intermittent fasting

[spider]

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I don't agree or dissagree with you, but making the argument that humans fasted back in the day as evidence for its healthiness is pretty weak. Humans 2k years ago rarely grew taller than 5'6" or so and most died in their 20's and 30's.

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Well, humans back then often "fasted" for weeks at a time. I don't think that's a good idea. Clearly if you get to the point where your body is tearing down muscles for energy, that is not healthy. But a little calorie restriction for a day or two gets you nowhere near that.

And height is going to relate to childhood nutrition rather than adult nutrition. I would probably not advise children/teens to fast, but I'm also not a doctor.

I'm also not claiming that it's healthy for adults to fast, just that I doubt it's harmful, as humans 2,000 years ago must have gone a couple of days w/o food on a pretty regular basis (or at least w/ low quality food at best). I think it's likely that the body has evolved to handle this sort of thing relatively well. But I'm not an evolutionary scientist or anything either.

Anyway, I really am not making health claims except I don't feel in my own experience that it is unhealthy, and conversely I think there are solid mental (spiritual almost?) benefits.

Anyway, I recommend for anyone to try some mild type of fasting to see what you think for yourself. That's all.

[Wolfram]

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Humans 2k years ago rarely grew taller than 5'6" or so and most died in their 20's and 30's.

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That was just because of all the sabre-tooth tigers.

[spider]

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I bet "eat 2 meals/day spread 6-8 hours apart followed by 16 to 18 hours of fasting" is one of the most common meal schedules in America.

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Common if you also snack a couple of times, very uncommon if you don't snack.

[Cartridge]

theres 'Eat stop Eat' by brad pilon that is basically fasting for 24hrs 1 or 2 times a week.

[chupacabre]

Hello everyone,

I'll probably be flamed for responding as I have very few posts on 2+2, a small smaple size and no credibility, but I recently restricted my eating to the hours of 5pm-10pm and eat to my daily weight watchers point target.

I have lost 11 lbs. in three weeks, have lost the strong desire to nap after lunch and generally feel much better on this "diet". In addition, the delayed eating makes me much more disciplined and it's cheaper as I no longer buy lunch every day.

It could be a short-term effect, but I'm going to continue eating this way for awhile. I'll post ongoing results if anyone is interested.

-Chupacabre