The FastDay Forum

When I first started fasting the carbs and almost all dairy were not options to eat. Soon they were left by the wayside on most feast days. I feel so much better without them, not bloat, no gas, more energy. I love it all but it doesn't love me. And when I do indulge I am back to the bad symptoms again. I personally think pesticide use, genetically enhanced seeds, livestock feeds have so much to do with why I can not tolerate so many foods I love and my grandparents loved.
Our food sources just aren't the same anymore.

140lbs...could you please explain the coconut oil in your morning coffee? Doesnt it just float on the top? Do you use cream and/or sugar too? I love coconut oil but it doesnt sound so appetizing in my beloved morning coffee. Thanks!!!

I also have a question, 140 lbs, which may have been answered before . . but do you have coconut oil in your coffee on fast days? I know one teaspoon is approx. 40 cals and most people recommend 2-3 teaspoons, or maybe more. I have tried a teaspoon in my black coffee and quite liked it but I am afraid of the calories, particularly on a fast day. Do you have any tips? Thanks for your help.

Yes, the coconut oil floats on the top, and I use double cream as well. The virgin oil is very perfumed and nice, and somehow the melted texture is not at all unpleasant.
I posted a few days ago that I have found a way of using the much cheaper, totally unflavoured HTC oil, which I have only used for cooking with since I now use the expensive stuff in my coffee, and that is to whizz unsweetened desiccated coconut in my vitamix until it is liquid, then add the coconut oil, which melts in the warmth, pour into a dish and solidify in the fridge. The resultant slab is as near eating sweets, without any measurable CHO than I can imagine, and gets round the situation of having oil floating on the surface of a hot drink ( which is sometimes cocoa for me, made with double cream as well), if you find that undesirable.
So, no calorie counting, even on fast days, just carb counting, being very low on 2 out of 7 days.
And certainly NO ADDED SUGAR.
The only sugar left in my diet now is the minuscule amount in very dark chocolate, which I eat in moderation. I counteract any blood glucose impact with accompanying the chocolate with healthy, high fat nuts. I also use raw chocolate nibs mixed into thickened coconut cream for desserts, served with berries. They are too bitter to eat on their own, but I think there is a nutritional benefit from them, hence blending them with the cream and fruit.
As I say, it works for me, but I had to experiment with my diet to prove it. It may not do the trick for everyone.

I've never come across cocoa nibs. Well, I have heard of them but never investigated would be nearer the point. I do take a chromium supplement to help my blood glucose and it also knocks the edge off the sweet cravings. At least these days I can say that what would now constitute a binge is actually quite a small amount compared to my old habits!

Really must try the coconut oil in coffee. 140lbs, do you stick to a set carb allowance or just cut as many out as you can?

It was reading 'Wheat belly' by Dr. Davis that got me trying to reduce my carbs especially wheat (I say trying because I do slip, spectactularly sometimes), he recommends trying to get down to 30grams of carbs a day, 70grams if thats just too little. When on my food tracker, fo my weight it recommends 188 to 328 garms of carbs a day. That is based on the traditional food pyramid of course.

When you look at it logically, a dieter does not need or want carbs, as carbs are used for energy first, you want the body to go straight to the fat stores for its energy.

