Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! Today we’ll be wrapping up our in depth look at June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore. In particular, I want to share with you some of my final thoughts on intermittent fasting and whether or not it might be a good fit for you.

When it comes to weight loss, there really is no ‘one size fits all’ plan that works for everyone and intermittent fasting is no exception. Spending a week following an intermittent fasting schedule really gave me the opportunity to experience what fasting is like and to learn more about my own eating behaviors. It also gave me the chance to think about who might really benefit from intermittent fasting and who should steer clear. Is it a good match for you? Keep reading as I share my thoughts on who should and who shouldn’t give it a try.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission when you shop through my links at no extra cost to you, which helps make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Who should consider intermittent fasting?

Wondering whether intermittent fasting might be right for your goals? Below you’ll find my thoughts on who might want to consider intermittent fasting for weight loss. Of course, it’s ultimately up to you (and your health care team!) to figure out what’s best for your nutrition and health needs, but here are my 2 cents!

Constant Grazers

If you have tried the ‘small and frequent meals’ approach to weight loss with no success, intermittent fasting might be an interesting option for you. Though some argue that increasing meal frequency helps a person avoid hunger attacks and keeps the metabolism humming, others would say each additional meal eaten is just another opportunity to overeat. By limiting your eating window with an intermittent fasting schedule, you can flip the script by eating less frequently with less concern over portion sizes.

Mindless Nibblers

Maybe you’re the sort that eats pretty regular meals but then also has a little of this, a little of that all throughout the day. You finish off that half a cookie from last night with your mid-morning coffee and you help Little Junior polish off the remains of his lunch. Or maybe you get a little snacky in the afternoon and meander over to the break room to see what sort of stale pastries are lying around. If this sounds like you, intermittent fasting might be the reality check you need.

When you are purposefully following a fasting schedule, you’ll be amazed at how often you catch yourself in the an the act of mindless snacking! The vast majority of people greatly underestimate how many calories they consume each day, partly due to this sort of unintentional eating. If intermittent fasting does nothing else, it will definitely make you a very mindful eater.

Late-night Munchers

For many people trying to lose weight, evening snacking can completely undo a day’s worth of diligence. Just think–if you’re trying to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day in order to lose a pound per week, all it would take to erase that deficit is a couple big handfuls of Doritos or a bowl of Haagen Dazs. If this sounds familiar, really sticking to a set eating window might help you avoid this excessive nighttime noshing.

You just want something simple!

Once you pick which schedule you want to use, intermittent fasting is as straightforward as you can get. Granted, you could add a bit of work to your regimen by following Fung’s particular nutrition recommendations, but even these are fairly simple and don’t require deciphering lengthy food lists or measuring portions. Though I wouldn’t necessarily say that fasting is easy, I would say that it is uncomplicated.

You’re stuck in a rut.

Are you just bored with how you’ve been eating? Let me tell you, fasting has an amazing way of turning meals into something to look forward to! Because you’re not just eating whatever whenever, “What’s for dinner?” will become an exciting question each day. You’ll find yourself wanting to make the most of meal times because now you’re eating with purpose, not just on a whim.

Who should NOT try intermittent fasting?

Though there are rarely hard and fast rules about who shouldn’t follow a particular weight loss plan, some plans are certainly better or worse given a person’s situation. Intermittent fasting really isn’t the right plan for everyone, as you’ll see in my comments below. Fortunately, there are as many ways to tackle weight loss as there are people, so no worries if fasting isn’t the best fit for you!

You already skip meals and yet struggle with your weight.

If you already have fallen into a sort of intermittent fasting pattern and yet find yourself overweight or obese and unable to lose weight, following a more formalized fast may not particularly benefit you.

You already swing between feast and famine.

Perhaps you are someone who tends to skip breakfast, often misses lunch, but then comes home with a ravenous appetite, ready to eat everything in sight. You wolf down a big dinner and keep on eating until the lights go out. If that sounds at all familiar–eating very little throughout the day but then overeating later to compensate–intermittent fasting might not be your best bet. I have worked with many individuals with this set of eating behaviors–famine all day and feasting all night. Almost always the answer is more regular and consistent meals, NOT missing or skipping meals.

You spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Being around food when you’re fasting is no fun. Or at least that was my experience. Having to prepare food for others knowing full well I wouldn’t be having anything until much later in the day was nothing short of brutal some days. Hunger was a real issue for me, despite Fung’s claims that those pangs would diminish within a couple days of following the regimen. Simply handling food would immediately trigger a bout of tummy rumbling that could be heard from the neighbor’s house!

You’re work is physically demanding.

If you have a job that requires a lot of hard, physical work, you need to be fueling your body appropriately. You should be eating regularly throughout the day to ensure you’re getting the energy you need. If weight loss is on your radar, you’ll want to look for other diet plans that provide regular meals with a balance of nutrients but at a calorie level appropriate for losing weight.

You’re prone to getting lightheaded, nauseous, or woozy when you miss meals.

Granted, if you struggle with this, you might need to make sure you are getting in a good balance of nutrients at meals to ensure a more gradual rise and fall in your blood sugar levels regardless of which diet plan you choose. But, if do eat fairly balanced meals and you are simply prone to these symptoms when you go too long without eating, than fasting might not be your best option.

You have a history of eating disorders or disordered eating behaviors.

Reading through this book, I could not help but hear echoes of statements I have heard from both anorexic and bulimic clients. Though the recommendations offered by Fung may be harmless and even helpful to individuals who do not struggle with disordered eating, those who do may find many of his statements very affirming and enabling of their unhealthy attitudes toward food.

(Note that Fung himself states that people with a history of eating disorders should not practice intermittent fasting. I simply want to reiterate the point. He also includes pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and anyone who is malnourished amongst those who should avoid fasting.)

So this wraps up the very first Diet of the Month here at The Diet Oracle. Thank you so much for following along! I look forward to the next diet we’ll put under the microscope starting in August!

If you’d like to read more about The Complete Guide to Fasting, check out my previous posts here!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Final Thoughts appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

We are nearing the end of our month-long discussion of June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore–which is good, considering it is now JULY!!

I have really enjoyed reviewing this book and have learned so much by taking intermittent fasting for a spin. I don’t know about you, but I am such a creature of habit and choosing an eating plan that was off my beaten track really brought to light a few habits I didn’t even know I had! Shaking things up a bit is a great way to break out of a rut, whether you’re struggling to get the pounds off or just feel bored with your daily fare.

Intermittent fasting was definitely a new experience for me and after trying it out for an entire week, I’ve come away with a few tips that will help you to be successful should you decide to give intermittent fasting a try. While some of these tips would apply to pretty much any diet plan, others are fairly specific to fasting.

• First things first: get your head in the game. If you imagine you can just waltz through a week (or more) of intermittent fasting without some mental preparation, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
• Consider going in via the shallow end if you’re new to fasting. If you have never gone 12 hours without eating, that’s probably where you should start. But, if a 12-hour fast poses no challenge, try an 8:16 schedule or one of the gentler fasting schedules included in The Complete Guide to Fasting. As Fung would say, there is no single, right way to fast and there are countless options for designing your own.
• Lean hard on that coffee (or tea) and bone broth. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I do not think I could have gotten through my 24-hour fast days without these on hand. The coffee with half and half really made it possible for me to survive the morning without breakfast and a hot bowl of bone broth loaded up with herbs got me through to dinner.
• Stay busy. Fung mentions this bit of advice several times in his book and I couldn’t agree more. A bit of distraction can make all the difference when you’re trying to get through a longer fast. Whether tackling a project at the office, working in the garden, or re-organizing the garage, keeping yourself occupied can take your mind off of eating.
• STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, try to avoid hanging out in food areas while you are fasting. Appetite is driven by more than just hunger pangs; virtually all of our senses can signal to us that it is time to eat.
• Emphasize fats. Though many of us have been ingrained with the notion that low- or no-fat is the way to go when trying to lose weight, this might not always be the best advice. By making a point of including more fats during my week of intermittent fasting, I frequently ended up eating less than expected simply because I felt full with a smaller portion.
• Prepare in advance a few grab-and-go meals that are appropriate for your eating plan. For myself, I found having such things as hard-boiled eggs, cooked bacon and breakfast sausage, grated and/or sliced cheeses, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, pre-made salad, cooked and sliced meats, and (last but not least) a batch of homemade pho bone broth stashed in the fridge to be of immense help. You don’t want to ever be scrambling for something to eat. That is a recipe for diet disaster.
• Have a few easy swaps in your bag of tricks so you don’t wind up playing the short order cook. Part of the beauty of intermittent fasting is its simplicity! Don’t make life difficult by thinking you have to cook food for yourself that’s entirely different from what the rest of the family is eating. For example, if you’re making pasta with bolognese sauce for dinner, you can easily serve up spaghetti noodles for the crew and steamed zoodles for yourself. Or, if fajitas are on the menu, offer a plate of warm tortillas as well as lettuce leaves for wraps. These little swaps take at most 3 extra minutes to prepare, but will make meal times less stressed for everyone.
• On longer fasting days, break your fast gently. Try having something small 30 or so minutes before your meal. Chew your food well and eat slowly. Wolfing down a plateful of food after a stint of fasting is a sure fire way to get a bellyache.
• If at any point during your fast you feel dizzy or nauseous, you should seriously consider ending your fast and having something to eat. Fung emphasizes this point as well. You should not feel bad while fasting. If you do, you might want to try a shorter fasting period or a different intermittent fasting schedule.

