Hammers are great. Except for when yous ask a wrench.
Wrenches are great. Except for when yous ask a drill.
Drills are great. Except for when yous ask a crowbar.
Different job, different tool.
Different need, different tool.
With me hence far?
With this inwards mind:
Fasting is great. Except when it’s not.
I think you’ll let out I’m i of the to a greater extent than open-minded people inwards the low-carb/keto community. (I don’t know if this is good, bad, or meaningless. Maybe I should align myself amongst i army camp too subscribe to that dogma too only that dogma. Then again, there’s plenty of that out at that spot already, right? And when Robb Wolf starts talking close eating lentils [Except bacon. If you’re non eating bacon, yous are doing it wrong. [No, precisely kidding. Shout-out to anyone reading my weblog who keeps kosher or observes the laws of halāl!])
So inwards my non-dogmatic perspective, what’s the bargain amongst fasting?
Most of yous are in all likelihood familiar amongst Dr. Jason Fung. Dr. Fung is i of my favorite people inwards the depression carb wellness community. I love his salty language, razor-sharp wit, too pointed analogies. (I’ll link to some podcast interviews amongst him at the destination of this post. As for the pointed analogies, hear for him talking close bird crashes too precisely needing “more elevator too less gravity.” Classic!)
For those of yous who alive on Jupiter too have no thought who Dr. Fung is, he’s a nephrologist (kidney specialist) who regularly reverses obesity, type 2 diabetes, too kidney illness inwards his clinic. The humor, sarcasm, too snark in his weblog posts puts mine to shame, too he manages to create hence spell beingness way to a greater extent than succinct than I am. (He should laissez passer on lessons on how to create that...)
I honour Dr. Fung. I’m a huge fan. I loved his bulk too wrote a review of it here. In fact, nosotros collaborated non long agone on a mag article that we’ll live on submitting for peer review too publication. (Woohoo!) On his blog, inwards his YouTube videos, too inwards podcast interviews, he's written too talked close obesity, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, too more. But what he is mayhap best known for is beingness a song proponent of fasting. Skipping a meal, skipping a whole hateful solar daytime of meals, doing multi-day or fifty-fifty longer fasts: whatever too all permutations are okay, depending on what a patient’s goals are too what fits into their lifestyle. (He too Jimmy Moore are laid to release a novel bulk close fasting, too I tin laissez passer on notice neither confirm nor deny that yours truly may have got contributed some quotes…)
Dr. Fung has a multi-part weblog serial on the history too benefits of fasting every bit a religious, cultural, too wellness practice. He’s upwardly to over twenty posts inwards the series, but he’s much to a greater extent than to the dot than I am, too it’s good worth your fourth dimension to read every bit your schedule permits. The commencement postal service is here, too each i ends (I think) amongst a link to the side past times side i inwards the series. I am non at all doubting the success he’s had amongst patients. He is a doctor. I am not. As he says inwards interviews he’s done, when people inquire him to address critics of his methods: he has supervised thousands of people through diverse permutations of fasting. People have got mostly entirely gotten better. Less medication. Lower insulin levels. Lower blood sugar. More energy. Greater fatty loss. (And the critics? How many people have got they supervised through fasting? How much proof create they have got that fasting is dangerous? *Crickets.*)
Fasting has its place. I’m non going to write close the benefits of fasting. They are numerous, too if yous desire to know what they are, yous tin laissez passer on notice precisely check out the forthcoming book. And it should live on obvious that, if I was quoted inwards a bulk close it, talking close it inwards a favorable way, hence I create sympathize too honour these numerous benefits, too I think fasting tin laissez passer on notice live on incredibly therapeutic. (I talked close it inwards relation to neurological atmospheric condition toward the destination of this podcast.) So I promise I’ve made it abundantly clear that I think Dr. Fung is awesome, too I think fasting can be awesome…
…when it’s applied intelligently too rationally, that is.
