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I don’t debate my lifestyle choices with people who don’t share them. I’ll tell people why I’m doing something and give them a high level overview of why I think it’s right for me if I feel they are genuinely curious or simply repeating something they heard but I don’t get in to the weeds with anyone over it.
Luckily, or not, most people in my life already think I’m “crazy” when it comes to health and fitness so they mostly just accept it as something else I’ve added to my bag of crazy.
Honestly the thing I get the biggest reaction from is not drinking. I was at a work event last night and I lost track of the number of times I said “yes, really, not at all”.
I ask them to share their most recent blood chemistry/test results with me. If they can show me they are healthier than I am after a fast, then I will consider whatever they have to say.
Never had anyone take me up on it and in fact I’ve helped several others consider why they should try fasting for health.
Blood tests show the truth about fasting. It’s the best thing you can do (or not do:eat) for your health.
I once asked my friend, who was telling me that fasting is not healthy and dangerous, where his concern was when I was at my highest weight, eating junk and drinking booze almost every weekend. When it comes to fasting I try not to debate it. There’s a lot of research in the subject so if someone want to learn something about it they can, it’s not my problem that most of them don’t want to.
You can not talk about it, but that doesn’t help you once people already know.
So just don’t give them anything to push against. People want to argue with you, and if you give them nothing to argue with, the wind goes out of their sails. “You have to eat, that’s not healthy for you at all!”
“Okay.”
“You have an eating disorder!”
“Okay.”
“Don’t you agree this is bad for you?”
“Sure.”
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Then keep doing what you’re doing.
People don’t have to eat 5 times a day. Everyone that is around is here because their relatives survived famines. They survived droughts, crop failures, winters, and wars. Going days without food really isn’t that big a deal.
Yeah I am currently dealing with this with myself. As someone who has gained and lost weight over the last 4 years, I have tried nearly every diet. Fasting put me at my healthiest, and by far, was the easiest way for me to lose weight. However, I was judged SO hard for it. Just relieve yourself of others opinions. Do this for the rest of your life. Do not become arrogant of course, because this is dangerous. But into every aspect of your life, educate yourself. Fasting is not bad, infact it has helped with my character development in all aspects. Best of luck!
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**I would not reccomend fasting to someone with an eating disorder, without therapy first. I would not reccomend fasting to people whos physical health is not on par either (other than being overweight).
I don’t mention it because of this. They clearly don’t understand fasting and I don’t need to convince anyone of anything.There’s tons of research out there if they care to learn. We are reaping all the amazing benefits of fasting while they are missing out. Sometimes it will come up and I respectfully tell them “I do what works for me, you do what works for you.” followed by a cheeky smile :)
I will tell them I am doing portion control and only eating meals between certain times. Sometimes that means a whole day or no carbs for a day. Diabetic, so I can’t fast for too long but it really is helping me lower my BP, blood sugar, and cholesterol.
Them: “You have to eat.”Me: “Thanks.”Them: “Seriously. You have to eat.”Me: “Thanks.”Them: “That’s not healthy!!”Me: “Thanks.”Them: “You’re going to die!!”Me: “Eventually yes.” Them: “This is wrong”Me: “Thanks.”
Ad nauseum. Stupid, rude, uninvited questions about my health receive my broken record response of gratitude. Btw, works wonders for “Are you vaccinated?”, “You’re still single?” Or any other question digging into my private business.
I’ve found in my experience that the majority of the time the Lois question pops up, the person asking is either ignorant or misinformed. Fasting is still relatively newly semi-accepted science (in certain socioeconomic groups) and a lot of people noisy don’t know any better.
Cut them some slack and either give them resources with which they can conduct their own research **if asked, or move on in the conversation.
I suppose it depends who they are, why they might be saying that, how their health or weight is, and how your health or weight is. If they are struggling with health or weight issues they might just be afraid to take the leap and it could be worth patiently explaining some of the benefits.
My MIL says fasting is a type of bulimia and refuses to skip any meals. She swears by what she calls the “dumb stupid diet”. She read about it in a magazine 40 years ago and lost weight on it but gained it back. I’ve asked her why she doesn’t go back on it and she said it’s because she doesn’t want to cook 4 meals a day. I’ve been telling her that the key to permanent weight loss is finding a method that works for you and sticking to it. Everyone is different. Trying to get her to be more open to keto and fasting or just to try something else since she really needs to lose weight for her health. But any time I mention anything diet related, though, she brings up the dumb stupid diet.