My husband (63 years) and I (60 years) have been on the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet since April 14, 2013. He is a personal trainer who spends his day exercising along with his clients, challenging them to do better than he does. He is physically active all day from 8:30 in the morning to often 9:00 at night. Even so, he sails through fast days on a breakfast of two teaspoons of yogurt, a handful of blueberries and tea with stevia. He eats the remainder of his calories when he comes home at night. I, on the other hand, am retired though quite active and I struggle through fast days. The differences between how we respond to the diet are huge. Consequently I’ve given a lot of thought to Chapter 1 of “The Fast Diet” book which describes the feast/famine lifestyle of our ancestors. What occurred to me was that, while it’s true that men were chasing down prey animals and then gorging once the hunt was successful, the activity of women was different; they were gathering. Women were picking nuts, berries, seeds and grains and women were tempting their children to eat by example. As a woman who grew up on a farm and still follows the gathering ways of my mother and grandmother, I know that while I’m gathering, I pop a few berries into my mouth. I’ll eat a tomato as I pick tomatoes for supper. And as I preserve or prepare food, I taste what I’m preparing. When I’m actively doing these things, I don’t stop for a meal but I do lightly graze. Mimi Spencer mentions that she finds it hard to make it through 12 hours without an “apple for lunch”. I also find that a bit of fruit in the 12 hours makes it more tolerable though I worry that the very health benefits I’m seeking are then jeopardized. So while the Chapter 1 reference to our evolution may have been what convinced me that Dr. Mosley, and all of the researchers he cites, were really on to something, it seems to me that the differences between the evolution of women and the evolution of men really needs to be factored in and fully explored. So, for the sake of us struggling women, MORE RESEARCH PLEASE.
5:25 pm
30 Aug 13