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Fasting is great for weight loss and for lowering your insulin resistance, which is now considered by many the main cause of obesity and of course type 2 diabet

Fasting is great for weight loss and for lowering your insulin resistance, which is now considered by many the main cause of obesity and of course type 2 diabetes. This has been shown by studies. Some say that fasting activates "autophagy" which has great health benefits, supposedly being great for preventing the remission of cancer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy — but note that I could not find any concrete study or proof of it, this being anecdotal evidence from some clinics that advise their patients to do fasting instead of chemotherapy. I practice fasting for 36 hours, 3 times per week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I don't eat or drink anything other than water and coffee. You can go shorter, like one meal per day in some days or longer, e.g. 5 days is easy once you get used to it. As a tip: eating high fat, low carbs meals before fasting helps. Also if you get dizzy or if you get cramps, you probably have an electrolytes imbalance and you need to stop your fast. If that happens to you, make sure to take salt (sodium) and possibly magnesium supplements. Once I started doing that, the dizziness and the cramps stopped. But document yourself first and consulting a doctor and doing some blood work might be good ideas. This is a pretty good book on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012 https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-A...

user9182031 8y ago
It seems like every day somebody has figured out how to beat type 2 diabetes. I just read Proteinaholic by Dr. Garth Davis who advocates a vegan lifestyle (while telling you that carbs are not the enemy) to cure diabetes.
- teekert 8y ago
  Carbohydrates come in many forms, simple ones like sugar make your blood sugar spike and this is widely considered bad (and what leads to diabetes type 2). Complex ones take very long to digest, some can even only be digested by your microbiome, deep in your gut, those carbohydrates make for a consistent, stable, small flow of sugar to the blood. Which is considered a good thing. Try eating oats (no sugar, just yogurt and fruit for sweetening, don't get tricked into thinking honey or brown sugar is healthy sugar ;) I personally like strawberry or pomegranate but the latter is pretty expensive even in-season). Or try heavy whole wheat bread (with something like peanut-only peanut butter) and see how much longer it takes before you get hungry again, compare it to breakfast cereals or white bread. I really notice the difference. If you like sweet, try backing a cake from oats and banana (and some flour, pancakes of oat and banana are also very nice by the way), perhaps add some nuts as well. Works great for me (results of delayed hunger in the day are immediate, which is motivating). Oats are cheap, bananas generally as well.
  - fencepost 8y ago
    It's worth being aware that milk and milk products can actually have a pretty significant amount of sugar in the form of lactose. "If you're lactose intolerant and looking for yogurt, go Greek. Greek yogurt, which is thicker because much of the whey, the watery part of milk, has been strained out in processing. This also removes much of the lactose. Greek yogurt supplies less than 6.8 grams of lactose per 6-ounce serving, compared to less than 8.5 grams in whole-fat yogurt or 14 grams in non-fat yogurt. Hard cheeses such as cheddar have even less lactose, between 0 to 2 grams per ounce. Milk, in comparison, has approximately 11 grams in one cup." (from https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-lactose-intolerant-eat-yogurt-aged-cheese-6130.html https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-lactose-intolerant-eat-...)
- camelNotation 8y ago
  There are a lot of ways to look at that, but I think what all these "cures" have in common is that they drastically reduce the amount of sugar in your diet and allow the body to essentially rest and reset its insulin response. I don't think it really matters how you do it as long as you do that.
  - cageface 8y ago
    Note that protein also provokes an insulin response. This is why a steak will actually result in more insulin release than a plate of spaghetti. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index
    - bad_user 8y ago
