Fasting and binge eating on non-fasting days

This topic contains 10 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by smotfi1 7 years, 11 months ago.

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Caradeuc

9:31 am
29 Oct 14
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Hi
I’ve joined the forum today. Been on the 5:2 fast diet for over a year now. I was not obese, but I was getting fatter. There’s a problem with this diet though. After fast days my appetite spikes dramatically and I have terrible cravings for sugar. This is not really diminishing. The day after my fast I have to consume huge amounts of sugar to redress the balance. I basically binge eat, consuming more food than I would normally. if I do not do so, I suffer physical withdrawal symptoms.

As far as I understand, when we fast, the body thinks it is starving, leptin production (the hormone that controls satiety) is reduced, as well as energy expenditure (making us more lethargic, diminished brain function, etc). Another result is that the emphasis is placed on storing fat rather than burning it when the body thinks it is starving. This is my increasing concern with the fast diet. It no longer seems to be a panacea to me. I hope I’m wrong.

Dummerchen

9:57 am
29 Oct 14
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The emphasis is not on storing fat during a fast. Due to the lack of food (and carbohydrates) the body is actually using fat rather than food on a fast day. Even in long term starvation (starvation mode really only happens after weeks or months with insufficient food) your body has no choice but to burn fat – it has no other source of energy if you do not put food in your mouth!

Most fasters report the opposite of your experience: sugar cravings are reduced and the initial overeating and binging stop a few weeks into this way of eating. If you continue to have such strong cravings you might want to have a look at your general intake of refined carbohydrates and cut them down somewhat while eating complex carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables.

If nothing works, this way of eating might simply not be for you.

Caradeuc

12:36 pm
29 Oct 14
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Thanks Dummerchen
So I go completely sugar free from Monday through to Friday. I only eat sugar from whole fruit (not juice). And I limit fruit intake to two of my 5 a day. The problem is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I binge on a huge amount of sugar.
Anyway, I am trying to cut down on sugar (apart from fruit) entirely.

You said our body has nothing to burn other than fat. What about muscle?

What concerns me though is the insulin spike we get when we eat food after fasting. I guess the best thing is to break the fast with a low energy food to try and avoid that shock to the body. Because that shock could increase appetite and cause the body to store more fat, burn less and expend less energy. From the body’s point of view, when it has experienced a time of food shortage, it makes sense that when food again becomes available, that we should instinctively want to pile in as much energy as possible. It would be counter-intuitive for the body/hormones to not encourage this. But it would be insightful to hear the experiences of others.

I do the fasting for my health, not primarily for fat loss anyway.

Dummerchen

2:14 pm
29 Oct 14
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Studies have shown that short term calorie restrictions as in intermittent fasting does not result in loss of lean tissue. This only becomes a problem if daily calories are restricted in the longer term, for example on any standard low calorie diet.

Different macronutrients affect blood sugar and insulin in different ways. Fat does not cause insulin release, protein does and sugars even more so. Fructose, the sugar found in fruits, is different. It does not spike the insulin level but causes the liver to become more resistant to insulin; the fibre in fruit and vegetables counteract this though. As a result, it is quite healthy to eat fruit and vegetables but fruit juices (no fibre) and added fructose as a sweetener are not recommended.
Unfortunately, our modern diet contains a lot of simple and refined carbohydrates. Table sugar is one of them but all sorts of starches and white flour are staples of the modern diet. These are all released very quickly, cause the blood sugar to rise and therefore the insulin levels to go up. That is when the vicious circle kicks in: insulin prevents the body from burning fat, so to keep being fuelled you have to eat again, which will in turn cause more insulin to be released so that the body still cannot use its fat storage. To make matters worse, the insulin is still in the blood stream when the sugar is long used up, so you have no “free floating fuel” and cannot get to the fat stores.

This can cause the binges you describe. It might be worth to try and reduce simple sugars and refined carbs while increasing the amount of fibre in the diet. Basically: eat less pasta, rice and bread and instead more vegetables, replace white rice with brown rice, white pasta with wholewheat pasta etc.
This mechanism is not unique to fasting, by the way, but it explains why some people seem to be gluttonous when it comes to eating sweets and baked goods. It’s not so much a lack of will power as a surplus of insulin.

Caradeuc

3:38 pm
29 Oct 14
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Thanks. That’s interesting and reassuring.

Dummerchen

4:46 pm
29 Oct 14
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Caradeuc, havea read through these blogs: http://intensivedietarymanagement.com/
Although they are aimed at diabetics, the blogs on obesity, calories and exercising contain a lot of useful information.

Lizamor

4:52 pm
29 Oct 14
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.. Exactly what I’m experiencing. I can be a real binging pig on my non-fast days, due to a massive sugar craving.

I started in feb 2014, and have been maintaining since june.

I don’t eat white breads or pasta at all as I have coeliac disease, only a gluten free low calorie bread (Low GI). Still I turn into a sugar monster during weekends and non fast days since about the last 2 months.

Guess the answer is to not have those foods in the house at all.

simcoeluv

5:11 pm
29 Oct 14
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Hi Caradeuc and welcome:

All of Dummerchen’s advice is good and I second it.

You seem to be strongly addicted to carbs. 5:2 has not proven effective to cure that addiction in people strongly addicted. They report as you have and usually stop doing 5:2, so I am impressed you are still with it after a year.

The cure for carb addiction is the same as for any other – and just as hard. You have to stop carb intake for a period of time, and then basically eat very few carbs going forward. As with any other addiction, if you start eating them after you get rid of your cravings, you will be hooked again and back where you are now.

The method to get rid of your cravings has been used successfully for decades. It is the ‘Induction’ phase of the original Atkins Diet. In that phase, you eat 20 grams of carbs or less per day for two weeks. You will feel really bad by the 3rd or 4th day, but get a lot better after that.

If you choose to try this, do not do 5:2 during the two week period and don’t worry about weight loss.

Good Luck!

WhitmoreC

4:05 pm
7 Dec 16
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I have read with great interest what Caradeuc said about bingeing after a fast day. I have been doing the 5:2 diet for over two years now. I started it to lose weight and have maintained it to not put on weight. I have found it very effective and I do like to keep a check of my eating by having 2 fasting days a week. Unfortunately though I have noticed more frequently that as Caradeuc says the day after a fast I have an uncontrollable urge to eat masses of sugary food. Yesterday, by way of an example, not only did we have sweet treats at work which didn’t help, but after I left work I snaffled a bag of sweet popcorn followed by a sweet brioche and carried on as if I was in some sort of hypoglycaemic trance. It really annoys me when I have these splurges as I’m sure the fasting would be far more effective without them. Generally speaking I don’t eat much refined carbohydrates and we eat a fairly healthy diet. I’m not really sure if your advice, though I’m sure it is accurate, is really going to help and would love to hear of other ways of avoiding these binges.

dumpling

5:01 am
8 Dec 16
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carried on as if I was in some sort of hypoglycaemic trance.😄

AMEN!

smotfi1

12:14 pm
13 Dec 16
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If you binge after fasting for a day you might want to eat less of of refined carbohydrates and cut them down somewhat and eat more of complex carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, this will reduce your cravings and you won’t binge.