The FastDay Forum

Margaret interviewed Professor Katherine Samaras, a senior staff specialist in endocrinology and metabolism at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and a senior researcher in obesity and diabetes at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. (I assume Katherine is a colleague of Amanda Sainsbury-Salis.)

Katherine spoke about the benefits of fasting (she considered 600-800 cals in 24 hours as fasting) for helping with bacteria in the gut and assisting with all sorts of bodily ailments, particularly diabetes. Interestingly she didn't think people of normal weight need to fast...

Katherine spoke of sugar as being a major problem, and of a Mediterranean diet as a healthy one. She covered lots of related issues, I can't recall them all now.

Margaret mentioned that a number of people who work for the ABC are doing 5:2 with great results. She did also say that it seems to be flavor of the month (or words to that effect)...

The link to the interview can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/classic/program/midday/

For those unfamiliar with Margaret's interviews, the interview is interspersed with music.

Thanks @Sassy1 how interesting. Cheering to hear an expert on endocrinology and metabolism say 5:2 has health benefits..tho why don't peeps of normal weight need to fast if its so good for overall health?x

Katherine spoke about the benefits of fasting (she considered 600-800 cals in 24 hours as fasting)

My estimated BMR is approx. 850kcals per day and my TDEE is BMR x1.2 on a sedentary day or BMR x1.5 on a more active day. So, no, 600-800kcals would not count as a fast for me. And altho' I'm rather an outlier because of low skeletal muscle mass I know comparatively few women >40yrs old who would estimate that they eat 2000kcals a day or so.

At some point, it would be helpful if the calorie intake guidelines were modified/stratified to be more useful in guiding individuals. [/tangent] [/soapbox]

It's good to see that fasting is having greater coverage and addressed by researchers with good reputations tho'. ETA: I thought I remembered her TedX talk from 2011: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stori ... 263723.htm

Thank you for the link.. the bit about IF starts at about 15 minutes
(music is great too )
some of the points in this
- We kid ourselves about how much we eat.
- The 5:2 diet has "taken off" and showing great results but it does other good things(keeping the gut health)
- When we fast we up-regulate all our antioxidants. In our genetic wiring we have the capacity to make all sorts of fantastic things that preserve health, the antioxidants that repair genetic defects. antioxidants that mop up, that repair the genetic defects help prevent future inflammations, calming the immune system and settling down the inflammation in our bodies .. just a little bit of fasting sets body into production of these health giving chemicals.
- A good 24 hour fasts is 600 to 800 (which is quite a lot of food, if you are in the right head space)
- Most Australians overeat cause we are bored, the food is there, there is indeed a smorgasboard all around us
- if we dont plough fields, our sedentary lifestyle means we shouldn't need to be eating so much
- the hard labour can offset number of calories but good to have a calorie cutting period

Thanks for summarising the interview @Juliana.Rivers, I appreciate it. Interesting and positive I think.