: following the lead of a very fit friend who both weight trained and ran 7 miles a day, I went on a very
low fat (thus high carb) Western diet. Fortunately I exercised daily and watched
my weight; thus I never went more than 5 pounds above my slim weight. Skipping
breakfast, reducing portions, and cutting back on sweets was an easy fix.
In 2012
I watched Prof. Lustig lecture on YouTube, which had gone viral.
He explained why sugar was poison and I took notes. A year later, I researched
his explanation of the diabesity pandemic (obesity and diabetes); he presented the evidence on how excess fructose harmed the liver like alcohol and was driving the
diabesity pandemic. In the spring of 2014, I reduced by 75% sugars including
fruits. I also cut back on carbs from grains to about 30% of calories; thus I
increased saturated and monounsaturated fats to replace those calories. It took
about 4 months before candy, fruit juices, pies and melons tasted way too sweet. Though
my weight remained for decades the same, I had 3 pounds more around the lower abdomen than when entered graduate school in
1968. It was a sign of a fatty liver, so I decided in March of 2016 to experiment
with daily short-term fasting. I still ate the rest of the day whatever I desired (my carbs had been reduced a year before
and replaced with saturated and monounsaturated fats). By July of 2016, 4 months
later, I lost 4 pounds, waist shrunk 1 inch, and fasting glucose (a measure of IR)
was 10% lower. I noticed that by skipping breakfast, I had reduced my total consumption
of food. I was less hungry especially at dinnertime and there was no decline
in metabolism with its negative affect upon physical activity and mood. The low-insulin
diet causes a lower level of hormone leptin, a hormone which reduces metabolism and increases hunger—it is the main
cause of the yo-yo diet. (Leptin produced by fat tissue, functions to restore
fat to its normal level.) A big plus was that I experienced in the morning an
increase in mental and physical energy; it is a time when I do most of my studies and writing; and I avoided the decline following
breakfast. I like the short-term fasting.
One advantage
to the lower carbs is that while in the fat burning mode the body increases metabolic rate about 10%. Secondly neurons releases the catechol amines (adrenalin and noradrenalin, and dopamine) which cause stimulation
and mood elevation. This combination has been inherited because of the survival
advantage when food is short—more energy for hunting and gathering. This
is why I now like skipping breakfast. Morning fasting and not eating at night
has convinced me that weight control with short-term fasting is easy and pleasant, much easier than an energy-restricted diet.
Literature on Fasting: Dr. Jason Chapter 20, “When to Eat”
in his Obesity Code, 2016, p 235-251
covers the history and advantages of fasting; his opening Sentences: “LONG-TERM
DIETING is futile. After the initial weight loss, the dreaded plateau appears,
followed by the even more dreaded weight regain. The body reacts to weight loss by trying to return to its original body set
weight… Even if we eat all the right things, our insulin levels stay elevated….
But we fail to address the other problem insulin resistance.” The reason
for the major drop in metabolism is leptin (regulated by insulin) and it physical and emotional consequences; lack of energy with its consequences
on moody and activities. Thus very few of the long-term obese are capable of
going on a life-long energy restricted diet—there are numerous long-term studies which show that the obese gain back
most or all of their lost weight. “Only
fasting addresses insulin resistance.” His clinical experience (over
1,000 patients) and extensive published research proves that fasting is both easy and works—as too my own experience,
and other whom I have consoled.
