An informal survey on Fasting

[mike]

I am currently doing a multi day fast. I've heard others mention intermittent fasting IF 18/6 or OMAD, and others where a certain number of days out of the week are fasting days. I'm curious how many do some form of fasting, and why are they doing it. What has been achieved? How hard was it? If you folks who've fasted could answer some questions, I would tally up the answers.

1. Apoe4 status (4/4, 4/3, etc.)
2. Type of fasting (with description - e.g. Multi day water fast,13 to 17 days, or IF with 6 hours eating, 18 hours fasting)
3. Reason for fasting
4. How difficult did you find it (scale 1= Not difficult to 5 = Very difficult)
5. Were you on in a keto diet prior to the fast (describe - e.g. Low carb, high fat, moderate mostly vegetarian protein)
6. What results have you observed

[TheresaB]

I'm curious how many do some form of fasting, and why are they doing it. What has been achieved? How hard was it?

There's a thread where some of us have discussed our experiences and motivations:
Experiences with FMD/multi-day fasts

[Fiver]

Pretty solid family history.

I have not done multi-day fasts. But I think you were interested in daily schedules too. So...

16 fast: 8 hour eating window. Occasionally I'll go 20:4 but not on work days because my stomach growls and that is embarrassing in meetings.

It's just part of my overall plan to be healthy....

I'd say a 2. It's not difficult. The hardest thing was getting my family used to it.

I was on a strict ketoflex type diet, for about a year. I have relaxed this a little bit recently. I eat a big salad full of the best veggies and EVOO for lunch to end my fasting. I might snack on some nuts, but probably eat only 750 calories up until 5pm. After 5:00pm used to stay full ketoflex but now I now eat whatever the family is having or not, depends on how I'm feeling. Most of the time it is ketoflex compatible anyway, because I've improved our eating habits. But not always. Lots and lots of veggies.

It's impossible to know if the changes I've had are due to the 16:8 schedule, the ketoflex diet, supplements, or other things I do. I dropped weight fast. At first, my lipid numbers got worse, at least in the classic sense, until I fixed them with a statin (though I do have side effects from those, unfortunately, and it is a debate here on the site). As low as I tolerate the statin side effects my lipid numbers are totally awesome, which I think is a combination of the ketoflex and statin, in my personal case. Could I drop the statin if I did the ketoflex *exactly* right all the time.....Dr. Bredesen seems to think most people could....in my case I don't think my lipid numbers would ever be "good" on their own. Most inflammatory markers are down. Hormone ratios improved to a surprising degree. Vitamin D levels are much improved - a simple result of taking that vitamin. Except for a few days when the ketogenic diet switch really kicked in I don't "feel" any different. I do have coffee in the morning and have to be careful about the caffeine - if I over do it - like another big cup in the afternoon - my muscles ache like crazy and I feel *awful*. The worst was taking methyl Bs with coffee on an empty stomach in the morning - ugh.

I have no idea if it is helping my brain. I actually feel age catching up to my cognition occasionally - which I'll believe is just a busy, stressful life, some statin fog, or mid-life....until proven otherwise. No great big improvement, but I didn't have real cognitive problems to start. I do have a gut feeling that this is how my body is supposed to operate, however. If I was living out on the plains and food wasn't "around" I feel like I'd eat about once a day and be fine.

[Tincup]

1. Apoe4 status (4/4, 4/3, etc.)
3/4
2. Type of fasting (with description - e.g. Multi day water fast,13 to 17 days, or IF with 6 hours eating, 18 hours fasting)
Daily 22 hour fast, eat in 2 hour window for 3 1/2 years. Periodically do 5-7 day water fasts. Between May '17 and Jan '18 did 19 of these - weight stable when looked at from beginning of one fasting cycle to next. My BMI is around 24.
3. Reason for fasting
Autophagy
4. How difficult did you find it (scale 1= Not difficult to 5 = Very difficult)
1 on OMAD, 2 on multiday.
5. Were you on in a keto diet prior to the fast (describe - e.g. Low carb, high fat, moderate mostly vegetarian protein)
Have been keto adapted for 9 years. Initially a meat / non-starchy veggie low carb high fat diet. Been a Gundry patient since 2015 and on his program for E4's since 2014. So now mostly ovo-pegan, animal protein sources limited to white fish, shell fish & omega 3 or pastured eggs. Do not eat grains, legumes, dairy, nightshades, seeded veggies or fruit except avocados. More details including labs and transcripts from our 7 consults here.
6. What results have you observed
- from diet change rather than fasting- had autoimmune issues whole life including itchy roof of mouth & rectum, sinus congestion; more recently RA like symptoms in hands. Changing to Gundry's diet reduced congestion 80-85% rest are gone. Fasting - excellent glucose/insulin metrics, though were pretty good with the keto. Overall excellent inflammation metrics on labs - TNF-alpha, various cytokines. On Gundry's diet, my carbs are higher than many on a keto diet. When I did a two week diet diary with a gram scale on cronometer.com, my average daily carbs were 122, with min/max of 88/180. Of those ~50 were fiber. Yesterday, my morning glucose was 77 mg/dL (4.3 mmol/L) and ketones were 1.6 mmol/L.

One day dropped my serum glucose to 31 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L), went to gym and set PR's on my lifts.

