[0] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/431428.Siddhartha
> drinking lots and lots of water
People who are sedentary and probably drinking more water than someone who finished a marathon does not sound like a good idea to me. I was drinking a ton of water throughout the day based on ideas like this and got sick from it. I feel much better now having cut my water intake. Could the converse also be true, that we're overestimating how much water we actually need?
> Hunger pangs are usually just food cravings
Are you sure? For me cravings and hunger pangs are entirely different feelings.
I don't doubt there are benefits to some forms of fasting, but people should consult their doctors first and tread carefully.
How would information online from experts in the field helps someone determine their cellular hydration levels or their various levels/requirements of sodium/potassium/calcium/magnesium? These are things that should be monitored over a 5 day water fast not guessed at based on information read online.
Really sad.
Drink when you're thirsty. Realize that often "wanting something to eat" can be a symptom of thirst or satisfied by getting a drink. Drink a full glass of water 15 minutes before eating. You'll be fine.
I get your point, but what was in your water? Did you just drink too much water once or this happened over a period of time?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia
I'm sure you don't have any reason to try this again, but this condition could be confirmed by a blood test.
Drinking too much water is dangerous. People have died from hyponatremaia. The original poster should not be spouting general advice unless he knows his stuff, which I doubt.
I've found it useful to distinguish between "mouth hunger" and "stomach hunger". When I'm actually hungry, I feel sensations in my stomach, and will often burp or feel like I'm about to reflux.
The "mouth hunger" is when I think of a croissant and start salivating, even though I wasn't hungry a moment ago. Or that store checkout-line "hunger" when you see all the tempting treats they've put there. So, not hunger at all, but craving.
And then there are mornings like today where I ran 10 miles and then had 2 eggs, 2 strips of extra thick bacon, two buckwheat pancakes (with butter and syrup)and a piece of rye toast with marmalade. Definitely not fasting!
Industrial revolutions required us to specialize and not spend time walking or working hard physically, but now that we're so comfy we're somehow deprived.
ps: I'd say it's super healthy to get some big big meals at times just because you enjoy it so much. Life's not just about being on a tight rope.
It took around 3-4 weeks until I noticed results which seems in line what I was told by others.
What stood out beside the weight loss (I was very close to my ideal weight anyway) was my ability to concentrate. I noticed a huge improvement after around 5-6 weeks. When I try to come up with the right words in a conversation it feels I have immediately in mind what I want to say.
Is there a relatively easy way to boost one's appetite? Drinking a gallon of full fat milk a day on top of one's usual meals is the easiest option I have found, but even that is a lot of hard work.
Sugar has the least satiety of any of the macros (protein has the highest satiety) so if you’re looking to simply pack in calories, sugar sweetened beverages are good (I saw an interesting study that discovered that carbonation increases ghrelin response, so most soda will give you a twofer).
Something like a donut (sugar and fat in combination has been shown to be particularly obesogenic) and you can get some of the hyperpalatability effect.
Kevin Hall recently published a study showing ultra-processed food increased ad libitum food intake by about 500 calories per day: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-4131(19)30248...
Also eating/snacking throughout the day will keep insulin high and increase hunger signals and driver fat storage in your body as a result.
Of course, this basically sums up the Standard American Diet and explains why most people have the problem of putting too much weight on.
Also, as a caveat to all these “interventions,” while they are effective for weight gain, they are almost all also generally terrible for your metabolic health, and will drive MetS, diabetes, CVD, cancer, etc (basically the things killing everyone eating the SAD).
That's actually part of Mark Rippetoe's bulking diet. It's apparently the best combination of calorie density and beneficial nutrients. There's a section on diet on Starting Strength, if you are interested.
Believe it or not, for me, low appetite is often goes hand in hand with not getting enough salt. I have found that I can fix low appetite by getting more salt.
I don't know the exact mechanism, but I suspect the Chloride part of Sodium Chloride contributes to the Chloride part of Hydrochloric acid in my stomach.
I've had to resort to body builders weight gainer which is mostly sugar, protein and dairy as I seem to be able to tolerate that OK.
I would argue that perhaps you aren't "depriving" yourself but more like adjusting your intake to meet your actual needs.
In other words, most of us overeat, and it just feels like deprivation when we eat less. (until we get accustomed to it)
It also decreases in severity over time, which is why anyone who hasn’t ever done any extended fasting imagines that you’ll get hungrier and hungrier until you’re gnawing your hands off, but anyone who has usually has the opposite experience.
I've recently started intermittent fasting (22:00 - 12:00, still cheat too often, but it's a start) and I've noticed this too. Two cups of coffee and a couple of glasses of water really keeps me alright until lunch. That's when I really start feeling hungry.
I wasn't afraid to start IF either, because I often used to skip breakfast because I couldn't get out of bed on time.
This comes back to the whole "is breakfast the most important meal of the day or damaging our health?" question. A lot of people who skip breakfast are still consuming calories anyway (e.g. that morning coffee with cream/sugar in it).
A lot of people who think they don't eat until late are ignoring calorie-loaded and frequently sugar-loaded lattes, cappuccinos or juices that fill them up with calories in liquid format.
I'm one of those "haven't eaten breakfast since I was a kid" types (I have a coffee with semi-skimmed milk, if I eat breakfast I'm ravenous and want a snack before lunch).
People seem to effectively conduct 7-10 day fasts regularly, but beyond that you should talk to a doctor/registered dietician and also take nutritional supplements (and exit the fast in a very gradual way, not feasting).
Of course, I am only referring to certain veggies or soaking things like peas/beans/lentils in water overnight (instead of cooking). Please don't eat raw meat or anything after you see my message!
Obviously there's lots of other additional dietary steps one can take, but most of them don't actually differ much from traditional healthy eating advice: limit carbs and sugar, balanced meals, don't drink your calories, etc.
This changed our lives for the better
Watch, learn, try
And remember we are in charge of our own health.
The healthcare system, your providers and their team get PAID for seeing patients usually with a broad range of conditions (unless they are volunteering in a region in need of health services)
Although I do not wish to gain weight, I do have trouble maintaining a set weight that I would like to live (and compete) at.[1]
And yet, I am on a 16/8 or even 18/6 fasting schedule about four days per week.
The answer, for me, is almond butter. Tremendously dense in calories and very easy to add 1/3 cup (or more) to a meal replacement shake. It's one of the easiest ways I have found to have a 1500 calorie meal that doesn't involve a tremendous bulk of food. Avocados are another food that fits this same bill.
[1] I am a "lightweight", or 168 pound, fighter as per IBJJF.
Very quickly after starting it just sort of became normal, the hunger pangs were gone, there were no particularly strong cravings even when sitting at the table with people eating normal food. Surprisingly many times I even felt more energetic but this may have been purely a subjective feeling.
Two main takeaways I've gained from fasting (I've done multiple 24 hour fasts prior to this 5 day one):
1. You don't need to eat nearly as often as you think. Hunger pangs are usually just food cravings, and drinking lots and lots of water, water you should probably be drinking anyway, will mask them more easily than one would expect.
2. The successful self-deprivation of food (in a healthy, reasonable way) and the almost exclusively positive benefits that it brings makes you wonder how much of an economic and nationwide health impact the USA would see if everyone practiced some form of fasting.