Intermittent fasting is a fairly straightforward and simple way to try to lose weight, but it is not without its challenges. Though there isn’t much heavy lifting in the kitchen, any serious change to your eating habits is going to require planning and commitment. If you’re thinking intermittent fasting might be a good fit for you, I hope these tips will help you reach your goals!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Tips for Success appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! Today’s post is all about the best foods for intermittent fasting. Now, I know what you’re thinking–Isn’t fasting all about NOT EATING? Even I have to chuckle at the thought of food lists for fasting! However! Be that as it may, when it comes to intermittent fasting, food is still on the table and planning for your meals is as crucial as ever.

Anytime you are eating less, it is imperative that you make the most of every bite. Not only will you want your food choices to be filling and satisfying, but you will want to make sure your nutritional needs are being met as well.

Foods for Intermittent Fasting

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you today a simple list of the foods I found to be essential to my own week-long experience with intermittent fasting. While some were important for the nutrients they offered, others made it possible to just make it through the day.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop using these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Bear in mind that as I followed one of the fasting schedules found in The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting, I also committed to the particular nutrition recommendations given by the authors, which included an emphasis on natural fats (not necessarily plant-based) and whole, unprocessed foods. Refined grains were to be strictly limited and sugar avoided entirely.

Beverages

• Coffee with half and half. If you go back through my previous posts, you’ll see that I began every single day with 2 cups of coffee with half and half. Though I woke up almost every morning feeling hungry and really wanting to eat breakfast, drinking coffee made it possible for me to wait until lunchtime for that first meal. Don’t misunderstand: I still dealt with hunger throughout the morning, but coffee is what got me through. (I could also list tea here, except I drink chai tea with whole milk and a bit of sugar and sugar was on the no-no list.)
• Bone broth with fresh herbs. On my 24-hour fast days, bone broth was an absolute must-have. Though technically a liquid (and therefore in my beverage category), it seemed more than that. More filling. More substantial. More like food, I suppose, than other hot beverages. While I’m sure part of this truly is due to the nutritional content, I think it also is mental. A hot bowl (or mug) of bone broth with fresh herbs is *almost* like a bowl of soup. Almost. I happened to make a Vietnamese-style pho broth, which I adore in its own right.
• Water, plain or infused with fruits and fresh herbs. Staying hydrated is so important during a fast. Thirst is often misperceived as hunger and when you’re fasting, you’ve already got enough hunger pangs to deal with without adding dehydration to the mix.

Dairy and Eggs

• Half and half. A coffee necessity for me.
• Whole milk. When I did have tea, whole milk was essential.
• Cream. An important ingredient for cooking when you want to add fat. Also is not prone to breaking/curdling when making a sauce with acidic ingredients.
• Butter. Another important (and delicious) source of fat.
• Your favorite cheeses. Cheese is considered a medium-fat protein, which makes it a nice fit for Fung’s recommendations. Cheese also has a way of making a recipe or meal feel both filling and comforting–a bonus when you haven’t eaten for 18+ hours. I personally stocked the fridge with some of our usual suspects: Tillamook Cheddar, mozzarella, feta, and pecorino Romano.
• Greek yogurt (non-sweetened, full-fat). It’s high in protein with a neutral, slightly tangy flavor that pairs well with fruit as well as more savory fare. An easy grab-and-go item.
• Cottage cheese (ideally full-fat or at least 2%). Like Greek yogurt, another easy choice that’s high in protein and versatile.
• Eggs. So many ways to enjoy eggs and can be prepped in advance.