My fearfulness is that many inwards the Paleo, depression carb, too keto communities have got sailed long past times tidings too rationality too have got landed squarely inwards the twilight zone of insanity. Even worse, they are taking other people amongst them! People who should not fast!
Why create I care? Why does it acquit upon me when someone who’s improve off ingesting nutrient on a regular footing chooses not to ingest nutrient on a regular basis?
I tending because I am the i who has to utter these people downwards from the proverbial ledge when they write to me complaining of fatigue, anxiety, loss of their menstrual cycle, or some other worrisome outcome.
I am concerned that the growing fascination (nay, obsession) with fasting is becoming a sort of orthorexia, wherein people teach terrified of consuming nutrient exterior their self-prescribed window. Or consuming nutrient earlier they were “supposed to.” People brag on social media close how long they’ve gone without nutrient (and how much intense exercise they’ve done inwards that time). And fifty-fifty though no i comes right out too points a shaming finger at people who don’t fast, the resultant is that they yet sort of brand the residue of us experience similar failures every bit human beings if nosotros swallow to a greater extent than than i time every 24, 48, or 72 hours. Can nosotros delight halt this already?
Eating is a natural, biological imperative. We don’t have got to create it multiple times a day, every day, but there’s non necessarily anything “wrong” amongst eating daily, either. At some point, nosotros create need—and I hateful need—to eat. That beingness said, many of us inwards the wealthy industrialized globe in all likelihood do swallow also much too also often. And I think Dr. Fung is doing people an of import service past times talking non precisely close what to eat, but when. It’s a large missing piece of the puzzle, especially for people who create out to lose trunk fat, or whose blood glucose and/or insulin isn’t coming downwards to healthier levels fifty-fifty on a “well-formulated” depression carb diet. The conventional advice to “eat several small-scale meals a hateful solar daytime to move along your blood refined saccharify up” has gotten us results close every bit overnice every bit the ones that came from everybody basing their diets on starchy carbohydrates too using margarine instead of butter.
So yeah. Regardless of the type of diet those of us blessed amongst abundant nutrient 24/7 follow—be it depression fat, depression carb, Paleo, keto, vegetarian—many of us in all likelihood do swallow also often. We’re wired for feast too famine, non feast, feast, feast. We swallow when we’re happy, sad, bored, excited, stressed out, lonely, watching television, celebrating, mourning, too precisely close anything too everything else. Because nosotros are blessed amongst abundant nutrient all twelvemonth long, nosotros at nowadays have got to brand a special endeavour to impose nutrient scarcity upon ourselves for therapeutic purposes. I teach it. I do.
Plenty of people fast, too plenty of people create great amongst it.
But let’s utter close who should not fast.
And I’m non talking close the obvious ones—the ones Dr. Fung, himself, is clear should non fast: pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children, too people amongst medical atmospheric condition or on sure enough medications for which fasting mightiness live on contraindicated.
I’m talking close healthy, young, active people who think they need to fast, but who really appear to fare poorly inwards doing so. The people who appear to create poorly amongst fasting are not Dr. Fung’s typical patient base. Let’s remember, Dr. Fung is a nephrologist. Almost past times definition, anyone who gets referred to him in all likelihood has some flat of kidney harm or dysfunction, too the vast bulk of those amongst kidney harm or dysfunction non due to congenital problems or physical trauma most probable have got insulin too blood glucose issues. For those of yous who are fans of Dr. Bill Lagakos, I’ll emphasize his favorite phrase: context matters.
I have got no uncertainty that Dr. Fung has had slap-up success amongst his woman individual patients. But what he doesn’t say—and I wishing he would—is that the people he supervises on fasts are inwards his “Intensive Dietary Management” hospital specifically for diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, too the like. His patient population is NOT young, athletic, fit, good for yous people who are already chronically undereating too non getting plenty sleep, especially when combined amongst intense workouts multiple times a week. This is a totally different ballgame! (Please have got this amongst a grain of salt, because dissimilar Dr. Fung, I have got not supervised thousands of people through fasts. But I do deal amongst the aftermath of what happens when people who should not fast can’t appear to milk tremble the thought that they “should.”)
