Blogging goes a long way to fulfilling my creative urges, and allows me to explore new ideas.
Writing is a challenge for almost everyone, especially writing a blog that has its foundation in a discussion about something as amorphous as life, health and relationships. I’m often torn between wanting to share the most intimate thoughts with strangers, because to whom else can you admit these things: illness, weakness, debilitation, anxiety, pain, diabetes, social variance and relationship failures.
Even during my undergraduate years at UBC more than forty years ago I was an active writer. I worked with the student newspaper as a photographer and writer, as well as the editor of the social pages in my last couple of years with The UBYSSEY. This inevitably led me to courses in journalism and creative writing, and ultimately led me to an early career in the newspaper business, as a writer and photographer, the publisher of a small local newspaper, and a syndicated column carried in a tiny distribution across the Province of BC and into Washington State.
There is a whole industry that helps you make money writing a blog. This isn’t why people do it, generally, but it drives a certain level of discipline and encourages a person to become consistent and voluble.
I also wrote poetry and short fiction, not much of it ever published, and never for any money. So that type of writing was purely a hobby, and it eventually led to me realising that it was likely going to stay a hobby rather than become a profession. What happened to my writing was the discover that all the money was in the business side rather than the creative side of the business. As a publisher I became far more interested in keeping the business alive than in writing stories or columns for consumption by my readers. Essentially I became a copy writer rather than a journalist, and eventually a sales person rather than a creative writer.
The same thing happened to my photography. There’s a lot more money on the advertising side of the street, and my creative photography evolved to shooting art and fetish photography mostly as a hobby, since I could never quite figure out how to charge enough for my work to make a go of it financially.
In one of my photography web sites, which concentrates on nude and fetish photography I have had in excess of 60 Million views of my images, none of which actually paid me except in ego rewards, and the thanks of some of my models who have used my site to help launch their modelling careers. My landscape and nature photographer web sites have a much smaller following, but curiously nature and other non erotic photography has grabbed more and more of my interest in the past few years. My nature photography has around 10 million viewers, and keeps me quite interested in continuing with my hobby.
I have also been an active blogger for many years, although until recently I primarily blogged about business subjects, on mortgage finance and real estate development, as both a broker and a real estate developer until recently. After retiring from these businesses I started to write a regular blog based on my health and fitness challenges, after struggling with diabetes, arthritis and various inflammatory diseases for at least the last ten years. After focussing my blog on health issues, the number of followers has increased every month, and I now have several thousand regular readers and followers.
I will admit that blogging has become a bit of an obsession, nearly replacing photography as my most active artistic expression. But I still don’t really do it for money, although my readership is growing steadily and I may soon acquire a sufficient number to make it worthwhile financially.
Writing matters to me, no matter how small my audience, and with a greater number of readers my sense is that it matters to other people too. If you like to express yourself, it can be highly rewarding. In addition to my photography, drawing, music and graphic design, writing gives meaning and shape to my life today, and I hope, for many years to come.
Life is sometimes simply getting through the day. No matter how much I would like to face each day with hope or happiness, sometimes I struggle with everything that going on in my world, or not going on.
The past ten days it’s been hard to muster up the energy to write my blog. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, but rather than I’ve always been of the belief that if I don’t have anything good to say, then it may be better not to say anything at all. Nobody wants to hear from a downer or a constant complainer.
Let’s face it. It hasn’t been a great week or two.
One of my favorite cousins died. He was one of my favorites because although we didn’t really know each other all that well, he was someone with similar interests to mine, particularly researching and growing the family tree. I’ll miss his quiet thoughtfulness and good ideas.
This past week has seen an explosion in the new coronavirus spreading out from Hunan, China. In a blog post I wrote last year about global warming, and why it isn’t the most important thing in the world, I didn’t mention pandemics, but this could just as easily become one, and it could kill millions around the world before it runs its course. Scary.
Trump was acquitted in Congress. This blog is not generally explicitly political about US politics or politics outside of Canada at all. To me his acquittal demonstrates with certainty that a person doesn’t have to be a quality human being to get ahead in life. He lies, lies and lies some more, and his followers, which include almost every Republican in the US, doesn’t care whatsoever.
Kobe died. Along with his daughter and eight others. In a helicopter crash. Being famous and mostly a good person is not guarantee of anything either. Certainly, Kobe is a inspiration to millions of kids, and this won’t change that. Still it sucks.
And to top it all off I’ve had this bloody flu all week and still feel the pits. My car broke down. And I’m still distressed about the state of my relationship with my NP. Life would have been so much simpler if I had been conventional, instead of not. My partner would have been so much happier. I don’t know if that would have been true for me, or not. But I’m still the man I have always been, and although I’ve followed the more difficult path, I’m not actually sure that there was any other possible path for me.
So, in summary. I hope the next week or two things improve, especially my attitude. I’m going to work a little harder at counting my blessings, and let go of my current miasma.
There is no going back. Damage to your nerves by neuropathy is a one way street. Start treating your diabetes while you still can prevent the worst of it.
The journey into becoming a diabetic is one that most of us join without knowing the consequences of what we’re doing. There are a lot opinions out there, even among doctors, as to what actually “causes” diabetes, but pretty much everyone I read knows that diabetes is highly related to obesity and carbohydrate overconsumption. And when I was diagnosed, more than twenty years ago, the information I was given was faulty and at the very least incomplete.
