Breaking the fast with a run

This morning following a fasting day I knew I couldn't wait a long time before going for a planned morning run, and when I saw rain was predicted by TWC within 30 minutes, I took off around 6:45.  The first couple of miles were tough.  I was going to work intervals into the run, but that plan quickly passed when it took all my strength just to go for an aerobic run.

The most crazy thing happened after a few miles.  I noticed I was feeling pretty good.  I had been lost in thought (in the runner's zone) and when I came to around Jefferson Middle School, the run felt a lot better than when I first began.  It is amazing what the body can do.  Something activated in my body to make running a whole lot better, and I'm very thankful for whatever happened!

I focused on having a breakfast following the run with low Glycemic load foods.  Beans, milk, oats (medium Glycemic load), nuts and nut butters, and lots of veggies.  The ripe banana I had is a notable exception with a high Glycemic load.  I definitely feel more satisfied through the morning, and am not eating everything in the house like I do following a run normally.

Trina and I still like the alternate-day diet a great deal.  It fits our lifestyle well, and it is meeting our health goals so far.  Fasting is definitely tough, and the discipline it requires appeals to me.  Life should have hard times to help make me grateful for the good times.  

I need to make a soup this afternoon.  I will make a soup with some mackerel and lentils, and also a pure veggie soup, also.  This will provide meals for the next several fasting days, and some feasting days since it tastes good!

Glycemic Load and Glycemic Index may be important

Trina bought a book years ago on the P.A.C.E. workout.  I had skimmed it before, and never used it.  We watched a another great BBC show on exercise recently called "The Truth About Exercise".  Trina mentioned that the high intensity interval training (HIIT) concepts that researchers talked about working well in that show are similar to P.A.C.E concepts written by Dr. Sears.  I decided to get that book out and give it a browse/read yesterday.  I'm definitely convinced now that HIIT needs to be part of my fitness training.  P.A.C.E. has some great ideas on how to implement and keep fitness fresh using different intervals and calisthenics.  I think it will work nicely with the Alternate-Day Diet. 

Dr. Sears writes a chapter or two on nutrition, and likes the combination of low Glycemic Index (GI below 40) and low Glycemic Load ( GL below 10).  As Dr. Sears explains, Glycemic Index tells how fast a food will spike your blood sugar, and Glycemic Load goes a step further to say how much carbohydrate is in the food.  The book has a great table listing GI and GL values of different foods.  Foods that fall into these categories are most veggies, meat, nuts, most legumes, dairy, eggs (he calls the perfect protein source), and some fruit.

The low Glycemic Load and low Glycemic Index concept I believe complement the Alternate-Day Diet well.  I believe that I do better on fasting days when I have foods that are lower in Glycemic Load and Glycemic Index.  I will be focusing on this more in the weeks ahead to test if these ideas work as well together as I think they will.

On a separate subject, I weighed in this morning per Dr. Johnson's recommendation of the morning after a fasting day once per week, and lost a pound to 189 pounds.  I believe the body fat reading was 14.2%, which is down from 14.5%.  More importantly since weight loss is not a goal is that I feel pretty good on the diet.  My energy levels seem to be up, and some lingering aches seem to be improving.  Trina is happy, too.  We continue on with another fast day tomorrow.  

Good feast day, not much delay for breakfast

It is amazing to me how much energy was coming from my meals yesterday.  I tried waiting until lunch for my first meal on the feast day, but that wasn't happening.  After a few hours of liquids not cutting it, I decided to break my fast by going running before having breakfast.  I am wondering if my ability to fast through breakfast following a feast day is different than following a fast day?  I realized after pondering a bit that I have read that breakfast is a requirement following the 36 hour fast, so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised by needing breakfast yesterday.  It is fun to experiment and see what works and what doesn't work.

The run was great.  I felt light and fast.  Breakfast following the run was awesome!  I tried upping my oatmeal from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup to help fill the void, which worked well.  I used Equal to sweeten the oatmeal, and it was really good.  I had a banana in oatmeal with Splenda, and was pleasantly surprised it was really good.  I used to not like artificial sweeteners, and I'm glad to find that has changed.  Last night, I had a packet of Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade in a bottled water that was really good.  The sugar-free sweetener substitutes are a God send on fasting days.

