Scared to start fasting - I'm always hungry!

[amwassil]

The post that you linked though, I have a couple of questions 1) are you saying even if I have 5g carbs, if I get stressed my glucose and insulin will rise? 2) what happens if you are 24 hours into a fast and you get the worst news?

You may find these of interest:

Mike's Excellent Glucose Monitor Adventure

As noted here: I purchased an Abbott FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitor today at my local London Drugs. I selected this item because the initial cost is fairly low ($55 for the reader device) and I don’t have to poke holes or donate blood. I’ve set up a free account at LibreView which will enable me to upload data from the reader. Not sure yet what exactly I’ll do with the data, but I don’t want to leave it on the handheld device, since storage capacity is limited. The device connects…

Glucose Response to a 12-Hour Overnight Fast

2020/03/06-07 Fasted from 21:00 - 09:00. Went to bed at 22:00 and got up at 08:00. Made several glucose readings during the sleep time at moments when I awoke. The following chart is mmol/L. There’s a conversion chart HERE. [2020-03-06-07-IF-plot] 03/06 20:30 - 20:45 Nightcap (creamy bone broth) 03/07 09:00 - 10:00 Keto coffee PS: for anyone who’s curious, this was totally painless, a very easy peasy way to fast. [EDIT] I forgot to include my Ketonix BrAce measurement 16.5 ppm at 08:15.

[CaptainKirk]

Bethany,
Understand that you got here by ENJOYING your food too much.
And it is ENJOYING Food that messes up your bodies natural hunger signals.
Are you:

• Hungry

• Starving [Only felt this before Keto]

• Low Glucose

• Bored

• Needing a Dopamine Hit (mental hunger/craving)

• Nutrient Seeking

• Drained

  Those are feelings I can detect from learning to be hungry and listening to my body.

  You have to be willing to be uncomfortable… But that will come.
  ==

I just want to use IF for a while to get to my goal weight but don’t want to force my body to ignore hunger cues.

So, the easiest way to do this is to Stop ALL SNACKING. Only eat during you 3 windows. Eat enough that you wont need to snack.

THEN, start pushing your breakfast later. BUT no SOY in your coffee. Protein and Collagen breaks a fast! For me, HWC breaks a fast, because it’s an allergen.

Your goal should be 16:8 fasting, then?

I have a couple of questions 1) are you saying even if I have 5g carbs, if I get stressed my glucose and insulin will rise? 2) what happens if you are 24 hours into a fast and you get the worst news?

1. I am saying I got bad news, and my glucose spiked 50 points! I got caught in bad traffic and my glucose spiked ~20, I had to deal with a deep emotional issue and did not track the spike, but was fasted and fine, until 2hrs later where I was RAVENOUSLY hungry and BINGED on Pepperoni (I make it a point to never break a fast with an ILLEGAL food, LOL).

So Yeah, your emotions can drive Cortisol. I am a STRESS eater by my nature. Now I know the CHEMICAL Profile behind it. My body prepares me for a BIG PHYSICAL Response. (I grew up in a violent environment). I realize that is my body releasing glucose quickly to energize/enable me to FIGHT! After that, I am FORCED to replenish it!

2. I think I answered that.

So, if you get stressed, I found the best thing to do is to PHYSICALLY Process it. Your body gave you energy, go for a long walk. Practice some deep breathing. You want to destress your body, and change your hormone profile. If you are trapped in an office, go to a bathroom stall and crank out a bunch of squats. SLOWLY until you deplete your legs. That will help tell your body that you handled it. It will REMOVE the excess glucose and REDUCE the insulin response.

Imagine it this way: You get a HUGE 50 point move in glucose (you barely notice, maybe a little shaky). But you know you got hit with stress. Test your glucose if you can. But THAT is the time to deal with it and deplete the glucose. If you don’t your body says “Oops, let me clear that out, here is some insulin”. Which shuts off fat burning, and clears it. But… It over does it as your are more insulin sensitive than you used to be. Then you glucose drops, and you feel it hard. WALK that feeling off… If you don’t the urge to eat will just keep growing…

All of those levers are important to different people to different degrees. My opinion is:

1. Inflammation
2. Dairy
3. Stress

for me. Stress is acute, whereas inflammation is systemic. And thats why NO one approach works for everyone. When you can find someone who reacts like you do, they are the best person to model for what works and what does not.

