Hi Ruthi, 🙂 I’m still seeing how things get on.Yesterday I lost 2 kilos!!! Just water of course so not real weightloss. Went to the loo about 27 times! 🙁
If that is a first day reaction I don’t know. Though I can’t imagine I can pee 2 kilos every day lol!

It worries me that the 5 ‘feast’ days will give enough sugar to feed the duretic / glucose effect. But I have to monitor and see how that goes.

I may be delusional but I hope my pill taking is just to tide me over till I have lost enough weight to lower my bp. Though I do recognise that many otherwise healthy living thin people have too high bp so maybe losing weight won’t do it for me. I also recognise that my fairly strong family history of cardiovascular illness makes it necessary to act about my high bp.

I’m going to talk to my doctor on Monday about the posbilty of using an ACE inhibitor instead of the diuretic as ACEs seem not to affect blood sugar.
We are a bit ahead of mainsteam medicine by following Drs F & M. So our day to day GP’s can seem less flexible.

Mostly I do 5:2 but would like to try ADF from Dr Fung. I’m just following his videos. I live in Europe.

The resistance to fasting is still so great that an enforced, gastric band fast will be the way for many people I’m afraid. 🙁 I mean, I’ve been fat to some extent most of my life and coupled with the wrong advice about fat and sugar, I’m not surprised really that people get things wrong with weight management.
Many of the television programmes here about fat people losing weight still imply that they are lazy and greedy.
Like the tobacco industry, the food and dietry advice industries have interfered with science in a bad way that has lead to this obesity epidemic. I know it well, I still can revert to thinking about fat and calories in the old way!

Hope you are well Ruthi 🙂 xx

Merry Christmas All!

Speedy- I got tired of waiting for test results to come via snail mail, so I called and the med assistant read the results. My trigs 103, blood sugar 92, both good, or at least okay. Even HDL was 63, still okay. The kicker was my LDL, which was 173! So doc wants me to make another appt. to discuss putting me “back” on cholesterol lowering med. I have never been on cholesterol lowering med and don’t wanna be! So, this is a mixed bag of health results for me. My BP is wavering. It’s sometimes up and sometimes down, but as I mentioned before, used to always be up, even treated.

Sorry that you’ve had to start BP med. Keep your spirit up and before long, you won’t need it. 😀

Hello Piper 🙂 Snail mail is probably going via the North Pole at the moment!
I’ve converted your figures to mg/dl -> mmol/l I can’t think in mg/dl!
Trigs 103 / 1.16
Glucose 92 / 5.1
HDL 1.62 / 63
LDL 4.4 / 173
My total cholesterol was 5.5 now 5.3

Well done ob the good trigs and glucose figures. 🙂 xx
But yes, that pesky hdl/ldl ratio is a bit of a bummer isn’t it.
For me too.
My HDL was 1.0 is now 0.9 so gone down even further 🙁 And my LDL was 3.9 now 4.0 so gone up slightly further 🙁 They are not listening to me lol!

In a fb conversatio I had with Dr Fung, he said to me:
“Cholesterol levels may come down in time, but it often takes months before you see the results. High blood cholesterol levels are only dangerous in the long term and whether treatment with statins is necessary is debatable. Blood pressure may also come down with weight loss, but again, I expect that to take months before you see any results in that regard. Don’t worry, though, both cholesterol and blood pressure often do improve with sustained weight loss.”

On Sunday I rebelled and didn’t take the bp pill – but on Monday I capitulated and took it again! I was feeling so odd with it. Whether that was psychopsomatic – it could be, I’m not sure. But felt odd and headachy – and my eyes felt dry. But I Googled and frightened myself so bougt some Optrex and started taking it again.

I’m not sure if personally I’d take staitins for cholerestol yet. Bp frightens me more. I’m not sure how long I’ve had and I don’t believe the science about high cholerestol is corrent (I am a totally non-medical person!)

How long have you been on 5:2? I started in September so am hoing that by spring summer 2014 I will see bp reduction. I’m 55 and very overweight so there is a lot to undo lol! My last figures moved my BMI from Super obese down to Morbid obese – sounds much worse but apparently isn’t!

Maybe if you haven’t been doing 5:2 for long you could negotiate a 6 month hiatus with your doctor. It does take courage to go against their advice though doesn’t it? Especially when they seem so sure. It’s a bit lie being called to the headmistress’ study!!! My family history is my weak link and the thing I can’t change. It’s why I agreed to the bp pills.

Try to put it out of your mind for a few days. Let your subconscious work on it and see what it comes up with!

Best wishes for Christmas and a Healthier New Year 🙂

Hi USA (wave!) xx

HI USA! Nice to see you 🙂 Happy New Year. xx
Had to Google what AGEs are and find it hard to concentrate!
It reminded me though of something Dr F had said about how picked food is good.
Here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20497781
It seems to be saying esecially meat cooked (fried) becomes high AGE. That boiling is better than roasting or frying?
It sort of make sense to me – but I have to say also I wouldn’t say I really understood it. All new concepts to me.

Really just saying Hi and good to hear from you. Hope you are starting to feel better. xx

Hello me again. Hope all your regulars are all in the fasting pink 🙂

I was just thinking about things and wondered if there is anyone doing 2 consecutive fasting days? I think I remember Dr M say in the programme that it was OK to do so? As the day after a fast my eetlust (as the Dutch call appetite!) is much less. As I’m struggling to get back up on the donkey after disruptive Christmas and New Year, maybe I’m clutching at straws here 🙁
Any thoughts or experience though?

