- Author: [[Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore]] - Full Title: The Complete Guide to Fasting - Tags:: books [[inbox]] -  - ### Highlights first synced by [[Readwise]] [[2020-09-03]] - Foods should be recognizable in their natural state as something that was alive or has come out of the ground. Boxes of Cheerios do not grow in the ground. If it comes prepackaged in a bag or a box, it should be avoided. If it has a nutrition label, it should be avoided. Real foods, whether broccoli or beef, have no labels. The true secret to healthy eating is this: Just eat real food. ([Location 765](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=765)) - However, fasting restores the ability to occasionally enjoy that dessert by balancing out the feast. It is, after all, the cycle of life. Feasts follow fasts. Fasts follow feasts. ([Location 1266](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=1266)) - with fasting, all you need to do is increase the amount of time spent fasting. The longer you go, the more likely you are to lose weight—and it will happen eventually. ([Location 1295](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=1295)) - The root cause of the problem is consistently high levels of insulin, which creates a vicious cycle: too much insulin creates resistance, insulin resistance triggers higher levels of insulin, and that in turn only serves to stimulate more resistance. ([Location 1554](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=1554)) - To burn fat, two things must happen: you must burn through most of your stored glycogen, and insulin levels must drop low enough to release the fat stores. ([Location 1575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=1575)) - To prevent the body from adapting to the new weight-loss strategy and maintain weight loss requires an intermittent strategy, not a constant one. This is a crucial distinction. Restricting some foods all the time differs from restricting all foods some of the time. This is the difference between failure and success. ([Location 1671](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=1671)) - In response to the same meal given either early or late in the day, the insulin response was 25 to 50 percent greater in the evening. ([Location 2919](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=2919)) - So the optimal strategy seems to be eating the largest meal in the midday, sometime between noon and 3:00 p.m., and only a small amount in the evening hours. Interestingly, this is the traditional Mediterranean eating pattern. They eat a large lunch, followed by a siesta in the afternoon, and then have a small, almost snack-sized dinner. While we often think of the Mediterranean diet as healthy due to the type of foods in it, the timing of meals in the Mediterranean may also play a role. ([Location 2957](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=2957)) - if you do not feel well at any point, you must stop fasting. You can be hungry, but you should not feel sick. ([Location 2985](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=2985)) - In the IDM Program, we tell patients to expect an average fat loss of half a pound per day of fasting. If you lose more weight than that, it’s likely water weight that you’re shedding due to the reduction in insulin. ([Location 3197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=3197)) - In the IDM Program, we rarely advise patients to use fasting durations of two to three days. The majority of people find day 2 of an extended fast to be the most difficult in terms of hunger. After day 2, many people describe a gradual lessening and then a total elimination of hunger. (Some have hypothesized that this effect is due to the high number of ketone bodies that begin circulating after a couple of days.) From a practical standpoint, it seems rather harsh to end a fast as soon as you have passed its most difficult day. Instead, we encourage patients to continue their fast for seven to fourteen days. A fourteen-day fast delivers seven times the benefit of a two-day fast but is only marginally more difficult. ([Location 3231](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=3231)) - Intermittent fasting is not an excuse to eat whatever you like. During nonfasting days, stick to a nutritious diet low in sugar and refined carbohydrates. Following a low-carbohydrate diet that’s high in healthy fats can also help your body stay in fat-burning mode and make fasting easier. ([Location 3323](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=3323)) - Do not change your life to fit your fasting schedule—change your fasting schedule to fit your life. ([Location 3328](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01MF8SC2X&location=3328))