The FastDay Forum

I was thinking about intermittent fasting and any consideration we should give to nutrition and the well known RDI values (recommended daily intake) of things like
- calcium
- iron
- Vitamin B,C,D and minerals

Does our body store the required amounts and thus no need to worry but things like calcium or iron deficiency must register as a concern for health professionals.

I know my friend who had her stomach mostly cut out (with sleeving surgery) has to take vitamin supplements daily but i guess she eats like a quail all the time now so it's different to standard intermittent fasting regimes.

So, does 16/24/36 hours of less food intake represent a problem from the point of view of our nutrition?

I personally have not relied on any kind of supplement in the past, apart from the occasional fad i would go through cause of something i read or someone said and then i never bought any more of the same after bottle ran out. Had a phase of one of those drink formulaes that are supposed to do amazing things but otherwise, supplement free.

Well, I don't know...there seems to be pros and cons. I do take a vitamin supplement daily. The chewable kids variety because I hate to swallow pills and tend to have swollen thyroid/glands/whatever that causes a prevalent gag reflex. I figure it couldn't hurt. My kid's vitamin has extra Vitamin C. I also have Super B Complex and D3 but I haven't been taking them recently. The B vitamin is horse pill size and tastes really bad. It is the one that really makes me gag.

I found this in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opini ... d=all&_r=0

It says, "It turns out, however, that scientists have known for years that large quantities of supplemental vitamins can be quite harmful indeed."

I think that it's general - and not specifically related to fasters, but it's a very interesting read that will make you think twice about taking vitamins.

Here is an article from Web MD - http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-suppl ... make-sense

[Betsysgr8]

I eat more veg than most and probably more protein than is recommended, lower carb and definitely less sugar, probably not as much fat but more fish than most. I take glucocasime with chondrotrine and MSM everday that I remember for my joints. I do NoT feel that I'm nutrient defincient in any way shape or form from skipping a few meals. The real only cut back in my diet would be in carbs but then I make up for that with beer and once in a while (sssshhh @Ballerina may be listening) whole grain #toast! I feel I'm not missing out on any nutrients. As long as someone has a varied diet they shouldn't need supplements.

I remember when i had infants, and I would worry how little they ate on occasion, someone said you look at what they eat over a whole week and not a day, so perhaps we should apply that general rule to us IF'ers such that we look at what we consume over 7 days and thus no need to worry about a 12 hour or 36 hour liquid fast when not a scrap of calcium, protein, iron or vitamins is digested

I'm sure I've read somewhere that people who take vitamins have a lower life expectancy, however perhaps that is because they eat more poorly and assuming that they can get what they need from a pill?

I think I eat pretty well and 2-3 large serves if vege each day, generally only have fruit on non fast days. I take magnesium for restless legs & a daily probiotic though as well.

I think you're right, you have to look at your vitamin and mineral intake over the course of a week rather than on a particular day. In any case someone cutting calories daily to lose weight would end up with the same sort of deficit over the week, it would just be every day rather than on two days, so I don't see how any form of IF is different to normal dieting when the amount of calories you eat is about the same, just spread out differently.
I don't take any supplements as I've never felt the need, and as I know I can get practically all of the vitamins and minerals I need from plants which are low cal anyway, so I just make sure that I eat lots of vegetables on fast days (and in fact every day). I always drink a cup of marmite broth for the B vitamins, on non-fast days I eat marmite on toast instead, but that's because I eat a plant based diet so it's either that or take vitamin B supplements.
If you eat a balanced diet on both fast days and feed days I don't think you need to worry about deficiencies.

O.K. Who did it? Who mentioned TOAST? I can't remember the last time I ate TOAST as we very rarely have bread in the house now and on the odd occasion we do it tends to be rolls rather than loaves but, oh, the aroma of toast, mmmmm.......

Anyway, vitamins? I feel that my diet was always quite healthy, if a bit carb heavy, just like me and I had a sweet tooth so no surprises that I was gradually getting heavier and heavier. This way of eating has radically changed everything for me including days without alcohol, never thought I'd say that let alone DO it!

So, supplements, nah! I have never felt so well or full of energy, even my bad sleeping does not impact on my energy levels so I shall just keep doing what I'm doing and hope to live FOREVER!!!

Ballerina x

P.S. If I reach ninety years of age I am going to eat nothing but TOAST til I die!

[carorees]

I just take magnesium to see if it will help me sleep. sometimes I think it does, other times I'm not so sure! I think that by cutting out carbs on fast days (which have little or no nutritional value depending on the source)as the main way I'm cutting calories, I'm not likely to have reduced my vitamin and mineral intake at all compared to before I started fasting. in fact the amount of vegetables I've eaten had gone up so I'm probably better than before!