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Benefits of fasting

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Naina_Marbus

Active member
The power of intermittent fasting

When I was growing up, I found that most of the elders in the house – parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties - observed fasting at the drop of a hat - not just on ekadasi, chathurthi, ashtami, amavasya, saturday, tuesday, etc. When my mother recommended that I also start such upavasams, I dodged her saying that I was not ready for them. I did not think I was ever going to observe them, that is until recently, when I came across an article describing the science behind fasting ( Fasting ), and I was amazed at the knowledge and wisdom of our ancestors.

An excerpt of this article is given below.

The aging process is controlled by our genes, and there is not much we can do about that. Research has shown that calorie restriction, which means eating well but in smaller amounts, extends life expectancy. A hormone called IGF-1(insulin-like growth factor) is one of the key molecules which keep our bodies in the dynamic mode, driving the cells to reproduce. This is alright while young, but not so good later in life. High levels of IGF-1 appear to accelerate ageing and age-related diseases like cancer and diabetes, while low levels are protective.

Scientists have created a genetically engineered mouse type that produced only very low levels of the hormone IGF-1, resulting in a 40% enhancement of life-expectancy, equivalent to humans living for 120 years or longer.

Research suggests that IGF-1 levels can be lowered by what you eat. Calorie restriction - eating less helps, but it is not enough. In addition to cutting calories, one has to cut protein intake also. Not entirely - that would be a very bad idea. Just don't obsess about not getting enough protein. A typical Indian vegetarian meal with dhal and vegetables, with yogurt/curd and/or buttermilk may be sufficient for most elders.

The explanation is that when our bodies no longer have access to food, they switch from "growth mode" to "repair mode", when levels of the IGF-1 hormone drop, and a number of repair genes appear to get switched on, according to ongoing research by Professor Valter Longo of the University of Southern California.

One area of current research into diet is Alternate Day fasting (ADF), involving eating what you want one day, then a very restricted diet (fewer than 600 calories) the next. Surprisingly, it does not seem to matter that much what you eat on non-fast days.

Dr Krista Varady of the University of Illinois at Chicago carried out an eight-week trial comparing two groups of overweight patients on ADF. She says that "If you were sticking to your fast days, then in terms of cardiovascular disease risk, it didn't seem to matter if you were eating a high-fat or low-fat diet on your feed (non-fast) days." [Caution:Just because of this report, don't start using ghee and butter without checkingwith your doctor.]

Michael J. Mosley, a British journalist, is well known for his episodes of "Inside the Human Body" featuring the human body and how it works. He decided to figure out for himself if fasting really works. He felt he couldn't manage ADF. So he improvised an easier version, the so-called 5:2 diet. Eat normally for 5 days a week, then for two days a week, eat just 500 - 600 calories. There were no hard and fast rules as to what to eat on fasting days. On other days, he ate normally, without gorging on food. He stuck to this diet for 5 weeks, during which time he lost nearly 20 lbs and his blood markers, like IGF-1, glucose and cholesterol, improved.
 
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I personally feel that instead of complete fast which may impact the blood sugars adversely (especially the diabetic persons who are in to insulin) the reduced food intake suggested in the post would be beneficial in controlling the blood sugars...

However, as most of the elderly are suffering from some ailment or other should we consult a Doctor before going in for reduced calorie suggested here
 
I personally feel that instead of complete fast which may impact the blood sugars adversely (especially the diabetic persons who are in to insulin) the reduced food intake suggested in the post would be beneficial in controlling the blood sugars...

However, as most of the elderly are suffering from some ailment or other should we consult a Doctor before going in for reduced calorie suggested here

Of course, we should always check with the family doctor/nutritionist. A diabetic using medication to control the blood sugar, need to be aware that fasting can lead to hypoglycemia. But, even for young and middle-age non-diabetics, as well as those diagnosed as pre-diabetic, exercise/diet control/fasting can be a life saver.

In Type 2 diabetes, excessive intake of carbs in the early years often leads to exhaustion/depletion of the insulin-secretin cells of the pancreas at later years. Which is why type 2 diabetes used to be called maturity-onset diabetes. But, these days, with so much of carbohydrate overload through softdrinks, candies, cookies and cakes, and white rice, even very young people seem to be getting it.

No matter who you are, avoid white rice and white bread.
 
