It worked for me, and I thank you.

This guy did us all a great service with his research. I just scanned a bit of it after I saved it to my computer. Remember we wondered why chicken and beef weren't on the list of proteins? I just came across a part where he explained that all proteins are acceptable, but that chicken and beef were of lower priority because they have lower fat content and are less nutrient dense. That's why seafood is recommended above either.

Thanks so much for that link.

Yes! Thank you!!!

Can anyone recall reading advice for those of us with Chronic Kidney Disease? Dr. Fung is a nephrologist but makes no mention of kidney disease on his blog. I'd like to know dietary interventions for that.

It's not likely to be the same as for diabetes; every kidney site, no matter what country, is saying LOW protein, and incorporate grains. I'd like to have some latest/greatest input from an expert, kwim?

If anyone can point me to a link or a quote, I'd appreciate it.

Well, I emailed Dr. Fung right after my post above, and he just emailed me back, saying LCHF is safe for Kidney Disease.

Now to read up on Dr. Fung's recommendations. I'm a newbie to his protocol.

Very cool that he replied!

His site is still available: https://optimisingnutrition.wordpress.com/
His latest blog post addition may have bumped off Janet's link to the previous one. You'll find his manifesto, insulin index post and many interesting topics on there.

Welcome! And his long-distance program is only about US $160 for a year, maybe worthwhile to have Megan and the doctor available for your specific questions?

The Patient Resources tab is still missing, it was there for months, then password protected, now gone. PM me your email and I can send the protocol, His blogs and lectures are so good, dig into those!

I often delay taking my FBG because I wake so early and have the dawn effect. It's Monday 5 am, but decided to check it anyway to start the week...85!

I am cautiously declaring that IFing about 3 x week, eating more veggies, maybe dropping Vit C and irregularly adding vinegar and fiber, has corrected the physiological insulin resistance, or maybe my gut microbiome from long term VLC or whatever. Have not been strict at all on the quantities of food so haven't lost weight, but it has been a long time since seeing BG over 100 any time of day.

Sarah Ballentyne has been dropping (big) hints that her speech at PaleoFx is going to be critical of Ketogenic diets, they are appropriate only in a few therapeutic situations. She addressed some of the criticisms, backed up by studies, that long term can change the gut and glucose response in her interview with Jimmy Moore. Fung's IF protocol overcomes some issues with LC, it still allows ketosis from fasting and exercise, yet you eat more variety of fiberous vegetables for the gut. Whatever the reason, the lower BG readings this spring have been encouraging.

Great Janet. I like seeing that "normal" fbg too. My FBG was 83 this morning, around where it has been for the past few weeks, down from the 90's. I guess I was initiated into this by Dr Bernstein so 83 still feels like the magic number to me. This is with my 16-20 hour fast every day. I still keep my carbs at about 20 gms and my protein around 60 gms.

Janet,
My memory is bad so I write important things on my calendar. Because I do, I "remember" when I began to IF. I can't remember when you did. Can you share how long it's been since you started?

Even I can't remember had to look at post #1. July 1st, and did it for 3 solid months, but then my Hba1C increased...again... to 5.9. I was so pi**ed off ( I was still trying to do VLC plus IF) that I lost momentum through the holidays. Restarted on Jan 1, and have basically fasted only 3 x week, have dinner every day, one week "off" in Feb for vacation. My fasts also include calories from cream, broth, etc so this is not a rigorous IF at all.

Thanks for the info. I know that I'm not eating enough, but I'm so afraid to regain what I managed to lose. That is what I've been doing all my life. I guess, in my wildest dreams of outcome I think that once I overcome insulin resistance, I'll be able to eat like normal people without gaining pounds.

I've been so busy reading Dr. Fung's IF info that I neglected finding what we're supposed to do when we reach goal.

To my way of thinking, insulin resistance can be overcome but only with continued adherence to the way of eating that tamed it. I harbor no illusions that I'll ever be able to eat like "normal people" - assuming that what you mean by that is more than 50 g of carbs per day. If I continue to eat LCHF, I can keep insulin resistance at bay. If I don't, all bets are off.

I don't recall Dr Fung saying what to do re: food or fasting once we reach goal. I posted a comment a few blogposts back asking him to address that in a future post. I hope he will.

I agree. I accept that I will never be able to eat "normally" but that doesn't really bother me. I am grateful to have found a healthy way to eat, real food, no junk, no fillers. It's all good. Sure better than the way I used to eat.

What does make my head spin is the whole issue of weight. Intellectually I believe that I should just let my weight take care of itself. It is well known that the bmi is a flawed measurement with no simply relationship to health so if I take care of my diet, making sure it is as nutritious as possible and allows me to keep my bg's stable, then that's all I can do. It is certainly not clear that weighing less will make me healthier. Yet, nonetheless, it is hard to get rid of that voice that says losing a few pounds more would be a good thing, but good for what. Not necessarily better for my health, probably just better for my ego, which is not really the path I want to be following in life. Mostly I am happy as long as I can buy my clothes in "normal" stores.

Fasting Physiology Part II inspired me to try to do better than the occasional 16-22 hour fasts I've done to see what improvements or differences I'd notice at the 2-day and 5-day marks where increased basal metabolic rate and growth hormone secretion are supposed to occur. I just hit 72 hours and hope to continue to see what extra growth hormone feels like after Day 5. Day 3 is easier than Day 2 which was easier than Day 1, so hopefully the trend will continue. I was eating ketogenic HFLC beforehand with only bulletproof coffee for breakfast, so the transition wasn't hard. I had ~5 hunger waves with loud stomach grumbles (audible 10' away) on Day 1 but none lasted more than ~15 minutes when dosed with broth or other fluids. Day 3 had 3 hunger waves with quiet grumbles, the same as normal grumbles prior to a meal when I'm eating to hunger.

I had read Margaret's but not Megan's testimonial previously because I figured what could a 20-something skinny girl tell 60 yr old me, but she also struggled to get past 22 hrs and provides insight. I also noticed that although I had watched much of “The Fast Solution” – The Aetiology of Obesity 4/6, I must have quit before the 50-minute mark where he actually starts talking about Fasting (the first 50 minutes are all about sugar & wheat). I highly recommend watching the last 33 minutes to learn about fasting and hope that he will include the figures in his next Fasting blogs, since I could not read many of the numbers on the tables and axes nor the cited references in this video of the projection screen (too small font, blurry or his elbow was in front of the journal name).

What I've done is use Fung's fasting guidelines and streamlined them a bit by mixing up a full day's worth of allowed water additions (to drink in 2-3 parts that day):
2T chia seeds + 2T psyllium fibre + 1t cinnamon, ground together in my spice grinder and added to
juice from one lemon + 2T apple cider vinegar + 2 cups of water in a mason jar
Curiously, its taste and texture is better than any one of these additions to water by itself. The cinnamon sweetens the vinegar and lemon juice enough to prevent puckering and cringing.

I also have a cup of homemade bone broth 3 times a day.

Since it worked on my occasional and every-other fast days, I continue to have coffee with 1/2 T CO once or twice a day, green tea with 1/2T CO, and black tea with 1/2T CO (or 1t butter) added when I don't have the second cup of coffee. These are buzzed in my Magic Bullet to improve the mixing and create a comforting texture/froth. The rest of my fluids are water.

All this adds up to ~333 calories/day while IDM-fasting. I'm open to having more coffee and tea with CO but thought I'd keep the CO low for this trial since most fasts don't allow any CO, milk or cream and I'm not sure whether it boosts my insulin level. I haven't felt the need for more fat so far. Margaret mentioned the bone broth on her long fast, but not the CO/cream. But I did find another Youtube practitioner (a personal trainer) who allows up to 30g CO on IF fast days, so my ~20g is within that range. My energy and mental sharpness are high. I've lost 2 pounds in 3 days, but my main concern is reducing my insulin resistance and increasing my basal metabolic rate. I'm interested to see if I can preserve the benefits as I continue on HFLC after the several-day fast with or without IFing.