7 ms·

Largest Study of Its Kind Identifies Health Benefits of Fasting

26 points by RickJWagner 7y ago

paulcole 7y ago
This site is full of the clickbait crap that HN commenters like to think themselves superior to. But one article pandering to their beliefs about fasting and it’s at the top of HN?
hourislate 7y ago
Here is the link to the actual paper and post on HN. Alternate Day Fasting Improves Physiological and Molecular Markers of Aging https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812636
esquire_900 7y ago
I've tried this a while back, and found it near impossible. The fasting days aren't too bad; hungry but with a lot of energy. The eating days however are killing; your breakfast is bound to be huge, after which you feel bloated and sluggish. The rest of the day I tried getting in sufficient amount of calories, which always failed, making you feel lazy and full all day. At the end, I usually managed to get in 130-140% of daily advised calories on the eating day, which starts taking it's toll after 5 or 6 rounds. This kind of diet also ignores non-eating related properties of a meal, i.e. a time to socialize, take a break or a it just being a routine activity. The day that I'm not eaten felt pretty weird, it's surprising how strong the habit of eating is.
- cheez 7y ago
  If you aren't already, try not eating carby breakfasts. Meat and eggs are my goto.
- dogma1138 7y ago
  If you are doing alternate days or weekend fasting high or even moderate carb diet is a no go because of this exact reason. Pretty much high protein/fat and limit carbs to 0.5-1.5g per kg of body weight anything else would pretty much fuck you up. Since you are taking about double caloric intake on non-fasting days you also really need to pay attention to the GI of your carbs because otherwise your blood sugar levels will be spiking hard.
gameswithgo 7y ago
If I am reading correctly it looks like the alternate day fasting group had less total caloric intake per week. Which might be the key thing here. As usual.
rasengan 7y ago
Also, if you fast for 3 days you can rebuild your immune system [1]. [1] https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/ https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regene...
dangus 7y ago
The key here seems to be that you physically don't have enough time and "space" to make up for the long hours without food. It seems like it'd be way less painful to just count your calories. Every diet method seems to try to avoid doing so. Modern tools make it easier than ever. You will not lose weight unless you run a calorie deficit. Starving yourself every other day is a way to do it, but it also seems like an unnecessarily painful way to do it.
- dimastopel 7y ago
  The key issue for me here is that I still can't easily get a more or less accurate calorie count for a random meal in a restaurant near my workplace. Because of that I need to stick to a very limited menu which feels so depressing that I prefer ADF over it. Is there a solution I miss?
  - antisthenes 7y ago
    Yes. Eat less during the day on the days you go to a restaurant.
  - bmpafa 7y ago
    This is one of my favorite features of Soylent and the like. If I drink 2-3 bottles a day, I know I can have one avg sized meal and/or snack and still be under a reasonable daily calorie ceiling. though it definitely doesn't solve your limited menu point, I've always found getting 70% or so of my calories from soylent to be way more sustainable than eating the same regular foods every day.
  - dangus 7y ago
    My method is to take anything from the restaurant that you order and don’t eat half of it. Most restaurant food is about double the portion you need. Or just find a really similar food item in your calorie tracking software of choice.
- uoylj 7y ago
  "The investigators point to other benefits that ADF may have, compared with continuous calorie restriction. Previous studies have suggested calorie-restrictive diets can result in malnutrition and a decrease in immune function. In contrast, even after six months of ADF, the immune function in the participants appeared to be stable."

26 points by RickJWagner 7y ago

This site is full of the clickbait crap that HN commenters like to think themselves superior to. But one article pandering to their beliefs about fasting and it’s at the top of HN?

hourislate 7y ago

Here is the link to the actual paper and post on HN. Alternate Day Fasting Improves Physiological and Molecular Markers of Aging https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812636

esquire_900 7y ago

I've tried this a while back, and found it near impossible. The fasting days aren't too bad; hungry but with a lot of energy. The eating days however are killing; your breakfast is bound to be huge, after which you feel bloated and sluggish. The rest of the day I tried getting in sufficient amount of calories, which always failed, making you feel lazy and full all day. At the end, I usually managed to get in 130-140% of daily advised calories on the eating day, which starts taking it's toll after 5 or 6 rounds. This kind of diet also ignores non-eating related properties of a meal, i.e. a time to socialize, take a break or a it just being a routine activity. The day that I'm not eaten felt pretty weird, it's surprising how strong the habit of eating is.

cheez 7y ago
If you aren't already, try not eating carby breakfasts. Meat and eggs are my goto.
dogma1138 7y ago
If you are doing alternate days or weekend fasting high or even moderate carb diet is a no go because of this exact reason. Pretty much high protein/fat and limit carbs to 0.5-1.5g per kg of body weight anything else would pretty much fuck you up. Since you are taking about double caloric intake on non-fasting days you also really need to pay attention to the GI of your carbs because otherwise your blood sugar levels will be spiking hard.

gameswithgo 7y ago

If I am reading correctly it looks like the alternate day fasting group had less total caloric intake per week. Which might be the key thing here. As usual.

rasengan 7y ago

Also, if you fast for 3 days you can rebuild your immune system [1]. [1] https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/ https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regene...

dangus 7y ago

The key here seems to be that you physically don't have enough time and "space" to make up for the long hours without food. It seems like it'd be way less painful to just count your calories. Every diet method seems to try to avoid doing so. Modern tools make it easier than ever. You will not lose weight unless you run a calorie deficit. Starving yourself every other day is a way to do it, but it also seems like an unnecessarily painful way to do it.

dimastopel 7y ago
The key issue for me here is that I still can't easily get a more or less accurate calorie count for a random meal in a restaurant near my workplace. Because of that I need to stick to a very limited menu which feels so depressing that I prefer ADF over it. Is there a solution I miss?
- antisthenes 7y ago
  Yes. Eat less during the day on the days you go to a restaurant.
- bmpafa 7y ago
  This is one of my favorite features of Soylent and the like. If I drink 2-3 bottles a day, I know I can have one avg sized meal and/or snack and still be under a reasonable daily calorie ceiling. though it definitely doesn't solve your limited menu point, I've always found getting 70% or so of my calories from soylent to be way more sustainable than eating the same regular foods every day.
- dangus 7y ago
  My method is to take anything from the restaurant that you order and don’t eat half of it. Most restaurant food is about double the portion you need. Or just find a really similar food item in your calorie tracking software of choice.
uoylj 7y ago
"The investigators point to other benefits that ADF may have, compared with continuous calorie restriction. Previous studies have suggested calorie-restrictive diets can result in malnutrition and a decrease in immune function. In contrast, even after six months of ADF, the immune function in the participants appeared to be stable."