The FastDay Forum

A good friend of mine wants to try 5:2 intermittent fasting since it is working for me. Her fear is of fasting and having low blood sugar reactions. Any advice to her?

grannieannie wrote: A good friend of mine wants to try 5:2 intermittent fasting since it is working for me. Her fear is of fasting and having low blood sugar reactions. Any advice to her?

If she is diabetic she needs to work very closely with a doctor.

she can buy glucose tablets (only 15 calories apiece) and use them as needed if she doesn't have diabetes and is only Hypoglycemic

She is not diabetic (yet). But an ok from her doctor is a good idea.

She may also want to consider a window fasting pattern like 16:8, although has anyone else read a recent article that said for some women 14:10 may be more effective? (I'm looking that one up) but with a window, you don't have as many chances of hypoglycemia and definitely work with a doc!
Also suggest reading "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung- addresses fasting for diabetics or those with blood sugar issues.

She may also want to consider a window fasting pattern like 16:8, although has anyone else read a recent article that said for some women 14:10 may be more effective? (I'm looking that one up) but with a window, you don't have as many chances of hypoglycemia and definitely work with a doc!
Also suggest reading "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung- addresses fasting for diabetics or those with blood sugar issues.

Does she have any particular reason to think she'll have trouble with hypoglycemia? Because I think it is really unlikely unless she has type I diabetes.

Though it's discussed mostly in bodybuilding contexts, I've found the concept of fat vs sugar burner useful. Prior to starting 5.2, I did a food combining thing, which among other things meant you weren't allowed to eat sooner than 5 hours following a meal (only exception was if you ate only fruit or nonstarchy veggies). Given the other limitations of this WOE, you also were unlikely to eat much bad stuff (ie, cake, ice cream), so were less likely to be on a "too much sugar" rollercoaster in any case. And since you knew you wouldn't get to eat again for awhile, you tended to be more careful about what you ate. AND...if I get up in the morning and eat NOTHING (except coffee; without my caffeine, I'll get a headache) for hours--typically 6pm on light days, usually 11am or later on normal days--I'm just fine. A little hungry, but no blood sugar issues.

Now, I'm not promoting that WOE; obviously, I didn't find it sustainable long-term (just had to give up too many yummy things!). But it really got me on a better pattern of eating, not nibbling all day long (what I call the "glucose drip"). Those who are addicted to a constant stream of calories to support their blood sugar might need to make a transition before beginning 5.2 proper. Meaning, stop the constant eating. Plus, choose better; to this day, if I eat something sweet first thing in the day without significant protein to complement it, I will screw up my blood sugar pretty much for the day. So, if I go out for brunch and want my favorite lemon curd crepes, I must have eggs or a scramble with it.

So, stretching out the time between meals, no snacks, protein...all good ways to keep blood sugar control. And yes, in my teens and 20's I had hypoglycemia issues (and my diet was crap; I was skinny and thought nothing of it).

Studies have found that people (who are not diabetic) who feel shaky and lightheaded when they haven't eaten for a while do not drop their blood glucose lower than normal, they are just sensitive to changes in blood glucose. This soon resolves after a couple of fast days. Of course, if she has diabetes and is taking insulin or other diabetes drugs then that is different and fasting should be done under medical supervision. Otherwise, starting by fasting on a day when she can stay at home and take things gently and seeing how she goes is the best plan. And the usual advice of having a salty drink and plenty of water of course!