85 replies to this topic

[o Havoc o]

I still not be sold on IF.

 

As i said before, interesting data but more study is needed.

 

My concern is, what the long term hormonal effects? Little or no data on that.

 

Right now i will stick with what i know to work

[alternativista]

So this guy, the bulletproof exec, a blogger who recommends a paleo type diet, offers his 'biohacked' bulletproof version of intermittent fasting, in which you skip breakfast, but you do a cup of bulletproof coffee which involves a toxin free coffee which he sells, with butter and MCT oil, medium chain triglycerides which he also sells and claims to be '6x stronger than coconut oil, your next best choice.  He got the idea from Tibetan yak butter tea.  You can have as much of this coffee as you like in the morning before you work out. Then you can have another cup whenever you want before 2pm, when you have your first meal. And last meal by 8pm. 

 

http://www.bulletpro...ur-morning-too/

http://www.bulletproofexec.com/blog/

 

He also states 

 

'There are 3 known ways to raise mTOR. Intermittent fasting, exercise, and coffee (or more weakly, chocolate, green tea, turmeric, or resveratrol)  Bulletproof Fasting hits all 3 ways to compress mTOR, causing a bigger rebound and better use of your food for muscle building.

See our mTor thread: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/324134-mtor-inhibition-and-what-it-really-means/?hl=mtor

 

His bio

Dave Asprey is a Silicon Valley investor, computer security expert, and entrepreneur who spent 15 years and $250,000 to hack his own biology. He upgraded his brain by >20 IQ points, lowered his biological age, and lost 100 lbs without using calories or exercise. The Financial Times calls him a "bio-hacker who takes self-quantification to the extreme of self-experimentation." His writing has been published by the New York Times and Fortune, and he's presented at Wharton, Kellogg, the University of California, and Singularity University.

 

While he promotes a paleo type diet, he's not really about a natural lifestyle. But a very hacked one. Although many hacks might be inspired by people living a more natural lifestyle.

 

I think it might be a good idea to have a spoonful or so of coconut oil for the readily available energy before you head out for your workout or day, whatever it is you do before eating. 

Edited by alternativista, 19 February 2013 - 04:58 PM.

[alternativista]

Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding on insulin action in healthy men

1. Nils Halberg1, 
2. Morten Henriksen1, 
3. Nathalie Söderhamn1,
4. Bente Stallknecht1, 
5. Thorkil Ploug1, 
6. Peter Schjerling2, and
7. Flemming Dela1

http://jap.physiolog.../99/6/2128.long

Thus our genotype selected centuries ago to favor an environment with oscillations in energy stores still exists with few if any changes. The modern sedentary lifestyle common in the westernized countries is characterized by constant high food availability and low physical activity, and it has led to an imbalance between our genotype and the environment in which we live today. This may predispose our potential “thrifty” genes to misexpress metabolic proteins, manifesting in chronic diseases (e.g., Type 2 diabetes) in the industrialized part of the world.

It is well known that physical training increases insulin action (10). The molecular events leading to an exercise- mediated increase in insulin action are not fully characterized. In addition, energy usage during each exercise bout in the training regimen with subsequent eating creates oscillations in energy stores. These oscillations are probably not as massive as the oscillations seen between periods of feast and famine for the Late-Paleolithic people, but some similarities might exist, and we speculated whether exercise-induced oscillations in energy stores could be mimicked by intermittent fasting. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that 14 days of intermittent fasting and refeeding improves insulin-stimulated glucose disposal.

 

Discussion of the results

 

 

 

In conclusion, the findings that intermittent fasting increases insulin sensitivity on the whole body level as well as in adipose tissue support the view that cycles of feast and famine are important as an initiator of thrifty genes leading to improvements in metabolic function (6). We suggest that a fasting-induced increase in circulating adiponectin is at least partly responsible for this finding. The change in adiponectin, together with changes in plasma leptin with fasting, underlines the important role of the adipose tissue in recognizing the oscillation in energy stores. Finally, the data indicate that intermittent fasting and physical training may increase insulin action via different mechanisms because muscle energy stores did not change with the present fasting intervention.

[o Havoc o]

In regards to exercise and IF. If the goal is to build muscle this is not an optimal way to go about it, and the same for optimal fat loss.

 

With the above. There is too much speculation in that study to draw any concrete facts out of it,

 

I maintain my stance that further long term study is needed.

 

I have tried IF and i did not like it one bit.

 

I can only speak for myself but the last time i got my bloods tested everything was where it needed to be including the ever popular IGF-1 Hormone.

 

Flexible eating for the win.

[alternativista]

Here's a clue on how IF improves insulin sensitivity:  This is from a blog post of Dr.Michael Eames:  He doesn't provide sources for the statement below.  Just a link to the same alternate day fasting studies on humans previously posted in this thread.
 
 

 
Animals that are intermittently fasted greatly increase the amount of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) relative to CR animals. CR animals don’t produce much more BDNF than do ad libitum fed animals.
What’s BDNF? (The Wikipedia definition is actually pretty good)
BDNF, as its name implies, is a substance that increases the growth of new nerve cells in the brain, but it does much more than that. BDNF is neuroprotective against stress and toxic insults to the brain and is somehow–no one yet knows how, exactly–involved in the insulin sensitivity/glucose regulating mechanism. Infusing BDNF into animals increases their insulin sensitivity and makes them lose weight. Humans with greater levels of BDNF have lower levels of depression. BDNF given to depressed humans reduces their depression. And Increased levels of BDNF improves cognitive ability. In short, you want as much BDNF as you can get., and with IF you can get a lot.
 

 
Here's an Abstract for a Paper on Intermittent fasting effects on  BDNF.  http://www.ncbi.nlm....ubmed/16011467. For some reason, there isn't thus usual list of related studies and citations in the right column. 
 
 
Here's study intended to determine how BDNF affects glucose metabolism by administering BDNF to diabetic mice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/10868966

And another involving an intermittent administration of BDNF to diabetic mice

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18499057   

By intermittent, they mean once and twice a week.

(Does that demonstrate that there's still significant benefit when intermittent fasting only a few times per week. Because that's kinda how I do it.  When I'm not hungry, or its easy to eat early, or I have something super nutrient dense but low calorie to have in the evening, etc.) 

 

On the other hand, this study on humans with diabetes found that high levels of glucose inhibit the output of BDNF. So...

http://www.researchg...trophic_factor_(BDNF)_and_type_2_diabetes

 

Also, High intensity interval training also boosts BDNF.

Edited by alternativista, 25 February 2013 - 12:53 PM.

[alternativista]

Post filled with studies on impact of fasting on androgen levels.

http://www.acne.org/...n-of-androgens/