The FastDay Forum

Hi

On my third week and all going OK.

Discussing with my husband (who couldn't cope with even 1 fast day!) that I wasn't only doing this for weight loss but for health benefits. He queried why I believe them when in the days of hunters who fasted, life expectancy was very short and it is only recent that we are living much longer ?

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I was stuck for an answer.

[Moogie]

Hi & welcome Glad 5:2 is going well for you!

I'm sure there are others here who can be more scientific in their answers, but I'm sure the short life expectancy of ancient hunter gatherers wasn't solely because of the feast & famine lifestyle - living conditions were probably not idea, no kind of hygeine regime, dangers of childbirth, being trampled/munched by other animals. Not so very many years ago 'modern' man's life expectancy wasn't all that great either, but that wasn't with a feast and famine lifestyle.

Our lives have become so much easier and so many people surviving due to advances in medical science, but we're still prone to any number of diseases. It's not all about life prolongation but health in general, you could live to 100 years, but if you've got a degenerative condition of some kind it wouldn't be so pleasant - if 5:2 can stave off some of these conditions then we have a better quality of life.

[carorees]

Well the fasting diet is not going to stop you being gored to death by a rampaging wild boar, having your throat cut by enemies, contracting an infectious disease for which an infusion of herbs is not an adequate antibiotic, being forced to fast for so many days you die of hunger, not eating any vegetables for the entire winter, freezing too death in the winter, tripping over a rock and getting a compound fracture in your leg that can't be set, drinking contaminated water, wearing your teeth out and not being able too eat at all, dying in childbirth...

I think you'll find that our hunter gatherer ancestors did not die of diabetes, heart disease or cancer because they were killed by conditions that are now treatable. Now we are being killed by diseases associated with over eating...fasting will help with that!

Not going back as far as hunter gatherers ...I was talking to my very wise and beautiful 93 year old mum about the 5:2 diet and she was saying that a generation ago they didnt have all this processed food...ate veg from the garden ...fruit in season (extra was preserved by bottling or drying for the winter) and ate very little red meat ....the few animals they kept on the farm went to market and not for home consumption....they didnt get their protein from meat every day of the week...they couldnt have afforded to...she blames most of our health problems on processed convenience foods...and says she was reared on home made soup...home made breads...and stews and casseroles made with very little meat and bulked out with loads of veggies...she is 93 lives independently in her own home bright eyed and bushy tailed !!!!Perhaps a hunter gatherer diet combined with modern medicine will let me live that long????

[Moogie]

Virginia - I think you'd find "The Men Who Made Us Fat" quite interesting, all about processed food & the change in eating habits. There's a topic in the Resources forum with all the videos embedded so you can watch them at your convenience