What no one ever said was that if I continued to eat what I thought of as a “normal” amount of carbohydrates and sugar every day, by the time I retired my life would be severely circumscribed, with many symptoms of diabetes and other metabolic syndrome related diseases causing continuing pain, physical exhaustion and emotional distress. I also suffer from chronic fatigue and despite having lost some weight, am still fighting the good fight doing intermittent fasting three days a week for 36 hours.
So what should I have been taught as a younger person, that might have protected me from getting full blown diabetes and other metabolic syndrome diseases.
Eat less carbohydrates. A lot less. On my current low carb high fat diet I keep my carbs below 150 grams a day. Eat even less added sugar. I try not to eat anything with added sugars, and when I do offend I eat very small portions of any sweet at all. Mind you, my appetite for sweet things has pretty much disappeared since I started avoiding them. Stay away from booze. Period. Lots of doctors and dieticians say that a one or two drinks a day is okay. I don’t believe them. Alcohol does similar things to the liver as carbohydrates, without the redeeming quality of providing me with any energy.
Always seek to reduce the amount of starch and sugar, and fill up on natural food if you are going to eat carbs. Eat fruit in season, in your area, and don’t overindulge even in fruit and vegetables.
Try not to get depressed because you can’t have any “real” food. Try to redefine what constitutes a meal, and understand that the meat and vegetables are really enough.
Rain Coast Review Blog author
It turns out that the best advice anyone can give anyone about diabetes is really simple – eat less carbs, fast intermittently, and exercise moderately as much as possible.
I have been afflicted with Type 2 Diabetes for more than twenty-five years. Perhaps even longer, since my partner reports that she saw symptoms of it even in my late twenties and early thirties. But despite diagnosis in the 1990’s by my doctors, and a referral to an endocrinologist who worked out of St. Paul’s hospital at the same time, the seriousness of the disease and its potential consequences were not really taken into account until relatively recently, when some of the symptoms started to become more pronounced.
Truthfully, until the summer of last year, I didn’t really feel like it was even possible to have any real impact on my diabetes. After being put on insulin, nearly fifteen years ago, with steady weight gain and gradually increasing problems related to my diabetes, I think I didn’t really believe there was anything I could do about the decline in my health, and probable premature death from diabetes related conditions and disease.
On my birthday last year, my middle son gave me a copy of a book by Dr. Jason Fung, on which I have written a lot in this blog in the past. Reading his book, The Diabetic Code, taught me that I need not be doomed to continual decline as a result of diabetes, but in fact could take control of my lifestyle, and thereby forestal future declines in my health, and even, perhaps, recaptures some of the vigor of my earlier years.
From July until the present I have been working towards a better life. I’ve lost a bit of weight, about 30 pounds down from my weight last summer, although I’m back up 10 pounds more or less since November, as a result of failing to maintain my lifestyle changes over the Christmas break.
Starting last night I am back to doing my intermittent fasting for three days a week, thirty-six hours for each day. During November I went from strictly obeying the fasting hours, and not eating anything, to eating Keto foods which are not supposed to break the fast. Whatever I thought I was doing, what was really happening was that my fasts became shorter and far less effective.
Fasting now until I reach my net goal of reaching 15 BMI during the current calendar years is my objective, for now, until I get my weight down from 222 pounds down to 167 pounds for a total weight loss of 55 pounds over the next 12 months. It doesn’t sound too daunting, having to lose between four and five pounds a month to reach my goal. But of course my goal isn’t really so much about losing weight as it is about gaining control over my blood glucose levels, and wrestling my metabolic syndrome to a point where my health doesn’t continue to decline, or lead to ever more serious consequences of my diabetes.
It is discouraging losing weight by changing your lifestyle, in many different ways, but intermittent fasting and eating a low carb diet is probably the least difficult method. All it requires of me is to pay attention to what I eat when I’m not fasting, and to fast long enough and for enough days, to ensure that my liver gets a reboot, during this process. Even when I reach my targeted goal it will not be the end of managing my carbohydrate and sugar intake. A healthy lifestyle for a diabetic (or former diabetic, which is what I’m trying to achieve) should be one that avoids carbohydrate and sugar in one’s diet, on a day to day basis.
Of course, all people need some carbohydrate and sugar in their diets, but it should always be extremely limited since it has proved to be so problematic to long term health. I’m recommitting to changing my lifestyle to a healthier and strong future. This recommitment includes reasserting my plan to get out and walk an average of 4,000 or more steps, at least four or five days out of the week. With serious neuropathy in my feet this isn’t always easy, but it is nonetheless critically important, to build and maintain a healthy cardiovascular system.
It’s currently two o’clock in the afternoon, and I haven’t eaten anything since about eight o’clock last night. My next meal will be tomorrow morning about eight o’clock, when I’ll have breakfast. My next fast will start tomorrow after dinner, at about eight o’clock tomorrow night, and will continue until 8:00 am on Thursday morning.
Hang in there with me, folks. I may not be changing the world, but I’m certainly changing my world.
Sometime today I had my 2000th reader Follow me on WordPress and 750th Follower on social media outside of WordPress. Wow! Thank you to everyone who has followed this blog, as well as to the many people who have responded to my blog with numerous “Likes” and even more views. 2750 Followers as of today’s date.
Blog Statistics January 1st, 2019 to January 15, 2020
Pied Piper fable is a curious analogy to a 21st Century blogger on health and lifestyle.
