The FastDay Forum

Well into coconut oil every day!
Reading Loren Cordain's "The Paleo Diet" and find him convincing. More than just about weight loss, it is about health promotion, just up my street.
BUT, how do I possibly fit 3 well balanced meals in every day when the coconut oil in morning coffee is totally suppressing appetite? Whether a proponent of the "myth" of "calories in : calories out", I can tell you, my calorie consumption is slumping 7:7 never mind just 5:2.
So, as I was originally interested in MM's hypothesis of reducing IGF-1, and improving my blood profile, I will never really know what is the root cause of my amazing improvements, other than the sheer wealth of info out there pointing me towards a nutritious lifestyle.
So, is it improvements in the quality of my food intake?
Is it the change over to a high fat intake?
Is it the inevitable reduction of calories, from whatever source?
Have I messed up the forum's messages by introducing too many variables?
I think I must say that no one aspect is responsible, other than me getting to grips with the whole topic of nutrition, and being open minded to ideas that are research based, and fly in the face of conventional teachings, which are being discredited at a pace of knots.
So, what shall we have for breakfast today?
How about boiled eggs and asparagus soldiers, maybe around 3pm?
But how will I fit the other meals in before bed, that Loren Cordain says I need?
Answers from other posters, as always, please.

[Betsysgr8]

You have been doing fantastic listening to first what 150lbs has said and more recently 140 lbs with the occasional 139 lbs, How about continuing to listen to what your body is saying? You are a very good listener and it seems to me if your body asks for something it will shout out and you will respond. If you are satisfied and happy with less why force more?

Yes Betsysgr8, I can look now and see how I was overeating in the past, not out of gluttony, but out of routine. Also, I can see, because of the addictive nature of some food stuffs, I was oblivious of the fact that I was fighting against the food industry, which I thought was honest and above board. What a sucker I have been.
I can go back to the days of 'a mars a day helps you work rest and play', the message was hard wired into my brain at the end of sugar rationing in the 1950's, and who wouldn't enjoy believing that?
Problem is, the messages and behaviours have become ever more subversive since then, and we must be grateful to the researchers out there who are showing us why we got so unhealthy, and are prepared to share their findings with us.

Hi 140lbs Routine!!! You've got it in a nutshell, my routine 30 years or so ago used to be skip breakfast + at lunch eat fresh fruit, then on to family meal*** then came the chocolate craving ***sometime later after the weight started to get what I then thought was ''bad'' I joined a slimming club who insisted I should have breakfast'' most important meal of day''
Thats how it went for good many yo yo years, I now know that my early years routine is now called ''the fast diet'' how I wished I'd stuck to my own routine all those wasted years + cash for clubs + more importantly my precious time, so now I have found the solution I'm sticking with it and no time to spare I'm on it in a BIG way. Yes my cravings are now under control, and I'm more health conscious than ever, fitter than ever Lighter than I've been for a while, and hopefully ( thanks for the prompt Betsy) hopefully about to go down a group on my BMI all moves in the right direction. Sue

Sue, I have spent quite a bit of money this year on books, which some would consider are 'diet' books, but if they looked closely would find they are actually about nutrition. Fortunately, I never got into the slimming club system, so I suppose I have made up for it by spending such a lot on the books. My BMI just went on rising with the diabetes, not the other way round, i.e. I was diagnosed when BMI was 23, so I have not been a truly yo yo dieter until this last couple of years since I realised the NHS nutritional advice was at the root of my increasing problem.
. I am amazed at how I never seem to be hungy , and yet I am having such nice foods these days, which I would have thought would make me crave all over again. I understand now that cravings are caused by a totally different mechanism than just wanting more of something tasty. I now know that the overeating of poor quality candy, which is what most chocolate is, has an addictive nature, beyond our control.
For example. I am a chocoholic 1st class! In the past I have tried the strong stuff of 70% and above to no avail. Yet now I am enjoying it, and have progressed to 85% taken with a pot of tea or coffee. I am astounded with myself, but I think it is because I have had to make adjustments to my diabetic diet, in the face of real health problems. I have made these changes from what I have learned this year, and certainly without any help from NHS. You may have seen that I am no longer on any medications, after 10 years, so the changes have been enormous.
I am counting carbs now, and never give calories a thought. I have never hidden the fact here on the forum that I am using both methods, because I am just relating my own journey. Some might find the idea that I eat plenty of saturated fat an abomination too, but it is working for me.
May I suggest that neither of us, or millions of others, have ever been addicted to "chocolate", but we have been addicted to the sugar in the chocolate candy. Just look at all the French women who kept their weights at bay, whilst enjoying real, quality chocolate.