Eating is now optional. Almost always fast all day when flying anywhere. In Aug '17, went to a conference in San Diego where a number of our ApoE4 group attended. Decided it was easier to just fast for the 5 days than worry about food. Stavia, Julie, Theresa & others can attest. On Sunday, went to a vendor's booth where they were selling a fancy breath acetone meter (not the Ketonix, which I have). I blew something like 500 ppm, the guy said something must be wrong and to come back after he calibrated the meter - he'd never seen it so high. So I went to a few talks & came back. He was busy but another rep let me blow into the meter. This was only 240 ppm. Again, she said she'd never seen anyone blow that high a reading.

Whenever I'm presented with food choices that are not on my plan, I just fast. I'm 63 and have a 32 year old ski patroller that I frequently ski with. He's always saying he needs to go in and get something to eat. I just look at him and ask him what is wrong 'cause he's 30 years my junior. Then tell him to message me when he's back on the mountain & we'll continue lapping the steeps.

I recall being ravenous at the end of the day, when I'd eat a high carb lunch. That is a distant memory now.

[mike]

There's a thread where some of us have discussed our experiences and motivations:
Experiences with FMD/multi-day fasts

Thanks Theresa. Missed this thread when I searched... Must've been too far back?. I was hoping to get it more in a form that I might be able to see some patterns. I was also hoping to get more responses than were in that thread.

[SusanJ]

1. Apoe4 status (4/4, 4/3, etc.)
3/4

2. Type of fasting (with description - e.g. Multi day water fast,13 to 17 days, or IF with 6 hours eating, 18 hours fasting)
16 hours fasting 8 hour eating window. I do not do multi day fasts as my BMI is below 20 (Jason Fung's recommendation, and my own experience that I lose too much weight). I cannot narrow my eating window because I just can't physically eat enough to maintain my weight, over say a 2 hour window like Tincup.

3. Reason for fasting
autophagy

4. How difficult did you find it (scale 1= Not difficult to 5 = Very difficult)
Right now, a 1. I found going from high carb to moderate carbs much harder years ago. After switching to a lower carb diet, narrowing the eating window was pretty easy.

5. Were you on in a keto diet prior to the fast (describe - e.g. Low carb, high fat, moderate mostly vegetarian protein)
I have been on a moderate carb (in the 150-200 gm/day range), slightly higher fat (e.g. EVOO, nuts, avocado) and moderate land animal/fish protein diet for a couple years now. I don't check my ketones, never have, so don't know if I'm in ketosis.

6. What results have you observed
Weight stable (but I have to be careful to eat enough calories), no blood sugar highs/lows. I think time restricted eating, along with supplements and diet changes, have mostly healed my IBS. Last A1c at 5.2, lipids close to "normal", very low oxLDL & CRP, but last thyroid labs on the low side.

[MarcR]

1. Apoe4 status 3/4

2. Type of fasting daily IF, minimum 16/8, occasionally 22/2

3. Reason for fasting

a. Autophagy. Our species did not evolve in conditions that permit eating all day long. For good health our bodies require lots of time without food in order to allow normal maintenance and cleanup at the cellular level.

b. Weight control. I have the opposite issue that Susan mentioned. I gained weight steadily from my mid-20s to my mid-40s and was obese (BMI 30-33) for about seven years. It's easy for me to consume 3,000+ calories in a sitting. Restricting my eating window limits the damage I can do. I began my health journey in 2009, added fasting in 2011, and have been weight stable (BMI 23-24) since 2014. Fasting was essential to that process, as important as food quality and exercise.

c. Metabolic health. Realizing that physical activity and food consumption do not need to be coordinated was a revelation to me. We all carry 100,000+ calories in our fat cells, and we are designed to tap and replenish those stores routinely. The process should be as normal and comfortable as breathing or sleeping; the discipline of daily intermittent fasting simultaneously maintains and verifies my metabolic flexibility.

4. How difficult did you find it (scale 1= Not difficult to 5 = Very difficult) 3

I began fasting after a couple of years of limiting sugar and doing regular intense exercise (ice hockey). I think my metabolic health was pretty good by then. I never had brain fog or felt shaky. I did have to learn that hunger pangs will go away in 15-30 minutes if I ignore them.

The first step was to stop after dinner snacking. The second step was to stop eating breakfast. It's like any habit change - it requires some commitment initially and becomes easy to maintain after a month or two.

5. Were you on in a keto diet prior to the fast No

6. What results have you observed See above

[seaweed]

1. 4/4
2. IF at least 16 hours a day, usually more like 17 or 18. (eating window is 7:30am-1:30pm usually)
3. sleep quality, acid reflux, autophagy
4. 1 (not at all difficult)
5. AIP (autoimmune protocol) but with little animal meat
6. weight loss (around 10lbs without even trying -- BMI is 21.6 now), super insulin sensitive according to blood work, better sleep (but this goes away if I don't stop eating at least 5 hours before bedtime), pretty much never hungry

[slacker]

1. Apoe4 status :4/4
2. Type of fasting: 12-13 hour overnight fast
3. Reason for fasting : brain health
4. How difficult did you find it: current fasting length 1, longer almost impossible!
5. Were you on in a keto diet prior to the fast; No. Vegetarian low fat diet prior to starting fasting, increased fat intake with fasting
6. What results have you observed; like Susan, trouble with weight loss. Don't get hangry for lunch anymore, can last longer before needing to eat.

[mike]

I dropped weight fast.

How much in how much time?