TOTAL POSTS 60
TOTAL COMMENTS 472
AVG COMMENTS PER POST 8
TOTAL LIKES 4,194
AVG LIKES PER POST 70
TOTAL WORDS 44,081
AVG WORDS PER POST 734.68
When I first started writing this blog in 2011 I expect to have only a very few followers, likes and views, and didn’t really take blogging all that seriously until spring of last year, when I started to blog about the health challenges I am currently facing, as well as about various strategies related to a lot of different issues. Still, it is currently focussed around health issues, with a subtext running through about the story of my family and my romantic relationships.
So my blog is being read by a lot of you, and I really appreciate your genuine responses and comments over the past year. You’ve given me a lot to digest, and have made me feel both heartbroken, from time to time, and inspired, from other letters and comments. Your courage at facing real physical and emotional health problems inspires me to continue with this blog. If the information the blog conveyed gives anyone comfort knowing that they are not alone, or inspiration to take action to improve their situation, or simply education that allows them to understand someone with these problems, then I have done a service.
I am a true believer in the concept, “Tu Um Est”, which roughly means, It is Up to You! which is the motto of my undergraduate university, The University of British Columbia. I’m also a strong believer in lifelong learning, and acknowledge that while knowledge and information are purely temporary, changing moment by moment in ways we can’t even begin to anticipate, learning is an abiding, persistent process resulting in our constant evolution as human beings.
This blog celebrates these processes, and are in themselves evidence of constant change in my understanding of life today. Diseases thought to be incurable are now cured on an everyday basis. Things we thought were immutable truths have been proved false, or, if not totally false, incomplete. As I write into the future I will continue to seek out new ways to improve the quality of my life, through sharing the wisdom of others, passing on the things I’m learning as I go, and hopefully continue to illuminate and educate my followers, casual viewers, and fellow readers.
Once again. Thank You. It is humbling to realize that people appreciate what I’m writing, and are kind enough to say so.
The Pain Mastery Institute, which I’ve been blogging about for a couple of months, is shutting down due to financial considerations.
The Pain Mastery Institute, which I’ve been blogging about for a couple of months, is shutting down due to financial considerations. Their courses have been useful to me but not nearly as useful as if they had survived long enough for me to get through the whole program.
The main thing I learned from the courses is that much of what is available for mastering chronic pain is drawn by observed people as they take actions or make decisions which assist them in managing their pain, or ameliorating the amount and intensity of pain.
While the course is gone, and the Institute website shut down, this doesn’t mean that I’m abandoning my pursuit of effective pain management strategies. So keep watch for my blog because I will coming back with a new approach soon.
Update on Intermittent Fasting
Starting on Monday this week I began a five day fast, which so far has been a bit frustrating and challenging. The second day and the third day I found myself absolutely starving, which is odd because up until now, fasting for three days a week, 36 hours, I have never been really hungry.
It takes a bit of a different strategy for longer fasts, like a five days on, four days off, but I’m learning and will be putting together a new primer based on somewhat longer fasts.
Boing 737 crashed after being shot down near Tehran
This has been a really sad and horrific week for me, and for many Canadians. 147 Canadian residents and citizens were killed this week by an airline shot out of the sky by Iran, either by mistake or by design. Either way, we have all lost so much and I can’t really even begin to make any sense of it. I am just sick over it, and I didn’t know anyone personally on the plane, although I do know some family members.
The Prime Minister of Canada has been highly visible in his demands for accountability for this disaster, both from Iran and the United States governments, who put into play the violent altercation that led to these deaths, whether by misadventure or by malice.
I don’t know whether to rage or to cry, or both. I’m not expecting any closure any time soon. Iran is virtually certain to lie through their teeth on this, and Trump will do no better. This is a terrible tragedy for everyone involved in the flight, and all of their country mourns their loss.
Starting today, January 6, 2020 It is my stated intention to achieve a BMI goal of 25% during the current calendar year.
Later in the afternoon
I started working on my blog earlier this afternoon, but was interrupted by a request from a family member for a ride from Burnaby, where I currently work, home to Langley. But I’m back at it now, and would like to upgrade my resolution to include a little more detail about this pledge, seemingly coming out of the blue.
I started doing intermittent fasting in July last summer, and promptly lost 35 pounds before the end of November, fasting for three days a week, 36 hours each on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Pretty good results although most of the weight was lost in the first 60 days, and only a small amount during the last 60 days. In the last month I’ve pretty much given back ten pounds or so, depending on the time of day I weight myself.
Until Christmas holidays began I didn’t miss a single fasting day in my schedule, although I did start to cheat a little by eating Keto friendly pepperoni sticks and cheddar cheese sticks after a minimum of 24 hours into my fast. Checking my glucose levels shows me that the advisors are correct, and eating those two things, even combined, doesn’t raise my blood sugar at all, or not does having a handful of nuts. However, it does seem to have a negative effect on weight loss so I am going back to a more strict interpretation of fasting, which is eating nothing during the scheduled period.
During the holidays I broke the fast program only on two days, except for the cheating I’ve already mentioned, but my weight fluctuated from 209 back up to 222 and then down again to 216 and then back to 222. It’s amazing to think that I could regain basically 12 or 13 pounds, even attempting to keep my carbs down and no sugar to speak of at all, except for Christmas Dinner. Losing weight and keeping it off is a challenge, that’s for sure.
