The modern ‘3 meals a day plus snacks’ lifestyle means that many of us are in an anabolic, or growth, phase most of the time
7. What about bone broth?
This is potentially useful during longer fasts,
but it has enough nutrients in it to push up
insulin, reducing autophagy.
8. What about longer fasts?
In our experience, 2 to 5-day fasts are
challenging and should probably be restricted
to being a once or twice a year activity. They
are stressful on the body, can undermine
metabolic rate if you are not careful, and
affect quality of sleep. They can be useful
for immune system regeneration and you will
learn something about yourself if you do one.
9. Won’t I just overeat in the eating
window?
You will certainly eat more than you normally
would have during that time, but typically
not as much as you would have overall if
you hadn’t fasted at all. In other words, the
science shows us that this is an effective
way to decrease overall intake. It is possible
to overeat in the refeeding period, but being
mindful and maintaining some rules around
avoiding processed junk food will help
prevent this.
10. Is it better to fast in the morning or
evening?
Research shows a marginally better effect of
eating during the morning and fasting through
the afternoon and overnight. However, be
aware that this is behaviourally very hard. You
are always hungrier at night because of the
circadian rhythms. I think a more sustainable
behavioural method is to skip breakfast, get
busy, miss lunch, and eat good food when you
get home. Be aware that the ‘Steve Jobs rule’
applies here. Jobs wore the same clothes – no
matter what – in order to reduce expending
time and effort on the things that didn’t matter to him and spend more
on those that did. You can apply similar thinking to fasting, although in
this scenario it’s more about making it easier to stay on track and avoid
sabotaging your good intentions through impulsive food choices. Having
‘go-to’ meals and establishing a pattern around what and when you eat
(or don’t eat) will help you stick to the fast.
11. What happens when I eat junk food?
What happens is that you will have eaten junk food. At least enjoy it
if you do! Then you’ll need a behavioural technique to make sure you
don’t keep doing it from then on. I like the 3-meal rule for this. Things
aren’t always going to go to plan. It’s what you do 90% of the time
that counts, and enjoying celebrations without guilt is important. So,
up to three treat meals a week is fine for good health, and one a week
– or less frequently – for fat loss.
12. What do I tell people about my not eating?
You could tell them that you are experimenting with fasting and
you’ve found this and that out. But what is more important is what
you tell yourself. We all have different reasons for changing our diets.
What’s yours really? Knowing that is critical, because sticking to
nutrition rules and patterns is quite hard and requires effort, at least
some of the time. Ask yourself the hard questions about what you
want out of life, and how much effort you are prepared
to put in. This isn’t about judgement: it’s about
knowing whether you really want to achieve your
health and/or fat loss goals or not. Find your
truth, otherwise, what’s the point of putting
in the effort?
Grant Schofield
Grant is Professor of Public Health at Auckland
University of Technology in New Zealand.
Well-known for his work around low carb
and ketogenic eating, he is the author of
several books including What the Fat?
and What the Fast? and has a reputation
for challenging conventional health
wisdom. profgrant.com /
twitter.com/grantsnz /
facebook.com/Prof.Grant
NETWORK WINTER 2019 | 31