      > This is why a steak will actually result in more insulin release than a plate of spaghetti. That's bullshit, but yes, proteins do provoke an insulin response, which can be unhealthy with enough proteins. Note however that proteins != fat and fat does not provoke an insulin response. And yes, for diabetics fat meat is healthier than lean meat. Also note that fat and proteins keep you satisfied for longer, so you end up eating less meals per day. This is not about calories, but about the insulin response. If you keep eating, the insulin does not go down.
      - jackhack 8y ago
        Can we please keep YC a civil place without the entirely unnecessary profanity which is pervasive everywhere else? It's fine to disagree; but do so based on the strength of your argument and facts.
      - cageface 8y ago
        This is a direct measurement of blood insulin levels. It's not somebody's opinion. Complex carbs are extremely satiating and plenty of people have reversed type 2 diabetes eating high carb diets.
    - Zimahl 8y ago
- bad_user 8y ago
  Our metabolism is very complex. But if it's not backed up by studies and science, it doesn't count. Type 2 diabetes is defined by insulin resistance. The only way to "beat" type 2 diabetes is to lower your insulin resistance and thus to lower your insulin response. At the moment you can only lower your insulin with lifestyle changes that implies fasting + eating a diet that triggers a low insulin response. The vegan lifestyle is high in carbs. What many people don't understand is that there are only 3 macro-nutrients: proteins, fats and carbs. You cannot do a low carbs diet without at least eggs and diary. And carbs stimulate insulin. Note that there are clinics that have successfully treated people of diabetes via fasting. Here's one: https://idmprogram.com/ https://idmprogram.com/ N.B. carbohydrates are not the enemy, but _refined carbohydrates_ are and unfortunately for a type 2 diabetic it's too late to switch to healthy carbs. Yes, a potato is healthy, however for a diabetic it is basically poison.
  - teekert 8y ago
    Complex carbs (fibers or at least carbohydrates that are slowly digested) do not stimulate insulin production as far as I know. I think it is very important to realize that there are different types of carbohydrates. You need fuel (carbs/sugars), you just don't need them to get rushed into your blood at breakneck speeds requiring massive insulin dosages to bring it back down. You want them supplied slowly and steadily to your blood during the day and night. Which is what happens when your body and your gut microbes slowly degrade complex carbs into smaller constituents, such as sugars.
  - moate 8y ago
    Point of order: Many nutritionists would disagree with your definition of a macronutrient. If you're talking about bio-energy sources, you're leaving out Alcohol, which is metabolized differently than Carbs. If you're talking "things your body needs in great volume" water, fiber and antioxidants should be on the list. Sorry, this is just a pet-peeve about how the Fitness/bodybuilding community talk about "macros".
  - com2kid 8y ago
    There are people doing vegan keto. It is theoretically possible. I imagine it is the most boring diet in the world though. :) From what I've heard vegetarian Keto isn't too bad. I'd worry about getting healthy oils on a vegan keto diet, healthy vegetable oils get expensive very fast. Most keto diets don't pay much attention to fat sources, but while lots of canola oil technically meets the macros, it'd not be healthy at all...
- supernovae 8y ago
  I went vegan for 5 years, my cholesterol kept getting worse in every way. Now i do keto, and my cholesterol is happy. Diabetes wasn't my direct concern but i find it interesting how eating a ton of eggs every day has improved my balance.
- godshatter 8y ago
  I'm fine living in a world where there are many ways to "beat" type 2 diabetes. Intermittent fasting (I eat one meal a day) has dropped my A1C from 8.9 to 5.5 (probably less, now). I've been doing this for about 15 months so far. My type 2 diabetes is not cured, if I drop off the diet and go back to my old habits my A1C will undoubtedly go right back up. But it's an easy diet to live with, especially since I don't limit myself and can eat whatever I want, though given the choice I'll try to reduce the worst refined carbs. The high carb / low fat diet isn't one of the ways to beat type 2, though, and it's still the one pushed by many dieticians.
cageface 8y ago
