This week I was thinking that I should only eat once a day, a healthy meal at night and just have fruit and nuts during the day when I get hungry. Then Yoda posed this link to http://www.fast-5.com/ in the water fasting thread

Sounds intresting and I like the chance to eat all sorts of crap Anyone tried this diet? Basically eat what you want during a 5 hrs window! I'm almost like this naturally, it's 1pm and I'm still not hungry, and it's not that hard for me to wait till 5 to start eating. I started this on Monday. Hard to tell how I feel todayas I have a few days off work and have been sleeping in and relaxing

Basically interested in the benefits of the "strict" fasting period, not so much the diet loosing weight part (although that would be nice too)

I know a few people here eat once a day but I'm not sure if they are "Fasting" as such in between meals.

Thanks in advance

Mal,

I've tried it and stopped a number of times for maybe a month or two at a time. There's a lot of research that intermittent fasting can lengthen longevity in rats and repair age related DNA damage in humans even in just a few weeks. It looks promising on paper.

I've quit the diet in the past as I experienced no weight loss with it. Then I read fast5 and I learned that the weight loss with fast 5 is extremely slow... takes about the same amount of time as putting the weight on in the first place. Also, you have to follow the diet long enough that there is no compensatory over eating at night.

So I haven't tried this diet for a long enough period to know if there's a long term weight loss component.

It's not for everyone, but I'm hoping I can make it work for a more sexy me.

Yoda

I've done this for months at a time, I would usually eat my one meal around noon or a little after. It definitely allows you to sleep more deeply. I don't think it hurts you at all. I didn't experience any weight loss, but I didn't need to lose any weight anyway. If you want to lose weight, eat coconut oil and go low-carb.

anyone interested in fasting needs to look into Dr Jubb Lifefoods nutritional fasting.

I've done this diet for about a year now. It's similar to the warrior diet. I'm not doing it for weight loss, mainly for energy balance. During the day I just eat spirulina or chlorella tablets and start to eat at about 5 pm. At the start I used to pig out a bit, but now I find that I'm not really hungry enough to eat more than the usual meal at dinner time.

I've noticed that ever since i started meditating deeper, I've been eating only one meal a day. I usually force myself to eat to because of fear of hunger

Hi Mal,

What you're describing is a spin-off of the Warrior Diet, www.warriordiet.com. There's quite a bit of research on that, and it's interesting to a point. It really suits people who have an Adrenal body type, meaning that their adrenal gland is their dominant gland, and they tend to be strong and sturdy and put on more weight on the upper part of the body rather than the lower.

This is the type of person who can do well eating very little during the day and eating a large meal at night (controlled fasting/controlled feasting). The adrenal glands become more active later on in the day, so if a person with a dominant adrenal gland eats big meals earlier in the day, they'll be overstimulating that gland, leading to exhaustion.

But other types do NOT do well with this regime, because they need more stimulation of the adrenals earlier in the day. The timing that's appropriate for you will depend on your body type. - this is an example of how the one-size-fits-all approach to diet doesn't work.

-Karen

^ Interesting.

I myself only eat twice a day and skip "breakfast."

By skipping breakfast, I am essentially fasting for maybe 16 hrs everyday from dinner to an early lunch when I finally "break fast."

I kinda just fell into this and don't claim it's healthy or anything, though...

Max prefers the '6 small meals a day' grazing diet. Although, a colonics doctor told me it's better to space your meals at least 4 hrs apart so you can fully digest each one before the next. So, who knows?

- I think there may be a trade-off between cleansing and fueling. Perhaps fewer meals and more fasting is better for cleansing. This may be better for someone who needs to detox more and isn't generating a lot of power yet (perhaps like me at this stage).

- But more constant meals and less fasting may be better for fueling. This may be better for someone who is already clean and just needs a lot more food to fuel their power (like Max).

I do think it varies by individual.

Having said that, all rats do well on intermittent fasting if they've been acclimated to it at a young age. It also seems that they will all benefit if gradually phased into it later in life, but may be hurt by it if they suddenly switch to it in middle age... more research needs to be done and rats aren't people, of course.

Hi Vortex,

The cleansing/fueling distinction is certainly part of it. But people are rarely "clean" as if there is a static state of cleanliness that we can get into and stay in - cleansing is an ongoing cyclical process.

