间歇性禁食
人们经常因为美容、宗教或医疗原因而禁食。大约14%的美国成年人表示，他们通过禁食来帮助控制体重。但我开始间歇性地禁食，因为这是吃或不吃的自然方式。禁食乍一看似乎是不自然的，这恰恰表明我们离我们的传统有多远。我们旧石器时代的祖先肯定不会一天吃三顿饭。如果我们的旧石器时代的祖先看起来离现代人类只有几光年远，请记住，旧石器时代一直延续到农业革命，也就是大约300代人之前。从基因上讲，我们几乎没有改变。Michael Eades博士在他的“蛋白质力量”博客上的文章首先引起了我对间歇性禁食的注意。我对间歇性禁食研究得越多，尤其是在洛伦·科丹(Loren Cordain)博士的著作中，比如他的书《旧石器饮食》(The Paleo Diet)，我就越觉得自己必须亲自验证这一经历。在过去的几周里，我进行了两次间歇性禁食。 The first was for 12 hours from sunrise to sunset and the second was 24 hours from dinner one night to dinner the next. I drank only water, lemonade, and tea (both black and herbal). None with any calories. And plenty of it. My 12-hour fast was similar to that of Muslims during the month of Ramadan. But hardly the same and not as challenging. Since Muslims are the experts on fasting, I consulted with an imam, Ibrahim Kazerooni, before setting forth on my latest dietary experiment.
他既是我的朋友，也是我的糖尿病互助小组的成员。易卜拉欣解释说，在斋月期间，穆斯林甚至不能喝水。他们的禁食从日出前1个半小时持续到黄昏。(作为一名什叶派伊斯兰牧师，或称伊玛目，他是一名伊拉克持不同政见者，萨达姆·侯赛因(Saddam Hussein)多次监禁他，直到1974年易卜拉欣得以逃离伊拉克;我知道逊尼派伊斯兰教徒从黎明到日落都在斋戒。)“一开始要放轻松，”Ibrahim解释道。“只要做一天就可以开始。”他告诉我，禁食对他的血糖水平是有益的，即使有时血糖水平有点低。“当我晚上服用糖尿病药物时，没有问题。”像易卜拉欣一样，患有2型糖尿病的人需要注意他们在深夜禁食时吃的东西。 They can lose weight, "if they don't overload on sugar and starch." He said that he lost seven pounds this time. Now, after two fasts I am even more positive than I was from reading Drs. Eades and Cordain and from talking with Imam Kazerooni. I did have brief headaches near the beginning of each fast. And a bit of a sore throat for a short while as I hiked during my first fast. At one point on the trail I felt hunger pains in my stomach for a few minutes. But I was amazed that otherwise I never got hungry. My mood remained at a high level throughout. Physically, I may have even gained energy. For example, on my walk to the post office during the second fast I even did some intermittent jogging, something that I hadn't done for several months. I don't take any diabetes drugs or other prescription medication. My blood glucose level once went down to 68 mg/dl, about as far as anyone with diabetes would want. The first thing on the morning after my second fast it was at 80 mg/dl, just below the 83 mark that Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, the leading exponent of a very low-carb diet, says that is the appropriate average for anyone. I lost 0.8 pounds, and now my weight is the lowest in eight months. Later I thought to investigate the peer-reviewed articles on Medline and found this: "Persons with Type 1 diabetes can participate safely in prolonged fasts[超过25小时]前提是他们显著降低了通常的胰岛素剂量，并坚持有关血糖监测和终止禁食指征的指南。“1型糖尿病患者，不像我，绝对需要注射胰岛素。当然，我间歇性的禁食并没有“延长”。我还发现其他研究表明间歇性禁食的其他好处，其中一个结论是:“通过控制热量限制或间歇性禁食来减少能量摄入，可以延长寿命，保护各种组织不受疾病影响……”另一项研究报告称:“之前已经有研究表明，禁食40天40夜，完全符合一个健康成年人的整体生理能力。”这段经历把我从自我强加的暴政中解放了出来，我认为我只需要吃早餐、午餐和晚餐。不吃这些饭甚至节省了我很多准备和吃食物的时间。总之，这次经历是如此有益，以至于我将继续不同长度的间歇性禁食。但不会超过《圣经》中的40天40夜。