Meat, Poultry, Fish, and Other Protein Choices

• Cuts of beef you enjoy. I have to say that a good steak with a heaping pile of Caesar salad is my kind of diet.
• Chicken. You don’t need to go too lean here. Though you can certainly do boneless, skinless breasts, you’ll need to add fats in other ways to compensate.
• Fish (especially cold water, fatty fish)
• Tofu (not a low-fat kind)
• Various breakfast meats. I stocked both bacon as well as a chicken apple breakfast sausage.

Nuts and Other Fats

• Peanut (or other nut) butter. Snacks can be tough when you’re trying to go the high-fat, low-carb route. A spoonful of peanut butter, either alone or with some veggies, can be a life-saver.
• Your favorite nuts. Once again, nuts make a great snack when you need something that’s high in fat, low-carb, and easy. I keep almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pecans on hand pretty much always.
• A few favorite full-fat salad dressings. I particularly love Caesar and Thousand Island.

Fruits and Vegetables

• In the produce aisle, go with what you like!
• For fruits, I stocked up on apples, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melon, cuties, bananas and whatever else looked good.
• If available, stock up on avocados! They’re another great source of fat to add to salads, lettuce wraps, and whatever else you can think of.
• For veggies, I filled my crisper drawer with spring greens, romaine, cucumbers, celery, mini bell peppers, baby carrots, zoodles (spiralized zucchini), cauliflower, broccoli, and more! Vine ripened tomatoes were also a must, though of course those don’t go in the fridge, right?
• I also made sure to have lettuce that worked well for wraps. There are some fancy lettuces out there, but iceberg can do the trick, too.

Whole Grains

• Because I followed the sample meal plan fairly closely, I didn’t consume many grains. When I did, I went with 100% whole wheat bread, bran cereal, and Triscuit Thin Crisps (which are also whole grain).

Planning is Key

Though this list is by no means exhaustive, these were the foods and beverages I found to be both helpful and enjoyable as I attempted my first ever intermittent fast. By planning ahead and stocking the right foods, you can boost your chances for success and decrease needless stress. If intermittent fasting is on your radar, I hope this list of fast-friendly foods helps you get results and reach your goals!

(If you’d like to read more about my experiences with intermittent fasting, I have an entire series available for you here!)

The post Intermittent Fasting: Foods I Couldn’t Do Without appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! It has been quite the week! If you are new here, we have been taking an up-close-and-personal look at June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore and I have just wrapped up my own week-long immersion into the world of intermittent fasting. (If you’d like more information about the fasting schedule I followed, check out this post.) Today I’m excited to be sharing with you nutrition highlights for the week and my personal intermittent fasting weight loss results!

I definitely learned a lot, both about fasting as well as myself, and am looking forward to sharing with you the good, the bad, and the hungry. In upcoming posts, I’ll be serving up my best tips for success, from grocery shopping and meal prep to dealing with hunger and the foods/beverages I could NOT do without. Hopefully, my experience will shed a light on what intermittent fasting is really like and give you the tools you need for success, should you decide intermittent fasting might be a good fit for you.

But! Before we get to all of that, I want to do a little math and see how my week of intermittent fasting looks on paper. Plus, let’s chat about my results on the scale! It’s time to crunch some numbers and see where we stand.

My Weight Loss Results!

For the week, my average caloric intake was approximately 1253 calories with about 55% from fat, 25% from carbohydrate, and 20% from protein. For reference, I would typically need about 1700-1900 calories to maintain my weight, given my gender, height, weight, age, and a light activity level. Knowing that 1 pound of body weight contains roughly 3500 calories worth of energy, this would mean that over the course of the last week (well, EIGHT days, if we’re being precise), I have been in the hole approximately 3570-5200 calories, an amount which should create a 1-1.5 pound weight loss.

In reality, I lost just shy of 3 pounds!

(Granted, one must assume that part of this weight loss is water weight. It will be interesting to see in a few days from now–once I have returned to a more normal eating pattern–to what extent the scale goes back up.)

