Now that I have completed the first three months of my intermittent fasting, I began a new phase. I started having only vegetables for lunch on Wednesday. It means, I practice the 16 hour-fast from Monday to Friday where I have lunch around noon and I have vegetables, a protein dish, and fermented brown rice, but on Wednesday, I stopped having protein and carbs for lunch. In other words, I stay away from protein and carbs for about 22 or 23 hours from Tuesday night to Wednesday evening.
It is like doing a longer fast on Wednesday, but instead of not eating at all for 22 hours, having some vegetables after 16 hours. It is a little easier version. By restricting protein and carbs, I still suppress mTOR and insulin and through this, I am prolonging the function of autophagy.
Yesterday, for lunch, I had a salad and steamed vegetables. It was quite good, I could feel dietary fiber a lot, and wasn’t hungry after that. And yet toward the end of the afternoon, I got hungrier than usual. The fasting effect seemed to be happening.
I will try this new routine for a while to see how it goes.
The Ikigai Diet: The Secret Japanese Diet to Health and Longevity
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What about fat…are you adding any fat…that is the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question…are you adding fat?
Thank you for your comment, Qui Jin. No, I am not. The purpose of having only vege for lunch was to prolong the effect of fasting and the less I eat the better it was. I am not doing it now anyway. I am doing 24 hours fast instead. So, I do 17 hours fast 4 days a week and 24 hours fast 1 day a week.
Thank You so much for you comments. I need to try and follow your example. It’s hard sometimes. Did you eliminate coffee from your diet?
No, I didn’t. I drank organic black coffee during my fast, and I still do. I drink black coffee or green tea. Some say that water fast is better, but both coffee and green tea can activate autophagy, so if they make it easier to cope with fast, I think their merit surpasses the demerit.
Also, what about eating raw potatoes? I’ve been doing this but it’s probably not a low carb food. Still, it should be low protein to keep you in the autophagy state, yes?
Eating potatoes isn’t probably a good idea to prolong your fasting effect. You want to avoid both carbs and protein. You want to avoid carbs to lower your insulin level, and you want to avoid protein to suppress mTOR. Having said that, if you are eating raw potatoes, it doesn’t raise your blood sugar level so quickly as cooked potatoes, so it might work.
Dr. Mindy talks about it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f1X1PY6O6Y