You
shouldn't do this if you're eating the "standard american diet"! (you know, the diet that's taken over the world now?) The standard american diet isn't nutritious, let alone if you're restricting calories.
If you eat "low-fat heart-healthy whole-grain diet" this won't work. You won't be able to keep it up. I can't believe you're trying this with CFS! I think I would die
To be able to do this you should eat a really, really nutritiously-dense diet, to make sure you'll get all your nutrients.
And you should only do this
after you've been eating a very nutrient-dense diet for a while.
I'm someone who's mostly conquered CFS. It wasn't because of intermittent fasting, but because of the way I ate. But, the way I ate lead to intermittent fasting, which I've now been doing for years.
Intermittent fasting:
If you're doing intermittent fasting and you get hungry,
EAT. It means your body isn't ready.
You shouldn't feel lightheaded either. Intermittent fasting should feel natural.
And chances are you won't be able to do it without getting hungry, because with the standard american diet, the longest people generally can go without feeling hunger is 3-4 hours, and that's if they don't have metabolic problems
yet.
That's because the food isn't very filling, and it also raises your blood sugar so much that when it comes down really low, you feel ravenous.
I didn't start doing intermittent fasting on purpose, in fact I'd never heard of it until after the fact.
Nowadays, I could easily go two days without eating, and go for a hike, come home, and still not feel hungry. And my mind feels clear the whole time.
But I wasn't always like this.
Most people eat 3 meals per day, and then many snacks in between. They're always starving. And this is considered normal!
I was even worse. I had to eat every 30 to 45 minutes, or I'd black out.
It's no wonder. After all, what did I eat? I ate a "low-fat, heart-healthy whole grain diet", just like I was told to do.
So my day went like this:
Breakfast: Whole grain shredded wheat with milk and fruit.
Snack: organic peanut butter sandwich.
Snack: two pieces of fruit
Snack: three string cheese
Lunch: chicken breast, cooked barley, and pepper slices; cooked with non-stick spray.
Snack: two pieces of fruit
Snack: carrot sticks dipped in chickpea hummus
Snack: more carrots and hummus
Snack: OMG-I-can't-take-it-anymore!-I'm-starving!-I'm-going-to-buy-a-Snicker's-bars!
Dinner: tilapia or salmon filet + non-stick spray; steamed broccoli and cauliflower, brown rice.
After dinner and before bed:
More and more snacks.
Then I'll wake up at
2AM starving and eat half a package of shredded wheat.
That's how I was when I had CFS.
It's funny, the only thing there that is actually filling, is the snickers! It was honestly my saving grace when I was working full time and needed a snack or I'd black out...
Anyway, I got healthy when I changed how I eat (more on that later). Here's how I eat, intermittent fasting:
Breakfast: one bowl pulled pork drowning in lard, and, one bowl carrot and green cabbage strips cooked in bacon grease.
Lunch: Stir fry made of beef heart + chuck beef, cut in small strips and marinated. Cooked with 4 tablespoons of tallow (beef suet/grease). Then I remove the meat, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and let it get hot again, and stir-fry carrot, broccoli, and onions. The fat and the meat juices cook up into a nice sauce.
I eat this within 4-5 hours of each other.
I wouldn't be able to do that if I were eating low-fat tilapia/chicken with steamed vegetables and barley/rice. Trust me, I've tried! When I try eating the 'standard american diet' but only twice per day, it makes me a sour person all day and I have no energy. My stomach bloats, and I can't think straight.
My mom is the person who made me eat like this. It wasn't me.
She came to visit me (she lives abroad), and I was too weak and unable to care for myself (I was at my worst)
I just ate what she cooked for me. I had no choice. The effect was immediate: I was back to a normal person again in one week, after being sick for 7 years... No pain... lots more energy... no brain fog! I was so amazed, that I started researching nutrition
It makes me angry that people have to suffer so much when the solution could be so simple.
My calories: 75 to 80% animal fat, 15% protein, the rest are carbs. That looks like I'm carnivorous, but I'm not. My plate is half vegetables, half meat. It's really not that strange, is it?
I eat lots of fatty fishes, organ meats, fatty cuts of beef, and I try not to eat too much pork or chicken since they aren't as filling. (Ok, the truth is I don't like pork -- but chicken isn't filling, hehe!)
I don't restrict calories. I eat about 1700 calories, the same as I did before in the "standard american diet". I just eat the meals within 4-5 hours of each other.
I always cook with atleast 3 or 4 tablespoons of animal fat -- per person.
That's why my husband and I can eat only twice a day, and be healthy, and not be hungry. Speaking of my husband, he was always sick year-round, and now he never is
I'm tired of seeing my family and friends diet themselves silly and only getting fatter and sicker. I wish they would look at me. They know everything I've been through, and how I recovered. And they tell me my food is dreamy. But they refuse to believe it even if it's in front of their eyes, because "the government" says it's not good for you!
I don't blame them, because I was like that too.
To summarize:
Intermittent fasting isn't something you should do with willpower, this is something that will happen naturally once your body has food that doesn't cause insulin yo-yo (the american diabetes association diet is terrible for diabetics!), and your body has food that is very nourishing.
It's impossible to do it with the 'standard american diet' and get all the nutrients you need.