My Fasting Macros

Looking at my macronutrient breakdown, you’ll quickly see that my numbers don’t exactly measure up to what is typically recommended to Americans. Because I wanted to adhere to Fung’s recommendations as closely as possible, not only did I follow one of the provided fasting schedules but I also endeavored to consume a diet high in natural fats with an emphasis on whole, unprocessed foods and very limited refined grains and sugars.

Fasting & Ketosis

Given this very low intake of carbohydrate, one could argue that not only was I fasting, but I was also following something close to a ketogenic diet. This is a diet in which carbohydrate intake is so low that the body is forced into ketosis, a series of metabolic changes that triggers the body to more heavily utilize its own fat stores. Each day, I ended up getting in an average of 76 grams of carbohydrate; ketosis typically occurs at levels just under 50 grams per day. Both low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets have been shown to be very effective for weight loss.

So a very obvious question here is, does fasting offer any particular benefits that simple calorie cutting cannot provide? And, would fasting be as effective if the meals eaten were not so low in carbohydrate? We’ve got several confounding variables going on: fasting combined with a caloric deficit, high fat intake, and limited carbs. Does one of these factors deserve the greater share of credit for delivering results? Or do they all work together, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts?

Fasting Claims

In The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting, Dr. Jason Fung would argue, of course, that the advantages of fasting cannot be minimized or brushed aside. He claims several benefits, including:

• Reduced circulating insulin levels and increased insulin sensitivity
• Improved health and well-being
• Enhanced workouts and anti-aging benefits
• Successful weight loss without hunger or complicated diet plans to follow
• Flexible options that can work for anyone
• and more.

Find the right plan for you!

Every diet claims to have the key to fast and lasting weight loss. The truth is, a diet that’s incredibly effective for one person might be a no-go for somebody else. In my experience, the trick to weight loss success is finding the plan that’s just right for you. That might take some trial-and-error, but figuring out your best strategy is worth it. Is intermittent fasting your answer? My upcoming posts can help you decide!

The post Intermittent Fasting: A Week in Review and My Results appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

For the last few weeks, we have been taking an in depth look at June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore. And, in order to get a real feel for what intermittent fasting has to offer, I have been following one of the regimens included in the book, giving you the chance to see what intermittent fasting looks like up close. (For more information about the particulars of my plan, check out this post.)

Today will not only be the last day of this little seven (eight?) day experiment, but also my last 24-hour fast day. To tell you the truth, I almost skipped it. The first two 24-hour fasts were no cake walk and I wasn’t exactly eager for a third. But! For the sake of really giving intermittent fasting a fair shake, I stuck it out and am now sharing with you, dear readers, how it went. Take a look!

Breakfast: Skipped. Had my usual coffee with half and half. Didn’t feel particularly hungry this morning, but also not feeling well.

Lunch: Skipped. By 11am, I was super hungry and had some pho broth with fresh herbs. Still feeling really hungry.

Snack: I made it until about 2:45 and then just had to eat. I had a hard boiled egg, about 2/3 cup of bran cereal, and a string cheese. An hour later I felt really gross. Nauseous even.

Dinner: Chicken, half a serving of tater tots, mixed veggie salad topped with avocado and thousand island, and apple slices.

Well, the 24-hour fasting days certainly haven’t gotten any easier. Technically, this was about a 22-hour fast since I didn’t quite make it to dinner time. Though it was a nice change to not wake up with a growling stomach, it was definitely rumbling by late morning and continued to do so until dinnertime. The snack gave me a short reprieve, but notice it came at a price; I really felt awful about an hour afterward. Though Fung often states in The Complete Guide to Fasting that the body adjusts to fasting and that hunger is largely in the mind, it certainly feels quite physical to me!

So for my nutritional intake today, I got in about 1050 calories with 54% from fat, 28% from carbohydrate, and 18% from protein. Given how I felt today, I did not particularly seek out physical activity, aside from my typical daily routine. As with all previous days while on this regimen, I have consumed an amount of calories that would certainly result in weight loss over time. Tomorrow morning I will weigh-in and see what my total weight loss for the week is. Should be interesting!

As we get closer to wrapping up June’s Diet of the month, I’ll be taking some time in upcoming posts to discuss my thoughts on intermittent fasting and The Complete Guide to Fasting, in particular. I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned along the way–both pitfalls to avoid as well as tips for success–so stay tuned!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 8 (Bonus Day!) appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Breakfast: Skipped. Had my usual 2 cups of coffee with half and half. I woke up particularly hungry this morning and found myself really wanting breakfast.

