The FastDay Forum

Hi there. Just wondered how many people try to stick to low carbs on a fast day? I'm on my 5th fasting day (3rd week), and I wondered how important it is? I'm trying again to stick it out with only water all day, and have an early tea around 4.30pm. As I will have 500 cals to play with, I'd like to have some rice, pasta or noodles to fill me up. Does anyone know if this would be OK? Or would I be better sticking to protein / veg meals? Thanks very much x

from memory the diet used by Varady in her clinical trials was 60g carbs, 28-30g protein and the balance fats/oils.

60g of carbs plus 30g of protein gives you 360 cals

Dr M suggests maxing the protein on a fast day (and cutting back on protein on feed days). I think the idea is that we normally eat too much protein (esp animal protein) but that we don't want to run out of it altogether on a fast day (because our bodies can't synthesize it). Is that really a danger on a fast day though?

Main problem with carbs in themselves I think is that they can trigger the feeding frenzy especially if they are high glycaemic index...

Dr M put that in a tweet, still not convinced it wasn't a typo

None of the clinical trials were high protein, so it's not evidence based.

[carorees]

The more reading I do among the scientific literature, the more I am convinced that carbs are really really bad for us in many different ways. Or at least refined carbs I should say. I do think it is better to avoid carbs completely on fast days and stick to protein and veggies. Rice, pasta etc fill you up but only for a short time. There are several studies showing that protein is better at promoting satiety. Also as soon as you eat some carbohydrate you fall out of fat burning mode and you get bigger insulin responses which promote laying down of fat.

I love my high carb foods, which is why I couldn't stick to Atkins even though I lost loads of weight on it, so I save my carbs for feed days and go completely low carb on fast days.

I'm sure that the trials by Krista Varady used the recommended balance of having a diet based on carbs because it was the thinking at the time that a diet high in carbs was best for health. Subsequent studies have shown that for weight loss and health (in terms of cardiovascular and diabetes risk etc), the best diet is the Mediterranean one, second is low carb and third is the high carb low fat diet.

Re the protein content, I can't really believe that some disaster will ensue if we don't have lots of protein on fast days. I believe the amount actually required by the body is pretty low compared with what we usually consume in the developed world (I'll see if I can find it in a minute), so I doubt that it is worth worrying about. Cutting down on protein on feed days is probably good as there is a link between high protein intake and cancer risk.

60g of carb is fairly low carb compared to standard US dietary recommendations (probably 250g per day at 2000 calories) but she probably stayed away from using too much fats / oils.

The "Mediterranean diet" is too undefined for me, on holiday there I've never seen so much meat and cheese and so little fruit in a supermarket !

Thanks for your replies. Its all very interesting and new to me. I still need to get my head round some of the ideas. But your info cetainly helps...
I've no idea what I'll end up having for tea tonight now! Maybe an omelette with cheese, steamed veggies and low gi bread? I had bought myself a pack of frozen stirfry, with noodles & chicken, but I was surprised to see that it has 28g Carbs per pack, plus loads of gunck, stabilizers etc!!
Anyway thats enough talk of food for now, its making me feel hungry lol! Only 5 hours to go (not that I'm counting or anything)

[Moogie]

I don't worry about carbs, never have. I like them, I couldn't cut it out of my life completely and I like my fast day dinners to feel like 'normal' food so I haven't cut them out there either - but still have good size meals and great weight loss

I actually found early on when I started fasting that on weeks where I ate more protein on my fasting days I seemed to lose less weight, so I cut back on fasting protein and the loss improved. No idea why! Maybe coincidence