A couple of years
ago, I posted a piece about my adoption of a variation of an
Intermittent Fasting diet, with a promise to follow up on how it went
long term. Two and three-quarter years in, I think I am ready to draw
conclusions, so here we are.
I was introduced to
the idea by a BBC Horizon documentary, that, amongst other related
topics showed how it had been discovered that humans metabolise and
respond to protein intake on a 48 hour cycle, with potentially
harmful low or high levels of some hormones arising from keeping the
body stuck in the first stage by daily protein feasts. The same
programme also looked at the more inconclusive effects of Caloric
Restriction, which was not a novel concept to me, but which I viewed
with some scepticism. However, the section on protein metabolism was
so clear, that I could no longer eat daily meat, knowing what I
learned that evening.
After a day or two
of consideration and comparison of the various IF strategies,
particularly Alternate Day and 5:2, I settled on a usual regime of
4:3, having a low calorie vegetarian diet on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays, although not as extremely low as 5:2 and CR followers go,
and eating more indulgently on Tuesdays, Thursdays, weekends and
holidays. This, on the one hand, puts me in the vital second stage of
the protein cycle three times a week, but on the other hand, never
leaves me more than a day away from a good meal, which is
psychologically easy to cope with.
In the early weeks,
I lost over a stone, and from the greatly increased ease in bending,
I think much of the loss was the internal abdominal fat that no
doctor ever has a good word for. However, after about a year, my
overall weight started to creep back towards its original level,
which I presume is my natural equilibrium. Although the weight has
now come back, it does not feel as if it has returned as undesirable
internal fat. Another effect has been that when I return to eating
daily full meals on holiday, my body now furiously lays down
reserves, and my weight temporarily soars, before falling back over a
few weeks of resumed 4:3.
Initially, I was
rather troubled by hunger on my low-cal days, but I have found that
in the long term my appetite has adjusted, and I no longer miss
proper meals on the days I don't eat them, and need just a few snacks
to remain satisfied from the previous day's food until evening, even
if I sometimes need a little supper.
I have seen it
suggested that these kinds of restricted or partially restricted
diets can be beneficial to immune system problems, such as allergies.
I have no idea whether the continuing disappearance of my asthma
since the time I started 4:3 IF is causally linked, or mere random
co-incidence. It seems prudent to act on the assumption that it is
causal, though, which is as powerful an incentive as any to carry on.
About a year into
the diet, I had an opportunity to get a general blood test. My
previous one had showed excessive cholesterol, and I was interested
to see if my changed eating habits had helped to reduce it. I was
pleased to see that, while my cholesterol level was still undesirably
high, it had fallen out of the danger zone. That is still something
that I need to keep watch over, but the first result was encouraging.
My long-term
conclusion, therefore, is that 4:3 IF is delivering a healthier life
for me, at no more downside than sometimes feeling a bit peckish. I
would recommend it to anyone interested in maximising their own
health, unless they already have ailments that are aggravated by an
uneven food intake.