Do you count cals on your fast days or just carbs? I try to I corporate low carb with fasting. I had low carbed for 2 yrs prior to 5:2 but went a bit mad on the deadly white carbs when I first changed over and my BG went back up. Now I'm back on track and my BG is normal again but I can't budge the weight.

I too should watch out for my carb intake, especially wheat. I have just had too many carbs for dinner, how do I know? I get hot flushes when I have too many carbs, right now I would quite happily jump in a snow drift , naked.
Those of you who think you are peri-menopausal because of hot flushes, cut your carbs right down, I bet most of you will find your hot flushes are gone.

I also find that proper fats, unadulterated, natural fats keep your appetite under control, you are much more likely to feel satisfied and stay satisfied for longer, after a small bowl of pasta and a nice glug of creamy sauce, than a large bowl of pasta and a dribble of cream or low fat sauce.

That's rosacea, flushing from carbs. I have it.

I can't eat gluten but I find all the usual 'filler' types of carbs make me really bloated. Gluten and potatoes flare my arthritis badly too.

So thats why I go bright, bright red after a glass of wine or a beer? is there anything I can do to stop it. Oops, don't bother I can google it, rather than clog up someones post.

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!

Good points 140lbs. I am selective about my carbs but wary in past had significant fatigue with severe carb restriction.

I too don 't tolerate oats and wheat but chug along ok on lentils and beans. My psoriasis patches I have been troubled with for 30 years on my elbows now gone. So there is likely some association as since starting 5:2 early March I hardly eat bread and starchy product and make from scratch. Whatever I am happy weight down, skin improved and most of all my tummy much happier

Gillymary,
I think we need to concentrate on the glycaemic load of low glycaemic index foods that we eat, whilst ensuring that we defiinately eliminate all high GIs. It can be a bit tricky, but is so important in implementing an overall optimum, low CHO intake. By so doing, this will mean we can enjoy CHO which provides a nice variety to meals, but keeping the appetite at bay.

I do miss decent bread but its not an option for me. Avoiding wheat isn't a self-imposed restriction. I really have no option. I got very excited when I sourced oats from a dedicated supplier that were guaranteed free from wheat/barley contamination only to find that my first bowl of porridge put me in bed for a couple of days!

I find that restricting carbs gives me far more energy and my skin improves as do my joints. I struggle dreadfully with cravings for chocolate though. I have the occasional square of dark chocolate but I don't like the very high cocoa ones and anyway I can only have a tiny taste as dark chocolate in quantity will give me migraine.

Since I went back to a mix of low carb and 16:8 I've felt pretty good. I just don't know what else I can do to get the weight to shift. I'm hoping it may be that my fat cells are full of water. My waist/hips are unchanged but I'm sure I'm losing off my arms and thighs. They have that look that resembles an elderly balloon and my trouser legs seem baggy. Maybe I will get a visit from the Whoosh Fairy and the scales will plummet all at once!

140lb agree that quality low glycemic index foods are the way to go, eg don't eat anything your grandmother would not recognise, and of course oust sugar as pure white and deadly. Now there is info about oils as well thank goodness so it is good to see the emphasis shifting to that area, ug we have some yuck transfats secreted into our foods. Like you I love learning how to prepare the most nutritious diet, 5:2 has come along to complicate and has sent me on another journey as to how to optimise what I eat including on fasting days

Miffy would cacao nibs be a better source and work for you to satisfy your chocolate crave, you might be seeking chromium so console yourself when you have those morsels of chocolate. Ditto about bread I love it but it doesn't love me