I ate a late lunch around 2:00 that was awesome and gave an incredible amount of energy.  I did strength training afterwards that was surprisingly good.  Our family went to an event with friends from church last night that was potluck and ate lots of good food.  Didn't even try recording food in myfitnesspal.com as it would be a large effort to record the assortment of foods I tried.  It was a great way to end a feast day.

I'm ready to begin a fast day.  More learning about myself coming up!  

First day fasting breakfast and fast day highlights

This day has gone extremely well so far.  I didn't eat until lunch today, and it was a good experience.  Biked to work and then home for lunch with a stop at Kroger.  Biked back to work after lunch and came home around 4:30.  I expected to eat when I became hungry since I missed breakfast, but the hunger was manageable until lunch.

Lifted weights tonight (part before supper and part after supper), with supper being around 6:45.  Ended up eating a little under 1000 calories today, but burned most of those between biking and lifting weights.  Feel good tonight.  Will try the same tomorrow, and maybe not run until just before lunch.

Challenging day

The disclaimer is that sickness has been all around my family, both immediate and extended.  So starting to feel sluggish and tired last evening was not a big surprise as I figured at a minimum I was fighting off a virus.  Sucked that it had to be on a feast day that should be filled with energy!  I went to bed by 10:00 and slept well last night.  I do feel better this morning, so I'm guessing I was just fighting something off.

I woke up this morning with my stomach growling, which again should not be happening following a feast day.  I started drinking a ton of water and coffee to tame the hunger, which helped a little.  After about an hour I was still hungry so I ate earlier than planned.  Interesting experience.

What if I've been eating too often?

Today is a feast day.  I had water and coffee when I woke up, and went running a few hours later.  I had a large meal (~1300 calories according to myfitnesspal) following my run as I was hungry.  I had read a few times lately that Westerners eat too often and the effect is over-stressing our digestive systems.  It reminded me of what Dr. Johnson said in the Alternate-Day Diet book about only eating on feast days when hungry, not just to eat.  So, I decided to see how long it would take to become hungry if I kept well hydrated.  I've done some weight lifting and rode bicycle to work, and it is now just before supper time and I'm starting to become hungry.

I think one of the great benefits of the first two weeks of fasting was experiencing hunger and how to see if I really am hungry versus needing something else.  This is the first feast-day that I've paid attention to hunger rather than eating three meals at the standard times.  It has been a great experience.  Based on my first day experience, I think I really have been eating too often.  My digestive system seemed to smile on my lack of eating today.  I will be focusing more on this in the future on both feast and fast days.  I'm happy with the first day, and looking forward to continuing to learn about my body and how I can do things better.

Good feast day start

Going supper-free last night went well.  Woke up a little hungry this morning, but not starving like a few days ago.  Gets me excited at trying a food-free day, maybe tomorrow?  It was fun going into Myfitnesspal and deleting the entries I made for planning my supper last night that didn't materialize.

Being hungry, I ate breakfast immediately upon rising along with morning coffee.  It was great and energizing!   I'm glad I stopped and entered food into myfitnesspal after my bowl of oatmeal and two pieces of toast as it gave my stomach time to catch-up.  I was about ready to add a bowl of cereal to the mix since my brain and belly hadn't connected that I was full already. I am starting to think my digestion may work better on fewer meals and more food-free fasting, also.  Time will tell if I'm correct.

Day after trip - fasting day

We returned home last night and today was a fasting day.  After 10.5 hours of driving, I was dead tired last night and went to bed pretty early.  I woke up after a good night's sleep and had my normal water followed by coffee.  I went running around 8:00 AM, which was followed by a small breakfast after I felt hunger coming on about 20-30 minutes after finishing.  I didn't eat enough to make up for the calories I burned exercising, and felt good.