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A teenager
from the US stayed with me for six weeks, to learn to play 'keerthanais' on Veena. She refused to drink milk

and restricted even her intake of curd. The reason given was that she wanted to stay slim! Then I thought, change to
vegan food may keep persons trim!! :decision:
 
dear Prof N_M,

greetings from Denver! :yo:

I was blissfully unaware of my Type 2 diabetes until I started passing blood in urine

three years ago-after attending a wedding at Bangalore.

Now I am on wheat granules (a 50 c.c scoop per meal) instead or rice and

Glyciphage(after food) Glypride 1 (before food) and Atorva 5 mg( to keep down

cholesterol). The latest reading of blood sugar was 110 fasting and 105 P.P.!!!

Can I ever come out of this regime of tablets. If so how and when???

I do all the household chores myself.I do NOT take naps during the days and sleep

for about 6 hours at nights. Long WALKS are ruled out due to my worn out knees.
 
dear Prof N_M,

greetings from Denver! :yo:

Madam VR:

Clearly you have been so deeply busy in your literary pursuits that you may have ignored or not recognized the early warning signals even at the pre-diabetes stage. I wonder when, if ever, your first GTT (glucosetolerance test) was ordered. Either that , or your home-town doctors have not bothered to apprise you of the early warning symptoms.

[NOTE: if you are over 40, and you think you have no sugar problems, it may still be prudent to get a GTT test to rule out potentially developing diabetes problems. Apparently, even with impaired GTTresults, it may take anywhere from 5 to 10 years before overt warning symptoms of diabetes appear. Whereas, with impaired GTT results and no other symptoms, if one starts on a course of exercises and diet control, it is possible to entirely arrest or reverse the progress of diabetes.]

While it can be effectively managed, life with diabetes can be tough. Every day brings new hurdles that one may have to jump over. As one gets older, jumping over those hurdles becomes even more challenging, but it's not impossible. Ageing increases risks for specific complications that require extra efforts to properly manage them.

Since you are currently in USA, please make full use of your visit to learn how to cope. Hospitals in most cities in USA offer "Diabetes Education Services" where a team of specialists offer tips on how to manage your diabetes, so that you can lead an active life and reduce the risk of complications. Such a team usually consists of registered nurses and dietitians who are “Certified Diabetes Educators” (CDEs), to provide you with skills and educational materials specific to diabetes self-management. You will receive some very valuable tips to help you transit through your senior years so you can comfortably watch your grandchildren grow up to become adult members.

The bottom line in self-management is : be active, both physically and mentally. Ultimately, you still need to consult a doctor who will tell you what kind of activity is safe for you. Gradually you will learn and practice the skills needed to manage and control your diabetes. It can be done!

Exercise plays an important part, but, always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Exercises are designed to help, not hurt. If you experience pain at any time during any exercise, stop. Pain is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong.

The general advice is to do exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes. Does 30 minutes sound too long? No problem! Short spurts of activity throughout the day are just as good as one 30-minute session. Exercising does not have to be all in one continuous stretch of time. You can exercise for just 5-10 minutes at a low intensity, add a few minutes each day until you are at your comfort level.

Only your personal physician can give more specific directions. Please use your visit very effectively this time! And when you return home, we will all be eagerly awaiting your commendations and recommendations !!
 
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Dear Sis,

Your family doctor should be the right person to receive the post # 5 !!!
Absolutely true for 99% of the time. However, this forum is one of the best and reliable for crowd-sourcing for the right kind of information on most things that matter to people.

I will post at a later time ( not sure when) how bad the family doctors can be, and how sharing information in a right peer group (social networking) could help one to get out of a vicious cycle arising out of poor diagnosis by family doctors.

Some of the doctors in India do not update their knowledge, are too proud to accept that they may be ignorant, and there is no periodical assessment and re-certification of a doctor’s expertise with compulsory participation in a continuing education process to update their expertise. Imagine some of them learning from the medical representative from a pharma company!
 
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dear Prof N_M,

greetings from Denver! :yo:

I was blissfully unaware of my Type 2 diabetes until I started passing blood in urine

three years ago-after attending a wedding at Bangalore.

Now I am on wheat granules (a 50 c.c scoop per meal) instead or rice and

Glyciphage(after food) Glypride 1 (before food) and Atorva 5 mg( to keep down

cholesterol). The latest reading of blood sugar was 110 fasting and 105 P.P.!!!

Can I ever come out of this regime of tablets. If so how and when???

I do all the household chores myself.I do NOT take naps during the days and sleep

for about 6 hours at nights. Long WALKS are ruled out due to my worn out knees.

