I thought I’d provide some insight into what this brings to a person who maintains this kind of ‘diet’ long term.

I’m 34, male, and as far back as I remember, mainly because I come from Catholic background, my family has always fasted (abstained from meat) on Friday. When I turned 15, I wanted to do this the way my grandmother did and decided to only have plain bread and water on Friday AND Wednesday.

I vividly remember how in the first year, I sometimes waited for midnight to pass so that I could stuff my mouth with ham and drink something sweet.

After almost 20 years, I still only eat bread (no butter) and water every Wednesday and Friday. I do NOT restrict the amount of bread I eat on a fasting day (it’s hard to eat a lot of plain unbuttered bread). I have successfully avoided almost all the ‘lifestyle/genetic diseases’ that haunt my family – diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, hypertension and other cardiovascular problems, while always maintaining a perfect BMI of 24.

10 years ago, when I settled down and got a sitting job staring at computer screens, hypertension, high cholesterol and beer belly crept up but quickly disappeared as soon as I started swimming 2-3 times a week.

I must say I’m so used to this I never feel starved on a fasting day. I simply eat a slice of bread when I feel hungry and get on with my day. I don’t ever feel I have low energy, I don’t have any weird stomach feelings, I don’t miss food on those days and I’m waaaaaay more disciplined around food than any of my friends/family. It’s more of an eating lifestyle than a diet. If there is a downside to this, I’ve yet to see it.

a few tips:
– good fresh bread will give you bad breath, I therefore prefer bread a few days old
– cheap “cotton wool” supermarket bread will not stop hunger unless you eat a lot of it
– buy something dense and dark that you can nibble on for longer; eating it for longer is more effective against hunger
– this does in no way help against male pattern baldness