Lunch was combined with a birthday party at a family member's house.  I brought some soup and condiments (mustard, hot sauce, etc.).  They had made a chicken, beans, and a few other things I was able to add to my soup and keep it low-calorie.  It went well, and skipping cake and ice cream wasn't as painful as I thought it might be. Trina was smart and grabbed some gluten-free muffins for her feast day tomorrow.  Dr. Johnson said in The Alternate-Day Diet book that cravings for junk (calorie dense) food decrease after a while while cravings for healthy (nutrient dense) food increase, and I think that is one of the benefits I'm experiencing.

I'm planning on having a salad for supper when/if I get hungry.  I've read recently that totally abstaining from food is best on fasting days.  Based on what I've experienced over the last two weeks, I'm sure now that my body will be able to adjust to no food on fasting days.  I'm excited about this making fasting days even better! 

Lesson from waking up hungry

Yesterday was a fasting day and I included some exercise, part of which was a run in the late afternoon.  Subtracting the calories I burned exercising from what I ate gave me about 200 calories.  Eating "Miracle Soup" (veggie soup with some beans) along with a salad filled me up to go to bed.  I started to feel a little hungry as I dozed off, but it is one of my sacred cows to not eat right before bed, so I assumed I would be okay not eating even though I had about 300 calories remaining to hit 500 calories for the day.  I woke up this morning around 4:00 and I was unusually hungry.  Hungry enough that going back to sleep wasn't possible even though I tried for 30 minutes.  It worked out okay as it gave me time to get a little exercise before we traveled from Virginia to Michigan today.

Today marks completion of 2 weeks on the diet.  Don't have any net gain or loss values yet as the rule is weigh after a fast day and Monday will be the first day back home following our fast day tomorrow.  It has been a hard and rewarding two weeks that I wouldn't want to trade.  I'm praying the results are good for Trina!  If not, I'm hoping to understand what we can do differently to succeed.

Today was a feast day and we spent most of it traveling  I'm not much of a fan of eating at restaurants along the tollways, so I brought a few thermoses of food (mostly veggie soup) and one of coffee, which worked out pretty well.  I made a 32 ounce mug of low-calorie raspberry tea that was great, also.  I was hungry when we arrived home and I had a great meal with some pie involved.  Oatmeal, bean mix, scoop of apple and pecan pies, and a few other tasty ingredients made this a great end of feast day meal.  I'm ready for another great fast day tomorrow.     

Amazing how our bodies adjust

The Ward family has been in Virginia spending Thanksgiving with my sister's family this week.  Since I enjoy running, that is one of the things I look forward to when I come down here to the mountains.  The first run is brutal.  I feel like I'm going to die by the end and a few times in between.

I just finished up run number four (which will be my last since we leave for home tomorrow).  It felt great!  As I was climbing up the final hill to reach the house, the thought popped in my head how much easier this run was compared to my first run on this trip.  My legs and lungs (and probably other body parts) adjusted to the terrain in a relatively short amount of time.

The same adjustment of body seems to occur with fasting on the alternate-day diet.  The first fast was tough mentally and physically.  The seventh fast-day I'm currently on is down-right enjoyable!  When Trina had me return an item to Target early this afternoon and I picked up an item in the food section, I didn't even feel that tempted to throw every food item in the store in my cart.

I even feel different after my runs, too.  Before we started this alternate-day diet lifestyle, I would think and feel like I would need to eat everything in the house immediately upon completion.  Over the last two weeks I've noticed that this need has essentially disappeared.  I am typing this blog entry immediately after returning from a run.  I did grab a banana to eat purely out of knowing I'd need nutrients it provides after my run.  I feel like now I'll be able to wait until the rest of the family eats supper to have my soup and salad.  That banana brings me up to 300 calories for today.  I would easily eat more than 500 calories in my post-run snacks before this diet/lifestyle change.  Makes me think of how I used to think I would perish if I didn't immediately eat breakfast upon rising.  Sacred cows are dying left and right with this lifestyle! *grin*

I had to laugh because I just realized I had another paradigm shift on this trip.  I was whining to Trina that our feast-day will be our travel day home.  I was thinking it would suck since sitting all day wouldn't make me very hungry to eat very much.  The underlining assumption in that whine is that feast-days are better than fast-days.  That assumption is no longer valid.  A little while after my whining, Trina asked if I wanted to switch things around so Saturday would be a fasting-day.  I told her that I now realize I was wrong to complain and that whine is not even valid any longer.  Pretty cool shift in thinking.

