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The cult of IF among tech nerds is one of those bizarre subcultures I'll never get used to. Here we are, modern human beings who live twice as long as their for

The cult of IF among tech nerds is one of those bizarre subcultures I'll never get used to. Here we are, modern human beings who live twice as long as their forebears, and yet a small fraction of them feel they need to regularly and intentionally starve themselves in order to be healthy. Humans are goddamn weird.

redisman 5y ago
You could phrase most healthy behaviors as bizarre in todays world tbf. Look at these idiots spending an hour preparing green leaves and lean cuts of chicken when I, a intellectual just buy a box of Twinkies and get my calories in a fraction of the time and effort. I am obviously the superior Hunter gatherer
rootusrootus 5y ago
I don't know if it's limited to tech nerds, though, I find that pretty much everyone loves to give diet advice complete with mounds of anecdotes about how it improved their life in immeasurable ways, and IF is popular with them too. Hell, my 80 year old mother lectures me occasionally on how much skipping breakfast has improved her life. I do find it interesting that a group of people I would otherwise suspect of being more pro-science would be so enthusiastic about bro-science.
- BirdieNZ 5y ago
  The real pro-tip here is that basically everything you read on HN for which you are not an expert has the appearance of expertise and authenticity. Once you see those same people speaking on a subject which you know a lot about, you realise that HN is only actually high-expertise on tech and entrepreneurship. The users here (myself included!) are probably quite good at programming, business, and maybe project management, which gives us false confidence in our abilities in every other field that exists.
dvt 5y ago
> a small fraction of them Fasting isn't really that weird at all, people have been doing it for literally thousands of years. Christians do it, Muslims do it, Jews do it, Buddhists do it, and so on. A small fraction? I do IF just because it makes me feel better and more healthy, but sometimes I fast for religious reasons.
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  They're pretty different things. Isn't the whole point of religious fasting that it is a different regime, and that the hunger felt is used as a reminder to focus the mind/spirit on higher things than bodily needs. Religious fasts are purposeful privations. Whilst with IF it's about adopting a habit that stays constant and that negates the potential feelings of hunger by teaching your body that there's no point in complaining food comes in this time-period no matter how hungry it pretends to be. IF is about creating a norm that is no longer experienced as a privation.
  - tharkun__ 5y ago
    If you think about it with a non-religious mind, just abstractly and without prejudice, religions are really good for controlling large populations of people of varied backgrounds and intellect. How do you get a large populace to eat healthily? You can either try to convince them with sound arguments and scientific studies. Or you get them to believe in your religion and tell them whatever they need to hear to get them to do it as a side effect. I'm pretty convinced that there's some other motives behind fasting in religions than healthy eating, such as natural scarcity of food during certain times etc. but if you wanted to get them to do it, this would be a great way to do it. And I don't think anyone can deny the potential health benefits of it. After all, what is Ramadan if not IF?
silverpepsi 5y ago
So let me get this straight... I and at least one other friend (coincidentally who is a hardcore athlete and in accounting not tech) both noticed it really is the food that clouds our minds and makes us unproductive at work and fall asleep in meetings. And the improvement onLy got better going from low carb to IF eating daily or per 48hrs, so we are weird for having common sense? Or basic logic skills? If brains only work correctly when in "starvation" perhaps it is you who needs to work on rewriting some definitions of words. !!! Astounded.
- jokethrowaway 5y ago
  I'm sure it's different for everyone. I never experienced a "food coma". If I'm starving I can't think straight.
ensiferum 5y ago
Fasting isn't starving. It's living off of the food and energy you ate before. I.e. done properly you're tapping i to your bodyfat for energy and there's absolutely no hunger.
- zajio1am 5y ago
  I guess that for short-length fasting like IF it is more your glykogen reserves than your bodyfat,
goboronshka 5y ago
Many of us are insecure from being bullied as kids and being in a profession where we are often surrounded by people who are smarter than us. Also the extremely high pay creates an imposter syndrome, where we feel like society has "selected" us to be the most intelligent and we can only live up to that standard by having contrarian views on a wide range of topics. The sad thing is most of us would be better off lifting weights or making money or going to social events than developing eating disorders.

