The FastDay Forum

[carieoates]

@Bebar, welcome from me too, I love a low carb lifestyle, been there, done that, got the t-shirt....
Good luck and I've been to Wellington a couple of time, (only because Weve been to visiti SIL in Auckland) beautiful place.

Well done folks, I've found combining 16:8 with primal eating most effective for fullness and health.
I'm currently on Mark Sissons 21 day primal challenge, just for a new year jump start, and, apart from not doing planks, squats, pulls and sprints (:0@) it's all going hummingly well!
So far I've gone from xmas high of 74 to 72 kgs, hurrah!

Keep in mind that you are supposed to eat that 20 g a day on Atkins ONLY for the first 2 weeks to help you break all your high carb bad habits. After those first 2 weeks you can raise your carbs some.

A sustainable, healthy low carb diet should have lots of vegetables in it and typically will be 40-65 g a day of carbs.

Also, be aware that most of the weight loss during those first 2 weeks is water released from the stored glygocen you burn off when you don't eat carbs. It comes right back on if you eat carbs again. However, cutting carbs usually also dramatically drops appetite allowing you to eat a lot less. So over time the lower calories may produce real fat loss.

Hi! I'm glad I found this sub-forum. I am starting 16:8 fasting tomorrow, along with returning to a low glycemic load (lower carb) way of eating. I just felt best eating that way, and I feel combined with fasting, my health will really improve.

But one thing. I can't find a 16:8 fasting forum. I thought there was one here. If anyone can point me in the right direction, much appreciated!

I've copied this from 'I Quit Sugar', makes interesting reading:-
does quitting sugar heal autoimmune disease?
posted on january 15th, 2014
This is actually a post I’ve been busting to write for a while. As many of you know, I first quit sugar because of my autoimmune (AI) disease. I have Hashimotos. And a big part of why I’ve stuck to the sugar-free program is that it’s made such a damn big difference. So the simple answer is this: Quitting sugar has had the biggest impact on my AI, more so than my medication or any other medical fix (and, trust me, I’ve tried everything). In the past three years, I’ve been able to better manage my AI, but also – yes – heal and reverse the damage.
I have zero thyroid antibodies now.
I’m on the most minimal dosage of thyroxin.
My hormone levels have fallen back into the right range (more on this soon!).
It’s taken years to get to this point. I put it down to the massive change to my diet that quitting sugar precipitated. And to breaking the clusterf*ck cycle that autoimmune disease invariably locks you into.

But why? And how? Let me explain…

Warning: Like most of my AI and thyroid posts this is a long one. And as I always remind people, even if you don’t have an AI, you’ll probably find it helpful because the advice I share relates to all of us. Or you probably have a loved one who has an AI…please share this with them.

Sugar mucks up your gut

Blood sugar imbalances inflame the digestive tract, causing leaky gut (literally, a perforated gut lining). In turn, leaky gut triggers the development of AI. Toxins are able to pass through the perforations into the bloodstream triggering an autoimmune reaction as our antibodies head out to attack the foreign invaders. These little antibody soldiers can then get confused and head off to attack parts of our bodies, such as the thyroid. Gluten, for instance, has a very similar molecular structure to the thyroid gland.

Sugar causes inflammation

The process above obviously creates inflammation, which compromises immune function. In addition, sugar compromises the ability of our white cells to destroy toxins. This effect begins within 30 minutes of eating the stuff and lasts for five hours.

Insulin spikes destroy the thyroid gland

As many of you know (yeah?), sugar causes our pancreas to secrete insulin to move excess sugar from the blood into our cells where glucose is used to produce energy. But over time, the cells lose the ability to respond to insulin. Our poor little pancreas responds by pumping out even more insulin, leading to insulin resistance.

Studies have shown that these repeated insulin surges increase the destruction of the thyroid gland.

Also, this: we’re programmed to see low blood sugar as a threat to survival. Thus our adrenal glands respond by secreting cortisol. Cortisol then tells the liver to increase the amount of glucose available, bringing blood sugar levels back to normal.

As you know, again (um, yeah?), cortisol is the “flight or fight” hormone, reserved for special occasions (like being chased by a tiger or some such). It causes an increase in heart rate, oxygen, and blood flow while shutting down digestion, growth and reproduction so all energy can go to our brains and muscles.

Problem is, if cortisol is over-used ‘n’ abused (from eating sugar daily), this all suppresses pituitary function. Um, which is vital to thyroid function (the hypothalamus, thyroid and pituitary work as a threesome).

And around and around and around we all go, right?

Flipside, a bung thyroid can then cause insulin issues

How’s this work? Our thyroid function depends on blood sugar being kept in a normal range, and keeping our blood sugar in a normal range depends on healthy thyroid function.