Realizing the body is remarkably adjustable has been a great discovery over these two weeks.  It is something that will definitely shape my thinking in the future.  I'm off to finish a great fasting day!  

Good article on alternate-day fasting (at least that is what I call it)

It is interesting to see how the BBC Horizons program discussing calorie restriction and fasting has inspired intermittent fasting to take off in the U.K..  I'm thankful my colleague in the U.K. let me know about the diet he and his wife are enjoying.  Here's a good article in The Independent on one person's journey using fasting as discussed in the show.  I like his idea of a banana for breakfast, soup for lunch, and salad or more soup for supper.  I will try that on an upcoming fasting day.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/ive-discovered-how-to-lose-weight-fast-8303657.html

I like the fasting days

My first few fasting days were tough.  Not being used to hunger is a hard thing.  It seems like a monster at first.  For me, once that "dragon is tamed" as Dr. Johnson says, fasting days have become fun and productive.  Not spending all the time associated with meals allows me to spend time productively doing things I want.  I already know I'm having Miracle Soup, a Salmon Veggie soup, some salad veggies, and very low-calorie drinks today.  The disclaimer is that Trina and I are not even two weeks into the trial of the alternate-day diet and we are still learning a lot.

My sister we are visiting in Virginia makes very low-calorie teas using Crystal Light type of products.  She has batches of peach and raspberry flavors made currently.  I tried some yesterday and it tasted really good.  Trina joked, "watch out tomorrow when he's on his fasting day because he will guzzle that stuff."  Thankfully, she gave me the respective recipes for her peach and raspberry teas, and I'll definitely be making these when I get home to complement my normal drinks of water, coffee, and green/black teas.  Dr. Johnson mentions in his book about having "go to" recipes for down-days (he recommends 5).  I'm finding this is critical, especially as I'm not following his recommendation to use meal-replacement shakes and bars during this first two weeks.  Trina is smart and eating the bars and shakes.  So far, my go to recipes include Miracle Soup (basically veggies), salmon lentil veggie soup, and salad veggies (boat loads) with mustard (various types) and vinegar (tons of types work well for variety).  I'm looking for more easy and quick to make low-calorie recipes to make as we continue on with the alternate-day diet lifestyle.

I am recording what I eat in MyFitnessPal.  Based on goals I have put into the website, it tells me my goal calorie total per day is 1630.  What I realized yesterday is that over a two day period, the number of calories  Dr. Johnson calculates I need is equivalent to what Myfitnesspal recommends (about 3300 calories/day).  I found it interesting as I was just reading Dr. Johnson's explanation on why calorie restriction prevents disease and/or delays the onset of age related diseases.  The theory is CRON introduces "hormesis," which means that a harmful stress if taken in large quantities is beneficial in small quantities.  If an animal starves it dies, but if its diet is reduced to 60% calories, it lives longer in good health.  "The physiological events that occur in response to a nonfatal stimulus constitute the stress response.  At the level of gene expression, the stress response is believed to be initiated by SIRT1 activation.  The downstream effects of SIRT1 activation include reduced oxidative stress and inflammation and reduced fat storage and anti-apoptosis (stopping the process of programmed cell death).

"In humans, as in animals, the stress response is probably "dose-related."  That is, zero calorie intake every other day activates the mechanism more intensely than daily calorie restriction.  But, as I've said, and as Eric Ravussin also determined in his 3-week study of volunteers who were employees in his lab (see page 42), most humans would not willingly adhere to an every-other-day eating pattern on a long-term basis.  That said, the Alternate-Day Diet will activate the stress response to the metabolic and oxidative insults to which we are constantly subjected."

