An Old Man's Diet that Works!

[kapenanemo]

Let's make this very clear.

I can't diet.

It is too rigorous to count calories, even carbs and the constant worry about the next meal.

Then I figured it out.

I needed to eat like my dogs.

One meal a day. In the evening.

I let myself eat as much as I wanted to. Steak, pasta, ice cream and cake desserts, soft drinks, . . .  Whatever I wanted, As much as I wanted!

The only rule was I could only eat during a two hour window around normal dinner time. But I could eat as much as I wanted.

Does it work?

Yes.

Is it bad for your health? Not if you are healthy to start with.

After all, we should be fasting between our normal meals. All my plan does is extend the fasting period to 22 hours each day.

In the morning you start with a pot of green tea, or coffee if you can handle the jolt.

Drink lots of water during the day.

To get  your body into the regimen, pretend you are mounting a one person protest against some immoral force or other.

For instance.

You are protesting the keeping of fireants in exhibition ant hills as unfair to ants who should be free to come and go on their own.

If you can tough it out for the first five days, it is a breeze after that.

But during those five days, you can't touch any food  before or after the dinner window.

An interesting thing will happen along about ten days to two weeks.

You will just naturally not eat as much in the evening meal window.

When I find myself getting hungry on the diet, I go for a walk and drink some water.

My only problem is Social pressures.

Most of us are so conditioned to eating as a means of being sociable, we just try to nibble to keep in good graces with our peers. This diet avoids that pit fall. A little bit of camel mucous ends up with you eating the whole camel! So just don't join them at those meals.

Don't start this plan until you have cleaned out your car and purse of all the emergency snacks. Then  start living like a dog.

Active and busy until they put the food out at dinner.

You can loose weight, if you keep a leash on yourself.

[divedragon]

Agreed and even with calorie deprevation, the health benefits in terms of reduced blood pressure, improved cognitive function, resistance to age related cognitive disease, cancer prevention and cancer treatment survival.  As long as someone doesn't go to the state of anorexia, it's all good!

[divedragon]

Calories being equal, "eating one meal or 10 shouldn't matter."

There still needs to be a lot more studies on this, but from the preliminary evidence it actually may matter.  In the intermittent fasting studies that have been done and, admittedly, a lot of acecdotal evidence, the body responds with what, how much and when the more than 40 hormones involved in digestion/energy conversion/fat storage are released.  The two most common hormones we all know are insuline and liptine.  Insuline is a reactive hormone that is released when the body sinces food is being absorbed.  Liptine is a trend hormone that is released when the body believes it will be feed based on past practices.  Both of these not only convert our glycogen to energy, but also store as fat.  When we eat at consistent times, it never gives the body a chance to reduce the amount of insuline produced, but in fasting, both of these hormones drop significantly.  It seems almost like a drug, the more you have, the more the cells become resistent to it and it is thought this is where we experience insuline insensitivity - a pre-cursor to diabeties.  Fasting seems to improve insuline sensitivity.

Additionally, the fasting state results in more of the hormones responsible for converting fat to ketone.  Its also believed that ketones may be the preferred fuel for the brain tissue.  Evidence suggest that fasting helps prevent or slow the progression of age related cognitive desease such as alzheimer and huntingtons.

Blood test on fasting subjects seem to indicate that a conversion time of approximately 2 weeks is necessary to see the benifits, but at the end of that time, the body begins to anticipate the fasting period and is more efficient at changing over to the fat burning mode to preserve energy levels resulting in more fat loss.

Again, more studies, espeically long term are needed, but the evidence from animal trials and the few human studies that have been done are very promising.  Its working for me and I can say I'm very excited about the prospects of this new lifestyle, not just for weight loss, but for general health and a feeling of well being.  I must say in the slightly over 2 weeks I've been doing it, I feel more clear headed and energetic than I have in years.

[divedragon]

Have loved your comments in support of IF.  I do; however, want to take exception with your statement that "it doesn't matter if you eat them in one meal or not."  I will begin by saying you may not have meant it this way, but I just want to be clear for anyone else reading this board.

Consuming calories within a feeding window vs all day has benefits that go beyond weight loss.  This is a direct result of the fasting period which seems to re-set our body systems.  That period reduces the amount of hormones such as insulin and liptine and increase insulin sensitivity.  Even without a calorie deficiet, the fasting period can change the body composition with actual weight loss, but significant fat loss.  The fasting period helps the body cleans itself of old, dying or dead cells, reduces white blood cell count (chronic inflamation) and stimulate stem cell re-growth.  The fasting period resets our immune system and has been show to significantly improve the response to chemotherapy in cancer patients.