In addition, because I stalled quite a while before I started to cheat a little, I’m going to increase the length of my fasting period from a three day a week fast, alternative days during the week, to fasting for five days on and then four days off. My current plan, which I started implementing today with Day 1 of my first 5 Day Fast, is designed to kick start my weight loss again, so lose the next 25 to 35 pounds and get a lot closer to my goal of a BMI of 25, which as I said at the beginning of this blog, is my goal for 2020. I’m going to run with this schedule until my weight takes the next step down, past my previous barrier of about 209 pounds where I bounced back up to 222 over the Christmas holidays. .
My weight this morning when I weighed myself was 222.8 so a 25 pound weight loss would get my weight under 200 lbs, for the first time in a pretty long time. At 200 pounds my BMI will be about 31.2 instead of the current 34.8 (222 lbs) or 38.4 (245 lbs) when I started the program in July 2019.
Over the next few days I am going to re-read Dr. Jason Fung’s book the Diabetes Code, and also review his book on intermittent fasting. My own endocrinologist, Dr. Kang at VGH isn’t planning to see me again until about May so I hope my weight is down substantially by then, and my A1C levels at least down to 6.0, but we’ll see about that.
This plan to reduce my BMI to <25 and my weight to <160 is highly purposeful, in that I am attempting to do on my own what Dr, Fung achieves with his patients, a dramatic reduction in obesity and blood sugar levels. In the meantime I’ll continue to take my course in Pain Mastery from the Institute, and report back to my faithful readers my progress and challenges both in my fight against diabetes, and my battle to manage my chronic pain.
There’s a ton of incredibly promising intermittent fasting (IF) research done on fat rats. They lose weight, their blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugars improve… but they’re rats. Studies in humans, almost across the board, have shown that IF is safe and incredibly effective, but really no more effective than any other diet. In addition, many people find it difficult to fast.
But a growing body of research suggests that the timing of the fast is key, and can make IF a more realistic, sustainable, and effective approach for weight loss, as well as for diabetes prevention.
The backstory on intermittent fasting
IF as a weight loss approach has been around in various forms for ages, but was highly popularized in 2012 by BBC broadcast journalist Dr. Michael Mosley’s TV documentary Eat Fast, Live Longer and book The Fast Diet, followed by journalist Kate Harrison’s book The 5:2 Diet based on her own experience, and subsequently by Dr. Jason Fung’s 2016 bestseller The Obesity Code. IF generated a steady positive buzz as anecdotes of its effectiveness proliferated.
As a lifestyle-leaning research doctor, I needed to understand the science. The Obesity Code seemed the most evidence-based summary resource, and I loved it. Fung successfully combines plenty of research, his clinical experience, and sensible nutrition advice, and also addresses the socioeconomic forces conspiring to make us fat. He is very clear that we should eat more fruits and veggies, fiber, healthy protein, and fats, and avoid sugar, refined grains, processed foods, and for God’s sake, stop snacking. Check, check, check, I agree. The only part that was still questionable in my mind was the intermittent fasting part.
Intermittent fasting can help weight loss
IF makes intuitive sense. The food we eat is broken down by enzymes in our gut and eventually ends up as molecules in our bloodstream. Carbohydrates, particularly sugars and refined grains (think white flours and rice), are quickly broken down into sugar, which our cells use for energy. If our cells don’t use it all, we store it in our fat cells as, well, fat. But sugar can only enter our cells with insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas. Insulin brings sugar into the fat cells and keeps it there.
Between meals, as long as we don’t snack, our insulin levels will go down and our fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy. We lose weight if we let our insulin levels go down. The entire idea of IF is to allow the insulin levels to go down far enough and for long enough that we burn off our fat.
Intermittent fasting can be hard… but maybe it doesn’t have to be
Initial human studies that compared fasting every other day to eating less every day showed that both worked about equally for weight loss, though people struggled with the fasting days. So, I had written off IF as no better or worse than simply eating less, only far more uncomfortable. My advice was to just stick with the sensible, plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet.
New research is suggesting that not all IF approaches are the same, and some are actually very reasonable, effective, and sustainable, especially when combined with a nutritious plant-based diet. So I’m prepared to take my lumps on this one (and even revise my prior post).
We have evolved to be in sync with the day/night cycle, i.e., a circadian rhythm. Our metabolism has adapted to daytime food, nighttime sleep. Nighttime eating is well associated with a higher risk of obesity, as well as diabetes.
Based on this, researchers from the University of Alabama conducted a study with a small group of obese men with prediabetes. They compared a form of intermittent fasting called “early time-restricted feeding,” where all meals were fit into an early eight-hour period of the day (7 am to 3 pm),or spread out over 12 hours (between 7 am and 7 pm). Both groups maintained their weight (did not gain or lose) but after five weeks, the eight-hours group had dramatically lower insulin levels and significantly improved insulin sensitivity, as well as significantly lower blood pressure. The best part? The eight-hours group also had significantly decreased appetite. They weren’t starving.
Just changing the timing of meals, by eating earlier in the day and extending the overnight fast, significantly benefited metabolism even in people who didn’t lose a single pound.
So, is this as good as it sounds?
I was very curious about this, so I asked the opinion of metabolic expert Dr. Deborah Wexler, Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Here is what she told me. “There is evidence to suggest that the circadian rhythm fasting approach, where meals are restricted to an eight to 10-hour period of the daytime, is effective,” she confirmed, though generally she recommends that people “use an eating approach that works for them and is sustainable to them.”