Dear VR ji,

Increase your protein intake.

Take Tofu(if you do not like the taste GET USED TO IT!)

Next make your own Hummus(mashed garbenzo beans mixed with yogurt and salt and pepper and sesame seeds).

Eat less carbohydrates.

Get exercise done!

I would recommend water activity in pools for senior citizens where water aerobics can be done.
No impact to joints and gets good exercise.

Do not worry about getting into a swimsuit..you can wear a Burkini(fully covered from head to toe)

Please do not take this lightly..get yourself some activity.
 
Absolutely true for 99% of the time. However, this forum is one of the best and reliable for crowd-sourcing for the right kind of information on most things that matter to people.

I will post at a later time how bad the family doctors can be, and how sharing information in a right peer group could help one to get out of a vicious cycle arising out of poor diagnosis by family doctors.

Many of the doctors in India are too proud to accept their ignorance, and there is no periodical assessment and re-certification of a doctor’s expertise with compulsory participation in a continuing education process to update their expertise.


There is compulsory CME for doctors in India.
My friends who are doctors there regularly attend CME.

I recently attended one CME where the Infectious Disease Specialist was just too arrogant to address a case of unusual presentation of Dengue Fever that I had seen.

Just becos he had not read it in his book and in his research he was not willing to believe me or even give an explanation for the case I had seen.

Sometimes just becos I am a doctor I am forced to behave otherwise I would have just used some 4 lettered words on him!
 
......... Some of the doctors in India do not update their knowledge, are too proud to accept that they may be ignorant, and there is no periodical assessment and re-certification of a doctor’s expertise with compulsory participation in a continuing education process to update their expertise..........
But our family doctor is our dear brother! :high5:
 
But our family doctor is our dear brother! :high5:


You know RR ji..I am also the doctor for my family but guess what my parents insists on paying me each time I treat them.

Actually I do not really like it but my parents insists on me being paid a fee.

I have refused the money enough times but they insists saying that otherwise they will go to another doctor.

So I have no choice but to treat them and also accept a fee.

Weird right?

What to do my father believes he should never owe anyone and also to make sure there is no loss of income for me.
 
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........... What to do my father believes he should never owe anyone and also to make sure there is no loss of income for me.
Thats cool Renu! Double benefit...
You can see your parents when they are sick and you get paid for the consultation! :popcorn:
 
There is compulsory CME for doctors in India.
My friends who are doctors there regularly attend CME.

I recently attended one CME where the Infectious Disease Specialist was just too arrogant to address a case of unusual presentation of Dengue Fever that I had seen.

Just becos he had not read it in his book and in his research he was not willing to believe me or even give an explanation for the case I had seen.

Sometimes just becos I am a doctor I am forced to behave otherwise I would have just used some 4 lettered words on him!

Thanks for the info on the CME for doctors in India.

..the Infectious Disease Specialist was just too arrogant to address a case of unusual presentation of Dengue Fever that I had seen. Just becos he had not read it in his book and in his research, he was not willing to believe me...
If this is how one doctor treats another, imagine the plight of a patient who dares to question the doctor's diagnosis.
 
Thanks for the info on the CME for doctors in India.

If this is how one doctor treats another, imagine the plight of a patient who dares to question the doctor's diagnosis.

Dear sir,

Out here with patients doctors have to be nice cos law suits are high here.
So we have to answer all questions..some patients can be very rude and demanding here.

Just now I had a patient who was asking me how come I knew how to calculate her due date for her pregnancy and which formula I was using to calculate it.

She asked me to show her how to calculate so I confused her with all medical terminology!! ha ha ha.

I get idiots who ask me how do I know what to see in a BP recording machine and how do I know what heart sounds to hear with a stethoscope!

All stupid irritating questions..but I will still answer them by using all medical terminology.
Patients are too arrogant to admit that they do not understand medical terminologies so they won't ask you anything after that!

Never speak too much in lay man's term..the questions will never end then!!LOL
 
Sowbagyavathy VR, Greetings.

Can I ever come out of this regime of tablets. If so how and when???

You may not get out of the regime of tablets altogether. But you can very well cut down the dosage or do away with one of the tablets ( Atrovastatin is only 5 mg. not a very big dose anyway).

You may like to follow Sowbagyavathy Renuka's suggestions. For hummus you may use our humble chicpeas too. But use it with the skin ( chicpeas is much better than split peas). If you have to eat white rice, get the basmati rice with low GI ( certified). It comes with a capital "G" displayed, (printed on the bag) in a circle in Australia; i don't know about India though.

