Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle: Re: [fast5] Re: Eating Window Adjustment

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Re: [fast5] Re: Eating Window Adjustment

On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 8:57 AM, Kim Swearingen <kim@desertmeadows.com> wrote:

Thanks, everyone. I wouldn't say I'm "hung up by the book" at all. He clearly explains you can pick your own window and I get the concept of the long daily fast being the point. Since I like dinner with the kids and a snack in the evening the 5-10pm window seemed like a good place to start. My question was really about whether or not there is a benefit to being hungry. I was wondering if that legitimate feeling of hunger means that my body is digging into fat stores to keep the lights on. If so, it isn't the worst feeling in the world.

There have been people in the group who have said exactly that: they get more weight loss about the time they start feeling some hunger. And for that reason, they extend the fasting time more than required.

It doesn't really matter when the window is, which is a good thing. Once your body gets used to the concept of "not eating all the time", it's no big deal if you get invited out to lunch and have your food then instead of later, or if dinner gets delayed til 9. Which is GREAT for travelling.

I'm going to switch to 4-9pm and see what happens. As far as food choices, I'm a Weston A Price and Sally Fallon fan from way back. I eat lots of saturated fats and agree that it is, for me, a very healthy eating plan. I truly think coconut is a miracle food and incorporate it as often as I can. I do eat some good hearty whole grain bread, usually with nuts in it and butter and occasionally a dessert of some kind. I bake a lot with almond meal instead of flour. I also concede that there are a lot of ways to do things right.

I do a lot of food experimenting, and it's one reason I love Fast-5. If I decide that one week I'm going to try living off, say, pickled eggs and black jelly beans one week, I can easily do that and see how it makes me feel. I can also buy relatively expensive foods, because the food bill is just way lower than it used to be (and in fact we grow more and more of our total food, which also influences our food choices).

I agree there are a lot of ways to do things right, and I love that a lot of people do food experimenting and share their results. However, I for one am hesitant to say "This is the BEST set of foods to eat!!!!" because I still haven't found the end point. Every time I think I have found "The optimum human diet" .... something else crops up and I'm off on a new experiment. It's probably friendlier for people to use phrases like "This worked for me" rather than "You should".

I know if I cut the bread out it may help to lose weight faster but after the last round of my question and the groups answers I've decided to quit worrying about it at all. I like how I feel and am convinced this is good for my health so I'm switching to weekly weigh-ins from daily and a pound a week will be just fine with me. After a few weeks go by I'll keep you guys posted.

Do let us know what works! (and what doesn't, if you want to share).