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> Have you eaten in the last four hours? Apparently this is a reason to feel like shit, according to this site. If you feel crap after only 4 hours since your
by 1_player 5y ago
> Have you eaten in the last four hours?
Apparently this is a reason to feel like shit, according to this site. If you feel crap after only 4 hours since your last meal, quit eating so much sugar and eat decent food that keeps you filled and energised for a while. In fact, I reach my peak productivity at least 4 hours after a meal, when my body isn't spending much energy digesting food. Have you ever experienced the mental clarity of 12 or 24 hours of fasting?
The idea that we need to eat many small meals is such a Western, privileged world wife's tale that keeps being repeated. We're designed to function and hunt after some prey after days of starvation. We're not designed for the modern blood sugar seesaw. Not eating for 4 hours isn't gonna kill you, and if it is, stop eating Mars bars for lunch, and ingest some proper food.
- otherotherchris 5y agoSome people actually need that reminder. Particularly if they're on a keto diet and don't get glucose withdrawl. I'm a bit absent minded and some days I start to feel tired and a bit anxious around ~3-4pm. I feel awful, and I'm wracking my brain for what I'd forgotten to do that day. Oh wait, it was breakfast and lunch...
- emsy 5y agoThat tripped me up as well but it get‘s worse. Apparently you either know why you’re in a bad mood or not. Being in a good mood is not even an option.
- makeitdouble 5y agoIt was a simplistic pop quiz site, but your answer to that is as simplistic. People eat different amount, digest things differently. If with the little info you get your first thought was to blame sugar, it feels to me you’re on a journey against some giants/windmills, because really life is more complicated than that.
- _hao 5y agoAs a person that regularly fasts this question just made me exit the site immediately.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- savolai 5y agoThis is a general diagnostic, one of many that may help, not a prescription that you are expected to meet.
- jstx1 5y agoSame, it's only 10:30am - a meal would make me feel worse.
- andy_ppp 5y agoIt actually continues on in this direction suggesting it's fine to drink soda if you don't like water... I'm pretty sure the site was designed specifically to annoy me.
- distances 5y agoDoes that always mean lemonade in the US, or does soda also include soda water (carbonated water)?
- scrollaway 5y agoSoda in the US refers to "pop" in british english. Americans don't usually say "soda water" for carbonated water, in my experience.
- scoot 5y ago> "pop" in british english It might be regional, but I think "soft drink" or ""fizzy drink" are far more common. I can't recall the last time I heard "pop" used in this sense.
- yetihehe 5y agoSome people feel good after fasting (me, slightly overweight and too much sugar consumption), some people feel like shit (my gf, her hands tremble after 8h without food, but she had problems with thyroid).
- mcv 5y agoI need to learn not to eat anything in the evening. I always used to, but lately it's started to upset my stomach (or maybe I'm just more aware of it now) when I go to bed. As long as dinner is the last thing I eat, I'm fine. That said, when my wife gets cranky, it's usually because it's been too long since she are something. Either dinner is too late or she skipped lunch. My oldest son might have the same issue; he prefers to skip breakfast and sometimes even lunch, and then becomes unbearable. So eat something healthy at set times, not unhealthy crap at every hour of the day.
- hellotomyrars 5y agoDid you get any further and find something else to feel weirdly personally attacked by? Not all of this has to apply to you and while I think the whole thing is a bit overwrought and silly this is a pretty visceral reaction to a relatively innocuous question. Personally I actually can use a reminder to eat because I have little appetite and won’t realize I haven’t eaten anything until the headache kicks in, which is a potential migraine trigger for me as well. To be clear I don’t want/need to eat something every four hours but that doesn’t make the question less valid for the purposes of reminding me to consider when I last ate.
- hutzlibu 5y agoWell, I also stopped after the first question, because the options to choose from, made me go away as it implies I MUST have eaten in the last 4 hours to feel good, which is BS. So why should I see whats more, if it starts so bad? If it would have been worded differently, to suggest that eating something might be a good idea - then I probably would have clicked further. But it has this absolute tone, that puts me off.
- scrollaway 5y agoThe tone also straight up encourages snacking, and if you click through there it says: "When you need a snack, just pop some easy food in your mouth." It's an incredibly unhealthy thing to teach and that is just the first question.
- ui4jd73bdj 5y agoI was annoyed by the limited answers. Why can I not skip the question with "No, and I don't need to eat right now".