Based on what I see, hear, too read inwards the “Paleosphere,” the people who study the most problem amongst fasting—the ones whose “adrenals crashed,” or whose “thyroid got killed”—are women. Usually younger women. Usually younger women who create a slap-up bargain of intense exercise. Usually younger women who create a slap-up bargain of intense exercise on insufficient calories (from whatever combination of macronutrients yous like; doesn’t affair – the bottom describe is, it’s precisely also damn picayune food). They also normally have got full-time jobs too wake upwardly at the cleft of dawn to brand it a spin class, kicking camp, or CrossFit WOD, too sometimes create another i after work. These women are already inwards metabolic too hormonal danger. Add fasting to that mix and, yes, of course they don’t fare well. Why is this a surprise to anyone?! (*Tap, tap.* Is this thing on?!)
(Case inwards point: Elle Russ, writer of The Paleo Thyroid Solution. According to her profile every bit a “success story” on Mark’s Daily Apple: “I am 5’2”, I was 110–115 lbs, 16% to 17% trunk fat, too earlier hypothyroidism hitting me, I exemplified the ikon of wellness too fitness. […] My doc tested my thyroid incorrectly past times entirely testing my TSH. He said the TSH was inside range, I did non have got a thyroid problem, too I precisely needed to exercise to a greater extent than too swallow less, which I thought was impossible because I had been working out ii hours a hateful solar daytime too eating 1,200 calories or less…” To live on clear, Elle wrote zero close fasting. I am but sharing her story every bit an illustration of who should not fast, but the sort of individual I regularly hear from who is doing so. And I let out it inexcusable that none of the doctors she e'er saw for her thyroid suggested that she EAT MORE FOOD too EXERCISE Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 LITTLE LESS. [Also, mayhap 110 pounds too 16% trunk fatty maybe did not “exemplify the ikon of wellness too fitness.” And delight know I hateful absolutely no disrespect toward Ms. Russ. As someone who has struggled amongst my ain thyroid issues, I think her story is an of import one, too I’m sure enough her bulk volition live on an incredibly valuable resources for other women, whose doctors are consummate morons. I am but speculating that her thyroid troubles mightiness have—might have—been straight related to working out 2 hours a hateful solar daytime on 1200 calories.])
So yes, fasting is slap-up for women. Except for the women it’s non slap-up for. I tin laissez passer on notice almost guarantee yous that none of the women claiming that fasting “wrecked their adrenals” or “trashed their thyroid” were 250 pounds, type 2 diabetic, too on v prescription medications. They were in all likelihood already following a depression carb or Paleo diet, highly active, type-A personalities, severely under-fueling their activity, too already stressed to the max. These people are non suitable candidates for fasting.
So what’s upwardly amongst men, then? Why create women appear to encounter these issues far to a greater extent than oft than men?
I create think there’s something to the declaration that the woman individual endocrine milieu is to a greater extent than “delicate” than that of males, but let’s teach real: nosotros fragile flowers tin laissez passer on notice move without eating precisely fine. We’re non going to halt menstruating, or lose all our pilus if nosotros skip a distich meals at nowadays too then. The problems come upwardly when women combine repast skipping amongst unrelenting (and largely self-imposed) physiological stress, especially if their normal, habitual nutrient intake is already a long-term caloric deficit. It’s fasting on acme of fasting too stress on acme of stress. Robb Wolf too Chris Kresser oft utter close the “allostatic load.” English linguistic communication translation: there’s entirely hence much the trunk tin laissez passer on notice have got earlier (as Robb would say) the wheels come upwardly off the wagon.
