To continue the saga of experimenting with my health (i.e, torturing myself) where food is concerned, this month, I’ve decided to take on intermittent fasting (or IF).
Previous conventional wisdom was all about having three meals a day, until we were told that it was wiser to eat six small meals a day. Now, it seems that health and fitness books are being rewritten to say that the way to go is to reduce caloric intake by having longer-than-usual periods between meals.
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Hello, IF.
The reason why IF appeals to me is because it is in line with Paleo principles, operating on the belief that food supply back then wasn’t as readily available as it is today, subjecting our ancestors to periods of hunger. And, while I have read that fasting is encouraged in Paleo, I always thought of it as being optional, something to do whenever you fancied. Now, it sounds like it is mandatory if you are concerned about getting leaner, improving your health, and living longer.
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There’s a lot of material on the web about intermittent fasting but, from what I’ve read so far, Dr. Andrew Weil’s article in the Huffington Post explains it best. And while there seem to be many ways to go about it, I’m inclined to listen more to Ori Hofmekler and his assertion that there is only one correct way to go about it as, apart from those who conducted reduced caloric intake experiments on mice back in the 1930s/40s, Hofmekler seems to have been an advocate of intermittent fasting the longest, having written about it in “The Warrior Diet”, first published in 2001.
While I don’t think there is only one correct way to go about intermittent fasting, I believe that there is one optimum way – all things being equal. But since that isn’t the case and all bodies are different, it is best to find out which fast works best for you. For now, I’m starting with Hofemekler’s recommendation and will tweak and adjust accordingly as I go along.
I was initially going to do one 24-hour fast per week, which I just did today, having fasted from 10:30 PM last night to 10:30 PM tonight (- I broke the fast with bacon and eggs) but, after reading Hofmekler’s article and a few others, I’ve revised my meal plan to having one meal a day, everyday, at the end of the day.
This is what I’ve come up with:
- Trial fast: 6-7 October, 24 hours (10:30 PM to 10:30 PM)
- IF Period: 7 October to 9 November, Siargao Island
- Blood test: 10 November, Manila
0700H: Malunggay juice, juiced with pineapple
1000H: Lemon grass water
1300H: Antioxidant juice, blended with one banana
1600H: Coconut water
1830H: Lemon water
1900-2100H: Three dishes, preferably two raw and one cooked (e.g., Raw Pumpkin Soup, Raw Sayote Pasta, and Grilled Pork Chops ). Except for one day a week, when I will still be fasting during the day but will be dining out at night without any restrictions.
2100-0300/0500H: Digestion (6-8 hours)
0300/0500-0700H: Fasting Period (14-16 hours)
Good luck to me!
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Two leading websites on IF:
Other articles on IF:
- BBC: The Power of Intermittent Fasting; be sure to click on the linked article on restricted diet experiments on monkeys.
- AskMen: Intermittent Fasting – The Controversial Diet Everyone’s Talking About
Other articles on IF methods: