Please post me any links, I am in a debate currently, and they're doing my nut in

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=medical+studies+benefits+fasting

It may also be useful to first look at the arguments AGAINST fasting - You'll make a more effective debater. BTW, fasting is just fasting. Good, Bad... who knows? If it seems beneficial to you do it, if not, don't - but don't try to convince someone else that not eating is healthful that has never not eaten before.

Yours Truly,

- Sisyphus

I have to get going and don't have time to search for specific studies, but in addition to the above, maybe look at Dr Fung's site or the Eades' site. Dr Eades (IIRC) was the first to nudge the LC crowd into the idea of IF.

Another angle: ask for evidence that eating all bleeping day is healthier. When in history did we ever do that?! Did our cave man ancestors have refrigerators and grocery stores? Even our great-grandparents didn't snack and probably went longer without food. Or have we only been eating all day since they started telling us to "keep fueling our metabolism" the '80s?

How has that turned out?

Debates. I try not to switch sides mid-sentence, but sometimes it's hard to avoid. A lot of the time there are just pros and cons, and it's more about risk/benefit than anything else. Phinney makes a good argument that fasting isn't risk-free, Fung and Megan Ramos make good arguments for when it's worth taking the risk, and for how to minimize the risk.

In the past Fung has made worse arguments, with time they've gotten better as he's been forced to refine his approach due to people like Phinney nibbling at some of his claims. It's a good thing.

Thanks teaser for bringing this to light. I watched a lot of Dr fung videos, and a couple ideas did not sit well with me. I wanted more evidence. Then I stumbled on Dr PHinney's presentation of two studies, two studies that addressed ONE of my concerns. Fasting is not without a price. A price Im not willing to pay at this point in my life, a lower BMR will double my effort to drop excess weight.

Phinney provided the data that allowed for a longer fasting period, by eating only once a day, the decrease in BMR is minimized. At least it wont be reduced by fasting; which isnt the only cause of reducing the BMR , of course. But with omad, one less reason.

My second concern is Dr fungs lack of concern for adequate vegetables. This is a debate for another time.

Fasting doesn't lower BMR, even long ones, that's a myth. It raises MBR up to 14% and HGH, growth hormone, up regulates to preserve muscle, also adrenaline secretion rises.
Ironically CR, calorie restriction, can lower metabolic rate but not fasting.

https://idmprogram.com/fasting-physiology-part-ii/"Insulin resistance" is precisely why low-carb diets like Atkins, at some point can "stop working."

dr phinney presented two studies to the contrary--have you seen them??

Can you provide links to Phinney’s studies?

Cahill had one study in normal weight divinity students, eight days into a fast their daily calorie expenditure is given as about 1100 calories a day, of course this is going to be with very low activity levels but still even basal metabolism would have been at least 500+ higher when these guys in their twenties weren't fasting. Also when numbers are given in various studies by Cahill estimating glucose vs. ketone vs. free fatty acid use during long fasts in obese subjects, the figure I see for total calorie expenditure is 1600 calories, and given that usually basal metabolic rate is higher in obese subjects than in lean, this probably does represent a substantial drop in metabolic rate.

The data used to show that fasting doesn't drop the metabolic rate, from what I've seen, looks at the first 48 hours or so. Yes, metabolic rate can increase early on. No, it doesn't remain high.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar...a00095-0049.pdf



We need a comparison of like to like, refeed somebody after something like this, versus the sort of restriction that dropped metabolic rate by 40 percent in the Minnesota starvation experiment. I like Dr. Fung I think he's doing a lot of good, some of his use of the literature I find a bit iffy, he's trying to apply the "best fit" for some questions science hasn't really answered yet, that can get you in trouble. Sometimes I think he'd be better off taking a page from Dr. Westman and just saying "I don't know, but here's what happens in my patients."

Fasting, if done correctly, has many benefits. I like this TED talk by Mark Mattson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkZAwKoCP8

Edited to add: I no longer term it fasting if I'm eating one or more meals per day. I call it meal timing, as I only use the term IF if I go more than 24 hours between meals. From personal experience, I reach autophagy (metabolic cleansing) when I IF for more than 2 days. I do not IF as much as a couple years ago, because while I find it beneficial, I can focus on meal timing to better manage weight and health maintenance. While IF and autophagy and raising HGH is beneficial, for me, I no longer believe I need to do this frequently. Part of that is that I'm at a healthy weight and I can go for a long period of time between meals without hunger craving sensations.

Dr. Fung in a clinical practice has been extremely successful with a fasting approach, but I believe Phinney's cautions have merit as well. Again, it's what works best for you, and those who would like to argue against IF are also not usually experienced enough with IF and rely solely on third-party anecdotal information of which there is a preponderance of good and bad out there. I'm now at the point where I do what I need for my own health and keep it under the radar. I have no desire to get into a debate of whether the protocol I follow is healthy for me. It's my bidness and nobody else's . . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1r8ffLDFcE

Like I said, with this info to balance Dr FUngs info, I could move from 2 meals a day to one. I do like to eat, and fixing one meal a day fills my need to cook. I used to be a great baker especially bread, but gave that up when I met Dr Atkins.

Then there is the possible cortisol issue when skipping breakfast:His thoughts on sleep cycles, genetic testing and evaluation were rather interesting too. And the alternate energy stuff.

http://www.gestaltreality.com/2014/...-sleeping-less/