There are lots of different carbs with many different metabolic profiles. And there are plenty of people out there living very healthy lives and even reversing heart disease and diabetes on high carb diets provided they are unprocessed whole carbs. Okinawans used to get the vast majority of their calories from sweet potatoes, for example, and were the longest living people in the world.
- bad_user 8y ago
  I am not contradicting you, however: 1. the diet of Okinawans is irrelevant because they are not eating the refined carbohydrates that we do and 2. that fasting is easier if you eat high fat, low carbs meals just before is a fact known for thousands of years, because fasting isn't new ... all major religions that practice water fasting allow meat just before a water fast
  - PerfectElement 8y ago
    - the diet of Okinawans is irrelevant because they are not eating the refined carbohydrates that we do I think you missed the point the parent was making. No one is forcing you to eat refined carbohydrates. People conflate carbohydrates with "refined carbohydrates" and end up thinking that eating a bowl of brow rice, lentils and veggies will make you diabetic because "carbs".
    - triviatise 8y ago
      they dont keep you full like protein does. Eating high protein moderate fat, low (not zero) carb reduces hunger to nothing for fasting.
      - cageface 8y ago
        Many carbohydrates have a higher satiety index than beef does, for example. Potatoes and oats are both more filling than a steak. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-foods https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f... Legumes are high in carbohydrates and protein and are extremely nutritious and filling.
r_c_a_d 8y ago
I'm confused. Do you mean you fast for 12 hours on each of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, totalling 36 hours? Or you fast for 36 hours starting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday... which would be all of Monday and half of Tuesday etc?
- bad_user 8y ago
  No, I mean I don't eat anything on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you count the hours, that's 36 hours windows, as it includes sleep.
  - andreygrehov 8y ago
    Isn't it the same as what he said in "Do you mean you fast for 12 hours on each of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, totalling 36 hours"?
    - guru4consulting 8y ago
      He means eating on Saturday,Sunday,Tuesday,Thursday but fasting the whole day on Monday,Wednesday,Friday...
    - arcticbull 8y ago
      Sounds like they're fasting 36hx3 = 108h, not 12x3 = 36h.
      - infogulch 8y ago
        OP said: > 36 hours, 3 times per week
    - magneticnorth 8y ago
      I believe they mean that they don't eat from, say, 8pm on Sunday night until 8am Tuesday morning (and again covering Wednesday and Friday).
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
mistaken 8y ago
You have to be careful though; it's easy to get gallstones if you regularly fast and don't flush you're gallbladder with fatty foods afterwards.
- ainiriand 8y ago
  I thought that at least on HN people writing in english would know the difference between 'you`re' and 'your'... I seem to be mistaken. I am a native spanish speaker by the way.
  - lolc 8y ago
    It's possible to know the difference and still make the mistake. It's possible to write a candid comment and come across as an ass. It's possible that I'm unable to shut my mouth against better judgement.
  - istjohn 8y ago
    english -> English spanish -> Spanish
- aviv 8y ago
  Your username is highly accurate based on this statement. This is just complete non-sense.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
mygo 8y ago
sounds interesting, but I’m the type of person who defaults to scrawny, and if I don’t eat anything 3 days out of the week I’d likely be underweight and look like a stick. And I wouldn’t be able to keep my weight lifting routine.
S_A_P 8y ago
Ive recently started doing "mini" fasts combined with a keto diet to shed a few pounds. I usually just eat one meal per day at dinner time. While getting started on it was somewhat difficult after about 7 days I was in the groove and feel like this is a diet/lifestyle that I can maintain indefinitely. My hunger has changed from "IM STARVING FEED ME NOW" when I was eating 3 meals a day on no particular diet, to "hmm I guess I could eat". Energy wise, I do feel a lot better, and Ive shed 25 of the 50 lbs I need to get off of me. I was never much of a sweet eater, so I think Im lucky, as my wife who does have a sweet tooth has struggled eating Keto.