Hello posters, what a good thread this is turning out to be, and many thanks for helpful responses.
The SAD pyramid got me into the pickle I was experiencing at the turn of the new year. It is almost identical to the NHS nutritional guidelines. We were party poopers if we tried to eat what our mothers had raised us on, when goodies were for Sunday afternoon tea, and trips to the seaside. As the sugar became cheaper, we were unaware of our addiction. And we never realised that it was, along with all other CHO, unnecessary for the body's needs. But, a little in moderation would be OK, except we rarely have the ability to keep to moderate amounts. That is why I have decided to keep CHO as low as possible, even to restricting what we have been told were good carbs, i.e.I am stearing clear of many fruits and all wholegrains. I used MFP for the first couple of months, and it showed me just where all the carbs were coming from in my diet. Eventually I was able to make adaptations to bring the CHO down to 5%, and that was the point where I came off all my meds, because it showed me that not only was I Iosing weight, I was full of energy and I didn't collapse for want of ready available glucose. My body was functioning very nicely on animal proteins and animal and vegetable fats. So, I left MFP, because I had found the key to my problem, it had been excessive ingestion of CHO, whether described as 'good quality", "poor quality", High GI, Low GI, "Fast release" low release"-- I realised that carbs are carbs, END OF.
But we do like the tastes and textures associated with carbs, so there will always be a place for some in my diet. It is just that I know THEY ARE NOT NEEEDED! Not needing something, rarely equates with not wanting, and that is a human trait, but I read a very profound statement in one of the books this year, which has been repeated across the nutritional world, and shows the addictive nature of sugar:
"when did you see a toddler having a tantrum for a slice of beef at the deli?" Very rarely, I suspect.
And how many parents use a bag of goodies, or an iced bun, or a sugar-laced confection, to pacify a fractious child?
And we now pacify ourselves, blaming the pace of life, family troubles, etc, etc. NO, we are addicted to sugar.
In essence, I would love to keep to 30g CHO per day, but I think the only way to do this would be to measure every single thing every day, and I think this is not practical. So, absolutely minimal CHO from now on, to avoid becoming addicted again. It is a hard ask, but it must be done.

Thank you all for this very inspirational thread. I'm still struggling with lowering my carb intake without turning it into anything insurmountable seeming which would cause me to binge. Threads like this make low-carb easier and more fun.

I've been reading about the Perfect Health Diet, and turning it over in my head. Some of the things they advocate are things I naturally gravitate to when I'm in a good eating routine, so I wonder if perhaps I should change my mind about rice.

Rice has been one of the grains it has been extremely easy for me to cut out of my diet, back when I tried to go full Paleo. Wheat I'm slightly intolerant to but very addicted to, and sugar extremely addicted to. Rice leaves me cold, I can take it or leave it. But! I've noticed that I find Vietnamese pho soup very satisfying and it doesn't seem to trigger cravings or artificial hunger in me, despite the rice noodles.

(Pho is a beef bone broth with thin slices of beef, plenty of fresh sprouts and herbs, and rather a lot of rice noodles.)

The PHD people also recommend ris a la mande, and ever since reading that I've been craving it intensely. Ris a la mande is a rice pudding of short grain rice boiled in milk, mixed with whipped cream and chopped almonds. I used to eat it as a meal, even though it is a dessert, and again, it's very satisfying without inducing cravings or hunger.

[Betsysgr8]

It was reading 'Wheat belly' by Dr. Davis that got me trying to reduce my carbs especially wheat (I say trying because I do slip, spectactularly sometimes), he recommends trying to get down to 30grams of carbs a day, 70grams if thats just too little. When on my food tracker, fo my weight it recommends 188 to 328 garms of carbs a day. That is based on the traditional food pyramid of course.

When you look at it logically, a dieter does not need or want carbs, as carbs are used for energy first, you want the body to go straight to the fat stores for its energy.

@PhilT pointed out that the UK and US measure carbs differently. In the US our nutrition lables list TOTAL carbs then it is again divided by Fiber grams and sugar grams. In the UK Fibre is separated and listed separately from carbs. I don't know if when people look at the different calorie counting sites, ie MFP, if they are seeing US RDA or seeing their specific country. Since my OH was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and I didn't want him taking metformin or any pill to control it, I have followed lower-carb by looking at the nutrition label and if a food item has carbs it MUST have significant fiber and no unneeded added sugar. His A1c now tests as non-diabetic but we still have to be vigilant (he's a bit of a sneak especially crusty bread, lol) or his BG goes shooting up (should that happen a brisk walk around the neighborhood will bring it back down)

