Has anyone done fasting. I watched a very interesting documentary yesterday on the value of fasting, fights inflammation, reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes….a lady I know has done it for last 18 months, lost 30 lbs and has never felt better, she doesn’t eat til 4 pm, she is 55, had no major health issues and has done it to drop weight and have more energy.
PMR a question : Has anyone done fasting. I... - PMRGCAuk
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Truckfoot
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I haven’t had luck with weight loss, but I am more and more convinced it is good for our bodies. Check out Gin Stephens books and podcasts.
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I think there is a past thread about it.
I do intermittent fasting in that I don't eat from dinner at night (8pm) until a very late lunch except for mugs of tea with just a splash of milk. I used the 5:2 diet (also intermittent fasting) at the start of my 35lb PMR/pred weight loss and found it invaluable in readjusting my appetite but I then switched to low carb.
I really wouldn't recommend extreme fasting for us because of the medication but the 16:8 24 hour fasts are probably OK and there are quite a few on the forum who do that or the 5:2 version, I don't find I lose weight on pred unless I do low carb - and to lose weight it has to be almost keto for me. Others don't need to get that low.
Low carb is itself anti-inflammatory - sugar and carbs in general have a pro-inflammatory effect. Many people find that once they are using low carb they find they get increased symptoms if they fall off the wagon, so to speak. I certainly think I have had a better experience with PMR because of not eating much in the way of carbs - but it hasn't cured it nor are my energy levels wonderful - but maybe that is more PMR than the diet!!!
I would like to know how people manage to fast as I get really shaky if I don't eat. Not that I intend to try. I tried fasting when I was in my late 20s and, partly as a result of my strange eating patterns, ended up so anaemic I think I nearly died. Had to be given blood transfusions, thankfully before AIDS.
It depends on what type of fasting you do. Fasting isn't not eating - it is restriction on how you eat. I was never a breakfast person at all - so the 16:8 approach to eating never posed a problem for me. In the 16:8 it is sensible to approach it slowly - depending on how long you normally go overnight, add an hour to the usual time between dinner and breakfast and keep doing that slowly until you get to the interval you want. Or if you look at the 5:2 interval fasting - that isn't going without either, It is eating normally on 5 days and 2 days of fasting with a limited number of calories which don't leave you hungry when carefully selected since a lot of "hunger" is a need for liquid.
The strict limiting food form of fasting should never be done without medical supervision, because it can be dangerous, especially if you have a medical condition.
healthline.com/nutrition/ho...
I had always thought fasting meant not eating, I guess giving up carbohydrates is a form of fasting. I think there should be different words for giving up food for a time and giving up some foods. I suppose English speakers have always fasted, hence the word
"break-fast".
Yup - the other current concept is fasting between meals! Think about our childhood - breakfast, lunch, dinner/tea/supper (depending on where you lived) - but I rarely ate between those meals. Today people graze, snacks are felt to be essential and you can't survive without them, there are even "healthy" snacks. Arguably though - nothing healthy about the pattern of eating. There is a fear of feeling hungry - whereas it is probably quite good for you!
I’m like you. I’d pass out at work half way through the morning if I didn’t have breakfast... I need to eat little but often or I feel shaky like you. I guess we're all different!
Fasting is difficult until you teach your body to burn fat instead of glucose.
I don't have any fat to burn these days, so I guess any advice suggesting that fasting will help my inflammation is actually not going to work! This is probably true of a lot of "little old ladies" - and gentlemen! On the other hand I inadvertently sometimes forget to eat lunch, does that count as fasting???? And I discovered that reintroducing a bedtime snack of muesli with milk packed on a pound a month - I've had to stop eating it already!
Muesli can have a hi calorie count; small bowl of plain oatmeal with some small pieces of walnuts, pinch of ground cinnamon and chopped up half banana with boiling water to wet it and plain yoghurt to bind and mix it all until soft and yummy can be a nice small treat.
Depends on how long you fast for - needs more than 12 hours really. But it is almost impossible to get into ketosis (fat burning mode) when on pred as it triggers the liver to release random spikes of glucose from body stores in muscle and liver. Doesn't matter where the glucose comes from, it means insulin is released - and you are out of ketosis.
Pred releasing random spikes of glucose sounds out of control. Do you know why it does that?
medicalnewstoday.com/articl...
maybe explains
I ear breakfast at or before 8 am and then don’t eat until 6pm so I suppose that is fasting to some degree
I used to work 50-60 hrs a wk and it was usual a sandwich in car on way or a very quick meal when children came home from school about 4PM , most days that would be the breakfast cause it would be the 1st time I've eaten all day.then straight back to work but couldn't do it since been on pred. Now I force breakfast down to take tablets with and feel really shaky by midday
What do you eat for breakfast? Carby things?
