Dr Jason Fung - Fasting - Take Out a Meal

Dr Jason Fung is nephrologist from Canada. The nephrologist deals with the diagnosis and management of kidney disease.

Dr Jason Fung - Intermittent Fasting

Dr Fung says that busy doctors can't spend time education people about low carbohydrate diets. Far too many people have Lipophobia, and once again the doctor just doesn't have time to be bothered "educating people."

Many of us eat five to eight times a day. Some dietitians even recommend that, but it's not good practice and indicates that our diet is faulty. Dr Tim Noakes tells us that 500 years ago in England it was normal for most people to eat only once a day.

There is a simple solution. Everybody knows what a "fast" is. So Dr Fung says, "tell people to fast."

Then they ask how often, and how long. Fung tells his patients to fast every second day. There is plenty of evidence from his practice that this works even when people fast poorly.

Health journalist Gary Taubes speaks with Dr. Fung about his research.  Dr. Fung outlines his clinical experience with intermittent fasting — in particular how he came to use intermittent fasting in his practice despite receiving contrary recommendations from his peers and medical education.  (59 minutes)

Published by: CrossFit: July, 2020

Type 2 Diabetes is Reversible

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance. Treating the blood sugar level of patients does NOTHING to fix the problem, it only guarantees that the disease will get worse. Any effective treatment has to reduce or eliminate the insulin resistance. That indicates a dietary solution, not medication.

To understand the problem think of a balloon full of air. To put more air in the balloon you have to blow harder, and the balloon resists. If there is enough pressure inside the balloon the structure of the rubber fails, it may burst; but if not, once over-stressed it may never return to it's original shape.

A diabetic the body is full of glucose and glycogen, overflowing with it. Insulin cannot force anymore into the body cells, but glucose levels remain high so the pancreas creates even more insulin. This is insulin resistance. The excess glucose is finally turned into body fat, stored around the body organs and on the hips, thighs and belly of the person. People get fat. (Note the cause and effect here: excess insulin is the cause of excess body fat. Insulin is the horse, and body fat is the cart, excess glucose is the fuel.)

The LOAD of excess insulin over time destroys the cell structure of the blood vessels and the body cells. This is seen in a whole series of "new diseases" but they all have the same cause. The vascular system of the eyes becomes damaged, vision becomes blurry, we can see that in photographs of the eye. Similar damage is going on everywhere in the body. Diabetes is a disseminated disease, it's right through the body. More than 50% of the population are at risk.

However, type 2 diabetes is not a life sentence, with a ketogenic diet it can be reversed. Stop doing the wrong thing. Medications don't help, they only hide the problem. The proper diet will cure the problem. No drug, no surgery, and no medical expense.

The Take-Out Diet

Dr Hugh Butler has also experimented with fasting. He says we are adapted to days when food was plentiful and days when food was scarce, and we can cope with that very easily.

In August, 2012, Dr Michael Mosley, a BBC Horizon science reporter, produced a documentary series on eating styles and future health. In the process he was faced with the sort of fasting Dr Fung recommends, but Mosley modified it a little, deciding that fasting two days a week, would fit into his lifestyle much more easily. And so he presented the 5:2 Diet, sometimes called The Fast Diet.

Today there's lots of evidence that it's safe, that it works to reduce weight, and that there are many additional health benefits, if carried on for a long time.

On the 5:2 diet, on the diet days, you can eat up to 500cal of protein or fat, but zero carbohydrates. On the non-diet days you eat normally. (Although in practice it's been found that people eat less.) Dr Butler thinks the 5:2 diet is an excellent way to begin your weight loss programme.