So, here’s the deal. There is some good scientific evidence suggesting that circadian rhythm fasting, when combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle, can be a particularly effective approach to weight loss, especially for people at risk for diabetes. (However, people with advanced diabetes or who are on medications for diabetes, people with a history of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and pregnant or breastfeeding women should not attempt intermittent fasting unless under the close supervision of a physician who can monitor them.)
4 ways to use this information for better health
Avoid sugars and refined grains. Instead, eat fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats (a sensible, plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet).
Let your body burn fat between meals. Don’t snack. Be active throughout your day. Build muscle tone.
Consider a simple form of intermittent fasting. Limit the hours of the day when you eat, and for best effect, make it earlier in the day (between 7 am to 3 pm, or even 10 am to 6 pm, but definitely not in the evening before bed).
Avoid snacking or eating at nighttime, all the time.
Put an end to diet disappointment with Harvard Medical School’s Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss
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POSTED AUGUST 25TH, 2018 AT 7:09 PMJeffEvery study seems to support cognitive and health benefits for IF. Studies are coming out showing it may help stave off heart disease and it’s even been shown to halt or possibly reverse brain-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s. If in doubt, check out Jason Fung’s youtube videos along with a couple of youtube researchers who do wonderful analytics, an American who lives in Japan who goes by, “Things I’ve Learned” and Thomas DeLauer’s IF material. I’ve been doing IF myself for a few months now and I feel better, more energy, better sleep, and controlled weight.
POSTED AUGUST 21ST, 2018 AT 2:22 PMZKI started IF a month ago and I feel great. I lost weight, I feel “lighter,” more awake, and more energetic. I plan to make IF a part of my life.I eat from 12PM to 8PM. I feel that skipping breakfast is the easiest thing to do. I used to go to a bakery every morning – I’ve stopped that. If I get a little hungry in the morning, I use coffee as an appetite suppressant. On most days I don’t even think about breakfast and before I know it, it’s noon!I’ve been good about not eating past 8PM. Okay, If I’m out for dinner or at a party, I might go past 8PM…but I don’t kill myself over it. Some days if I have a big lunch (crispy duck with basil or cheeseburger), I won’t eat until the following day.I’m 43 years old and not a big guy (5’7″) but I could use some trimming around the gut. When I started IF I was 169 lbs and I’m now at 165 lbs…so losing 1-2 lbs per week.One important thing: I herniated a disc in my lower back a couple months ago so I’m not exercising. I don’t know how things will change (appetite, blood sugar, fatigue, etc) once I resume weights and start riding my bike to work again.In summary, I’m going to use some form of IF for the rest of my life and I highly recommend it. As with anything check with your doctor and make sure it’s the right thing for you. Good luck!
POSTED AUGUST 20TH, 2018 AT 7:02 PMAnnaHey, Im 16 years old. Should I try this? I also use special app on my phone to count protein, carbohydrates and fat, i understand that its really important for my body to work well and to have everything for it. It won’t be so harmful to try if in my age as well? Some tips?
POSTED AUGUST 18TH, 2018 AT 5:06 AMEnzoWhy do you conclude that evening fasting is better? Both the groups started the feeding time window at 7am, so the different results are not related to the timing but to the duration of fasting. Nothing new for us… this simply remarks the benefits of restricted time feeding, indipendently from time of the day.As for eating early there are no evidence of the benefits and also some studies that go against this advice http://www.ergo-log.com/emphasisonbreakfast.htmlAnectodally I find more difficult to fast in the evening (have you ever tried to go to bed on an empty stomach? )… without count that in the evening my self-control is really depleted after a day of work and I want just to relax and enjoy a good dinner.For me, the best and simplier to stick advices are: – skip breakfast for intermittent fasting; – eat ever at the same time like a swiss clock; – eat fat at lunch and carbs at dinner.
POSTED AUGUST 8TH, 2018 AT 12:15 PMMartin JenkinsI am a 65-year-old male who started IF seven weeks ago. I only eat between noon and 8pm. I am obese, but losing about a pound a week so far. Notably, except for time, I have not changed what I eat at all. My diet was never terrible or great, and now it is the same, a mix of raw fruit sometimes and a donut another time. But I only eat it during the appointed hours. Remarkably, I do not feel hungry. I used to eat comfort breakfasts like pancakes or waffles, and I thought I would miss them. But no, I truly am not hungry in the mornings. I often delay lunch, but I still stop eating at 8. That alone probably has cut many calories of desserts. Bottom line: works for me so far.
POSTED AUGUST 6TH, 2018 AT 11:16 AMIsaac Morales60 year old and just started IF a week ago. I eat from noon to 8pm. The noon start works for me because I’m not starting my day with the thought of food! I LOVE FOOD AND LOVE TO EAT! I am moving away from some bad habits and it doesn’t seem that difficult for me with IF! Just one week in and I do feel better. Can’t wait till I’ve got a month under my belt.
POSTED AUGUST 3RD, 2018 AT 6:53 AMSKGarriottI’m 63 years old and I have been following a daily 19 hour protocol called Fast 5, fast5.org for two years. I eat lunch at 3pm and dinner at 7pm close my eating window at 8pm. I’ve lost 43 lbs and kept it off, feel great and I am no longer pre diabetic. I eat what I want and don’t track anything. I belong to a Facebook Intermittent fasting group called Fast Club and would to have you check it out. Fasting is free and it works!