I am trying to decide to fast longer right now. My last meal was Monday night. My next one Is Tonight or Friday. So if I skip today, I want to be able to hold it until Friday! (I don’t want to eat 2 days in a row for a couple of months due to some inflammation).

[Bethany]

I know what you mean, I can’t believe that I actually don’t even like potatoes any more!!

[Bethany]

yes 16:8 is what I am aiming for

Imagine it this way: You get a HUGE 50 point move in glucose (you barely notice, maybe a little shaky). But you know you got hit with stress. Test your glucose if you can. But THAT is the time to deal with it and deplete the glucose. If you don’t your body says “Oops, let me clear that out, here is some insulin”. Which shuts off fat burning, and clears it. But… It over does it as your are more insulin sensitive than you used to be. Then you glucose drops, and you feel it hard. WALK that feeling off… If you don’t the urge to eat will just keep growing…

Great advice, thanks!!

May I please have soy in my coffee with my lunch when I break my fast??!!

It will be interesting to see what happens now 80% off my stress will be gone working from home. . .

[amwassil]

May I please have soy in my coffee with my lunch when I break my fast??!!

Curious, why are you attached to soy? From a keto perspective there’s really nothing good about soy. Fermented, ie tofu, is OK, but tofu is light on nutrition and you can do lots better.

Soy products

According to Keto Summit, there are a few reasons why soy products, such as tofu and soy milk, aren’t great options for the keto diet. One is that they are high in phytoestrogens, which could affect hormone levels. Another is that many soy products are highly-processed, something you definitely want to avoid on the keto diet. Lastly, soy products are high in phytates, which can bind to minerals and prevent their absorption in your body.
Source

Is Soy Milk Keto?

Is Tofu Keto Friendly? All You Need to Know About Tofu on a Keto Diet

The Dangers of Soy | Paleo Leap

[Bethany]

I’m not really, it’s coffee I don’t want to give up. I know once I give it up I probably won’t even like it but I haven’t dived into why coffee feels so important to my, why I feel “less” if I don’t drink it…???

It just yet ANOTHER thing I have to get over and I just lost mayo so I’m gonna need some time

[amwassil]

Coffee’s probably not an issue, although it can be for some. Maybe it won’t be for you. I think you’ve got a few other items to eliminate before you get to coffee.

[CaptainKirk]

May I please have soy in my coffee with my lunch when I break my fast??!!

Yes, if you are breaking your fast. Just not in the morning! [I’d prefer you do HWC since Soy is nasty stuff with all of the estrogen mimicking stuff in it]

It will be interesting to see what happens now 80% off my stress will be gone working from home

So, Bethany, what makes an event stressful? It’s not the event. Scientists have measured this. It’s actually how YOU RESPOND/Internalize the threat/situation.

The happiest day of my Frustrated life was when I realized this Formula:

Frustration = (Expectation - Reality) * EGO

EGO => How much you believe you should be able to control these things, or they should NOT happen to you!

So, we are NEVER Frustrated when we get a free meal for no reason at a good Restaurant. [Reality was bigger than our expectation].

Now, if we are a movie star, and they did not give us free drinks too, and expected us to tip the waitress. Than that same event is Frustrating (especially considering the size of their EGOs)!

Stress is similar. If you can practice rehearsing 1 stressful event, and changing your response to laughter, shrugging, saying “This, too, shall pass!”… Something other than internalizing it.

Start with small stressors. Someone cuts you off on the way to work. Try Imagining you know them to be a wonderful person, who is rushing to the hospital before a family member dies [You can literally change the MEANING of any event, to make it HELP you feel better]. And say to yourself, I hope they make it where they are going safely. [or simply, I choose to forgive them, because if I ever do that, I would want people to understand I am not normally like this!].

Find one stressor per week, and LOVE it until you laugh at it. Then find the next one. Eventually you can build a routine that finds stressors and lets you respond with a common response. Okay, I’m alive and well, glucose under control, let me address this with love/compassion…

Like going low-carb. You have to knock one thing out at a time, until you own it. It’s a process. It will be life long, and at some point, people will stop stressing you out, because you don’t give them the adrenalin they are expecting from your response…

[Bethany]

It’s more what I want to have in the coffee that’s the problem

[amwassil]

@Bethany That gets back to this, ff. Choices.

Personally, I think you can FUEL your body (food), or Feed your Palate (Tastes).