Intermittent Fasting Positively Affects Hormones?

[Joejoebaggins]

I wanted to get your guys take on this.

Apparently Intermittent fasting has a profound affect on ones hormones. Since there is often a connection between low testosterone, low thyroid and being insulin resistant, could this be something to give us "the edge" we all need?

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gives an overview of the benefits of practicing IF, which include decreases in blood pressure, reduction in oxidative damage to lipids, protein and DNA, improvement in insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, as well as decreases in fat mass.

Alternate-day fasting and chronic disease prevention (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/86/1/7)

A lot of the trials have used the pattern of 24hrs of eating and 24hrs of not eating. Luckily the effects can be mimicked by having "windows" in your day to eat. So you could fast for 20 hours and eat for 4 hours (no breakfast, no lunch, HUGE DINNER). There is no need to eat less. You would eat till you were absolutely full.

Here are some other fasting schedules:
24/24 - fast for a day/then eat for a day
20/28 - fast for breakfast and lunch but eat dinner/then eat for a day
20/4 (Warrior Diet) - fast for 20 hours/then eat for four hours
23/1 (One meal-a-day) - fast for 20 hours/then eat for one hour.

This sounds crazy because it goes against all the 6 meals a day food dogma, but that regime never left me satiated and to be honest never felt natural. I highly doubt humans evolved grazing on 500 calorie meals though out their day.

Here are some other links:

Dr. Eades Blog Post about IF (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/09/13/fast-way-to-better-health/)

Dr. Eades Second Blog Post about IF (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/09/19/protein-power-verses-intermittent-fasting/)

Mark Sisson's Blog Post on IF (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting/)

What do you guys think?

[rick055]

When you do the 20/28 day fast, are you still eating "normal" meals when you eat?

Or is it an Atkins like "I don't care how much you eat as long as it's..."

[bgnb]

I highly doubt humans evolved grazing on 500 calorie meals though out their day.


What do you guys think?

Actually, that's exactly what we evolved on ...

If you look at what we 'lack' in terms of nutrients the two big ones
are exactly related to what we 'evolved' on eating: nuts and berries
which equal omega-3 oils and vitamin C.

If you look at our digestive system, we are suited to frequent small
meals ... when we eat big meals it does trigger the depositing of fat
as does fasting.

And fasting will have an effect on hormones but they are not necessarily
positive because what the body is responding to is the 'feeling' that
there is a lack of food and therefore we get shots of hormones to make
us aggressive and get out and find something to eat ... even if we
have to kill to get it.

There is a reason women lose fertility when they diet ... its natures way
of saying that there's not enough food, don't be creating more mouths
to feed ...

There is little to be gained from fasting ... but its up to each individual
to make that decision.

[BigAk]

Awesome... This Goes to prove one of the benefits of fasting Ramadan (The holy month for Muslims in Islam)... I wanted to fast it this year but I didn't fearing that it may mess up my HPTA recovery. I did some search to find some answers but couldn't find anything... Now this study shows the benefits... but it still doesn't display anything specific about the HPTA.

[Joejoebaggins]

When you do the 20/28 day fast, are you still eating "normal" meals when you eat?

Or is it an Atkins like "I don't care how much you eat as long as it's..."

It depends. Ideally you would want to cut out sugar and keep carbohydrates in some kind of restraint. But according to Dr. Eades blog you would receive the health benefits on any ratio of macronutrients.


On the times during the day that we ate, we didn’t stick with our normal low-carb fare; we ate pretty much whatever we wanted, including a fare amount of higher carb stuff. We stuck with the regimen for a few weeks just to see if we could tolerated it, which we did just fine. We ultimately drifted back to our normal low-carb diet, however, just because it seemed to work better with our schedules. We could have been happy on the intermittent fasting regimen for the long term.

I would think that the optimal way to go would be to follow an intermittent fast using low-carb foods during the eating periods. One would get the best of all worlds healthwise this way.

[Joejoebaggins]

Actually, that's exactly what we evolved on ...

If you look at what we 'lack' in terms of nutrients the two big ones
are exactly related to what we 'evolved' on eating: nuts and berries
which equal omega-3 oils and vitamin C.

I'm not following you.

If Homo Erectus killed an animal, do you think he would graze on the protein & fat and store the rest in his fridge to snack on later? He would be absolutely forced to gorge, not knowing when he would eat again.

Berries and nuts? If they were in season perhaps, but they couldn't have been staples. He could get Omega-3 from meat/fish and vitamin C from fibrous ancient veggies/fruits.


If you look at our digestive system, we are suited to frequent small
meals ... when we eat big meals it does trigger the depositing of fat
as does fasting.

Controlled clinical research demonstrates eating a large breakfast and small dinner does not confer any weight loss advantage. In fact, one study showed that woman who ate most of their calories at night experience slightly more favorable changes in body composition that those eating a bulk of their calories in the morning.

Digestion is an energy intensive affair. Eating constantly throughout the day, "grazing", will do little except encourage lethargy.

Besides we all know fat loss/gain has nothing to do with meal size. It has to do with calories in, calories out.


There is little to be gained from fasting ... but its up to each individual
to make that decision.

The goal is to find a supplemental diet to support hormones. I'm not sure you can yet say that fasting has little positive effect on hormones based on the AJCN research I supplied.

