For it just isn't any different to eating little and often.
If one is eating the same calories, the same high nutrient foods then when these foods are consumed is largely irrelevant.
IF is a way of eating just like little and often. If it suits your life style then go for it. But don't be fooled into it is something new and magical.
A calorie is a calorie. Okay yes, full calories and empty calories blah blah. But if one eats the same out amount regardless good or bad, time of day the results are the same.
Eating nutrient dense food will make one healthier and give longevity but i when i eat them is of little relevance.
fasting also has other benefits that may not be directly linked to acne but will improve your overall health and then go on to improve your skin such as:
1.reduce blood pressure
2.reduce fat and cholesterol
3. reduce the strain on your liver and kidneys
4. improve health of the respiratory system by removing toxins from the lungs more efficiently
i know you could say you can achieve these things in other ways but fasting seems to be a much easier way of improving a large number of health problems
Good post.
As i've said all the way through it's producing a lot of interesting data, however i am just not sold on that it is any better than eating little and often.
I will always maintain. it's what works for you and eating an entire days worth food in a small time window does sound appealing (i do like to eat lol)
In any case. Come Christmas week. Diet, IF, little and often goes out there window. The gloves are off and it's munch time lol
cant believe your talking about Christmas, its bad enough the supermarkets are already full of advent calendars, mince pies and Christmas crackers lol
lol.
Been living on chicken, turkey, eggs. whey protein, udos oil, veg, salads, fruit for the last 16 weeks. Believe me i say Christmas cannot come quick enough 
My point is, quality over timing. Yes there are arguments to be made for hormonal responses but if one is eating real nutrient dense foods then surely this is the most important thing?
obviously quality is the most important. No one has said otherwise. This is the nutrition forum, after all. I'm confused as why you even feel the need to argue that point.
However, many people here have claimed to be able to eat foods they otherwise couldn't without breaking out. Usually people on the more extreme Warrior diet involving a 20 hour daily fast.
fasting also has other benefits that may not be directly linked to acne but will improve your overall health and then go on to improve your skin such as:
1.reduce blood pressure
2.reduce fat and cholesterol
3. reduce the strain on your liver and kidneys
4. improve health of the respiratory system by removing toxins from the lungs more efficiently
i know you could say you can achieve these things in other ways but fasting seems to be a much easier way of improving a large number of health problems
Yes. The many benefits of intermittent fasting were pretty clearly stated early in this thread.
For it just isn't any different to eating little and often.
If one is eating the same calories, the same high nutrient foods then when these foods are consumed is largely irrelevant.
IF is a way of eating just like little and often. If it suits your life style then go for it. But don't be fooled into it is something new and magical.
A calorie is a calorie. Okay yes, full calories and empty calories blah blah. But if one eats the same out amount regardless good or bad, time of day the results are the same.
Eating nutrient dense food will make one healthier and give longevity but i when i eat them is of little relevance.
Untrue.
How so?
If the goal is to lose weight or hormonal stabilization then when we eat way down on the list of priorities.
There's an underlying hierarchy of importance. At the top of the hierarchy is total amount of the macronutrients by the end of the day and the quality of the said macros. Distantly below that is the precise timing of those nutrients.
My point is, quality over timing. Yes there are arguments to be made for hormonal responses but if one is eating real nutrient dense foods then surely this is the most important thing?
What would the hormonal response with IF if someone was to eat a load of crap within that 8 hour window? Surely it's less than optimal.
A week ago I stopped eating from 8PM until 12PM. Every day during my 8 window of eating, I consumed loads of crap such as mince pies, biscuits, chocolate, cakes, ice cream and pizza - lots lots more than I normally would.
The result is totally clear skin within 7 days and that is after suffering with acne for 20 years.
I assume this is my hormonal response for fasting. I am just chuffed with the results.
"8-Hour Diet"
David Zinczenko, of Men's Health Magazine and the Eat This, Not That gimmicks, has jumped on the intermittent fasting bandwagon and of course written a book about it called the 8-hour Diet. I saw him this morning on the Today show where I noticed that he never once mentioned terms like Intermittent fasting. Perhaps because then the masses could just look it up for themselves rather than buy another book. or buy books from other people like LeanGains that they copied.
Oh, he also kept saying that you could eat whatever you want which is different from other gurus like leangains, but there was a hint of something about 8 power foods. You eat those to satisfy nutritional needs and other than that, eat whatever you want.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/50333293/ns/today-books/#.UORZ928YvBM
The BulletProof Exec's version including Bulletproof Coffee
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.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-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.
Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding on insulin action in healthy men
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.
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.
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.
BDNF
Animals that are intermittently fasted greatly increase the amount of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) relative to CR animals. CR animals dont produce much more BDNF than do ad libitum fed animals.
Whats 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 somehowno one yet knows how, exactlyinvolved 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.
In a post about autophagy and the benefits of Intermittent Fasting. http://jdmoyer.com/2012/02/01/death-will-eat-itself/
Autophagy it sounds like some kind of disease from the Star Trek universe. In fact, autophagy is a normal biological process. During autophagy, organelles called lysosomes break down waste products inside the cells. Whats an organelle? An organelle is a tiny part of your cell, usually with its own membrane, that serves a specific function (like a cellular organ). Lysosomes break down other worn-out organelles, digest food particles, and destroy viruses and bacteria (using hydrolase enzymes). You could think of them as the stomach of the cell, and/or part of the cellular immune system
Without autophagy, damaged organelles survive, and cells become less efficient. Autophagy may protect against neurodegeneration, viral and bacterial infections, and cancer.
