Is intermittent fasting ok for us ? - British Heart Fou...

British Heart Foundation

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Is intermittent fasting ok for us ?

Bigbrian profile image
9 Replies

Hi folks, I have been intermittent fasting for more than a month now, 16 hours without food then eat for the 8 hours( not continuously) haha, read a lot about how good it is for you. And after this time doing it I can honestly say I’m feeling good. Is anyone else trying it and if so how are you getting on. And should we be doing it at all with our conditions?

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Bigbrian profile image
Bigbrian
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9 Replies

I've been doing it every single day for just over a year now to improve my health, and have also thrown in the occasional 24 hour fast. The only thing I would note would be to see if it affects any medicine schedules as some need to be taken before/with/after food.

Bigbrian profile image
Bigbrian in reply to

HiThanks for the reply, one thing it has done is made me lose a stone in weight , so that I can drop my disoprolol from 10mgs to 7.5mgs and keep my bp at 120/65. Plus the sense of achievement when a bit longer fast has been achieved, 36 hours is my best. It’s a diet/lifestyle that’s not promoted as the only people benefiting is the people on it, no diet companies or drug manufacturers………

in reply to Bigbrian

Glad it's working for you. Combined with a low carb, whole food lifestyle (which makes fasting much easier to do), I've achieved similar things. It is the future, but if it is anything like smoking, public and political attitudes will take 50 years to catch up with the science.

Chappychap profile image
Chappychap

Diets are a very emotive subject, with a lot of people promoting one diet or another with a religious fervour. Personally I think that's a bit daft, we know so little about you and your life that none of us can say what diet will work for Brian!

All I can say is that intermittent fasting has worked for me. It worked when I did an international job and was dealing with the problem of maintaining my weight while travelling, eating out and living in hotels, often amidst very different cultures.

And it worked particularly well for me when my HbA1c scores showed I was approaching pre-diabetes. Intermittent fasting, alongside a Mediterranean diet with a low carb bias, allowed me to lose two stone, keep the weight off for nearly three years now, and reverse my HbA1c scores and get them back into the safe zone.

Does any of this mean intermittent fasting will work as well for you? Absolutely not, your problems might require a very different diet solution.

Good luck!

vinixxx profile image
vinixxx

Intermittent fasting is much more deep than usual weight loss.IF is a beast when it comes to fighting against diabetes type 2.

A lot of heart conditions and cancer are prevented by IF.

And much more, just check in youtube.

Bigbrian profile image
Bigbrian in reply to vinixxx

HiYes. It looks like a game changer for many diseases, I have looked on you tube and that’s where I got it from, I would also say it’s not promoted due to the fact there is no upside for the big pharma and food industry, I looked at the insulin part of it and it’s fascinating stuff, so I’m trying to cut out carbs but I must say after my heart failure diagnosis in 2019 and fitting of my pacemaker, this has probably made the biggest difference to how I feel in general. Hopefully move up to the 2-3 day fast quite soon but that is daunting……

Shar28 profile image
Shar28

Hiya, I read a comment somewhere that the individual concerned had referred to their GP who said “why not, it’s what we do overnight anyway”

We’re all different and so it’s probably best to check with your GP, explaining to them what you’ve been doing and your results. Also, as already stated by Supafil some meds need taking at certain times before/after/with food so watch out for that.

driverbadges profile image
driverbadges

I can only speak for myself and my experience. I got into this intermittent fasting and low carb eating in January 2019. I was having a shoulder operation in July of that year and I needed to lose some weight before the op. It worked brilliant at that time for myself. I lost 3 stone my target was 2. I had the op and I never felt better. I then fell off the wagon and brought a whole lot of trouble to myself with bad eating and no exercise. I don't drink and gave up smoking up 35 years ago. Looking back now I think maybe my eating lifestyle and no exercise contributed if not caused a lot of the problems that started in March of this year for me.

My wife started on intermittent and low carb in the same year as me and, she lost 4 stone. It worked for her better than it did for me because I could not maintain it and, she is still on it. I am trying to get back into healthy everything. I can say before we started the intermittent fasting my wife loved the fried chicken and the beef burgers and would visit the outlets every single week. From the time she gave all that stuff up she has never touched any of it and misses nothing. It worked and is still working for my wife. It only worked for a little while for myself. It also worked for 1 of my daughters because she has stuck to it but it did not work for my son or my other daughter. All my family have been doing intermittent fasting at different times and it has worked for 2 out of the 5 of us. Hope it gives you what you want.

Bigbrian profile image
Bigbrian in reply to driverbadges

Thanks

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