Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle: RE: [fast5] Re: Fast-5 vs. Eat Stop Eat

I also wonder if it has to do with WHAT is being eaten...

I've been reading over on the Mercola site and he talks about what grains
and sugars do in our bodies (vamp up that 'hunger' mode) so when those are
not, or have not, been present, the body just gets busy and does what it is
supposed to do....

Heather, I love your input!!

-----Original Message-----
From: fast5@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fast5@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Heather Twist
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 4:20 PM
To: fast5@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [fast5] Re: Fast-5 vs. Eat Stop Eat

That IS one of the mysteries of IF. You suddenly eat a LOT less, or at
least a lot of people do. Probably a lot of us have theories as to why,
but I don't think anyone really knows the answer. It's one of those things
scientists are studying.

Interestingly, when you have your stomach stapled something similar
happens. Suddenly people who were always hungry eat less (or at
least the successful ones do). Why? It's a big question that they
are studying. It's not JUST that the stomach size is smaller. The
hormones change drastically.

My take is that IF does the same thing. Changes the hormones.
From "I need to get fatter" hormones (pre-hibernation?) to "I need
to get skinnier" hormones (lean and mean active human).

This is NOT the same thing as the "starvation" mode that is mentioned
in the "starvation diet" syndrome that the diet books keep talking
about. One big difference: people who intentionally starve themselves
a lot are *always hungry*. I.e. their body is rebelling. People who
do CR diets talk about this a lot. They use strategies to outwit the
constant hunger. IF folks do not generally have hunger issues.
If anything, they, like you, worry intellectually: "Am I getting enough
calories???".

So look at it like this: your body has a really, really good chemistry
set/biology lab built in. Billions of neurons ... more than in your brain
...
surround your gut, and their whole goal in life is to make sure you
eat enough of the right amounts of food, and digest it correctly.

If THEY think you are eating too much, if you need to get rid of fat ...
they will signal: "we are full now" and you'll "forget" to eat. If THEY
think you are starving yourself or you aren't getting enough of
something: they will signal "we are hungry now!" and you will
eat ... even eat without being fully conscious of it. And they
will crank down your metabolism etc. to make you gain fat
for the coming winter or whatever their goal is.

Now, our family pretty much all eats IF, mainly because I'm not
real motivated to make food unless I'm eating it, and we all
get distracted, and it's a habit at this point. Everyone else eats
2 meals, I eat one. My metabolism is pretty well messed up
from being an undiagnosed celiac for 40 years, and this way of
eating keeps it in check and has healed my gut issues very
well. But the rest of the family ... they are amazingly healthy,
active, athletic. Hardly starving waifs. And their metabolism
is strong (can handle cold very well). But they eat far less than
I would expect, given their activity level and muscle mass.

So I think there is something else going on ... the food appears
to be used very efficiently. They don't gain weight easily and my
dh is pretty much at his high-school weight. My dd has a very
thin waist and athlete's muscles, but she weighs more than
the height/weight charts says she should. They both routinely
leave half their food on the plate because they can't finish it and
rarely partake of snack foods even when they are sitting out
on the counter. My dh's siblings are both rather chubby and have
plenty of health problems, as are mine, so the difference isn't genetic.

Anyway, my dd is 14, at the age where a lot of kids go
anorexic or bulemic, and she really has zero food issues. Doesn't
worry about food or her body image ... she is really (and justifiably)
proud of her body and also proud of what we eat (amazingly). I've
never told her she "must" eat like this, it's just a family habit, but
there is food on the counter all the time and since it's all cooked
at home, the air often smells of fresh-baked bread or carmelizing
onions ... enough to make anyone hungry, you'd think.

So no, I don't think there is a health problem, and I wouldn't
worry about eating "enough". Listen to your body. The only
think I'd worry a little about is that some people have "reactive
hunger" after eating too many starches/sugars and not
enough protein, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with you.

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 10:22 AM, cathykowloon <cathykowloon@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Thanks for your replies. Here's another question.... by default, I fasted
yesterday until 5:30p and then ate. I found I was hungry, obviously, so I
ate a hand full of almonds and 2 stalks of celery with almond butter right
off the bat. Then I got busy with the kids and I didn't eat again until
8:30p when I had dinner with my husband. At that time I had a spinach salad
(only spinach and tomatoes and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds and little
oil and vinegar) and 1 chicken enchilada that I had made that night. And
nothing else. Do you find you eat a lot less? I know by not eating all
day, I will not be 'making up for lost time' by cramming all my calories
into one 5 hour window. But I am worried about not eating enough. Around
9:30p I remember thinking I should eat a piece of fruit... but wasn't hungry
for it and it slipped my mind. So yesterday I basically had what would have
been a normal dinner and the equivalent of 2 snacks.
>
> Does this happen to you? How to you ensure you get enough to eat to not
sacrifice your metabolism and go into "starvation' mode?
>