In previous posts, I explained what Intermittent Fasting and why it works. Instead of repeating myself, you can follow these links for a background on the topic.
- Intermittent Fasting Fears and Motivations
- Intermittent Fasting Adventures in Not Eating
- Intermittent Fasting Tips and Advice
This post is about overcoming objections that I’ve heard to Intermittent Fasting.
Several people have told me it is too hard, they get light-headed or that they have low blood sugar issues. I am not a medical professional and you should research everything yourself. With that caveat out of the way, I’d like to start with the low blood sugar crowd. How do you KNOW you have low blood sugar issues? Brad Pilon, author of the book Eat Stop Eat, covered this in his post Fasting for Weight Loss and its Effect on Blood Sugar.
Hypoglycemia is another way of saying low blood sugar. While many people claim to suffer from low blood sugar, as little as 5-10% of the population actually have a malfunction in their ability to regulate their blood sugar levels. There is no actual cut off value for blood glucose levels that truly defines hypoglycemia for all people and purposes.
Research in healthy adults shows that mental efficiency declines slightly but measurably as blood glucose falls below about 65 mg/dL (3.6 mmol/L). However, the precise level of glucose considered low enough to define hypoglycemia is dependent on the age of the person, the health of the person, the measurement method, and the presence or absence of negative effects.
According to the research on using fasting for weight loss, a 24 hour fast should not place you into a hypoglycemic state, and I have not seen any research that has shown a subject going below 3.6 mmol/L blood sugar during a short term fast.
In a different post titled Fasting, Exercise and Blood Sugar, Brad Pilon pulls up another study on blood sugar levels and fasting.
Did you know that when scientists studied people who exercised after fasting for 23 hours, their blood sugar levels were actually found to be slightly higher then when the same people exercised after a small meal? (Coyle EF 1985; Dohm LG 1986)
I like to look at things from an evolutionary perspective. You are here because you won the genetic lottery. Your genes have survived hundred of thousands of years from ancestors that did not have access to food every 3-4 hours. They went days without food and survived. In other words, you are made of tougher stock than you give yourself credit for. I would never tell someone that claims to have low blood sugar to start a fast, but I will ask them to question their assumptions.
Now onto the crowd that feels Intermittent Fasting makes them light headed or is too difficult. My guess is your normal diet is already experiencing too many insulin spikes. Here are some steps you can take with your current diet that will make Intermittent Fasting easier when do decide to try it.
- No liquid calories. No juice, cola or alcohol. Water, tea and coffee is all you should be drinking.
- At the first sign of hunger, drink water and wait 15 minutes. Thirst is often disguised as hunger.
- Cut your carbs in half and triple your veggie intake.
- Only eat full fat dairy. Avoid reduced fat options.
- Do not eat any carbs until 20 minutes into the meal. Eat your veggies and protein and wait 20 minutes for your carbs. It takes the brain 20 minutes to send the “stop eating – I am full” signal. You will find that your carb intake will plummet using this trick.
Do those 5 steps for 2 weeks and I think you’ll have no problem slowing extending the times of your Intermittent Fasts.
I haven’t tried the intermittent fasting thing yet but am thinking about it. Well written article, MAS.
I do most of these things already. But I’m wondering what’s the reasoning behind number 4, only eating full fat dairy?
As you reduce your carbs to lower insulin levels, you’ll need to get more calories from fat. Fat lowers insulin levels and provides more satiety than carbs. There are other reasons as well, but those are the important ones in the context of Intermittent Fasting.
mas, i lost six pant sizes with a high carb warrior diet regimen for about 4 months. size 22 pant to a size 16. i stalled out. after two months of tweeking, im now using warrior dieting 6 to 7 days a week, and eatstopeat type 24 hr fasts 1-2 days a week. since dropping grains, tubers, and honey, im losing again and hope to be a few pant size smaller by x mas. your site gave me lots of inspiration in the beginning of this year. thanks a lot. never give up on people who poo poo this method. often they will try it after seeing nothing else works. i was hard headed like that!
http://rachel421-intermittentfasting.blogspot.com
Rachel,
Congrats on the fat loss!
Update: Made it through 20 IFs so far since April.
Here are my observations/results:
1. Had to bail on just 1 because I was close to passing out. This was a definite hypoglycemia issue and one I have encountered before, per your question on how to know. I just have to be careful on what I eat before an IF and when I start one (after breakfast usually works best for me).
2. You were right, caffeine does help quite a bit with the low blood pressure issue.
3. Have not had a cold or sinus infection since I started IF and it was a very tough allergy season in Seattle this year.
4. Except for some minor sleep issues, I really like how good I feel with the regular IFs and can feel some body changes.
Thanks for the info on IF and autophagy, I have introduced a number of my friends to it as well
TigerAl – That is great!
#4 is why I end my fasts before I go to sleep. going to bed on an empty stomach would be the hardest challenge yet for me.
Intermittent fasting rocks!!!!!
When people don’t want to do something, there are usually tons of objections. I have been doing IF the 5th year, I had never experienced any negative effects. I do my daily workout as usual and am healthier than before.