Eating every other day and feeling great

Anyone else try eating every other day (or other forms of intermittent fasting)? I've been doing this for a few months, and it has been FANTASTIC. It's much easier than it sounds too ... I simply don't eat from 6pm one night (right after an early dinner) to 6pm the next night, then eat normally until 6pm the next, etc. So basically i skip breakfast and lunch every other day.

After the 3rd cycle (first week), I never missed those 2 skipped meals ... and felt much more awake all the time as well. There's also a ton of research that eating every other day does everything from lowering cancer / heart disease / diabetes risk to lowering inflammation (which is why I tried it) to extending life.

Why I tried it - so far I've been on all the drugs available without inducing any semblance of remission (or even decreasing symptoms), and have been experimenting for years with alternatives to having my colon removed. So far, only the following 3 things have been helpful:

• Intermittent Fasting (eating every other day) - easy, works great
  
• Fecal Transplant - a little gross, but worked for over 3 months. Haven't tried again
  
• Ultra low-carb diet (<10g per day) - very hard to maintain, impossible to eat healthy, but worked
  

I've never heard of research about alternate day fasting. Where did you find it?
I've never ever gone that long without food unless I had the flu, not sure I could do it.
I have heard that extreme calorie reduction extends life (rat studies and studies of children born during famine) but don't think I could do that either.

If alternate fasting works for you then good going. Just don't go too far into anorexia or bulimia.
It could be easy to fear food when it causes D and accidents.
I love food and wait for the day that more types can come back into my daily intake.

I think it's a false sense of control.....in the long run, it won't serve you well. Also, your body will click into its starvation mode...not a good thing, methinks.

q

imagardener2 said...
I've never heard of research about alternate day fasting. Where did you find it?
I've never ever gone that long without food unless I had the flu, not sure I could do it.
I have heard that extreme calorie reduction extends life (rat studies and studies of children born during famine) but don't think I could do that either.

If alternate fasting works for you then good going. Just don't go too far into anorexia or bulimia.
It could be easy to fear food when it causes D and accidents.
I love food and wait for the day that more types can come back into my daily intake.

A few of the studies are linked from the Wikipedia page of Intermittent Fasting. There are dozens of others. The basic finding is that Intermittent Fasting has all the same benefits as extreme caloric restriction, but without any of the side effects (no decrease in muscle tissue, no weight loss, no sluggishness, etc).

IF has nothing to do with anorexia or bulimia. It is not a weight loss method (it would be a HORRIBLE way to lose weight since it lowers your metabolism - as I mentioned, many people gain some weight from it). As a result of IF, I've been able to introduce all foods into my diet. For example, last night I had half of an 18" pepperoni pizza, 2 beers, cookies, chips, etc. Today I've gone to the bathroom once. A couple years ago I would have never even tried such a thing, as I would have had D a dozen times in the interim.

I love food as well, which is why this has been a god send for me. I no longer have to fear it, I just need to skip 7 out 21 meals per week, the other 14 I eat whatever I want. To me, it's worth it. As an added bonus, my blood work has showed huge improvements as well - lower cholesterol, lower blood sugar, decreased blood pressure, high RBC/Hematocrit/iron, etc.

For all I know, my form of UC might be entirely different from others ... I've tried every drug available and it never did a thing. Even 60mg of prednisone did nothing. Why spend $5000/year covering my deductible if it does nothing? That was my perspective at least.

As a side note - years ago I did try longer fasting (up to 4 days water only), juice or protein drink fasts (up to 1 week), and caloric restriction (up to 14 days). While my digestive symptoms decreased during the fast, I felt HORRIBLE. That's why I was so intrigued when I met up with a couple old friends with UC who told me they had become asymptomatic for years by intermittent fasting. While they skipped every other calendar day (so 2 nights without food - 30 hours of fasting and 18 hours of eating), it worked fine for me by following the far easier 'no eating from after dinner to dinner the next day' approach. The first couple days I had some blood sugar problems, but after that I've felt better 24x7 than when I eat every day.

Post Edited (LuckyLindy) : 11/6/2010 2:24:29 PM (GMT-6)

I think it sounds pretty interesting.
Sometimes I feel so bloated from a myriad of food sensitivities, I think skpping a meal or two would make me feel better. I always feel pretty good the day after a prep, when I'm cleaned out!
The hardest part of restricting food or meals for me is is dealing with social situations.

Peety said...
myriad of food sensitivities

Oh, that's the other weird thing. All my food sensitivities have gone away! I used to have gas/D problems with gluten (I was gluten free for almost 5 years) and dairy, and had lots of D after consuming sugary things (particularly fruit). Now I eat it all. The other week I had a gallon of chocolate milk after a 14 mile run (another newfound freedom), and had no issues other than peeing all night.

LL
I looked at the Wiki link, very interesting. Thanks for posting about this.
Once again I have learned something on HW I would never have heard of otherwise.

ive heard of fasting before, i heard about on the raw food diets, I did try it and once i was so supprised i did a water fast and the next day my bleeding stopped. at that time i didnt know what was causing my illness, i dont fast really now but i may do a green juice fast it just helps rebalace my system.

I feel so.....normal!

At 70 - I feel so "normal" also quincy!!

By the way, I wake up often with nausea and it goes away with eating!

ElaineNY

LL, I'm curious...Do you tend to overeat after missing a few meals? I know if I miss one meal...typically lunch for example..I'm starving and tend to eat way too much for dinner and feel horrible. It does sound interesting.

Donna

pupluv said...
LL, I'm curious...Do you tend to overeat after missing a few meals? I know if I miss one meal...typically lunch for example..I'm starving and tend to eat way too much for dinner and feel horrible. It does sound interesting.
Donna

When fasting over ~18 hours, you usually can't eat a lot your first meal ... but usually I'm VERY hungry for my second meal. In general, I probably eat ~50% more during each meal than before, which might be why I gained a little weight. I just listen to my body and don't worry about what I eat.

quincy said...
I have commented in the past that witholding food is more psychological than physical. This thread makes me skeeert!

Except all the studies show that fasting, caloric restriction, and intermittent fasting it IS physical, and has profound benefits (particularly intermittent fasting).

When i was doing the juice fasting i didnt really know what i was doing or why. the bleeding went for me but like you it came back when i introduced the foods. i was doing the raw diet and eating alot of fruit. i did have some good experiences with it but the bleeding came back. what i learnt is that something was feeding in my system. when you starve it it goes away. thats what i was doing especailly with the water fasts i was stopping its feeding. I later learnt about candida. and i didnt realize its all over the internet all you have to do is google ulcerative colitis and crohns and you come up with a whole list of people who say it is caused by this. There is now centers where if you look on their pages it says MS and colitis and crohns, there is a whole lot of infor on it on the net.

what i didnt realize about this candida is that it roots into your system, alot of people have to stay on the diets for the rest of there lives as they cant get it out of their systems. thats why i had it tested, im doing a program which helps to rid it out of your system. even if this works i still will not eat crap though, i beleive alot of processes foods are the root for causing illness.

I know that food does cause up problems i never beleived my GE when he said it didnt, i meam why would he say that this illness is to do with the intestents. oh well it his opnion i do not share it

sorry about my spelling