I’m so glad you posted your thoughts because it has been on my mind to article an update on IMF. I’ll just have to do it!

Until then – ‘acting like nothing happened’ sounds easier than it plays out, I know!

As for the ‘very hungry and unable to concentrate’, our livers and muscles do make a good store of glycogen so we aren’t truly ‘starving’ with those few hours, but that doesn’t make you any less comfortable! Here’s what Lisle/Goldhammer have to say that may address this:

In reality, water-only fasting is dynamic, complex, and involves many health-promoting processes…There is also an enhanced mobilization and elimination of toxic products, including poisons such as PCP, dioxins, pesticide residues, and other pollutants.

Perhaps our discomfort comes from this phenomenon? Can’t say for sure.

And as for the backfire phenomenon, yes I know all about it and really, though fasting may be a good idea on occasion, not necessary for our health though at the same time may be prescribed as same by a health practitioner and many powerful health changes have been made with supervised fasts.

I promise an update and may I use your commentary as part of same if appropriate?

thanks Susanne!

I have given Eat-Stop-Eat an honest try as well as Fast-5 and while the science all makes perfect sense to me, and I honestly thought this was healthy, I have come up against problems with my MENTAL health when I did them. Brad Pilon says very clearly that you need to “act like nothing happened” after a fast, i.e. not catch up on the lost food… that is pretty much impossible to me.

Secondly, and probably the bigger issue for me personally: I wonder if some people are just GRAZERS. So many people on forums etc. talk about how they have to “force” themselves to have breakfast, or how liberating it is to them that now they don’t have to do that. As for me, I will spend my morning starving and unable to concentrate if I miss breakfast. And I get very hungry before lunch. And then I get hungry again for dinner, although to a lesser extent. So what gives? I’ve never had to force myself to eat breakfast, from childhood on. Or to eat any meal at all!

So I’m wondering if some people find this IMF is their natural inclination anyway, while for someone like me, it is just like torturing yourself and the effort will backfire? (starving –> bingeing / indiscriminate choices)

6th baby? Oh, my! Well, you do have your work cut out for you!

I HEAR you on the starve yourself thin. I did enough times to finally realize that it wasn’t going to work longer than in the short term. Too much stored hunger!

Unbelievably, the min-fast mode is entirely different. If one is fresh off years of diet cycling, I recommend some time recovering from that before doing the mini-fast method. If not, then usually good to go.

However, you are going to experience more hunger more often if you are breast feeding because of the energy demand on your body. It will be a factor. If no medical advice against, it, you could experiment. And if you do, be sure not to force the “24 hours” – just try something shorter first. Have you read Brad’s book? Follow my link in the article above to check it out.

thanks so much for coming by to comment, and I’m thrilled that you are finding value in my columns!

Let me know what you decide about mini-fasts.

Lani