"Actually, as indicated by the study done by Ravussin and his colleagues that we discussed on page 65, eating 75 percent of required calories every other day activates the SIRT1-mediated calorie restriction mechanism, and we believe that this level of restriction for a 36-hour period of lower energy, as provided by the Alternate-Day Diet, is sufficient to turn on SIRT1, although not as intensively as lower intakes on the down day."

So, it is a long, scientific answer to why alternate day fasting may be more effective for the body than calorie restriction.  Some people also find it much easier to stick with alternate day fasting.  Dr. Johnson sticks with between 30%-50% calorie restriction on his "down-days" to maintain weight loss and battle his "natural inclination to overeat".  He gives reasons for up to 50% calorie intake on down-days as: it activates SIRT1 (with its health benefits), and its the level at which I'm most comfortable and don't gain weight.

Time to enjoy the next part of my fasting day! 

Alternate-Day Fasting Diet after one week

On Sunday, November 11, Trina and I started the Alternate-Day Fasting Diet.  Yes, the name on the diet sounds pretty crazy, and when I step back to think about it, it is a pretty crazy concept for the Western culture we live in.  As I'm writing this post, I am drinking a morning cup of coffee and enjoying the end of a 36-hour fasting cycle.

For a little history of how this journey started, I have a colleague, Ken, who lives near Manchester in the U.K. who had been on a diet where he and his wife would fast twice per week.  He said they get about five-hundred calories on the fasting days.  They had been having good success with it.  I asked Ken where they got the idea from and he said it was a BBC documentary.  Since BBC documentary's are usually top notch, I did a quick YouTube search and found it ("Eat, Fast, and Live Longer").  In classic BBC style, it was incredibly informative.  Topics included pros and cons of the calorie restricted diet, fasting, and intermittent fasting, and featured mostly research done in the U.S. that I had never heard of previously.  I don't expect this research will make the U.S. news until someone figures out how to make money on the diet, probably through supplements if I were to guess.  I learned the "5:2" diet that Ken and his wife are using is a version of the Alternate-Day Diet.

I then started doing research on the web and found some information on fasting protocols and a little bit on the Alternate Day Diet.  Turns out there are a handful of intermittent fasting type diets of which the Alternate Day Diet is just one version.  Turns out in the U.S., a physician named James Johnson has written a book called, The Alternate-Day Diet, and completed some clinical research to support the diet.  Besides losing weight, other health benefits include reduction in symptoms of asthma, arthritis, and auto-immune disease.  To summarize the protocol, "fast" and "feast" days are alternated.  That means we spend 36 hours in a fasted state (including the two nights) and 12 hours eating whatever you want.  Most of the information on the Alternate-Day Diet are from blogs and websites in the U.K. that popped up after the BBC show aired.    

For me, the first few fasting days were especially tough.  It basically comes down to me being so spoiled that I had not felt hunger in years (if ever), and my body didn't like it.  By the third fasting day, things were a lot better and I actually have found that I enjoy fasting days.  It is amazing how much time is wrapped up in planning, eating, and cleaning up after meals. I didn't foresee fasting causing a productivity boost.

There have been a lot of interesting discoveries from this diet already.  Having experienced a little bit of hunger, I realize how much excess food I eat.   My feast days aren't near as "feastive" as I was expecting.  My food choices tend to be healthier than I would expect.  I have found I really enjoy having a cup of coffee in the morning and getting work of some sort done.  Trina and I have lost some weight, also, and seem to be feeling more energy.

It is still very early and, though I really like the diet, the jury is still out if Trina and I will continue on with this diet.  We are still learning a lot and seeing how it works out after a month or so.  I just realized yesterday that Dr. Johnson's advice on recording what is eaten is likely invaluable and I'll be starting to do this more religiously.  I'm working on coming up with the five go-to low-calorie meals that Dr. Johnson says are great to have on fasting days (salads and Miracle Soup are my first two).  My goal is to check in every so often with updates on our experiences on this diet.

Time to go break the fast with some breakfast... *grin*