Lunch: Cottage cheese with raspberries and green salad with avocado and bacon. Still trying to follow the book’s nutrition recommendations that emphasize natural fats and unprocessed, whole foods.

Snack: Spoonful of peanut butter.

Dinner: Cheesy Cauliflower and apple slices. I was surprised by how filling this rich cauliflower dish was and couldn’t finish what I’d served myself.

So as mentioned above, I woke up really hungry this morning. Really. Hungry. I wanted breakfast big time. I stuck to my guns though, and I’ve found that if I can get that cup of coffee going first thing, it really does help to get me through that breakfast hour without stealing someone’s toast.

As for the rest of the day, though I enjoyed my meals and was satisfied after eating, I would find myself uncomfortably hungry within two hours. Typically, I like to eat about every four hours–breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner. So having this near constant feeling of hunger is not the norm for me and puts me on edge, to be honest.

As far as the numbers go, today I got in 1268 calories with 59% (!!) from fat, 20% (!!) from carbs and 21% from protein. Holy smokes, that is a high-fat, low-carb day if there ever was one! And, like every other day so far, I’ve managed to consume an amount of calories appropriate for weight loss without particularly trying. Though I feel super hungry throughout the day, I often end up feeling fuller than expected when I do eat. For exercise, I walked our toddler a couple miles in the stroller and had decent energy for that. I’d definitely say that I didn’t feel as lousy today as I have on other days.

I didn’t hop on the scale today but will be sure to do one final weigh-in to see how my weight has changed over the course of the week. Given how low my caloric intake has been, I certainly expect to have lost at least a pound or two, but it will be interesting to see if there is any additional change due to the low-carbohydrate and intermittent fasting elements of this diet.

Okay folks, one LAST day to go as I take The Complete Guide to Fasting for a little test drive and it will be my final 24-hour fast! Wish me luck and I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 7 appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Second 24-hour fast day–let’s do this!

I decided to start my day with a super-charged cup of joe famously known as Bulletproof Coffee. Have you heard of this? Popularized by keto folks, this is not your regular cuppa. Though the recipes vary a bit, Bulletproof Coffee is essentially a cup of strong coffee that’s been blended with heavy cream, clarified butter, coconut oil, and MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil, or any combination thereof. While it is not low in calories by any means, it does check the boxes for those following a liquid and/or fat fast and is meant to get someone through those challenging days when your regular java just won’t cut it.

In honor of June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore, I decided to test out the version found in their recipe section, which combines 1 cup of coffee with 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, 1-2 tablespoons butter or ghee (clarified butter), and 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil. I went with the lesser amount of each of those high-fat additions, gave it a good whisking with my Aerolatte, and took a swig.

Oh my word. I know some people are nuts about this stuff but I about gagged on it! Mind you, I am both picky and simple when it comes to my coffee. Just a plain cup with a bit of half and half. For lattes, just give me a plain double. No sugar. No syrups. No whip. Nothing fancy. So I might be the last person who should be reviewing coffee drinks. But seriously. No way. On a more positive note, my husband liked it fine and was willing to drink about half a cup.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get on with the rest of the day, shall we?

Breakfast: Skipped. Tried Bulletproof Coffee but did not like it. Went with my regular cup with half and half.

Lunch: Skipped. Feeling really hungry and just generally lousy. I had a cup of the pho broth with fresh herbs, which helps for sure.

Afternoon: I was feeling so shaky and fuzzy-headed that I decided to eat around 2:00. I had a chicken apple sausage, half an apple with peanut butter, and a partial serving of Triscuit Thin Crisps.

Dinner: Grilled cheeseburger on a whole wheat bun and mixed green salad with thousand island dressing.

This second fasting day was tough. Adding to the difficulty, however, was the fact that I decided to do one of my regular weight lifting workouts despite the fact that I was fasting.

One of the claims made by Fung in The Complete Guide to Fasting is that while fasting, individuals can still have great workouts and even better energy levels. His rationale is that, when in a food-deprived state, the body has developed natural responses that allow a person to be a better hunter/gatherer and that humans would not have survived famines and other hard times were this not the case. Regardless of whether or not this is true, I certainly did not experience such benefits in my own training and energy levels today. I would say my legs felt weaker while performing squats and I was pretty much worn out for the rest of the day.

As for my nutritional intake for the day, I landed at 1176 calories, 46% from fat, 33% from carbohydrate, and 21% from protein. Typical of this fasting regimen, I continue to consume an amount of calories that would most certainly result in weight loss over time. My fat intake continues to be high with a low percentage from carbs. Oddly enough, however, my weight was up 1 pound today, for a total net loss of 1.8 pounds. Still nothing to sniff at as the week is not yet over and I’ve lost over 1% of my body weight.

We’re getting close to the end of our week-long experience with The Complete Guide to Fasting and it has certainly been eye-opening. I will finish out the week with one more day following the 6:18 eating/fasting schedule and one last 24-hour fast. Tomorrow I will be sharing a recipe for Cheesy Cauliflower that promises to be both tasty and satisfying when Mac n’ Cheese is off the menu–we shall see!!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 6 appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

So let’s take a look at Day 4 and see how it went. After my first 24-hour fast, going back to the 6:18 schedule seemed like child’s play…

Breakfast: Skipped. My husband, bless the man, got up early and made waffles and bacon for the boys. So much for child’s play! I had my usual cup of coffee with half and half.

Lunch: Sausage, scrambled eggs, buttered whole wheat toast, strawberries. Obviously channeling some of that angst from having missed out on breakfast…

Snack: Tablespoon of peanut butter and 1/4 cup bran cereal (Odd choice, I know. I’ve had weird cravings for high fiber, whole grains.)

Dinner: Grilled steak, Caesar salad, slice of French bread

I can definitely say that after the full day of fasting yesterday, the 6:18 schedule was a lot easier–despite the man filling up the house with smells of breakfast deliciousness! I missed digging in with everyone else, but sat at the table with my coffee and still enjoyed their company and the sight of faces sticky with maple syrup.

Throughout the pages of The Complete Guide to Fasting, the authors repeatedly talk about the importance of staying busy and avoiding food situations when you’re fasting. These past four days, however, have really proven how impractical that advice may be for those of us who spend more hours in a kitchen than in an office. As a wife and mom to four boys, avoiding food is simply not an option. Not only that, but I spend a quite a bit of time fixing meals, clearing plates, wiping milk mustaches, sweeping up Cheerios, and any number of other food related tasks. I think anyone who is considering intermittent fasting either for weight loss or health should take a clear-eyed look at their own daily grind to gauge whether or not fasting is a realistic option.

My calorie intake for the day ended up at 1484 calories with 59% of calories from fat, 19% from carbs, and 22% of protein. Still an amount calories appropriate for weight loss with a high percentage of fat and low percentage of carbohydrate. To my surprise, the scale was only down 0.2 pounds this morning, for a total of 2.2 pounds since I started the regimen. I would have thought that after the 24-hour fast, my weight would’ve dropped more than this (if only due to water loss and such).

Alright! We are half-way through this little experiment with intermittent fasting. Day 5 is Sunday and around here, Sunday is a day of REST. So I will not be skipping any meals. I will, however, stick with 3 meals and limit snacking as much as possible. I will also be testing out one of the recipes from The Complete Guide to Fasting, homemade pizza with a cauliflower crust!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 4 appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

So here we are. It’s Day 3 and I will be attempting my first 24-hour fast of the week. For the last couple days, I’ve been following an intermittent fasting regimen from June’s Diet of the Month, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD and Jimmy Moore. Though Days 1 and 2 were a 6:18 schedule in which I basically skipped breakfast but had lunch and dinner as usual, today will be my first attempt at an all-day fast, going from dinner on Day 2 to dinner on Day 3 without eating. Let’s see how it went!

Breakfast: Skipped. I’ve now become fairly dependent on those morning cups of coffee to get me through to lunch and today is no different.

Lunch: Skipped. Following Fung’s recommendations, I have made a batch of bone broth to drink whenever hunger strikes and I’ll tell you now, I’m thankful to have it. Even better, I made Vietnamese pho which I absolutely adore. I make a small mountain in my bowl out of freshly chopped herbs (yes, those are allowed on fast days) like Thai basil, mint, and scallions, pour over the aromatic broth, and then pretend I’m not fasting.

