I’m Steve Hendricks, author of a new book on the science, history, and practice of fasting, The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting. I’ll be doing an AMA this Thursday, Sept. 8, from 1 to 4 p.m. US Eastern Time. If you have questions about fasting—whether intermittent or prolonged—or about anything else, come hit me up at the AMA!
Do you have any research on Islamic fasting from sunrise to sunset, for a month every year? Is that any different than fasting at night and eating later in the day in relation to circadian rhythm etc?
> Fasters commonly report it’s easier to eat moderately after fasting because they have a better sense of how much food they need. They stuff themselves less. It was the same for me. My stomach felt smaller for a day or so after each fast, as if there was simply less room for food, and a similar, if metaphorical, contraction seemed to take place in my mind, which after a day off meals was less fixated on eating and more easily sated.
What’s your best guess as the science at play when people feel their “stomach feels smaller” (i’m sure the stomach isn’t smaller).
You wrote a book about fasting and skipped Dr. Fung ?
I guess so.
>Source on Diet.
Extremely one sided list of plant based ADVOCATES. Do you feel you are biased towards plant based eating? or do you feel your plant based list of sources on diet are evidence based ? What evidence would that be ?
> In fact, although the body briefly burns a bit of protein as it switches from eating to fasting, once the faster enters ketosis, protein is mostly conserved.
Interesting. New information to me.
> Herbert Shelton and Otto Buchinger that fasting could often reverse autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.Kjeldsen-Kragh, a conventional doctor with expertise in rheumatology but little in fasting. Its dazzling results landed in The Lancet.
> In the year long trial, fifty-three subjects with rheumatoid arthritis were divided into 2 groups: (1) The group at the health farm did a modified Buchinger-style fast of seven to ten days, after which they ate a vegan diet low in allergens for three and a half months before switching to a lactovegetarian diet. (2) control group.
> Just four weeks into the study, the fasting-and-vegan group was improved on nearly every measure of arthritis the researchers checked: number of swollen joints, number of tender joints, degree of tenderness, duration of morning stiffness, grip strength, overall pain, and levels of inflammatory markers like ESR, CRP, and WBC. After a year, they maintained nearly all of these gains, were in better overall health than before the trial, and lost an average of nine pounds.
Great read. Two thumbs up.