user9182031 8y ago

It seems like every day somebody has figured out how to beat type 2 diabetes. I just read Proteinaholic by Dr. Garth Davis who advocates a vegan lifestyle (while telling you that carbs are not the enemy) to cure diabetes.

teekert 8y ago
Carbohydrates come in many forms, simple ones like sugar make your blood sugar spike and this is widely considered bad (and what leads to diabetes type 2). Complex ones take very long to digest, some can even only be digested by your microbiome, deep in your gut, those carbohydrates make for a consistent, stable, small flow of sugar to the blood. Which is considered a good thing. Try eating oats (no sugar, just yogurt and fruit for sweetening, don't get tricked into thinking honey or brown sugar is healthy sugar ;) I personally like strawberry or pomegranate but the latter is pretty expensive even in-season). Or try heavy whole wheat bread (with something like peanut-only peanut butter) and see how much longer it takes before you get hungry again, compare it to breakfast cereals or white bread. I really notice the difference. If you like sweet, try backing a cake from oats and banana (and some flour, pancakes of oat and banana are also very nice by the way), perhaps add some nuts as well. Works great for me (results of delayed hunger in the day are immediate, which is motivating). Oats are cheap, bananas generally as well.
- fencepost 8y ago
  It's worth being aware that milk and milk products can actually have a pretty significant amount of sugar in the form of lactose. "If you're lactose intolerant and looking for yogurt, go Greek. Greek yogurt, which is thicker because much of the whey, the watery part of milk, has been strained out in processing. This also removes much of the lactose. Greek yogurt supplies less than 6.8 grams of lactose per 6-ounce serving, compared to less than 8.5 grams in whole-fat yogurt or 14 grams in non-fat yogurt. Hard cheeses such as cheddar have even less lactose, between 0 to 2 grams per ounce. Milk, in comparison, has approximately 11 grams in one cup." (from https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-lactose-intolerant-eat-yogurt-aged-cheese-6130.html https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-lactose-intolerant-eat-...)
camelNotation 8y ago
There are a lot of ways to look at that, but I think what all these "cures" have in common is that they drastically reduce the amount of sugar in your diet and allow the body to essentially rest and reset its insulin response. I don't think it really matters how you do it as long as you do that.
- cageface 8y ago
  Note that protein also provokes an insulin response. This is why a steak will actually result in more insulin release than a plate of spaghetti. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index
  - bad_user 8y ago
    > This is why a steak will actually result in more insulin release than a plate of spaghetti. That's bullshit, but yes, proteins do provoke an insulin response, which can be unhealthy with enough proteins. Note however that proteins != fat and fat does not provoke an insulin response. And yes, for diabetics fat meat is healthier than lean meat. Also note that fat and proteins keep you satisfied for longer, so you end up eating less meals per day. This is not about calories, but about the insulin response. If you keep eating, the insulin does not go down.
    - jackhack 8y ago
      Can we please keep YC a civil place without the entirely unnecessary profanity which is pervasive everywhere else? It's fine to disagree; but do so based on the strength of your argument and facts.
    - cageface 8y ago
      This is a direct measurement of blood insulin levels. It's not somebody's opinion. Complex carbs are extremely satiating and plenty of people have reversed type 2 diabetes eating high carb diets.
  - Zimahl 8y ago
bad_user 8y ago
Our metabolism is very complex. But if it's not backed up by studies and science, it doesn't count. Type 2 diabetes is defined by insulin resistance. The only way to "beat" type 2 diabetes is to lower your insulin resistance and thus to lower your insulin response. At the moment you can only lower your insulin with lifestyle changes that implies fasting + eating a diet that triggers a low insulin response. The vegan lifestyle is high in carbs. What many people don't understand is that there are only 3 macro-nutrients: proteins, fats and carbs. You cannot do a low carbs diet without at least eggs and diary. And carbs stimulate insulin. Note that there are clinics that have successfully treated people of diabetes via fasting. Here's one: https://idmprogram.com/ https://idmprogram.com/ N.B. carbohydrates are not the enemy, but _refined carbohydrates_ are and unfortunately for a type 2 diabetic it's too late to switch to healthy carbs. Yes, a potato is healthy, however for a diabetic it is basically poison.
- teekert 8y ago
  Complex carbs (fibers or at least carbohydrates that are slowly digested) do not stimulate insulin production as far as I know. I think it is very important to realize that there are different types of carbohydrates. You need fuel (carbs/sugars), you just don't need them to get rushed into your blood at breakneck speeds requiring massive insulin dosages to bring it back down. You want them supplied slowly and steadily to your blood during the day and night. Which is what happens when your body and your gut microbes slowly degrade complex carbs into smaller constituents, such as sugars.
- moate 8y ago
  Point of order: Many nutritionists would disagree with your definition of a macronutrient. If you're talking about bio-energy sources, you're leaving out Alcohol, which is metabolized differently than Carbs. If you're talking "things your body needs in great volume" water, fiber and antioxidants should be on the list. Sorry, this is just a pet-peeve about how the Fitness/bodybuilding community talk about "macros".
- com2kid 8y ago
  There are people doing vegan keto. It is theoretically possible. I imagine it is the most boring diet in the world though. :) From what I've heard vegetarian Keto isn't too bad. I'd worry about getting healthy oils on a vegan keto diet, healthy vegetable oils get expensive very fast. Most keto diets don't pay much attention to fat sources, but while lots of canola oil technically meets the macros, it'd not be healthy at all...
supernovae 8y ago
I went vegan for 5 years, my cholesterol kept getting worse in every way. Now i do keto, and my cholesterol is happy. Diabetes wasn't my direct concern but i find it interesting how eating a ton of eggs every day has improved my balance.
godshatter 8y ago
I'm fine living in a world where there are many ways to "beat" type 2 diabetes. Intermittent fasting (I eat one meal a day) has dropped my A1C from 8.9 to 5.5 (probably less, now). I've been doing this for about 15 months so far. My type 2 diabetes is not cured, if I drop off the diet and go back to my old habits my A1C will undoubtedly go right back up. But it's an easy diet to live with, especially since I don't limit myself and can eat whatever I want, though given the choice I'll try to reduce the worst refined carbs. The high carb / low fat diet isn't one of the ways to beat type 2, though, and it's still the one pushed by many dieticians.

