Ok so there’s lots of talk of ‘fasting’ on various threads lately. I’m not a fan of extended fasting but that only comes from my ‘gut feeling’ . So I thought I should listen to Jason Fung and then judge. I watched an interview on 180nutrition.co.au from 5/3/17.
It was an interesting interview but I must admit I only watched the first 36 minutes because I was starting to find it rather repetitive. So for my opinion……
Dr Fung is advocating fasting for those with chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and/or obesity. At the start of the interview he praises a low carbohydrate high fat diet but says despite it being a good diet it was “ … too complicated for many of his 65 to 70 year old patients”. He then stresses, several times, that his patients were “ monitored closely” , which he repeated several times in the interview, and that they were given good support via the internet etc. He says that fasting does take support.
He then goes on to talk about the duration and flexibility of fasts. He suggests you should keep ‘feeding and fasting’ in balance. He argues that in the 1950’s people ate three meals a day without snacking and in effect this lead to a ‘fast’ of 12 hours a day. Dinner at 7pm and breakfast at 7am the following day. Thus he argues that a 16, 24, or 36 hour fast is popular. He also says that fasts can be as long as 21 to 28 days but again MUST be closely monitored.
He sees ‘feast and fast’ as the normal human cycle as he says “ …. you don’t eat salad at a wedding”. He goes on to say he went on a cruise and put on a vast amount of weight but then fasted and lost the gain. He equates feasting with enjoyment. He argues that fasting ‘simplifies ‘ life because you don’t have to make the choices about how much of a food you should eat because you aren’t eating … full stop. Also this gives him more time in the day because he’s not spending time eating.
So that’s my interpretation of this particular interview. My view after seeing Jason Fung in action is that he is advocating ‘feasting and fasting’ as a way of life and maybe that suits some people. I’m still not sure about the wisdom of extended fasting unless ‘it’s monitored closely’.
I find after eating the BSD way for 17 months that I no longer fancy that ‘piece of cake’ or other ‘treat’ as he calls such foods. I am now of the opinion that for me ‘treats’ are a good steak, a plate of smoked salmon with capers and lemon juice, a really fresh fish and 90% chocolate. I don’t feel deprived.
So to sum up, for me, if the BSD diet isn’t ‘too complicated’ to follow then it’s a better WOE in the long term, but there is no harm in 12 to 16 hour fasts and that the real enemy is ‘snacking’ , and that two or three meals a day should be the norm. I still have my concerns about extended fasting I’ve not been convinced by Dr Fung.