[Joejoebaggins]

Awesome... This Goes to prove one of the benefits of fasting Ramadan (The holy month for Muslims in Islam)... I wanted to fast it this year but I didn't fearing that it may mess up my HPTA recovery. I did some search to find some answers but couldn't find anything... Now this study shows the benefits... but it still doesn't display anything specific about the HPTA.

Funny that you should mention Ramadan BigAk, check this out:

Biochemical Parameters during Prolonged Intermittent Fasting (http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ArtikelNr=100954&Ausgabe=232822&ProduktNr=223977)


…average daily energy and water intake remained comparable in both the fasting and nonfasting group and the working hours of both groups did not change during the whole study. During Ramadan, in the fasting group, meals were taken exclusively at night while in the nonfasting group there was no change in the eating and sleeping habits. …the sleep pattern of the fasting group was delayed by approximately 2-3 h[ours] on average. The energy and the water balance seemed to be constant on a daily basis as the body weight and the 24-hour urinary volumes did not change during Ramadan. Hence there were two major changes in the routine of the fasting subjects: meal times and sleeping patterns.


What did the study show in terms of inflammatory response?

There were significant reductions in interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine during the fast that, in the case of IL-6 and CRP, lasted for at least 20 days beyond the fasting period.

What does this mean?

In short it means that the Ramadan intermittent fast brought about a significant decrease in inflammation.

I really find this way of eating exciting. More research needs to be done, but reducing inflammation is always useful.

[rick055]

Do you think that if you fasted during the day it would be okay to eat a larger meal at night?

I'd have to think I'd be pretty hungry by 6 pm.

[Joejoebaggins]

Do you think that if you fasted during the day it would be okay to eat a larger meal at night?

I'd have to think I'd be pretty hungry by 6 pm.

Rick, yes according to those studies that would be beneficial. I'm currently trying out the "warrior" plan. The important thing to note is that these are not calorie reducing diets. I setup my eating window between 4-8pm which I'm really digging.

Transitioning took about a day, but I feel great during my fast. Its really nice to be able to eat to your hearts content during your eating window. It also gives you a nice food coma smoothing the transition into sleep.

[rick055]

I am going to give this a shot.

Do you have any links to resources on the subject?

When I was a kid and needed to lose weight, I did nutri-systems (no jokes please...I was 18 and had no idea how to diet)

I lost a ton of weight. Interestingly, I didn't eat the meals during the day. I ate all of my (pre-packaged) meals for dinner. I'm not a big breakfast guy to begin with and skipping lunch wasn't a problem.

It worked well.

Do you eat anything at all during the day? I noticed it said something about am and pm foods.

[Joejoebaggins]

I am going to give this a shot.

Do you have any links to resources on the subject?

When I was a kid and needed to lose weight, I did nutri-systems (no jokes please...I was 18 and had no idea how to diet)

I lost a ton of weight. Interestingly, I didn't eat the meals during the day. I ate all of my (pre-packaged) meals for dinner. I'm not a big breakfast guy to begin with and skipping lunch wasn't a problem.

It worked well.

The first post has some good links. If your going to cut calories make sure you don't cut them too drastically. 300-500 calorie deficit is a good starting point.

[RugbyHooligan]

I have done the Warrior Diet in the past which is a controlled daytime "fast"....

the way it made me feel was amazing, and it helped me drop a lot of unneeded weight.

look into it and read about it, its a fascinating way to eat

[rick055]

the way it made me feel was amazing, and it helped me drop a lot of unneeded weight.



That's awesome. That's EXACTLY what I need to complement the test and sounds like it's very compatible with my life.

A couple of cups of coffee a day and I essentially have no daytime appetite, anyways. I am a night eater.

I need to drop 30 pounds.

One question - can you eat AT ALL during the day?

[RugbyHooligan]

dragondoor.com has the info on the books...

you eat during the day, its a controlled fast...

berries, nuts, etc. its eating a few bites to stave off hunger pains

and then at night, after the workout you have a massive healthy meal..

buy the book, its worth it

[Dr. John Crisler]

I have wondered what rare fasting for a lab draw does to hormone levels.

[RugbyHooligan]

I have wondered what rare fasting for a lab draw does to hormone levels.

maybe we should find out...

[Joejoebaggins]

I'm still going strong on this style of eating. I have modified it just a bit to be more practical.

16/8 - fast for 16 hours/eat for 8 hours

I'm consuming about 25% of my cals at noon and the rest at about 6pm when i get home from work. I'm on a bulk right now so the extended eating window really helps with consuming the 3k calories i need to in order to put on weight.

Even if the benefits of intermittent fasting prove to be nothing spectacular, the release from food it has given me is amazing. I am no longer a slave to the clock or constant hunger.

Here are some more links:

http://www.leangains.blogspot.com/

http://www.arthurdevany.com/?p=751

[BigAk]

maybe we should find out...

If someone is willing to cover the lab cost, I'll be willing to be a test subject on this one as I'd love to make up the days of Ramadan that I didn't fast last year. :D

[Drew]

Anybody doing this type of diet (or any kind of fasting)? I did the Warrior Diet roughly 11 years ago and liked it. To be honest, I think it vastly improved my health (although back then, it was more about getting ripped). I'm going to be giving it another go, although this time it's more about reducing free radicals, reducing blood sugar, and a simpler way of eating.