Fasting and heart health.

Interesting article from the Washington Post on fasting and heart health:

google.co.uk/amp/s/www.wash...

[JaneFinn]

That’s very interesting, thanks Samazeuilh! I’m in need of losing weight and the intermittent fasting idea seems to work for people (and to be health-promoting in general, regardless of weight loss).

But I find that for the sake of my stomach, I need to eat something (or at least drink milk) with my Apixaban, so that’s every 12 hours. And in the patient info for bisoprolol it says not to do strict fasting. So I’m wary of causing more problems.

I wonder if Intermittent Fasting still counts/works with regular but reduced food, in order to safely take meds?! (Or is that just a normal diet?!) 😁

[Hidden in reply to JaneFinn]

There haven’t been any really detailed studies on the different fasting regimes, so it’s probably not possible to say with any degree of certainty. A new book, “The Afib Cure” also mentions fasting and recommends skipping meals like breakfast on occasions. When you have done several fasts you start to lose the pangs of hunger which you can experience when you first start fasting. I often skip breakfast now and don’t find that a problem.

[JaneFinn in reply to Hidden]

Ah yes, I used to fast regularly for faith reasons and definitely got used to it. It’s only since the issue of having to take meds every 12 hours and not wanting to risk problems over taking them on an empty stomach that holds me back now Jx

[CDreamer in reply to JaneFinn]

I’m in the same position but I found several thing really helped:-

Intermittent fasting is about lengthening the time between eating so No1 - if I have my evening meal much earlier ie:- 6pm and don’t have any carbs in that meal and then go through to breakfast at 9.30am that works. I found I need 14 hours between meals for IF to work - I have to say I’m not that strict on the timing of taking my tablets and Apixaban doesn’t need food so I just take those with water at night time and never had a problem - that wouldn’t work for Dabigatran or Rivaroxaban of course.

I miss breakfast once a week but sub with a homemade smoothie.

I have 1 med I do need to take with food so grind it up and take with a teaspoon of organic yogurt but I very rarely need to take one after my evening meal.

I found IF was the only thing that shifted the weight for me but it means strict no snacking after 7pm.

The Dr Mosley book The Fast Diet and the recipe book his wife wrote were very helpful.

[JaneFinn in reply to CDreamer]

Saw your post after sending mine! Thanks CDreamer, that’s very very helpful. If I can persuade my lovely but late-working husband to shift our evening meal earlier, I could do as you suggest and that would make a big difference.

Even though apixaban doesn’t require to be taken with food, I need to do it for stomach protective reasons. (Due to previous ulcer and a long, traumatic weaning off what was recommended to be lifelong PPIs!)

Taking meds with a little milk is the thing that has worked for me, so I daren’t risk stopping that. But maybe just a sloosh of milk at hour 12 won’t break the fast too much? X

[irene75359]

My Italian son-in-law has a enormous appetite and is very thin, as is his mother. They never snack and only eat at mealtimes, and when my son-in-law had slight weight gain, he started the 8/16 fasting which works really well for him. My daughter tries but finds not eating until midday or later takes some getting used to. She gets very jittery and unsettled. But she did lose two stone...

[Hidden in reply to irene75359]

Yes, I lived in Italy for several years and noticed that Italians are very strict about eating between meals-a positive in my view. Particularly in the South, the diet is very healthy indeed.

[Jfbould1]

Good article. I’ve tried using the 16:8 regimen the past couple of years. Have good results when I really stick with it. Alas, lately I’ve been snacking again in the evening. Back came 4 kg! It’s sometimes hard to maintain the discipline 😝

[Hidden]

I do what I think you would call IF every day.

I have my evening meal at 6pm and then nothing (except a cream coffee or three) till about 1pm the following day. So all my eating is crammed into those 5 hours, no snacks. Sometimes I'll go the whole 24 hours.

I've combined that with low carb and lost loads of weight and fat. Very pleased. I was also just about diabetic, now that's gone away and no drugs any more which is good.