POSTED AUGUST 3RD, 2018 AT 1:19 PMMonique Tello, MD, MPHWow, Impressive results, skgarriot! More and more evidence supports an overnight fast, though sixteen hours works very well for most folks.
POSTED JULY 25TH, 2018 AT 7:52 AMT.I function well with iF. 71 year old male. 151 lbs 5 foot 9. But maintaing my weight is tough. The large meal appears to crowd my stomach to the point of moderate to extreme discomfort. What is the solution? Thanks.
POSTED JULY 23RD, 2018 AT 12:26 PMMonique Tello, MD, MPHHi Matilde, Yes, you are encouraged to drink fluids while fasting. Water, tea, coffee, seltzer, and even broth are all fine. You can put a dollop of cream in your coffee if you like as well. Check out Jason Fung’s book Obesity Code (and just FYI, there are no benefits to me for recommending others’ writing…)
POSTED JULY 23RD, 2018 AT 11:20 AMCameron J.Yep. Also good article here too Prediabetes Symptoms – Lark (https://www.web.lark.com/prediabetes-symptoms/) (“Having prediabetes puts you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. As you might expect, prediabetes is a condition with higher blood sugar, or blood glucose, than normal, but lower levels than in diabetes. It happens as your body develops insulin resistance and is less able to regulate blood sugar levels properly. Every year, 5 to 10% of people with prediabetes develop diabetes”)
POSTED JULY 23RD, 2018 AT 10:44 AMMatildeA dumb question possibly, but is drinking water, tea or coffee (no sugars or milk or..) during fasting or in between meals ok?
POSTED JULY 20TH, 2018 AT 4:58 PMMonique Tello, MD, MPHThis is a new area, but the research that has come out since this article is also positive, and promising. One example: In this June 2018 study of 23 people with obesity, 12 weeks of 8-hour time-restricted feeding resulted a 2.6% decrease in body weight and a 7 point decrease in systolic blood pressure, which was significant when compared to controls: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29951594
POSTED JULY 20TH, 2018 AT 4:51 PMMonique Tello, MD, MPHThank you Dr. De Foa, for the metabolic details! We generally would not go into this kind of specific physiologic explanation, rather, we go big-picture, for clarity.
POSTED JULY 20TH, 2018 AT 4:50 PMMonique Tello, MD, MPHThanks Tom and Wendy and Jim, Yes, this particular study emphasized earlier time-restricted feeding, but I agree that for many people a 12 pm- 8 pm feeding window is more realistic, and if it’s working, then why not?
POSTED JULY 11TH, 2018 AT 1:11 PMZeeb Ralstongreat stuff, I agree wholeheartedly, posted it on my facebook site and emailed it to most of my mailing list. I am also a personal patient of Dr. Fung and can heartily vouch for his qualifications, his focus and his abilities. Win Win Win! and yes, eating disorders I believe are easily conquered with fasting, both Intermittent and extended.
POSTED JULY 9TH, 2018 AT 9:09 PMTheaThe disclaimer cautioning that people with a Hx of eating disorder shouldn’t attempt IF without medical supervision is ubiquitous in articles like this one. However I have never seen anyone cite any evidence as the foundation for this recommendation, nor even provide clinical anecdotes or a thorough clinical rationale.I believe this is a disservice to those, like me, with a history of eating disorder. It has made experimenting with IF unnecessarily stressful. Despite my worry about what might happen (reading all these baseless cautions), I went ahead and experimented. In my experience, contrary to this “expert advice”, IF has been the most profoundly effective intervention I’ve experienced for my bulemia.It has totally regulated my appetite and normalised my relationship with food. My obsessive thoughts have completely subsided, my black and white thinking around food has gone, and I no longer binge! This is amazing. For the first time in my adult life I feel like I know what it is like to have a normal relatinoship with food. I eat when I eat, a range of healthy whole foods and occasional less healthy foods. In normal amounts. In manageable amounts. And when my meal is over, I stop! Normal for others, a seeming impossibility for me (and, I’m guessing, others with eating disorders).I have struggled iwth the hell of an eating disorder for over 25 years, and I think it is negligent to say that eating disorder is a contraindication for IF when there is NO EVIDENCE that this is the case, and in fact I think IF has amazing potential as a therapy.At least modify the disclaimer to state something like “people with a Hx of ED should approach IF with caution, as there is no research as yet to show any potential adverse impact of IF. Seek clinical supervision if in doubt.”
POSTED JULY 9TH, 2018 AT 1:32 PMHerman HamotI’m reading this on iPhone 6C. I get nothing when clicking REPLY. How to resolve this?
POSTED JULY 5TH, 2018 AT 1:22 PMTomJerimiah, the linked study in the article (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413118302535) specifically studied “eTRF”(Early Time-Restricted Feeding) from 8am – 2pm, and implies that eating earlier is better than later. I haven’t read the study (it’s behind a damn Elsevier pay-wall), so I don’t know how strongly they feel about early vs late, though. For me, personally, 12-8 is doable, and skipping dinner (given the existence of a family and the desire to have dinner with said family) isn’t doable, so I’m pleased to hear from you and April above that it’s working. Just starting!