Thanks Betsy, you have hit the nail on the head.
I was and still am a type 2 diabetic. That is a certainty I must live with.
But, what I do not want to live with are the multiple medications I was being prescribed for it, when in fact, the process, in my case, can be managed by diet alone.
The wishy washy advice from the NHS was very poor, and failed at getting the message across to me in a meaningful way. I do not consider myself so uneducated, that I would have dismissed a clear message of " NO SUGAR! MINIMUM CARBS ", had it been given me.
I am getting a bit paranoid, in that I suspect that there is more in it for the docs to give meds, rather than for them to spend time passing on good advice.
Bread, porridge, potatoes. ALL advised when I was on medication. All found to raise my glucose through the ceiling, once I decided to buy the glucose testing strips for myself, that the GP insisted I did not need, as the results would only worry me!! Worry me? They scared the living day lights out of me when I realised the damage being incurred on the NHS diabetic diet.
These people in such influential positions ought to hang their heads in shame, at their complacency in managing obesity and diabetes. It has been too easy to get the receptionists to dole out repeat prescriptions, and for the diabetic nurses in the practice to "manage" chronic conditions that the docs have become bored with.
You know the old story about doctors and nurses?
Back in the 1930s only doctors could manage to use B/ P equipment. Then they got bored, so Nurses could do it. Then they got bored , and the care assistants were passed the job.
I have worked in the NHS since 1965(!), and I have watched all manor of new fangled ideas being passed down the feeding chain, as groups became bored with old technology, and there was something more interesting on the horizon.
Trouble is, the wholistic care of poorly people is now in the care of unqualified, nice, canny bodies, rather than the people we, as tax payers, have educated for the job.
Oh dear, my cynical side is coming out now, sorry about that, but I have good reason to feelling let down.

I never count calories on any day. On fast days I restrict carbs tighter than the other 5 days.
I have taken out of my diet all foods made with wheat of any quality. I no longer eat oats, which were a staple breakfast as porridge, or oatcakes, which I ate most days. I have stopped eating white potatoes.
I bet you are all thinking that life must be so boring at meal times. No crusty home made bread after a life time of making my own, no comforting porridge drooling with honey, no chipathons with our several varieties of spuds from the allotment. Well, its certainly not boring, but because the health benefits are so good, I have come to the conclusion that I must be in charge of my intake, and not weaken. It still doesn't come easy at present eating meals in company, and I make no claims that it is! But my new found health? Worth all the effort!

I was interested to see that.

I've cut out bread pretty much 100% but I can't do without porridge* lol.

What do you use instead?




*usually with pumpkin seeds in my case. I did use raisons but I don't use those now.

I decided to buy the glucose testing strips for myself, that the GP insisted I did not need, as the results would only worry me!! Worry me? They scared the living day lights out of me when I realised the damage being incurred on the NHS diabetic diet.

WTH!? Here you get blood glucose meters practically thrown at you, the manufacturers are all so eager to get you hooked on their brand of testing strips. I'm completely baffled at the idea of a diabetic not being given one, and not going to mandatory blood glucose school.

That said, the prescribed diabetes diet is still rather high in carbs, though lower than the Danish national health promotes to the general population. My dad is diabetic, and struggled to get his blood sugar down following the recommended diet. Now he's 5:2 fasting, and his blood sugar levels are like those of a non-diabetic.

David, I have either coffee with double cream and coconut oil, or a couple of eggs, i.e. high fat, high protein. NO CARBS, thus NO cravings or glucose drops as the day goes on.
Glassmarble. I bought my own meter, then found that type 2 could get a freebie on the internet, BUT the practice only prescribes 2x50 strips annually. I ask you, 2 tests a week? Meaningless!
They were prescribed for type 2 until 3 years ago, when it was stated that we would just waste them, pricking our fingers for fun, no doubt. I get so annoyed with the whole situation.

Pricking your fingers for fun,

The situation is certainly not good, but I'm glad you have a sense of humor about it. And that you took charge!

[Betsysgr8]

The blood glucose meter and prescription for metformin were the first things Peter received. I don't remember if there was a class offered or not, I didn't wait, I grabbed a copy of my dad's old recommended diet sheets and started educating myself on what causes blood glucose to spike. Then we experimented, he'd test before a meal and 2 hours after, now we know what triggers a rise in his blood sugar included extended car trips of over an hour, so stress has some effect on blood sugar as well as foods, but ALWAYS a brisk walk will bring him back down. He's an englishman through and through and some of the changes in his diet are a bit tough for him to accept, crusty white bread - out, potatoes only on holidays and smallest portion otherwise it's completely out too. He's always bringing home root vegetables and he looks so disappointed when I tell him "NO" On his own, he'd be on medication, lol. He is pleased with the walnuts and almonds that I purchase for him to snack on. Fasting hasn't had that big an impact for him yet, but that's not 5:2's fault, he is getting better at holding out longer and is just now starting to go until dinner to break his fast.