So it seems when you consume your calories is important.  Our genome was developed when we were hunter-gatherers and our bodies seemed to have built on that model.  3 meals a day is a cultural adaptation and not related to the needs of the body.  Mounting evidence shows that it may actually be as detrimental to overall health as our sedentary lifestyle.

[divedragon]

I do intend to do this the rest of my life unless evidence that the benefits are not what they seem is discovered.  The idea that eating 3 meals a day is healthy is a cultural development and not a medical or scientific need.  IF is not something you do for two weeks as it takes two weeks to get your body converted over.  You're right, the diet should be balanced.  IF is not about cutting coners on nutrition.  It is ONLY about the pattern of eating.  On a normal diet, you restrict calories a little bit to loose weight.  You do the same on IF, but you lose more fat because you are changing your bodies hormonal response to food and energy storage.

Its also not about just weight loss.  There are numerous benefits to IF.  I've many post on this board discussing them and I continue to research, so you can click on my name and link to them.  I've given links to articles on the proces - or just google intermittent fasting for yourself. 

[cotonpal]

divedragon - Just want to say that I also plan to eat using intermittent fasting for the rest of my life primarily for the health benefits derived from it's ability to lower insulin resistance and also to maintain my current weight. I have lost 106 pounds, not all of it through IF but all of it while eating a low carb moderate protein, high fat diet of real foods. I eat on a 16/8 schedule, that is 16 hours fasting and an 8 hour eating window. This all works very well for me. The only time I have had trouble maintaining my weight loss is when I added carbs back into my diet IF allowed me to lose the last 15 pounds. I find it a very healthy and satisfying way to eat. I no longer struggle with weight.

[divedragon]

Awesome Cotonpal.  Mine started as a 16:8, but converted to a 20:4 and is comprised mostly of protein, but I don't purposfully  limit carbs.  I juice also with a mixture designed to increase testosterone and metabolize estrogen.  Last night; however, I did not get the calories I needed and felt pretty sluggish this afternoon so I broke my fast at 4pm instead of 6 pm.  I probably will eat a full day with no calorie restriction to catch up a little.  This diet works well on travel days too as I can get to a location while avoiding airport food.

I do eat very well.  I buy most of my meat, milk and eggs from a local farm.  It's all organic and 100% grassfed.  The milk is raw (neither homogonized or pasturized) and the laying hens are on organic feed.  All produce is organic as well.  Chickens are 2 generation certified on non-GMO grains and organic.  The rest comes from a local heath food store and publix supermarket.  Publix has a greenwise brand that is organic and they sometimes have a good selection of organic fresh produce.  I make my juice from only organic produce.  I also sometimes carry frozen items on my trips and get extended stay rooms with kitchens and prepare meals in the hotel to limit my times eating out.  I can usually source some minor ingredient locally.

Keep up the good effort.  I wish you luck in keeping the weight off.

[cotonpal]

Nice to find a like minded person here. I too am very careful about the quality of the food I eat, only grassfed meats and organic produce plus healthy fats (no vegetable oils other than olive oil). I can't eat dairy or eggs because of multiple food sensitivities. I am lucky to have a food coop within walking distance that is like a smaller community run version of Whole foods where I can always get local produce. I think that understanding the health benefits of eating quality non-processed foods as well as the health benefits of IF, beyond just weight loss, really helps me stick to eating this way, plus I enjoy it. I stick to low carb eating to avoid developing diabetes, the path that I was on before I changed my eating habits.

[SunsetRunner]

Just came across this and I completely agree! Not to mention many hunger pangs throughout the day is anticipatory hunger from whatever routine you’ve gotten it used to.

[Dominique]

Since this old topic from 2014 was just revived, it would be great if some of the original participants (e.g. @kapenanemo, @divedragon, @msfarkee) could update us on their experience with the diet, after all these years.

[kapenanemo]

I used it to reverse diabetes A1C value with exercise 7.2 to 5.8! My doctors very impressed.Not at results.They were surprised that anyone in today’s worldhad the mental discipline to do it! Water Rats Cove

Moderator edit:  removed personal information

[Baltoscott]

Hey there @kapenanemo -- you've been really quiet in the forums over the past 5 years.  I assumed you had moved on. Welcome back.  I'm guessing your plan resulted in some weight loss.  Good news about your A1C.  Has Fitbit helped you monitor your exercise?

Have you stuck with your One Meal a Day 2 hour eating window over since you first posted?  Or have you reached a goal of some sort and relaxed your approach a bit?  Do you avoid liquid calories outside your eating window? 

In general I don't think OMD does not appeal to me because I wouldn't like watching other people eat when go out with them at times outside the eating window, but I do limit myself to four meals/day, which like OMD tends to eliminate unplanned snacks/calories.  But even though OMD does not appeal to me, I am interested in hearing from folks that have incorporated that eating approach into their lifestyle long term.