- watwut 5y ago> In fact, I reach my peak productivity at least 4 hours after a meal, when my body isn't spending much energy digesting food. Maybe you dont eat correct food? If eating tires you for 4 hours after meal, there is something wrong.
- shultays 5y agoI was going to comment same thing. Apparently if you are feeling like shit and didn't eat in last 4 hours then you should eat something. I am wondering if the website is HAES propaganda in disguise
- syntaxfree 5y agoPeople are unusually angry about fat activism. I mean, it promotes unhealthy habits, but so does pro-ana (which targets vulnerable younger girls, too), careless discourse on psychedelic mushrooms (even on mainstream media like Rogan) and even marijuana (it’s really not for everyone, and people do experience psychotic breaks from time to time).
- mmillin 5y agoProbably related to effect size? Two thirds of the US are overweight or obese.
- blueflow 5y agoCheck out the Author of this site. Its an obese american women. I'll omit the joke...
- chronogram 5y agoThe author of the website looks to have experience in using food and soda as a feel better method, like the website encourages. There’s also advice on taking aspirin for an ache rather than the more common advice around my culture of identifying the source of the symptom. I don’t think this is a very healthy website.
- sdoering 5y agoI agree. The recommendation for cooking is (one could say) interesting: > Here are some ideas for easy foods > you can eat right now: -Pasta with butter, sauce, cheese, vegetables, and/or meat -Ramen noodles -Sandwiches -Rice -Grilled cheese (This can have meat on it, if you want!) -A smoothie or milkshake -Baked or fried potatoes -Eggs, pancakes, and/or bacon -Macaroni and cheese -Canned soup -Salad. -Boxed mashed potatoes
- pseudalopex 5y agoYou have to say you need a meal and need help to see it. It isn't for you if making a meal doesn't feel overwhelming right now.
- 1_player 5y agoAh yes, the "how many carbs can you eat in one sitting" standard American diet.
- sundvor 5y agoSo not likely to see this one then? Did you use your squat rack in the last 24 hours? No: Go do some lifting. (That's a sure fire way to lift my spirits.)
- 5y ago
- bayindirh 5y ago> If you feel crap after only 4 hours since your last meal, quit eating so much sugar and eat decent food that keeps you filled and energised for a while. I can feel like shit four hours after eating a proper meal, esp. if I'm stressed and working non stop. Another reason I can feel like shit 4 hours after eating is vitamin B deficiency. I burn through that stuff like a broken engine digests its own oil, and it creates a bunch of problems with energy, clarity, and body weight regulation. > Have you ever experienced the mental clarity of 12 or 24 hours of fasting? Yes, esp. if I'm not redlining my brain to work on full capacity for 8 hours straight, with no breaks. > We're designed to function and hunt after some prey after days of starvation. Yes, similarly we're not designed to sit in front of a computer and sweat your brains off designing software and stuff, and making our brains burn much more energy than they're designed and accustomed to do so, we need to return to that lifestyle immediately. > Not eating for 4 hours isn't gonna kill you, and if it is, stop eating Mars bars for lunch, and ingest some proper food. I'm not eating Mars bars or similar stuff for a year now, and I can still go through a sizeable meal under 4 hours when I'm working under load. See above. TL;DR: Brain can consume a lot of energy. Much more than a normally active homo sapiens' muscle system, and not all humans are created equal. Genetics is a huge number of d20 rolls.
- netcan 5y agoI would recommend just some occasional fasting, whatever kind of fast is appealing or easy for you. Doesn't even have to be often. For me, the biggest benefit is just breaking up the habits... especially the habit of panicking when peckish. That said, this question set isn't wrong. It's about basics of what might be making you feel shit. Hungry, thirsty, pained, tired, etc. Resilience in the face of these is great, but it ignorance of these is not.
- syntaxfree 5y agoI’m bipolar and fasting is a mania trigger. Even just skipping lunch because I’m late for work. (In the bad old days I used to work in a noisy open office and lunchtime was the best time to work.) Edit: not everyone experiencing their first manic breakdown notice it; pdocs tell me people usually go to them after the crash. I encourage everyone experiencing unusual feelings or omnipotence and euphoria (or, on the contrary, a restless kind of angry anxiety) that can’t be explained by drugs to take the Young Mania Ratings Scale, there are several copies online.
- netcan 5y agoGood information. Noted. To my previous comment: my experience/my body/ my neurotendencies/ etc.
- nextlevelwizard 5y agoYes eating high quality nutritious food is good advice, but you don’t need to be a dick about it. Sometimes you don’t have time or resources to eat properly. Sometimes you just forget to eat. Maybe 4 hours is in the shorter end, but I often feel like shit and then remember that I haven’t eaten since yesterday.
- gjulianm 5y ago> Have you ever experienced the mental clarity of 12 or 24 hours of fasting? I have never experienced a difference between eating more or less frequently (apart from hunger), only between quality of food (i.e., after a few days of not eating well, I feel less sharp). > We're designed to function and hunt after some prey after days of starvation. Natural arguments are not valid arguments. We're also "designed" to walk barefoot and yet I bet you wear shoes when you go out. It isn't like someone designed humans to work for a certain use case: we reached some adaptations to the environment, but it doesn't mean that original environment is the optimal one. Edit: specified "eating more frequently"
- rmoriz 5y agoIt's not about eating less. It's about eating less frequent. Each meal triggers an insulin reaction that make many tired and depressed. I started eating to cover up my depression. Worst mistake of my life.
- gjulianm 5y ago> It's not about eating less. It's about eating less frequent Well, that's what I meant. I haven't found a difference between eating more or less frequently, other than hunger, of course.
- krsdcbl 5y agopeole are different. I loose appetite and forget to eat enough and regularly enough when depressed, found the "last 4 hours" prompt to be a useful reminder and it would definitely not serve me well if I was told to eat less frequently
- lm28469 5y ago> Natural arguments are not valid arguments. When half of western country inhabitants are overweight, obese and have the physical strength/endurance of a 12 years old I think this argument holds a lot more than you think
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- toto444 5y ago> The idea that we need to eat many small meals is such a Western, privileged world wife's tale that keeps being repeated. I am very curious. I have always lived in the West and I have never heard that once. I have always been told to eat 3 meals a day : Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
- wccrawford 5y agoThere was a diet fad that stated you should eat many small meals. I don't know of anyone who ever took it seriously.
- spaetzleesser 5y agoIn the US a lot of people seem to think they will die if don't constantly eat something. I have had quite a few discussions with people who wanted to lose weight. They had huge resistance when I told them to cut out the snacks and eat only three (or two) times a day : "this is not healthy"
- watwut 5y agoIt used to be said. The origin is supposed to be in diabetes medicine - small regular portions made insulin management easier when technology sucked. Somehow it became general advice. I think it kinda sounded like common sense too, you add fueal as it is needed instead of in one bang.
- mongol 5y agoPerhaps the first question should be "when was the last time you had a proper meal?" And if it was too long, say "Make sure the next thing you eat is a proper meal".
- meroes 5y agoMy muscles get tight if I don't eat roughly every 4-6 hours. (8am/12pm/6pm meals for instance). I stretch and walk every day. Maybe "peak productivity" isn't at a desk for hours where your primary energy expenditure is digestion, for most people
- goodpoint 5y ago> The idea that we need to eat many small meals is such a Western Western!? If anything, having only three meals a day is very western.
- causi 5y agoIndeed. Studying obesity rates and historical dietary habits find a strong correlation between snacking and obesity even when the total number of consumed calories is the same.
- kypro 5y agoTo add to this, for the last year I've been sticking to a low-carb, one-meal-a-day diet with intermittent 5 day fasts every couple of months. I've been feeling great and I've foud although I really look forward to my daily meals I don't feel like I need a meal to function either mentally or physically any more. Over Christmas my family brought me quite a lot of chocolate and as it was Christmas I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to take the week off my diet and allow myself to enjoy some sweets and carbs over the holidays. However after consuming a few bars of chocolate on Christmas day I felt terrible... I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but I felt similar to how I feel after fasting for 5 days. Weak, light headed, a little nauseous, etc... I read online somewhere that when you're very insulin sensitive spiking your insulin levels with sweets and chocolate can cause your body to quickly pull out excess sugar from the blood and this can then cause a temporary dip in blood sugar levels. Not 100% sure if this is correct, but apparently there are other people who practise low-carb diets who experience a similar thing to me. That experience really highlighted to me how bad sugar probably is for us, it's just that most of us don't realise it because our bodies have adjusted to being bombarded with sugary, high-carb foods for so long. It's also crazy how many people think I'm doing some radical diet too... I get it's extreme compared with Western norms, but it seems kinda obvious for most of our evolution we wouldn't have been eating and snaking on sugary, high-carb foods throughout the day... The fact it's considered extreme for me to eat a large single meal consisting of vegetable, fruit and meat once a day probably goes to show how bad diets considered "healthy" by Western standards is. My parents for example genuinely just think eating a varied diet is all you need to be healthy, and sure, that might help mitigate nutritional deficiencies, but it really doesn't matter what you're eating, over-eating simply isn't good for your health. They refuse to accept this though saying a normal person needs at least 3 meals a day to function well, but again I think this just goes back to how broken our diets are and how dependant most people are on carbs to function optimally.