Bump. Because I'd forgotten about this for awhile and fell out of the habit. Started again today. Ate my last meal at about 4:30 and won't eat again until 7am. (Sauteed greens & leeks with a few eggs. ) That's a 14 hour fast for today.
Mercola posted on this in his newsletter today, as he's done dozens of times. Always with a slightly different emphasis and often citing new references:
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/12/20/intermittent-fasting-weight-loss.aspx
This time mentions a new one--the 5:2 Diet--because it was recently written up in the wall street journal. And also explains this:
In order to understand how you can fast daily while still eating every day, you need to understand some basic facts about metabolism. It takes most people eight to 12 hours for their body to burn the sugar stored in your body as glycogen. Now, most people never deplete their glycogen stores because they eat three or more meals a day. This teaches your body to burn sugar as your primary fuel and effectively shuts off your ability to use fat as a fuel.
sorry for double post. without losing too much weight, how often should IF be done? for example if I wanted to IF for 16 hours , should this be done once a week, once a month? should I go for a light run when I wake up or do pullups? (around 15-16th hour)
You don't necessarily skip meals, you just fit them into a smaller window of time leaving a longer period, which includes the hours you sleep, as a fast. Or you alternate days of reduced calorie intake. But you also don't eat less food.
You can do it daily or as often as is convenient to you. And yes exercising in a fasted state can be beneficial. Click on the links throughout the thread.
Article about the "diseases of Civilization" in this age & culture of too much food all the time and too little activity when we are genetically predisposed to not have enough food and to store as much as possible when we do. They don't mention acne, but it's one of them.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/29755.php
Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century1,2 and the extreme discord between what/how we eat & how/what we are adapted to eat. And the resulting chronic disease. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/2/341.full
Article about the "diseases of Civilization" in this age & culture of too much food all the time and too little activity when we are genetically predisposed to not have enough food and to store as much as possible when we do. They don't mention acne, but it's one of them.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/29755.php
Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century1,2 and the extreme discord between what/how we eat & how/what we are adapted to eat. And the resulting chronic disease. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/2/341.full
I have Ramadan coming up in a couple of days. I've noticed before that my skin really improves during that time period of 30 days.
Just have one concern. We are supposed to break our fast with dates. I'm wondering if this will cause huge insulin spikes and lead to a breakout. Its something that I will have to monitor closely. This year around our fasts will last for around 18 hours here in Canada. So let's see how that turns.
I'll keep you guys updated
I do this, and I didn't know it was a thing. I skip breakfast and lunch and don't eat food until dinner. I do drink vegetable juice from midmorning to around noon, though... Guess that makes it not a fast.
If it's very few calories, then it's a fast.
Although, one of the goals is promote fat burning over carbs. If you give your body carbs in the form of the juices it might not do that to the same degree. But that is mostly about fat loss.
Article about the "diseases of Civilization" in this age & culture of too much food all the time and too little activity when we are genetically predisposed to not have enough food and to store as much as possible when we do. They don't mention acne, but it's one of them.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/29755.php
Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century1,2 and the extreme discord between what/how we eat & how/what we are adapted to eat. And the resulting chronic disease. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/2/341.full
I have Ramadan coming up in a couple of days. I've noticed before that my skin really improves during that time period of 30 days.
Just have one concern. We are supposed to break our fast with dates. I'm wondering if this will cause huge insulin spikes and lead to a breakout. Its something that I will have to monitor closely. This year around our fasts will last for around 18 hours here in Canada. So let's see how that turns.
I'll keep you guys updated
Can't wait to hear about it. You might limit the dates. And keep moving around. But IF improves insulin sensitivity so having them as part of a fast is better than snacking on them when not fasting. Your cells should be depleted of stores so will readily take in the sugar.
This study tested a one week fast of some sort, but intermittent fasting has been found in so many areas to be just as effective.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12748412
Effects of short-term modified fasting on sleep patterns and daytime vigilance in non-obese subjects: results of a pilot study.
AbstractBACKGROUND:
Periodically repeated short-term fasting is a frequently practised tradition worldwide. Empirical reports suggest that during fasting periods the quality of sleep and daytime performance are improved. The effects of a home-based 1-week modified fasting on sleep patterns and daytime vigilance and performance were analysed in 15 healthy non-obese volunteers.
METHODS:
Sleep was measured by polysomnography before and after a 7-day fasting period; sleep inventories with assessment of daytime performance were collected throughout the observation period. Blood samples and urine were drawn at the beginning and at the end of fasting.
RESULTS:
13 subjects (12 females, 1 male; age 41.2 +/- 13.4 years; BMI 23.9 +/- 4.2 kg/m(2)) completed the fasting period; weight decreased from 66.5 +/- 11.7 kg to 63 +/- 11.9 kg. Compared to baseline, a significant decrease in arousals, a decrease in periodic leg movements (PLM) and a non-significant increase in REM sleep were observed at the end of fasting. Subjective sleep ratings showed a fasting-induced increase in global quality of sleep, daytime concentration, vigour and emotional balance. Clinical laboratory tests showed a decrease in serum magnesium; urinary melatonin excretion decreased moderately.
CONCLUSION:
This open pilot study demonstrates that along with a decrease in sleep arousals a 1-week fasting period promotes the quality of sleep and daytime performance in non-obese subjects. The observed decrease in PLM might point to a nutritional modification of brain dopaminergic functions. In terms of evolutionary development, an improved daytime performance during periods of food deprivation could have been beneficial for the success in search for food.