Dinner: Time to eat! Appropriately enough, I decided to make breakfast for my first meal of the day–scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and fruit. Once again, I ended up feeling full sooner than expected and didn’t clean my plate. Loved every bite, though!

I won’t lie, the 24-hour fast was hard. I was hungry for most of the day and fixing meals for others while abstaining was brutal. I may or may not have been crabby. I’ll plead the 5th on that one. Another unpleasant side effect was this kinda fuzzy feeling I had off and on all day. In The Complete Guide to Fasting, many of the testimonials describe feelings of euphoria that these people felt when fasting. Last I checked, euphoria refers to feeling super good and I can tell you, that is not what I had going on. I felt straight up lousy.

Coffee and bone broth were definitely the heroes of the day. I do not think I could have made it through to dinner without them. Coffee with half and half makes the morning possible and my mugs of pho with fresh herbs seemed a bit more like food than simply another liquid, which was much appreciated.

As for numbers, I managed to get in 884 calories with 52% from fat, 24% from carbohydrate, and 24% from protein. Once again, a very high percentage from fat and very low carbohydrate. This calorie level is much lower than I would typically recommend and would obviously result in weight loss over time. Speaking of weight, mine had not changed this morning, so still down 2# from my starting weight. After a day of fasting, it will be interesting to step on the scale in the morning.

Day 3 is done and so is my first 24-hour fast! Day 4 will be a return to the 6:18 routine. Will it seem easier? What will my appetite be like following a 24-hour fast? Check in tomorrow as we continue our discussion of June’s Diet of the Month here at The Diet Oracle!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 3 appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

So let’s take a look at how Day 2 of my intermittent fasting (IMF) regimen went. Day 2 will be a repeat of Day 1 in which I skip breakfast, have lunch and dinner as usual, and no snacking after dinner. I will also continue, per Dr. Jason Fung’s recommendations, to focus on whole, unprocessed foods, natural fats, and limited refined grains.

Breakfast: Skipped. I drank a couple cups of coffee with half and half. I woke up pretty hungry and making breakfast for the boys didn’t help…that cinnamon toast smelled soooooo good.

Lunch: Today I made a BELT salad–bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato–with honey mustard dressing. Added some shaved Pecorino Romano for good measure, too. Yesterday I realized that I really needed to shift more calories to lunch to see if I could prevent the relentless hunger I’d experienced Wednesday. Doing so really helped!

Snack: Almonds

Dinner: Firecracker Zoodles! This was my first time using zoodles (spiralized zucchini) in place of pasta and they were alright. I definitely think they need a strong sauce to keep them palatable after the first few bites. This spicy sauce fit the bill perfectly! I think a lemon cream sauce might also work nicely. I’ll be sharing the recipe for Firecracker Zoodles soon, so stay tuned!

I should also note here that I ate less at dinner than anticipated. Given how hungry I’ve been, I thought I would once again want more than I had served myself, but I actually ended up eating less. I felt really full about 3/4 of the way into my plate of zoodles and couldn’t finish.

Once again, I carefully measured and journaled my food intake using the SparkPeople app and ended up eating 1386 calories with 59% from fat, 21% from carbs, and 20% from protein. Using this 6:18 intermittent fasting regimen in which I have a 6-hour window for meals followed by 18 hours of fasting, I continue to consume an amount of calories appropriate for weight loss without particularly trying to do so. This is, of course, one of the benefits of IMF offered by Dr. Jason Fung in his book.

In addition, because I am putting down such a high percentage of fat, I do believe that this has contributed to my feelings of fullness at mealtimes. Though I certainly still struggle with feeling super hungry throughout the morning and halfway between lunch and dinner, I am surprised by how quickly I feel full when I do eat.

As for weight change, today’s weight was down 2# from yesterday. Given my low carbohydrate intake, I really am not surprised. Most of this is likely water weight due to the low-carb nature of this fasting plan. What will be interesting to see is how my weight will fluctuate in the coming days and to what extent the scale will pop back up once I resume my normal eating routine.

Onward to Day 3…my first 24-hour fast! Technically, my fast has already begun since I will be fasting from dinner on Day 2 to dinner on Day 3. I have to admit, I am definitely nervous. I’ve already been struggling with hunger and I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be no cake walk. But we shall see! Check in tomorrow to see how it goes!

The post Intermittent Fasting: Day 2 appeared first on The Diet Oracle.