The problem with most dietary advice is that it's looking at one leg of the elephant, so to speak, and there are many aspects that add up to the whole. Metabolism is extremely complex and depends on so many factors that differ among individuals. Even foods that are acid forming for one person will be alkalinizing for another, and vice versa.

The diet typologies like blood type, body (glandular) type, metabolic type, Ayurvedic type, etc., cut through the complexity, but then you also have to consider which system of typology is relevant for a particular person, at a particular time - depending on their health status, the stress they're under, etc.

Someone under a particular kind of stress might actually be more burdened by a cleansing diet, and that could actually destabilize them. But the common approach is to rush to get rid of toxins the minute we see signs of toxicity, without understanding the bigger picture.

-Karen

As I've pointed out in other threads, this is the way Buddhist Monks have been doing it for about 2500 years. It's good cultivation.

The constitutions of the ancients were much different from ours, which is why they didn't have detailed dietary systems and didn't need them! Even just a few hundred years ago, most people could implement a few simple measures to maintain balance. But our whole subtle energy physiology has changed, in a way that reflects where we're at in our spiritual development in modern times. We can use tools from ancient wisdom traditions, but we need to apply them in a different context now.

-Karen

For what its worth. IMHO.
Dr Jubb can be extreme and I am not sure that he practices what he preaches.
For instance a number of years ago while he was "fasting" - claimed to have not eaten in weeks -
I saw him eat candy. Annie Jubb told me he was just playing. Yeah right.
Recently we tried to have a conversation with him and he was quite paranoid and unbalanced.

I agree about Jubb being a flake but he still has good info in his books and I incorporate his advice into my own dietary needs. I needed what Karen is offering a year ago

Hi Christoph,

I offer email consults on a more advanced level too . And I'm planning to put some more advanced material into a free email mini-course, to add to the one that's available now.

(For most of my life, I needed what I'm offering )

-Karen

I'm definitely interested in the Fast-5 diet, since it's my opinion that I eat far too much and far too often. However, the thought of skipping my morning sugar boost (i.e breakfast) sort of freaks me out a bit. I can handle skipping breakfast when I'm at home doing nothing, or at uni studying, but often I'm working at a hospital from early in the morning. I'm usually going non-stop from 7am until lunchtime and I find that I get very very hungry in that time. If I skip breakfast it gets a whole lot worse - headaches, cramps, general cranky-ness etc. I seriously don't think I could survive an entire shift with no food intake.

Cheers, This does seem to be my body type, I know of the Warrior diet and it appeals to me too. Perhaps this is why eating a big breakfasts and lunch has never been my thing. This eating pattern is very natural to me, although the "fasting" part feels a bit hard core

I really like the nighttime cut off as I'm a late night person and can quite easily binge out on 2 or 3 250g blocks of chocolate between 11pm and 3am that I didn't really notice myself eat or really want

For Losing weight? Perhaps. It is a clever way to restrict calories, but I think it would be more likely to slow metabolism and encourage the body to store fat. The body does not like ot be hungry.

The actually "fasting" part is what interesting to me. And yes it is also because it look like a monks eating program that has the meal at the right time of the day But I wonder if the hunger pangs / slight headaches are worth it (or how long till they go away)

Also for me I train after work, might not be the best idea if I have not had any food for 19 hrs to then go and exercise for another 2. (Eating normally throughout the day if I forget to have a snack before training I sometimes feel weak and get the shakes) I think it might be better to graze on fruit and nuts, not sure if a 19 hour fast is of enough benefit to outweigh the symptoms. Is fasting for less than one day even fasting?

It's not fasting per se. You eat non-starchy carbs like fruits and veggies, and some light protein if exercising. When an Adreanl types eats lighter during the day, it gives the thyroid and pituitary a boost when they need it, and gives the adrenals a rest when they need it.

If an Adrenal type eats a big breakfast of heavy protein and fats, that stimulates the adrenals to produce more hormones to keep you hungry during the day. When an adrenal person overeats that way, they put on weight in the upper abdomen, which is the area that responds most to adrenal hormones.



It's for normalizing weight for an Adrenal type. Metabolic functioning and the conditions that promote fat storage are different for different types. This eating pattern is a cycle of eating lighter during day and heavier in the evening, and the body responds to the cycle, not jut the undereating period. For other types, that cycle could promote fat storage, but for an Adrenal type it doesn't.

Metabolism can become slowed because an adrenal type's thyroid needs more support. If you eat heavily during the day, that overstimulates and weakens the thyroid.