POSTED JULY 4TH, 2018 AT 10:25 PMJ Lance De Foa, MDYou wrote, “But sugar can ONLY ENTER our cells WITH INSULIN, a hormone made in the pancreas. INSULIN BRINGS SUGAR IN the fat cells and keeps it there.”Are you unaware of insulin-INdependent GLUT1 channels present on MOST cells which let glucose freely enter, driven by high concentration outside the cells to the lower concentration inside?Also, hypo/aninsulinemic patients who NEED injected INSULIN to survive don’t suffer from lack of glucose entering cells. The main role of insulin for them is to shut off the flood of glucose and ketones from the liver.Insulin doesn’t “BRING” glucose in, it merely opens the insulin DEPENDENT GLUT4 channels on muscle and fat cells to make it easier for glucose to flow from the higher serum to lower intracellular concentration. Just like opening all the doors on a stadium let the fans flow in.In so far as insulin promotes de novo lipogenesis and suppresses lipolysis in adipocytes it DOES help keep the fat inside. But in Hyperinsulinemia / Insulin Resistance with Impaired Glucose Tolerance lipolysis may not be sufficiently reduced and fatty acids and glycerin can be spilled at the same time that Triglycerides are being formed & stored. In the liver the glycerin gets converted to glucose producing hyperglycemia.The system is dysregulated. There is no lack of insulin. There is just too much work for it to do, and the system resists it also.
POSTED JULY 4TH, 2018 AT 1:41 PMHåkon DahleI skip breakfast and have no issues with that. I also heard that eating in the evening could be an advantage, because the body is at rest and all energy can be used for digestion. That is similar to animals that rest and sleep after hunting and eating.
POSTED JULY 4TH, 2018 AT 1:30 PMJimJeremiah. Insulin is higher towards the evening, add to that your more sedentary when winding down.
POSTED JULY 4TH, 2018 AT 11:56 AMEmma GlaisherI’ve been doing Moseley style 5:2 IF for 5 or 6 years now. I was attracted to it primarly because of the suggested health benefits, aside from the weight loss. My weight has pretty much maintained, but my main hope is to avoid heart disease and cancer for as long as possible – 58 and still here! Are the health benefits still borne out by the research does anyone know?
POSTED JULY 4TH, 2018 AT 6:52 AMAprilI started IT about 6 weeks ago. I eat between 12 noon and 8 pm. This works best for me and I have found easily sustainable. The results so far have blown my mind. I have an autoimmune disease and struggled with bloating, multiple food intolerance, gut pain, frequent urination, sugar cravings. All of these symptoms are gone. My hunger is controlled and I can enjoy lovely family dinners again. I think ideally eating earlier in the day would be better, but due to my schedule this works better for me and I am happy with the results.
POSTED JULY 3RD, 2018 AT 2:38 PMKeithJeremiah, I don’t think the author is suggesting that TRF in the later hours of the day is bad, but rather that it is DIFFICULT. The key finding in this study is that the 07:00-15:00 eaters had a reduced appetite (in other words, didn’t find it very hard to follow this regimen), whereas other approaches have been found to be kind of difficult for some.It definitely makes sense for you to stick with a system that is working well for you, although if you are finding it hard maybe it would be worth it to experiment with shifting your eating window to earlier in the day just to see how that goes.
POSTED JULY 3RD, 2018 AT 12:32 PMLucyHi, I’ve heard about intermittent fasting and was thinking about trying it. I’ve also been looking at this red tea diet recently and was wondering what you thought about it.
POSTED JULY 2ND, 2018 AT 12:43 PMJerimiahI would like to know what led you to the conclusion to recommend eating in the morning and fasting in the evening instead of the other way around. You do not link any studies here that show TRF in the morning is better than TRF in the evening. You do state “Nighttime eating is well associated with a higher risk of obesity, as well as diabetes.” but I would hazard a guess that alot people that snack into the evening have many other factors at play that could effect their risk of obesity and diabetes and are possibly not fasting at all. I have been doing TRF from 12-8pm every day for almost a year and have seen vast improvements in my health, not least of which is a loss of 70 lbs, so it seems odd to read items 3 and 4 on your 4 ways to use this information for better health. If you have evidence that supports the idea that TRF in the evening is bad then I would like to see it and perhaps change my dieting habbits.
POSTED JULY 2ND, 2018 AT 11:40 AMShaneNice simple advice here, easy to understand and consistent with most general dietary advice. Thanks for this article.
Reprise from ten years ago – Welcome to my world of Art and life.
In my role as a Penguin I won an award for Best Peformance
There was new beginning in my creative life in 2010 when I went to Nanaimo to take pictures of Bodysage 2010 and the Canadian Bodypainting Championships. I went as a photographer but ended up on stage for the finals at the Victoria Fringe Festival and Championships. Even more amazing, I won a prize for the best performance by a model.
Who knew I had it in me? Not me, that’s for sure, although I admit to having been on a stage a few times before in my 57 years of living. (I’m almost 67 now)
When I was just a young lad, in my early teen years, I modelled bathing suits for Jantzen Swimwear one summer. My aunt Physlis was a clothing designer with the company and she took me with her and introduced me to the stage.
It was first my modeling job, and, I must admit, my last until the Bodypainting championships.
I was happy just to be a photographer at the festival and show. There were a good number of beautiful models and skilled painters working together to create amazing designs. It was great to earn the respect and affection of the crew and a delight to shoot under the circumstances.
I got a lot of great shots, which I shared with the artists and models after it was over. Still, the biggest surprise was being asked to be painted on the Friday night before the big show.