When you wish to reduce your tablets intake after altering your life styles, altering right kind of diet, then let you doctor know of your intentions. Regulary record your BSL values before and after food atleast two weeks after reducing your tablets. if everything works out well, then your doctor may change your regime and closely monitor.

My wife slashed 50 % of her tablet's intake by diet control and regular exercises. Good luck to you.

Cheers!
 

Once Sri. Vijay Siva, the musician, was explaining why our ancestors had EkAdasi as fasting day or day with minimum bland food.

Moon is the nearest to the earth and will affect human brain on full moon and new moon days. The food eaten on a particular day

will have its effect in our brain after about three days. So if heavy food or spicy food is eaten on EkAdasi day, the lunatic effect

will be more!!
:madgrin: . . . :crazy:
 
Dear Naina Sir,

Do you know why we have skype in our PCs??

:ranger: + :blah:

Hmmm, I see, just so Raji Ram can have video medical consultation with her brother? My daughter, also an MD, refuses to do that even though we have Skype on our PCs. She prefers to do that on the phone!!
 
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ref#7.

Dear prof N_M,

Thank you for your elaborate reply. :pray2:

I used to be very fond of sweets long back.

Now I don't use either sugar or any of its substitutes.

I eat lot of vegetables and less of rice (only in the form of idli / dosa)

I am ready to change over to whole wheat products if it will help me.

I do yoga and non weight bearing exercises for one hour the first thing in the

morning. I will learn the self management of diabetes as suggested by you.

Thank you very much for sparing so much of of your precious time to answer my

queries.

My guess was that I may get a reply in 3 days' time.

You visit the threads only twice a week!!! Right??? :)
 
Most doctors are so busy minting money that they have hardly any time for keeping themselves abreast with the latest developments in the medical field. :whoo:

Absolutely true for 99% of the time. However, this forum is one of the best and reliable for crowd-sourcing for the right kind of information on most things that matter to people.

I will post at a later time ( not sure when) how bad the family doctors can be, and how sharing information in a right peer group (social networking) could help one to get out of a vicious cycle arising out of poor diagnosis by family doctors.

Some of the doctors in India do not update their knowledge, are too proud to accept that they may be ignorant, and there is no periodical assessment and re-certification of a doctor’s expertise with compulsory participation in a continuing education process to update their expertise. Imagine some of them learning from the medical representative from a pharma company!
 
Dear Renu,
Thanks for the concern.
I have resumed my yoga and will restart strolling once I become more free.
I am completing my blogs and will maintain a very low profile in the Forum
so that I will have more time for my other hobbies and for caring for my health. :)

Dear VR ji,

Increase your protein intake.

Take Tofu(if you do not like the taste GET USED TO IT!)

Next make your own Hummus(mashed garbenzo beans mixed with yogurt and salt and pepper and sesame seeds).

Eat less carbohydrates.

Get exercise done!

I would recommend water activity in pools for senior citizens where water aerobics can be done.
No impact to joints and gets good exercise.

Do not worry about getting into a swimsuit..you can wear a Burkini(fully covered from head to toe)

Please do not take this lightly..get yourself some activity.
 
Dear Mr. Raghy,
You wife is a petite and not a XXL like me! :)
I will add bitter gourd and methi as part of my daily food and try to go easy on tablets.
White is :nono: in rice/sugar/ salt/wheat flour etc. brown is beautiful in rice.
I am trying to eat as sensible a diet as possible.
Cheers without Beers!!! :)


Sowbagyavathy VR, Greetings.



You may not get out of the regime of tablets altogether. But you can very well cut down the dosage or do away with one of the tablets ( Atrovastatin is only 5 mg. not a very big dose anyway).

You may like to follow Sowbagyavathy Renuka's suggestions. For hummus you may use our humble chicpeas too. But use it with the skin ( chicpeas is much better than split peas). If you have to eat white rice, get the basmati rice with low GI ( certified). It comes with a capital "G" displayed, (printed on the bag) in a circle in Australia; i don't know about India though.

When you wish to reduce your tablets intake after altering your life styles, altering right kind of diet, then let you doctor know of your intentions. Regulary record your BSL values before and after food atleast two weeks after reducing your tablets. if everything works out well, then your doctor may change your regime and closely monitor.

My wife slashed 50 % of her tablet's intake by diet control and regular exercises. Good luck to you.

Cheers!
 
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