If you eat more of the foods that are right for the adrenal type at the evening meal, and eat more lightly during the day, you generally shouldn't have hunger pangs or headaches, but there are always other factors to consider. Hunger pangs and headcahes can often be a need for water. Or you may be reacting to a withdrawal from the wrong foods.. or it could be that your body just needs time to adjust.

There's also blood type to consider, and some people need to look at metabolic typing to see whether the oxidative system or the autonomic nervous system is dominant.



What you describe as grazing on fruit and nuts, IS the fasting period . Nuts may be a bit heavy - try to eat seeds that aren't as fatty. Hemp seeds are great for good quality, light protein. If you're exercising, try some lean protein like chicken (ideally organic, free-range). Then the evening meal is the heavier one - emphasizing poultry or fish, veggies, good quality oils, some beans, some raw dairy.

-Karen

What's a good place to buy hemp seeds? I've never tried them before..but they sound yummy.

I'm intrigued by the idea of fasting, mostly as a method to detox and help me with more lengthy meditation sessions down the road. I've always had a very fast metabolism (I can recall many a 6000 calorie day back in high school during sports seasons) and I'm ravenous from the moment I wake up.

It kinda makes me not know where to start...if I'm up for more than a couple hours without eating I usually will get a headache and a bit ornery...

They are yummy! They seem to me a lot like sesame seeds, but softer. Try www.nutiva.com to mail order.

joeblast,

Sounds like fasting may not be appropriate for you, even though the idea is appealing. The idea is really detoxification, which you want to accomplish safely and in accordance with your own individual metabolic needs. Meeting your individual needs is the way that you allow your body to naturally release toxins, not by imposing on it a one-size-fits-all approach which can create even more imbalances.

For example, some people need to eat a high protein diet to get the metabolism functioning efficiently and balanced. Others can eat more lightly with salads and such during the day, and still be crusing steadily. I'm small and a relatively small eater, but I'm a high protein type who would run out of fuel and be miserable after eating a salad for lunch.

What's really best for meditation is what's best for your metabolism as a whole, what keeps you burning fuel efficiently and steadily. Once things are stabilized, you might be able to cycle in semi-fasting periods.

-Karen

Hey Karen
Great Posts as always -
How would an adrenal type go about supporting their thyroid?

Makes sense, thanks! I really only know some stuff that pisses my guts off, so I dont eat it. I try avoiding big steaks, I dont eat anything made from intestines or that has been fried. Sweets have never appealed to me, no sugar in coffee of anything. I love cayennes and habaneros. And OJ. And most anything else that is food

Hello,

Another alternative may be dinner cancelling. It is especially mentioned in German web sites, basically not to eat anything after 4:00 pm (latest), preferably after lunch. It is only allowed to drink calorie-free and non-alcoholic drinks such as water or herbal tea. More info could be obtained from:

Novafeel

Hi upfromtheashes ,

The thyroid is a pretty interesting organ from an esoteric point of view - it relates to the astral body, which is opening up to allow us to evolve in consciousness, so the thyroid is very commonly under stress.

To support the thryoid, there are approaches on different levels - on the level of nutrition, you want to avoid stimulants - sugar, processed foods (they mostly all have harmful sugars and hidden MSG), caffeine, alcohol, and table salt (use Himalayan crystal salt or Celtic salt).

Avoid soy like the plague . Avoid fluoride in water and toothpaste. Avoid exposure to heavy metals (vaccinations, mercury dental fillings, etc.). Make sure you get iodine in the diet, not from iodized salt.

On the emotional/spiritual level, the thyroid is about expressing yourself, giving voice to your truth. No wonder that fluoride, which inhibits the thyroid, is known to make people passive.

-Karen

Hey Karen
Thanks
What do you think about seaweed ?
It is very high in fluoride but extremely high in iodine
It

Seaweeds are generally good for all blood types and body types, although dulse and wakame not so good for adrenal types. The naturally occurring fluoride as in seaweeds and green tea, is completely different from the toxic sodium fluoride compound used to fluoridate water and for dental applications. Sodium fluoride is an industrial waste product.

And with foods grown naturally, there are so many synergistic nutrients that compensate for each other - otherwise we wouldn't be able to eat anything if we looked at each individual chemical constituent of foods and saw that this or that chemical was carcinogenic or toxic in some way! - especially with vegetables and herbs.

-Karen