Of course it was initially just a great joke. After all, everybody else was either a painter or a model, and I’d been taking thousands of shots of people nearly naked in all sorts of compromising positions.
Of course I said yes. I can take a joke as well as… as well I can, and I thought that it would be hillarious to be painted as a penguin for the party on Friday night. Who knew that it would be so popular with the models and artists that they insisted that I go into the show on Saturday Night at the Fringe Festival.
Well, the rest is history. And the dance of the Penquins has never been danced quite so awkwardly, or by such a comical character.
That performance and the photos I took that week launched me anew in the world of fashion photography, model portfolios, and just plain fun with new friends and a new generation.
At the Fringe Festival in Victoria September 2010 and the week of practice and training in Nanaimo at Bodysage
Life is interesting when you start down a road you didn’t even dream existed.
Child abuse doesn’t just affect one generation. It often spans many generations and triggers numerous dysfunctional relationships over time.
People who have been abused as children have a really hard time as adults, especially as young adults trying to formulate romantic relationships. Without a solid foundation established early in life, emotions can feel like quicksand and you soon feel like you are drowning. People become desperate for love and accept all sorts of inappropriate behavior that seems like it must be some kind of love, or it wouldn’t be so intense. So this is the story of one such person, after an abusive and destructive marriage
Even after years of counseling, he still feels the desperate self-criticism of his youth, pulling him back into depression and suicidal thoughts. At the end of his first marriage, he actually tried to kill himself by sleepwalking in front of a bus
The transit bus driver drove his bus into the side of a building to avoid hitting the patient, most likely saving his life.
He went to see a doctor after this because he felt that he was in danger because of his actions. He consciously knew that he was a danger to himself and potentially others, but so deeply depressed about losing his wife that he was wandering around in a complete daze.
This was despite the fact that the relationship was fundamentally dysfunctional, and she used and abused him virtually every day from the very first moment he laid eyes on her. His self-worth was so low that he actually believed that everything that ever went wrong was his fault. He allowed himself to be her emotional and physical servant, charged with somehow making her feel good about herself.
Although she was highly intelligent and won many academic awards she required constant affirmations of her intellect, and couldn’t accept any opposition to her opinions on any subject at all. To whatever degree he differed from her point of view, she called him out and accused him of trying to undermine her and make her look like an idiot to their friends or families. He also took on responsibility for taking care of every aspect of her life, including paying all the bills, providing her with funds to pay for her advanced education, and a constant stream of extravagant gifts. Their life together was one of extraordinary social adventures, with a stream of her unusual friends variously moving into and out of their home and their lives together.
They were together for nearly ten years and had a daughter. Their divorce was highly acrimonious and as a result of an emotional breakdown, she intimidated him into giving into virtually all of her demands, including extremely restrictive access to their infant daughter, who is now almost forty years of age.
Because of his blindness to her faults and unwillingness to acknowledge her abusive behavior, He simply was not in any position to provide adequate co-parenting to their daughter, who ended up with her being physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by his ex-wife and her mother, who had previously done the same things to his ex-wife.
It wasn’t until their daughter ran away from her mother’s house to live on the streets that he became aware of all that she had gone through in her mother’s care.
The daughter suffers from multiple psychological disorders including acute anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD as a result of multiple sexual assaults starting with her grandmother as early as five or six years old. After she ran away, at thirteen years old, from her mother’s home when she came to live with his current partner and him. It was only then that he heard her story and got her into counseling. The road was very difficult, and they were not very successful in helping the daughter overcome her many conditions.
Never in all the years he had been married to his ex-wife did he realize how destructive her constant personal attacks and total narcissistic behavior had been to him. After he more or less recovered from his breakdown and hospitalization after their marital breakdown, he still blamed himself for everything that had gone wrong in their marriage.
But no more. His daughter suffers from many psychiatric and emotional defects, some of which would have been there no matter who raised her as a young child. She also has many physical disabilities including muscular and skeletal problems that have resulted in her living life in chronic pain, and incapable of independent mobility. She also had two children, which he had to have taken from her because she is incapable of providing the minimum care level necessary for their physical and emotional health. He doesn’t blame his ex-wife or her mother for all of it, as it would unfair to do so.
Gaslighting is an insidious form of abuse, but when combined with sexual and physical abuse can lead to almost untold self loathing in its victims.
But what is fair to say is that without the abuse by her narcissistic mother and a grandmother who barely survived Nazi rule in Holland as a young girl before abusing her own daughter and granddaughter, their daughter didn’t have a chance at any reasonable life. Despite years of counseling himself, He still knows that he has blinders on regarding his ex-wife and still has hard time understanding what he allowed to happen in his marriage, or what really took place in all the years she had total control over their daughter’s care and custody.
He had even blamed himself for that restricted access, and his lack of involvement in his daughter’s life. The extreme anger his ex-wife expressed towards him made a more normalized co-parenting arrangement impossible. Even spending thousands of dollar on legal fees trying to get better custodial arrangements failed.
If you are a survivor of an abusive relationship and have gotten out, don’t try to deal with this all on your own. Find a good counselor and make every effort to deal with your own demons before they drag you into yet another dangerous quagmire.
Unfortunately, you may find yourself repeating your mistakes, over and over again. Learn to recognise the cycle of abuse in your own life, and take action to change your circumstances. Leave.
Rain Coast Review 