As many people know, human physiology and psychology has evolved over several million years, resulting in the wondrous evolutionary achievement known as Homo Sapien. In the past ~10,000 years, agriculture and industry have created an environment that our bodies were not designed by evolution to live in. Behavioral flexibility has allowed us to adapt, but the rapidly changing world in which we live leaves us susceptible to unhealthy lifestyles. Prior to the agricultural boom of ~10,000 BCE, our ancestors were eating only meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and some fruit. They remained mobile throughout a majority the day, with short periods of intense physical activity. There was no wheat, oats, or dairy available. There was no television, internet, video games, etc. As a result, our bodies have not evolved to digest processed foods such as bread, oatmeal, cookies, etc., or cheese, butter, milk, etc. We have not evolved to be sedentary day in and day out. By excluding these foods from our diet and increasing manual labor, general mental and physical health should improve. The purpose of this Blog is to document my journey that is modern Ancestral Living.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The beginnings of an IF interest

About a week ago, I was browsing Facebook and happened across a link on CrossFit Dahlonega's wall about Intermittent Fasting. I was fascinated and shared it with a friend, He told me to post it to the wall of our CF Affiliate, CrossFit Gwinnett (CFG). We also discussed giving IF a trial run since it seemed to fit in with an Ancestral Living approach. Since about a month and a half into CrossFit, which I have been doing regularly, if not religiously, for 3 1/2 months, the thought of something akin to Ancestral Living has piqued my interest. So much so that after a poor performance during a WOD (before which I had been eating garbage: deep fried chicken, french fries, ice cream), I decided to begin the Paleo lifestyle. I'd heard only good things from other individuals who are on it; It was almost like all I needed was an excuse to begin a healthy diet. One unsatisfactory performance and I haven't looked back since.

After doing a good bit of research on IF, I have realized that 1) there are few websites/blogs who cite or use data in their posts when talking about IF (so I will try to do so via links, also citing some non-primary source blogs and sites), 2) despite number one, most of the websites and blogs I have checked out are consistent in their descriptions of how to go about implementing IF in daily life as well as the benefits of IF. Check some of the links in my first post as well as the one near the beginning of this one for details on the benefits of IF and how you might go about adding this strategy to your dietary plan (also, see here and here).

I have been doing this IF thing for 8 days or so. Last week I decided to begin my first fast at night. Around 6-7 I would finish my last meal, then I would fast overnight and wait until after I WOD-ed, around 12-12:30, to eat a Paleo meal high in protein, with a protein shake to drink. It is very important that you consume enough protein in your eating window to make up for what was missed, as well as to ensure your body doesn't break down lean muscle for energy.

My experience after the first day's fast was not as bad as I thought it would be. I did get very hungry almost immediately post-WOD, and found that after eating I experienced a sort of post-fast giddiness. It was, I will say, quite nice. After that I have been hooked. The following day I took the same strategy as the day before, not eating from around 7 pm the previous evening and skipping breakfast. However, on this day I had 2 large cups of black coffee and that curbed my hunger nicely, as well as gave me some good energy to power through my WOD.

I will continue this post at a later time, Adios.
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1 comment:

  1. Prof. Steven M. PlatekJuly 21, 2010 at 1:40 PM

    The coffee is a huge help for me. I 've also noticed a post-feast inciting of pleasure. It makes sense, evolutionarily you are feasting out on your kill, which is why you were fasting.

    I have to agree that it's not as hard as I thought it would be, that being said there will be roadblocks for some people. For example, coming straight outta a high carb diet to IF is going to kill you, not literally although maybe, but it will make you feel like shite! Complete and utter Shite! The reasoning behind this: your body is attuned to the utilization of glucose in your blood for energy, at the muscular, respiratory and neural level. When you all of a sudden say, nope to carbs and food in general, your body is going to say NOPE to functioning appropriately. In fact, this is why many people experience what they commonly refer to as "low blood sugar". The truth is actually the opposite, that they have basal high blood sugar, their body has adapted to that and now in the absence motivational systems are kicked in to drive getting more in. There is no actual drastic drop in blood sugar for a few hours into a fast, that's why you have to fast for 12+ hours to invoke an adequate respiratory quotient that begins the utilization of fat. In fact the longer the fast, up to about 36 hours, your RQ continues to drop into Fat burning zone and out of glucose usage zone. Plus 36 hours, well let's not ever try to go there :-(

    Rather the experience of a "low blood sugar" the way I read/interpret the data is the same experience as a heroin addict who is predicting the onset of being sick, or without H. Their brain starts gearing them up, motivating them to get more by making physiologically damn sure they feel like shite unless they do get more. Similar phenom with sugar/carb addicts. So, I'd recommend doing what i did to introduce my body to IF, start out by beginning a low-carb, paleo diet that is rich in vege and fruit. Then wean yourself of the fruit, then try IF. The experience is much more tolerable, in fact, extremely tolerable using a program like that.

    My personal experience: day 1 of fasting, ever I experienced some disorganization and slight alterations in my psychology - was goofy according to one student - then after several hours adapted. The water and coffee help a lot. Hunger pangs come and go. I do notice that they correlated highly, if not only with external cues to eating. When I am making a meal for later or for someone else, i get the pangs. When i see, smell, or hear people eating, I get them. This is natural, as natural as it gets. We've evolved to eat when our "tribe" eats. In a hunter-gatherer society if you're eating, changes are I am going to be too, if I ain't changes are you aren't either. So the likelihood that people would not be eating together was probably a slim occurence during our ancestry. So another tip for "surviving your first fast: dont cook for others. Stay out of the kitchen all together if you can. Even the sight of food that I typically eat ad libitum invokes the cephalic stage of eating in me, mouth watering, tummy grumbles. I now know that's all it is and I can redirect my attn away from that. Once you hit about 8-10 hours it's down hill. Especially if you can stay distracted.

    Great post Ryan, keep them coming!

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