A couple of eggs fried in butter would be an ideal breakfast.
Bacon and egg is such a "normal" low carb brekky 
Would last all day for me - cereal I'm starving by mid-morning and while porridge is better and I love it - I then need lunch.
When my blood sugar shot up with pred I dropped the big bowl of cereal and switched to an orange, 1/3 c raw pumpkin seeds and two fried eggs. The only thing which stayed the same was a honking great mug of tea with milk. Just finishing this morning's tea right now, actually, 9 am here. ☕
I started on the 5.2 diet about 7 years ago (pre PMR) for general health reasons rather that weight loss, but found I lost about a stone in 3 months. The weight started creeping back on 3 years ago after my dog died and I stopped doing so much walking. 2 years ago I started 4.3 diet (3 days a week on 500 calories) and still going strong. Not sure how it helps with inflammation as I started before the onset of PMR and I am still on 9.5mg prednisolone after 5 years but I have minimal side effects and feeling generally good in myself so maybe it’s helping. It’s just a way of life now and I wouldn’t be without it. I definitely feel better the day after a 500 calorie day.I love my carbs. and sugar. Find it easier to count calories for 3 days a week.
Also find it relatively easy to skip breakfast and maybe have an early lunch after a 500 calorie day and try not to snack between meals.
It must be a more natural way to eat than having constant calories on demand without having to “work” for them. I know for sure a lot of zoo animals are fed this way to keep their diets more as they would be in the wild.
I used to get light headed if I didn’t eat for any length of time so for that reason I eased myself into it gradually and now it’s fine. But I don’t have any other health issues - this wouldn’t be suitable or achievable for everyone.
Thought we were to have food in our stomachs before taking pred as protection?
It is certainly a good idea and pharamcists have said that taking pred in the mddle of a meal obviated the need for a PPI or other antacid medication. However, everyone is different.
I always have, but you don't need much. I take my pred at 2 am now and only a small helping of plain full fat or 2% yoghurt seems enough, washed down with water.
Doesn’t that break a fast?
It would, but I don't fast. I think looking after one's stomach is important. If people want to fast then they will have to work out a medication schedule which fits in. I was just pointing out how little food is usually enough, we don't need a full meal, at least not with low doses. I wouldn't start with 15 or 20 mg that way, I'd have it with a full breakfast to be on the safe side. It's quite interesting how protective yoghurt seems to be. It's worked for me with doses between 10 and 4 - have only been taking my pred in the middle of the night since earlier this year. Before, for several years, I always had it with breakfast.
Very interesting posts from everyone. I haven't tried fasting for years but can report that Pred pushed me into prediabetes so I cut out 80 pc of sugar (it was mainly fruit juice) all refined carbs and around 30 pc of grain-based carbs. I may have to do more if it doesn't settle, but it is a start. Good news is my tastes changed within a month. I have a weekly treat and find that I no longer like sugary, creamy things like sweet cakes and icecreams. Also they make me feel queasy. I acclimatised to whole-grain pasta and pizza base quickly too. I think this is very positive - good for health, once pred-free, and into the future.
Yes I do it. I combine it with very very low carb, usually one meal a day (OMAD) . It works for me. I don't get shaky or anything. I think its because my body is now used to not using carbs for fuel.
I semi fast over evening to later morning, but if I lost any more weight it would be good. I try to up calories in the hours I eat. But a friend’s mom eats only one meal a day,always has so nice a young adult, and I hear she is in good health overall at nearly 80.:
I'm note sure about not eating until 4pm. However, the 5:2 diet and 16:8 approach as mentioned by PMRpro are worth trying. Another added benefit is that it gives the gut a rest. We often don't think about our hard work g gut and it needs a rest just like other organs, muscles and tissues.It is not easy to avoid weight gain on prednisolone. It may even be impossible?
I found moderate exercise helped me mentally and physically.
I'm still off pred and take hydrocortisone now (in fact I'll do a separate post on that as Ive been quiet for ages😁)
"It is not easy to avoid weight gain on prednisolone. It may even be impossible?"
Not according to several people on this forum! And I lost 35lbs of PMR and pred related weight gain while still on pred. I've lost 5kg since the beginning of Lent while on 15mg pred. It can be done.
A couple of years ago I had a really bad upset tummy. I couldn’t keep anything down as the pred was thrown up as soon as I took it. I was worried that the next day I would be in a lot of pain. I was really surprised to find I was completely pain free and felt fine.
That happened to me about eight or nine months into pred. I lost weight during the incident, which I've only just gained back, by trying, five years later! Like you I didn't have pain. I sometimes think these things happen because the immune system has something valid to concentrate on. I wonder if someday there will be a vaccine for auto-immunity!
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