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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jason Fung
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January 22 - January 26, 2019
The 500 to 600 calories can be consumed in a single meal or spread out into multiple meals over the course of a day (though of course they would be very small meals).
24-, 36-, and 48-hour fasts. Probably not much longer than that, but probably with some frequency (2 days every week or every 2 weeks, for 6 weeks, and then rest).
Longer fasting seems best approached when you have some downtime and can control your activity, work demands, etc.
In a thirty-six-hour fast, you do not eat for one entire day. For example, if you finish dinner at 7 p.m. on day 1, your fast would begin immediately after— you skip all meals on day 2 and not eat again until breakfast at 7 a.m. on day 3.
In our IDM Program, we use thirty-six-hour fasts, on a three-times-a-week schedule, with patients who have type 2 diabetes.
After that, we reduce the frequency of fasting to a level that lets the patient maintain the hard-won gains but is easier on the patient.
But the longer-duration fasting period gives us the needed power to get good results in a reasonable time.
Most of my patients feel best when they start with a longer fast of 2–4 days to get their gastrointestinal symptoms under control.
The main concerns are fatigue, weight loss, and nutrient depletion, but these can be safeguarded against by using a good liquid formula like a semi-elemental diet.
42-Hour Fasts Many clients in the IDM Program routinely skip the morning meal and have their first meal of the day around noon.
For example, you would eat dinner at 6 p.m. on day 1. You skip all meals on day 2 and eat your regular “breakfast” meal at noon on day 3. This gives you a total fast of forty-two hours.
Sunny started participating in our IDM Program on October 2, 2015. He changed to a diet low in refined carbohydrates and high in natural fats.
If he finished dinner on day 1, he would not eat again until lunch on day 3.
Waist size is a good reflection of how much visceral fat around the organs of the abdomen and therefore more accurately reflects the body’s metabolic state.
However, we have been brainwashed to believe that type 2 diabetes and all its complications are inevitable.
Chapter 14 EXTENDED FASTING
Insulin encourages the kidneys to retain salt and water, so by lowering insulin levels, fasting helps the body excrete excess salt and water.
In the 1970s, a twenty-seven-year-old Scottish man started fasting at a weight of 456 pounds. Over the next 382 days, he subsisted on only noncaloric fluids, a daily multivitamin, and various supplements, setting the world record for the longest fast.
I fast 3.5 consecutive days a week and eat LCHF the other 3.5 days.
In fact, the first several days of fasting are often quite difficult.
However, once you push through that second day, things get progressively easier. Hunger slowly disappears and a sense of well-being often develops.
Similarly, with fasting, the initial period may also be difficult, but things get easier with practice.
If we assume that 2,000 calories are burned during a normal day, and we know that one pound of fat contains approximately 3,500 calories, then during an absolute fast—when no calories at all are being consumed—we would expect 0.57 pounds to be lost each day (2,000 calories expended / 3,500 calories per pound = 0.57 pounds lost).
During extended fasting, the brain reduces its reliance on glucose as an energy source.
Instead, the majority of the brain’s fuel is supplied by ketone bodies, which are created by burning fat.
Ketones have sometimes been referred to as a “superfuel” for the brain.
Ketones generally require thirty-six to forty-eight hours of fasting to ramp up. Prior to this, most of the body’s energy requirements are met by the breakdown of glycogen.
Incorporating intermittent fasting (16:8 and 20:4) and heavy lifting / interval training (to preserve muscle mass and drain those glucose stores) helped me get into ketosis faster
This also reflects the fact that the body is recycling all the essential fats and amino acids from the breakdown of old or dysfunctional cells.
After day 2, many people describe a gradual lessening and then a total elimination of hunger.
From a practical standpoint, it seems rather harsh to end a fast as soon as you have passed its most difficult day.
we encourage patients to continue their fast for seven to fourteen days. A fourteen-day fast delivers seven times the benefit of a two-day fast but is only marginally more difficult.
Second, the longer fasting period allows for more rapid improvements in blood glucose
Refeeding refers to the one to two days immediately after an extended fast.
Once refeeding begins, the food raises insulin levels, which stimulates the synthesis of glycogen, fat, and protein.
The main risk factor for refeeding syndrome is prolonged malnutrition.
Refeeding syndrome occurs mostly when people have been starved—that is, they’ve undergone an uncontrolled, involuntary restriction of food—and particularly when they’ve begun wasting (experiencing severe malnutrition due to starvation).
Do not make an extended fast a water-only fast. Drinking homemade bone broth provides phosphorus and other proteins and electrolytes, which reduces the chances of developing refeeding syndrome.
And to prevent vitamin deficiency, take a daily multivitamin.
Do all your usual activities, especially your exercise program, during your fast. This helps to mai...
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If you find longer fasts much easier than shorter ones, then adjust your regimen to add longer fasts into your fasting schedule.
Drink water: Start each morning with a full eight-ounce glass of water. It will help you start your day hydrated and set the tone for drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day.
Stay busy: It’ll keep your mind off food. Try fasting on a busy workday. You may be too busy to remember to be hungry.
Drink coffee: Coffee is a mild appetite suppressant. There’s also some evidence that green...
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Ride the waves: Hunger comes in waves; it is not constant. When it hits, slowly drink a glass of water or a hot cup of coffee.
Follow a nutritious diet on nonfasting days: Intermittent fasting is not an excuse to eat whatever you like.
Don’t binge: After your fast, pretend it never happened. Eat normally (and nutritiously—see #7), as if you had never fasted.
Staying hydrated helps prevent hunger. (Drinking a glass of water prior to a meal may also reduce hunger and help prevent overeating.) Sparkling mineral water may help for noisy stomachs and cramping.
Once again, while technically breaking the fast, the effect is so slight that it does not significantly detract from the benefits of the fast. The increased compliance more than compensates.
It is believed that they’re caused by the transition from a relatively high-salt diet to very low salt intake on fasting days.