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- wreath 5y ago> Have you ever experienced the mental clarity of 12 or 24 hours of fasting? Unfortunately I haven't although I fasted many times for more than 16 hours and only once 24 hours. I'm always lethargic, irritable and I cannot do anything other than thinking of food. I fasted 16 hours with most hours during the day, during the night, same result.
- asadkn 5y agoOne distinction: Reactive Hypoglycemia. Even with low GI carbs, it may still happen. Small meals or keto is the fix. When it comes to health, things are rarely that simple. Even medical professionals have knowledge gaps, let alone someone who isn't one. I'd be careful to make assumptions. Heck, many people assume the other person's a snowflake, when in fact their patience and pain tolerance may be miles above yours. It's the same as reductionists advice on complex health issues where you advice someone to try X based on your 5-mins reading material, when surely someone suffering for years have tried all of that in thousands of hours of searching for the magic fix.
- Beltiras 5y agoAn addendum to this is don't eat carbs. Go Keto. I'm practicing intermittent fasting and low-carb dirty keto and it still produces amazing benefits. I sleep better, I'm not bloated anymore and my energy doesn't crash a few hours after eating. Get a breathalyzer to measure acetone to learn your specific metabolism (this helps decide if a meal you habitually eat triggers an insulin response). I think in the fullness of time we will see literature about how misreading data from a study on diet lead to the worst public policy decision on nutrition in history.
- dsr_ 5y agoFirst, there's no evidence humans were designed. Second, humans have clearly evolved to be omnivorous. What do omnivores generally do in favorable environments? Hint, "hunt after days of starvation" is a obligate carnivore pattern -- and not one that all obligate carnivores share.
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoYou know, I read it as completely different: a lot of people who feel like shit will put off making meals. This can lead the person to feeling worse. The app is talking about self care, and a lot of depressed people can be helped by being reminded to eat. And then, I’m on a whole food plant based diet. I eat lentil curry and brown rice, salads, nuts, and two liters of veggie and fruit smoothie a day. I have maybe a tiny amount of sweets in the evening. And I eat a little bit constantly throughout the day. I think you’ve read way in to that question in the wrong way.
- numlock86 5y ago> Not eating for 4 hours isn't gonna kill you, [...] Nobody ever claimed that. What's your point?
- FriedrichN 5y agoIt depends on your routine. If you skip a meal when you usually have that meal, you might experience some discomfort. You could eat one meal a day and be fine if that's what you're used to. It's the breaking of the routine that causes you trouble.
- samstave 5y agoI am pretty good at restricting my intake. I very rarely eat before noon, and I have been like this my whole life. Also, I am a small eater in general - so I very often, when eating out at a restaurant ask for a to-go container at the same time as I order my food. THen I immediately put half or more in the container before I eat it. And I am very active, for example, I rode nearly 1,000 miles on my 29" mtn. bike in the month of August alone (26 miles a day for almost the entire month) and I eat very healthy, and well (My GF works at the french laundry and we are big foodies...) BUT - we both do crave sugar a lot... I want to do a water fast but I haven't gotten around to it yet. The real culprit is carbs and for my GF, gluten - she has ciliac and gluten is extremely hard to avoid in the 'modern' food world.
- thefz 5y ago> Have you eaten in the last four hours? This site is laughable. At least for anyone knowing a little bit about nutrition.
- neutronicus 5y agoEh it's funny you say "wife's tale" I thought exactly the way do you until I get together with mine. I got her oh my exact diet and ... she still need to eat every four hours or she would feel like shit
- Chris2048 5y agoFor how long was she on this diet? It takes a while to adjust.
- jyounker 5y agoSome people (like my step daughter) don't have an internal hunger alarm. She has never had one. Remembering to eat is a conscious activity. If she's occupied or stressed then she doesn't remember to eat.