How so? Low thyroid function slows down the way we process sugar – in our cells, guts, the insulin response and the clearance of insulin. Which means…

We might even have normal levels of glucose in our blood, but because we’re slow to respond to it, and to absorb it we very easily get hypoglycemic (and thus clutch at sugar)…know this…

Anyone with thyroid issues has a much harder time with sugar than everyone else.

You have to break the clusterf*cky cycle… yourself

It’s been shown an increased frequency of thyroid disorders in diabetics, and a higher prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome in people with wonky thyroids. It’s hard to say which comes first – metabolic issues or bung thyroids…chickens or eggs. But does it really matter? At the end of the day, my friends, it all comes down to sugar. And the solution really is to quit it.

For me, I know my AI issues stem back to a sugary carb addiction in my late teens. It led to gut issues, insomnia, addictions, hormone issues, nervous disorders, adrenal collapse…and then Graves (another form of thyroid disease) … and then Hashimotos.

The only way to break the cycle – and to eliminate both the trigger and exacerbator – is to quit sugar.

Anyway, I reckon that’s enough for now. It was quite a rant.

That was by Susan Wilson. I think my thyroid is slow, my mother took thyroxine, so not using sugar seems a good idea for me. I also have iodised salt as a precaution.

@azureblue am working on it, thanks for the long post

As they say pure white and deadly. But oh so addictive, we can just keep fighting the urge until it gives up. I have no health issues but I used to say as a joke that I was allergic to sugar, I broke out in fat, the sad thing is I now know that to be true. So I spent needless years of being overweight if I had just listened to myself. I have not managed to cut it out completely but only have a treat a couple of times a week, and I can be sure next day my weight will be up by about 4lb , good thing is after a careful day weight is back down. The knack of loosing weight is finding the thing that you have an allergy to and then avoiding it. SIMPLES

Hi all, I've just found a new blog/ podcast I'm enjoying. www.lowcarbisland.com Aussie couple who have lost loads of weight in less than a year following a LCHF woe. Take a peak. Great foodie photos so I had to stop looking for now as its a fast day. How did your 21 day challenge go @Azureblue ? I'm thinking about doing it but would have trouble giving up dairy.
Xxx julianna

Hi honey, it was good though I got a rotten cold in the middle of it, now I've got bronchitis :0(
I shall resume when better.
Fermented dairy (yogurt and cheese) is deemed ok by primal but not by Paleo followers, and fresh coffee with double cream is a real treat :0)
I'll have a look at that site tomorrow.

Thanks @Azureblue, I hope you get well soon. That's good news about dairy. I'll only eat a bit if I'm craving it.

Hi all, I've just found a new blog/ podcast I'm enjoying. http://www.lowcarbisland.com Aussie couple who have lost loads of weight in less than a year following a LCHF woe. Take a peak. Great foodie photos so I had to stop looking for now as its a fast day. How did your 21 day challenge go @Azureblue ? I'm thinking about doing it but would have trouble giving up dairy.
Xxx julianna

Interesting couple, lovely to read of their success.
I do think intermittent fasting has a regular place in any way of eating, I'm hoping to find more information about LCHF and fasting as a way of eating specifically for post menopausal women, as it seems our dietary needs may well be different to earlier years.

As the 2014 tent is still up and weather-proof, I've decided to pop in here.
I have been struggling to get back into fasting on a regular basis, although most days are 16:8, and the weight has crept on. In 2 weeks my OH and I are going to a Uni reunion, and I really want to lose a few pounds (well a stone actually ) before then. So I have decided to do a 2 week Atkins Induction phase and see how I get on.
I know this way of eating works for me, and 2 weeks is a short enough period to keep me focused. I'm aiming for between 20 and 30g of carbs a day and as much protein as I sensibly can, up to about 100g. I'm logging everything on MFP, again to keep me focused.
Any ideas or advice will be gratefully received.

No advice, but a bit of cheerleading. Progress reports please!

Thanks for the cheer @barbarita I'm 1.8lbs lighter than yesterday morning, all water weight I'm sure but it makes me happy

[carorees]

Ideas: drink plenty of water, it helps with many aspects of low carb eating; have a cup of bouillon because, like fasting, low carb flushes salt from the system, don't eat too much protein as any excess will be turned to glucose and stop ketone formation (if you are going down to less than 10% of calories from carbs you can probably get away with up to 30% of calories from protein). Really increase the fats (especially olive oil, coconut oil, butter and so on but not those high in omega-6 like sunflower oil), more fats helps the body get into fat burning.

Combining low carb with intermittent fasting is a really good way of eating.

good luck!