Fasting ⇒ When Fasting Gets Tough, the Tough Immune Cells Get Going—or Die

[Fred]

"Dietary restriction describes interventions ranging from a chronic but minor reduction in calorie intake (calorie restriction [CR]) to periods of water-only fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs), which can be intermittent and short term (‘‘intermittent fasting’’ [IF] and ‘‘time-restricted feeding’’ [TRF]), lasting less than 24 h, or periodic and long term, lasting more than 48 h (‘‘periodic fasting’’ [PF]) (Longo and Panda, 2016).

These approaches have in common the ability to downregulate evolutionarily conserved pathways implicated in growth and cell division, including the IGF1 and mTOR pathways, and modulate stem cell activation (Fontana et al., 2010)"

https://sci-hub.tw/https://www.scienced ... 7419308529

[Fred]

...and in the same issue as the article above we can read about how fasting weeds out bad overactive damaged immune cells while protecting and rejuvenating the healthy immune cells.

"Mammals evolved in the face of fluctuating food availability. How the immune system adapts to transient nutritional stress remains poorly understood. Here, we show that memory T cells collapsed in secondary lymphoid organs in the context of dietary restriction (DR) but dramatically accumulated within the bone marrow (BM), where they adopted a state associated with energy conservation.

This response was coordinated by glucocorticoids and associated with a profound remodeling of the BM compartment, which included an increase in T cell homing factors, erythropoiesis, and adipogenesis. Adipocytes, as well as CXCR4-CXCL12 and S1P-S1P1R interactions, contributed to enhanced T cell accumulation in BM during DR. Memory T cell homing to BM during DR was associated with enhanced protection against infections and tumors. Together, this work uncovers a fundamental host strategy to sustain and optimize immunological memory during nutritional challenges that involved a temporal and spatial reorganization of the memory pool within ‘‘safe haven’’ compartments.

https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(19)30849-9.pdf

[Vandevalk1]

Intermittent fasting and time restricted feeding has become a way of life for me now, and for good reasons. The health benefits seem countless, both physical and mental. It's also attainable. I have been intermittent fasting for over 2 years now with ease. I currently have a 14 hour fasting window/24hr period (water excluded). Sound hard? start with a 10 hour window and slowly work your way up. Its worth it!!

I sleep like a rock with out waking up.
My body mass index went down even though I stayed the same weight; I've lost about 10 lbs of fat and gained muscle mass ( and I wasn't even trying to lose weight) This is obviously in conjunction with a steady workout plan.
my mental clarity is through the roof from where it was. (I'd be in a fog most days, especially in the morning and after work) This is likely related to the better sleep cycles I have now.
etc...

I also use to get heartburn and acid reflux where I do not anymore. Acid reflux is common in people who eat before bed. When your body is supposed to be resting during sleep so you can properly recharge, your body is working and breaking down foods using our stomach acid. gravity keeps acid down but when laying down during sleep, acid can creep into the esophagus. repeated exposure is linked to esophageal cancer.

[Newage]

Totally agree.
My window is 16 hours fasting ( 7pm to 11am) leaving 8 hours available for eating. Restricted calorie intake in the 8 hours will further strip weight significantly.
You are spot on with the reflux issue.
The problem is solved by not eating after 7pm...or earlier if possible.
Also a teaspoon building up to a desert spoon of organic apple cider vinegar in water with your last meal of the day is also very beneficial to solving reflux and aiding sleep. I use Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar as a trusted brand..

[Vandevalk1]

I also take apple cider vinegar at my last meal. Although I oddly enjoy the taste, I like to rinse my mouth out after to wash the acid of the vinegar off my teeth to preserve my enamel.

My current fasting window is 6PM-8AM as I start craving food earlier and after my workout. and I have no urge to snack late. (lucky me)

It is also rumoured that breaking your fasting regiment one day a week is not the end of the world either. People have noted little to no adverse effects and still maintain all the benefits when the regiment is broken every now and again. (after all, we still need to enjoy ourselves)

[Vandevalk1]

The Ketogenic diet also goes hand in hand with intermittent fasting. While the body is in Ketosis and has learned how to burn fat as a primary fuel source, intermittent fasting can act as an accelerator to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. When in a fasted state, you body still needs to find a way to fuel itself, since you aren't feeding it fat from an external food sources. Good thing your body knows how to turn fat into ketones and In lieu of an external source, your fat burning machine of a body does the next easiest thing and pulls fat stores from your own body to continue fuelling itself since it knows how now!

[CeeJayBee]

My current fasting window is 6PM-8AM as I start craving food earlier and after my workout. and I have no urge to snack late. (lucky me)

I don't know how you can fast after 6... i just can't make it to sleep without a night time snack, or two

[OzSport]

I'm the same! I think it comes down to consciously breaking old habits -- there are some days where I am not hungry at lunch but because I am so used to having lunch at a certain time of the day, I will still eat my lunch when I could have just easily fasted that day!

[Youvion]

Another approach, also pioneered by Longo is the Fasting Mimicing Diet (FMD). His research found that following a diet for 5 days that basically consists of 809 calories/day with Fat 46%, Carbohydrates 46% and Protein 9% produced significant upregulation of REgeneration markers.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26094889

Although it looks like a high Carbohydrate diet, but when we are only talking 809 calories (he does allow a bit more on day 1 - 1152 calories) you are not getting very much carbs anyway.

I find that if I go strict keto for a week, then transition to this diet for 5 days I can also easily transition into water fasting for a subsequent 3+ days. An approach for those who are a bit intimidated by the thought of no food at all.

[Vandevalk1]

My current fasting window is 6PM-8AM as I start craving food earlier and after my workout. and I have no urge to snack late. (lucky me)

I don't know how you can fast after 6... i just can't make it to sleep without a night time snack, or two

I get the same response from a lot of friends and colleges at work. It's tough, no doubt. It was for me as well. Especially if you haven't experienced the positive effects from IF. As hard as it was to break the habit of late night snacking, it eventually becomes easy, and then . it's just routine. I've convinced a few people at work to try it and they all agree, it was hard at first but totally worth it. One colleagues acid reflux is completely gone due to late night snacking and having his stomach produce acid throughout the night when his body should be at rest.