The divergence betwixt the inappropriately fasting women too men of precisely close whatever stripe—stressed out, cool every bit a cucumber, lean, heavy, too anything inwards between—is that when men fast too create a difficult workout, at some point, they volition swallow a huge meal. Maybe it volition live on straight off subsequently the workout, or maybe they’ll await 2, 4, 8, or xv hours. But eventually, They. Will. Chow. Down. Not hence amongst the women! They’ll fast too create a difficult workout, too hence “refuel” amongst iii ounces of skinless chicken breast, a piece of avocado, too iv cherry tomatoes. For all intents too purposes, they are already fasting. Compared to the demands they are placing on their bodies, they are already non eating anywhere close plenty food. If we’re wired for feast too famine, hence we’re wired for feast and famine, non famine and famine, or famine too swallow a tiny bit of food, which, inwards the instance of the women I’m talking about, are basically the same thing.
(To live on clear, I create sympathize that, biochemically, eating a small-scale amount of nutrient is really rattling different from full-on fasting. I’m precisely trying to brand a point.) The larger dot I’m trying to brand here: if you’re gonna piece of work hard, yous gotta eat hard! This is the component subdivision most women are precisely non psychologically prepared to do. We have got allow magazines brainwash us into thinking that an effing ridiculous “deck of cards”-sized piece of virtually fat-free tilapia is plenty to fuel a good for yous adult human being. I can’t even… I seriously don’t fifty-fifty know what to say anymore. I teach clients similar this all the time. (And I volition live on writing quite the related rant close keto zealotry. Hang onto your hats for that one, folks.)
(To live on clear, I create sympathize that, biochemically, eating a small-scale amount of nutrient is really rattling different from full-on fasting. I’m precisely trying to brand a point.) The larger dot I’m trying to brand here: if you’re gonna piece of work hard, yous gotta eat hard! This is the component subdivision most women are precisely non psychologically prepared to do. We have got allow magazines brainwash us into thinking that an effing ridiculous “deck of cards”-sized piece of virtually fat-free tilapia is plenty to fuel a good for yous adult human being. I can’t even… I seriously don’t fifty-fifty know what to say anymore. I teach clients similar this all the time. (And I volition live on writing quite the related rant close keto zealotry. Hang onto your hats for that one, folks.)
Okay, since I don’t know what to say anymore, fifty-fifty though there’s lots to a greater extent than I want to say, I’ll brand this a two-parter. (Click hither for component subdivision 2.)
In closing, I haven’t verified this amongst Dr. Fung, but I would venture to justice that he’s never had a 240-pound, type-2 diabetic woman individual patient on half dozen different medications claim that i of his recommended fasting regimens landed her inwards “adrenal fatigue” or induced hypothyroidism inwards her. Honestly, I sort of have got to curlicue my eyes at the mere thought of that.
Like I said: fasting is great. Except when it’s not.
(Also: i to a greater extent than thing earlier I go: regarding the women who encounter hormonal mayhem from fasting, I don't think it’s the fasting that’s the culprit. I think it’s the long-term caloric deficit combined amongst too-frequent intense exercise too unrelenting psychological stress. What the fasting does is exacerbate too convey to lite problems that were already there. So it’s wrong of me to say that women who stand upwardly for this description “shouldn’t fast.” What they to a greater extent than probable should avoid is exercising themselves stupid on 1200 calories a hateful solar daytime too beingness insanely micronutrient depleted.)
P.S. If yous would similar to explore intermittent fasting, I highly recommend Dr. Ted Naiman’s guide, which you tin laissez passer on notice let out here. (Or the printable pdf version here. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 slap-up resource!)
And hither are some proficient podcast interviews amongst Dr. Fung:
Disclaimer: Amy Berger, MS, CNS, NTP, is non a physician too , LLC, is non a medical practice. The data contained on this site is non intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or forbid whatever medical status too is non to live on used every bit a substitute for the tending too guidance of a physician. Links inwards this postal service too all others may direct yous to amazon.com, where I volition have a small-scale amount of the purchase cost of whatever items yous purchase through my affiliate links.
Sumber http://www.tuitnutrition.com/