From Fung’s Obesity Code: I shall
present what I find of most value in that chapter, sometimes quoted and my additions will be in [brackets]. IR causes excess fat storage and leptin promote reduced metabolism
and increased appetite. [But it is not appetite/hunger exactly, rather the feeling
that if I eat a bit more my energy and mental clarity will return to what it ought to be; viz., I will feel better and be
in a better mode (this is the effect of leptin on energy)]. All foods promote
the release of insulin; only not eating will keep blood insulin level low—see insulin table section 3. As Fung points in other
chapters, incretin hormone system responds to digestion in the stomach and small intestine by stimulating the release of insulin
from the pancreas [fats and fructose by far produce the least response, insulin index of 10 and 17 respectively]. Incretins explains why meat, fish, and poultry have a higher insulin index than boiled pasta. Though Fung writes of 24 to 36 hour fasting as curing IR, his
clinic also uses the short-term fasting. “The term ‘breakfast’
is the meal that breaks the fast—which we do daily”--p 237. Fasting
has been used in most cultures and religions, and our ancestral hunter-gatherer was forced by circumstance. Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460-370) wrote; “instead of using medicine, better fast today; to eat when
you are sick is to feed your illness” p 237. Humans like most animals do
not eat when sick. Plato and Aristotle were staunch supporters of fasting. “The body does not burn muscle until all fat store is gone” p 240. “Blood glucose levels remain normal as the body switches over to burning fat
for energy. This effect occurs with fasting periods as short as twenty-four to
thirty six hours. Longer fasts reduce insulin even more dramatically….
Regular fasting has been shown to significantly improve insulin sensitivity. This finding is the missing piece in the weight-loss puzzle. Most diets don’t address insulin resistance,” p240. One of the most potent stimuli of [human] growth hormone {HGH] secretion during fasting. Fasting promotes the use of fat as fuel and preserves muscle mass and bone density. Adrenalin [and noradrenalin] levels go up with fasting,” p 241 they are the natural amphetamines
that create alertness and physical energy. “Breakdown of muscle tissue
happens only at extremely low levels of body fat—approximately 4 percent,” p 242.
“The human body has evolved to survive episodic periods of starvation,” p 243. “Caloric restriction diets do not allow the evolved adaptation that occurs during fasting,”
p 244. We have also like all mammals have evolved a system to return to our normal weight when weight has been lost through
increased hunger and reduced rate of metabolism. Its main regulatory hormone
is leptin that is produced by the adipose (fat) tissue. “Studies of eating
a single meal per day found significantly more fat loss, compared to eating three meals per day, despite the same caloric
intake” 243. “Total energy expenditure is increased during a fast—in
a 4-day fast by 12%,” p244. “In our clinic, experience showed that
appetite decreased as duration of fasting increased. The most astonishing aspect
of this study [107 obese subjects unable to lose weight] was the ease with which prolonged starvation was tolerated. These experiences echoes our own clinical experience at the Intensive Dietary Management
Clinic with hundreds of patients,” p245. The more dangerous visceral fat
is preferentially removed with fasting. There is reference to Dr. Michael Mosley
(British on BBC) 5:2 diet, 5 days of full caloric and 2 days of 25% of calories at the end of a short-term fast. In the trial that compared the 5:2 to the Mediterranean diet with a 25% reduction in calories. At 6 months both groups lost about the same amount of weight, but the 5:2 group have lower insulin and
less IR, at p247. This change (though not measured) indicates that excess liver
fat had been metabolism. The short term fasting made this important difference. For the long-term overweight fasting reverses
insulin and leptin resistance, thus it is essential, and it is used by Dr. Fung to cure type-2 diabetes.
For those who want to know more of the science behind fasting, I highly recommend that you read my “Evidence of Alternate Day Fasting—Cures
Type-2 Diabetes” and Fung’s book The Complete Guide to Fasting. On P. 204 he states that, “A
major advantage of the sixteen-hour fast is that it is fairly simple to incorporate into everyday life.” The graph on page 202 indicates the amount and duration of the traditional 12 hour fast (7 pm to 7 AM)
the 16-hour fast and the 20 hour fast (3, 2, and 1 meals respectively as to the extent of fat metabolism, and fat storage
when eating. My own experience and others whom I have counseled has convinced
me that short-term fasting is easy, and the scientific literature confirms that longer periods are also easy; this is because
our body has evolved a system to burn the fat reserve and to keep us alert and full of energy so that we more likely to hunt
and gather foods. And as Fung states, “it has a high rate of compliance.”
