The FastDay Forum

The general idea behind any diet is that you stop adding energy into the body so that the body has to turn to the fat stores to provide energy for the body to use. By adding carbs you are stopping or at least slowing down the process whereby the body needs to switch to fat burning. take away the carbs and there is no ready source of energy, so the body switches to fat burning.

I have very little carbs on a fast day, preferring protein and low carb veg.I am also cutting down on carbs where and when I can (a bit of a sugar frenzy lately that I am trying to get back under control).

500 calories are 500 calories, right?

Oh dear, in short, NO!

This misunderstanding is a tragedy of epic proportions, and is probably one of the reasons for our burgeoning obesity epidemic.

A dietary calorie (actually kcal) is "is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius".

Humans are not pots of water. For example: tree bark and grass have calories, but you'd get pretty thin trying to survive off them; the body's hormonal responses to protein, carbs and fat are very different - e.g. changing how / if fat is stored or used; if you've been taking antibiotics your ability to process foods will be very different from your norm; etc. etc.

Try this for a start:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lu ... 59564.html

And as for the literature, try this, just one of multitudinous examples:

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/91/6/1541.long

The 5:2 Lab has *lots* of posts on this hot topic! FatDog

Yep, your brain basically has a hissy fit when it doesn't get a carb hit.

Think of crisps, you get a sugar, salt, MSG, starch & flavourings hit, no wonder they're addictive.

Read around about how these foods affect your hormones too and it'll all start to make sense. I've changed what I think about food a lot over the last year. I'm not perfect, I eat cake, chips, battered fish and chocolate and have done so the whole time I've been losing weight. However, getting the understanding of it and why my brain was not working with me has helped.

Robb Wolf, Whole 30, Mark's Daily Apple and the other paleo-type resources are helpful. I'm not planning to go fully paleo but in many ways, a cleaner diet is suiting me.

I'm going to ignore the egg custard tarts I ate yesterday here but they did set off my rosacea!!

Carbs, to me, are so comforting. ou don't get the same lovely feelings with protein.

Mmmmmm egg custard tarts.....

http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2011/1 ... a-calorie/

It does get better...I think I probably cycle carbs now and do have days with plenty. But not fast days as they're too calorific vs volume for satiety.

Hi Pip

I have to agree with Fatdog here - a calorie is not always a calorie, as those links will tell you.

When I got into 5:2 properly (I began by halving my calories two days a week), I would use my 600 calorie allowance to the limit - a glass of stout before dinner a glass of wine with the meal, a micro-waved potato (the lowest calorie carb) and a veg curry - followed by a pudding and, on occasion, to make sure I got to 600, a square or two of dark chocolate.

14 months on I experiment to get the lowest number of calories in one meal I can - my record is a filling veg curry that comes in under 120 cals! And occasionally, say once a month, I'll have a complete liquid fast.

My point is that you don't need protein on a FD - check out the weekly liquid fasting threads. these guys regularly just have liquids on their FDs - and many of them exercise on these days, too.

Take things gradually, and build up to doing without carbs as and when you're ready.

Oh, I came on to tell you that I regularly used to replace 100g of potato or rice, with 100g of broccoli. After a while you don't miss the carbs!

Now summer is here, I don't even bother eating on a fast day. Have 2 coffees with a little normal milk & 2-3 big glasses of water. I just CBA'd calorie counting & it really frees up time on fast days. No adverse effects noted as yet, still losing weight slowly with lots of +ve health improvements. In winter I had miso soup with some greens in the evening as I feel the cold & the warming soup helped.

Pip

what is wrong with proteins, or is this just a preference thing.

Protein comes in many forms.
good article from Marks Daily apple site

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/top-ten- ... z2iyrLtW5D

the comments at bottom are interesting

Hi Pip
- my record is a filling veg curry that comes in under 120 cals! And occasionally

what's your recipe?

Hi Juliana

Here's my basic recipe, which I play about with to suit either a very low calorie meal - or just whatever veg I have in.

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk ... vegan.html

For the <120 calorie version I use mainly celery, cabbage and mushrooms, with 50g of onion. I'm aware that 10 or 15 cals are neither here nor there in the great scheme of things, but it pleases my OCD to get the calorie count as low as poss!

Cheers, B&W

As a personal input from an ex-carboholic: I never thought I'd be able to cut down on bread, pasta or rice, but have done so, and it's making a big difference to how I feel, and how much weight I've lost. If I can do it, anyone can! I sort of feel it's wasted calories now to have an extra slice of toast in the morning when I could have an egg instead

I can't quite believe I have actually typed this, and wonder when I will wake up from this lovely dream

I also try to avoid carbs on my fast days, focusing mainly on protein, good carbs(like veggies) and fats, while keeping under my calorie limits and find I usually post better numbers when I do. As many will agree, proteins and fats can provide saiety sp?), which means feeling of fullness. This helps me on those fast days.

It is pretty well established that carbs can increase insulin release in the body, which slows the body's fat burning process.

Carbs are comforting. There must be a scientific reason behind this.

FatDog said what I came on to say. A calorie is not a calorie. All carbs give you is energy, which has to be burned or stored as fat. They don't help towards your body's repair like fat or protein.

I found that this WOE helped me combat my carb addiction! I aim for 100g of protein with my evening meal, occasionally there are a little calories left over for some carbs too. But I find that chicken/prawns/fish which are really low in cals means that you can have a sizeable dinner in the evening. I also love veggies so I'm quite content just having masses of broccoli and cauliflower. I think if you are exercising as well as fasting adding some protein in wouldn't do any harm. But I'm sure if across the week you are eating a balanced diet then it shouldn't be too much of a problem!