redisman 5y ago

You could phrase most healthy behaviors as bizarre in todays world tbf. Look at these idiots spending an hour preparing green leaves and lean cuts of chicken when I, a intellectual just buy a box of Twinkies and get my calories in a fraction of the time and effort. I am obviously the superior Hunter gatherer

rootusrootus 5y ago

I don't know if it's limited to tech nerds, though, I find that pretty much everyone loves to give diet advice complete with mounds of anecdotes about how it improved their life in immeasurable ways, and IF is popular with them too. Hell, my 80 year old mother lectures me occasionally on how much skipping breakfast has improved her life. I do find it interesting that a group of people I would otherwise suspect of being more pro-science would be so enthusiastic about bro-science.

BirdieNZ 5y ago
The real pro-tip here is that basically everything you read on HN for which you are not an expert has the appearance of expertise and authenticity. Once you see those same people speaking on a subject which you know a lot about, you realise that HN is only actually high-expertise on tech and entrepreneurship. The users here (myself included!) are probably quite good at programming, business, and maybe project management, which gives us false confidence in our abilities in every other field that exists.

dvt 5y ago

> a small fraction of them Fasting isn't really that weird at all, people have been doing it for literally thousands of years. Christians do it, Muslims do it, Jews do it, Buddhists do it, and so on. A small fraction? I do IF just because it makes me feel better and more healthy, but sometimes I fast for religious reasons.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago
They're pretty different things. Isn't the whole point of religious fasting that it is a different regime, and that the hunger felt is used as a reminder to focus the mind/spirit on higher things than bodily needs. Religious fasts are purposeful privations. Whilst with IF it's about adopting a habit that stays constant and that negates the potential feelings of hunger by teaching your body that there's no point in complaining food comes in this time-period no matter how hungry it pretends to be. IF is about creating a norm that is no longer experienced as a privation.
- tharkun__ 5y ago
  If you think about it with a non-religious mind, just abstractly and without prejudice, religions are really good for controlling large populations of people of varied backgrounds and intellect. How do you get a large populace to eat healthily? You can either try to convince them with sound arguments and scientific studies. Or you get them to believe in your religion and tell them whatever they need to hear to get them to do it as a side effect. I'm pretty convinced that there's some other motives behind fasting in religions than healthy eating, such as natural scarcity of food during certain times etc. but if you wanted to get them to do it, this would be a great way to do it. And I don't think anyone can deny the potential health benefits of it. After all, what is Ramadan if not IF?

silverpepsi 5y ago

So let me get this straight... I and at least one other friend (coincidentally who is a hardcore athlete and in accounting not tech) both noticed it really is the food that clouds our minds and makes us unproductive at work and fall asleep in meetings. And the improvement onLy got better going from low carb to IF eating daily or per 48hrs, so we are weird for having common sense? Or basic logic skills? If brains only work correctly when in "starvation" perhaps it is you who needs to work on rewriting some definitions of words. !!! Astounded.

jokethrowaway 5y ago
I'm sure it's different for everyone. I never experienced a "food coma". If I'm starving I can't think straight.

ensiferum 5y ago

Fasting isn't starving. It's living off of the food and energy you ate before. I.e. done properly you're tapping i to your bodyfat for energy and there's absolutely no hunger.

zajio1am 5y ago
I guess that for short-length fasting like IF it is more your glykogen reserves than your bodyfat,

goboronshka 5y ago

Many of us are insecure from being bullied as kids and being in a profession where we are often surrounded by people who are smarter than us. Also the extremely high pay creates an imposter syndrome, where we feel like society has "selected" us to be the most intelligent and we can only live up to that standard by having contrarian views on a wide range of topics. The sad thing is most of us would be better off lifting weights or making money or going to social events than developing eating disorders.