cageface 8y ago

There are lots of different carbs with many different metabolic profiles. And there are plenty of people out there living very healthy lives and even reversing heart disease and diabetes on high carb diets provided they are unprocessed whole carbs. Okinawans used to get the vast majority of their calories from sweet potatoes, for example, and were the longest living people in the world.

bad_user 8y ago
I am not contradicting you, however: 1. the diet of Okinawans is irrelevant because they are not eating the refined carbohydrates that we do and 2. that fasting is easier if you eat high fat, low carbs meals just before is a fact known for thousands of years, because fasting isn't new ... all major religions that practice water fasting allow meat just before a water fast
- PerfectElement 8y ago
  - the diet of Okinawans is irrelevant because they are not eating the refined carbohydrates that we do I think you missed the point the parent was making. No one is forcing you to eat refined carbohydrates. People conflate carbohydrates with "refined carbohydrates" and end up thinking that eating a bowl of brow rice, lentils and veggies will make you diabetic because "carbs".
  - triviatise 8y ago
    they dont keep you full like protein does. Eating high protein moderate fat, low (not zero) carb reduces hunger to nothing for fasting.
    - cageface 8y ago
      Many carbohydrates have a higher satiety index than beef does, for example. Potatoes and oats are both more filling than a steak. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-foods https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f... Legumes are high in carbohydrates and protein and are extremely nutritious and filling.

r_c_a_d 8y ago

I'm confused. Do you mean you fast for 12 hours on each of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, totalling 36 hours? Or you fast for 36 hours starting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday... which would be all of Monday and half of Tuesday etc?

bad_user 8y ago
No, I mean I don't eat anything on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you count the hours, that's 36 hours windows, as it includes sleep.
- andreygrehov 8y ago
  Isn't it the same as what he said in "Do you mean you fast for 12 hours on each of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, totalling 36 hours"?
  - guru4consulting 8y ago
    He means eating on Saturday,Sunday,Tuesday,Thursday but fasting the whole day on Monday,Wednesday,Friday...
  - arcticbull 8y ago
    Sounds like they're fasting 36hx3 = 108h, not 12x3 = 36h.
    - infogulch 8y ago
      OP said: > 36 hours, 3 times per week
  - magneticnorth 8y ago
    I believe they mean that they don't eat from, say, 8pm on Sunday night until 8am Tuesday morning (and again covering Wednesday and Friday).
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

mistaken 8y ago

You have to be careful though; it's easy to get gallstones if you regularly fast and don't flush you're gallbladder with fatty foods afterwards.

ainiriand 8y ago
I thought that at least on HN people writing in english would know the difference between 'you`re' and 'your'... I seem to be mistaken. I am a native spanish speaker by the way.
- lolc 8y ago
  It's possible to know the difference and still make the mistake. It's possible to write a candid comment and come across as an ass. It's possible that I'm unable to shut my mouth against better judgement.
- istjohn 8y ago
  english -> English spanish -> Spanish
aviv 8y ago
Your username is highly accurate based on this statement. This is just complete non-sense.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

mygo 8y ago

sounds interesting, but I’m the type of person who defaults to scrawny, and if I don’t eat anything 3 days out of the week I’d likely be underweight and look like a stick. And I wouldn’t be able to keep my weight lifting routine.

S_A_P 8y ago

Ive recently started doing "mini" fasts combined with a keto diet to shed a few pounds. I usually just eat one meal per day at dinner time. While getting started on it was somewhat difficult after about 7 days I was in the groove and feel like this is a diet/lifestyle that I can maintain indefinitely. My hunger has changed from "IM STARVING FEED ME NOW" when I was eating 3 meals a day on no particular diet, to "hmm I guess I could eat". Energy wise, I do feel a lot better, and Ive shed 25 of the 50 lbs I need to get off of me. I was never much of a sweet eater, so I think Im lucky, as my wife who does have a sweet tooth has struggled eating Keto.