Hope you are well USA 🙂 xx

Ruthi, hope it went well with Seamus. xx So worrying when our dogs are poorly.

Hi USA, I think my posts over Christmas (to stay sane!) may have read to you like new references but that is not so – it was just me musing. I’m sorry if it read differently. I’ll just try to pick up the questions with bullet points ok? 🙂

* The colour chage is not here yet I think. But it – or something similar is being worked on. 🙂

* Nooo! I’m of course not telling you that your diuretic made you type2diad! 🙂 But if you read the side effects of some duiretics – the one I am on for example – one possble side effect can be to raise blood sugars slightly. So for some people, like me, borderline pre/diabetic, that can be enough to push them into values that diagnose diabetic. You and I know of course it is a spectrum not an absolute. But I feel it is something to be aware of when I am trying to lower my blood sugar that this pill might make that a little bit harder.

I cannot believe that any doctor would advise you over the internet to stop blood pressure medicine. I’m sure he didn’t mean that.
I am learning that which bp medicine suits a person is very personal and varies according to many factors. I was disappointed that my bp didn’t drop with some weighloss but I am hoping with more weightloss it may. But many thin people have too high blood pressure so it may not.

* “where does dr fung say fat more than protein” There are two points here: 🙂

Firstly, probably I am extrapolating far too much here and really was just musing about how to fit together all the various findings of what is good to do.
What I was thinking about was the success of Atkins; I have friends who ate a lot of protein and fat and lost a lost of weight. This is my personal, non-researched feeling, but that excessive protein is not too great. Dr Fung talks about fat not being the baddie (in part 6) I don’t know what he thinks about protein. That is me putting ideas together to make a diet up for myself. Sorry if I mislead you.

Secondly, I found this:
http://www.dietdoctor.com/another-diabetic-healthier-leaner-lchf
A reply on a site from Dr Fung that mentions protein amongst other topics:
I copied and pasted his reply. It’s a nice summary I think.

” Dr. Jason Fung
December 24 2013 20:27
The dawn phenomenon is related to gluconeogenesis (new glucose production from the liver). The so called counter-regulatory hormones (ephinephrine, growth hormone and cortisol) typically follow a circadian rhythm. They peak just before you wake up – around 4 am or 5 am. This is a normal phenomenon. It is thought that they prepare the body for the upcoming day by increasing blood sugar. The tern counter-regulatory refers to the fact that it tends to counter the low blood sugar of the preceding sleeping period by stimulating new glucose production.

So these counter-regulatory hormones tend to spike around 4 am or 5 am and therefore stimulate gluconeogenesis in the liver. Liver makes glucose and therefore blood sugar is higher. That is why you notice the dawn effect even though you did not eat any sugar in the night – the body is producing it from the stores of sugar in the liver.

In patients with insulin resistance, this effect is more pronounced and sugars tend to be a little higher. The implication is that sorry, yes, you still have some “remaining metabolic syndrome” left – as the last belly fat also indicates.

The key is to lower insulin levels since a high insulin level is what leads to insulin resistance. Low carb, high fat is a good method of reducing insulin, but not the only one. High fiber, increased vinegar are other ways. Intermittent fasting is yet another way to lower insulin levels. They are not mutually exclusive, and you may certainly mix intermittent fasting with a low carb high fat diet for instance.

Lower protein intake may also help since intake of protein, especially animal sources may also raise insulin levels. So lowering dietary protein may also be beneficial in reducing insulin.
Dr. Jason Fung”

Take care everyone 🙂
Best wishes.

HI Ruthi, hope it’s all going well with your lovely pooch. xx

I was wondering who had seem the fat v: Sugar Horizon programme and has it made anyone re-think anything?
The conclusion (after an admitted tiny sample) was that neither fat nor sugar were vastly different in their effects but the pesky thing is the delisious combination of them in about a 50/50 combination. That’s what is utterly irresistable for humans – and rats – and makes us pile on the pounds.
(Though maybe the fat eating twin was really eating protein + fat.)

Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTSTZImInrw

It surprised me. I was expecting it to say Sugar is the baddie. It didn’t. Feel a little bit lost now to be honest. I thought I’d got all this diet stuff licked!

Hi usa-I’m so glad to see you on the forum and hear how the weight is starting to budge-I have been at standstill
since Christmas, but am always encouraged by reading the forum. Here in drought-y northern California we’ve had tons of welcome rain, 20″ in spots. Stay warm !!!

USA, glad to hear from you again, and great that you are doing well, give or take acute bronchitis 😉

Things are going well for me on Fast-5

Xxx. Barbara

USA- how are you doing? Are you working? Sorry that you’ve been so sick…

I have been having a little break, working on other issues. On New Year’s Eve was down to 139, but bowels in a turmoil-either too much or too little. I’ve been working on that and some other major life events, but at some time in the not too distant future, will start again.

Speedy- I watched the fat vs sugar video that you posted. It makes me crazy. I kind of think that for me, balanced is better. Cut processed foods, like sugary treats and not so many things with white flour, but I am not paleo, or adkins, etc. I like my veg, and fruit sometimes. Even pasta has its place-occasionally. I’ve read that if we don’t have carbs, we lose the ability to process them– the little suckers that pull them in diminish. I know that’s not a very scientific explanation, but have forgotten what the portals are called. Remember, when we talked about LDL going up when losing weight? I found an explanation in a couple of places. Losing weight does have an effect, in the short term.

Ladies and any gents out there- Happy Valentine’s Day– xP