December 24, 2024 • 28 mins
Episode #184
In this Fasting Q&A episode, hosted by Coach Lisa Chance, Dr. Jason Fung answers questions from the TFM Community:
- Can fasting help with tinnitus and sleep apnea? [09:24]
- Is distilled water okay to drink? [17:41]
- Convenience is sort of necessary for active, working people, but getting food from restaurants is not always a good option. What kinds of foods/restaurants are best for simple, no or low-prep foods for someone who does not want to cook or finds cooking to be problematic because of portion-sizes and clean-up? [21:29]
- Can I use spices like green cardamom pods, cloves, and fennel seeds during fasting days to combat bad breath? My coach said it’s OK to green cardamom pods but I wanted to know if it can be extended to other spices? Are there any I should specifically avoid? [20:55]
- Could you please talk about how we should change our dietary fat consumption as we progress through the fat-loss journey on LCHF, specifically from the angle of supporting healthy endocrine function. If we define the different stages of fat loss in terms of how much adipose is needed to lose (more than 50lbs, more than 20lbs, less than 20lbs), would dietary fat requirement increase as we progress through these stages, as we would need more dietary fat to support endocrine function? [22:30]
- I am in perimenopause and have just started HRT. My MD is very supportive of my desire to use fasting as part of my goal to lose fat, lower A1C (I am pre-diabetic) and apoB. She recommended I have full labs in six months to make sure my body has adjusted to HRT and we’ve had enough time to adjust dosage if needed. Does six months seem like an appropriate time frame to wait, and how regularly after that should we repeat these labs? [26:29]
Please note that you need to be a member of the TFM Community to submit questions to the Q&A webinars with Dr. Fung but you can submit questions to our regular Q&A episodes here: https://bit.ly/TFMPodcastQs
LINKS
#147 (Constipation): https://youtu.be/mM79Rv9Gt2I
#76 (Constipation): https://youtu.be/5uKER8scDB4
#180 (Longer Fasts): https://youtu.be/yfwW7mcfEc4
#45 (Gallbladder): https://youtu.be/QQmdsOJsRsw
#20 (Gallbladder): https://youtu.be/aSVDawoT-1A
Transcripts of all episodes are available at www.thefastingmethod.com on the Podcast page.
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This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. You should always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before doing any fasting, changing your diet, taking or adjusting any medication or supplements, or adopting any treatment for a health problem. The use of any other products or services purchased by you as a result of this podcast does not create a healthcare provider-patient relationship between you and any of the experts affiliated with this podcast. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or preve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Before we get started with today's episode,
I would like to quickly read you our podcast
disclaimer.
This podcast is for educational
purposes only, and it is
not a substitute for professional
care by a doctor or other qualified
medical professional.
You should always speak with your physician
(00:27):
or other healthcare professionals before
doing any fasting, changing
your diet in any way, taking or
adjusting any medications or supplements,
or adopting any treatment plan
for a health problem.
The use of any other products or
services purchased by you as a result
of this podcast does not create
(00:50):
a healthcare provider-patient
relationship between you and any
of the experts affiliated with this
podcast.
Any information and statements
regarding dietary supplements have not
been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration and are not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure, or
(01:11):
prevent any disease.
All right. And now we'll get started with
today's episode.
No. Hello. Welcome.
Hi, Dr. Fung. How are you doing today?
Good. How are you?
I'm good.
So a warm welcome to all
of our podcast listeners who will be able to
listen to this Q&A with Dr. Fung
(01:32):
in a few weeks after our Community members.
This is our monthly Q&A with Dr.
Jason Fung, where he answers our questions
submitted by our Community members.
And since it is recorded, it may be found by
our members under our program session.
I did want to address-- two people--
somebody sent in a question about
constipation.
(01:53):
You can find that answered in podcast
#147.
And somebody else asked
a question about how to get to longer fasts.
Dr. Fung answered that last month (#180).
Somebody else asked about gallbladder.
Check out podcast #47
for the answer to that.
So, Dr. Fung, let's start off
(02:13):
here-- I have actually a two-part question.
And the first one (I know you answered
probably a year or two ago) is about tinnitus
being helped with fasting.
It's anecdotal. I know it helped me.
My tinnitus went away.
Dr. Kraft (who is the inventor of the Kraft
Test) addresses it in his book,
Diabetes and You, but the second
(02:34):
part is they have tinnitus *and*
sleep apnea.
Have you any information on if fasting
helps with sleep apnea?
Yeah, there's not a lot of data.
So, as you know, the entire idea
of doing fasting was quite
pooh-poohed for [laughs] a long time until,
probably, about seven or eight years
(02:55):
ago when we started talking about it.
We were like the first people to really talk
about it. But there seems to be a
lot of potential benefits, there's
a lot of anecdotal evidence, although
there's not a lot of scientific study.
So all I can say is that you have to take
it with a grain of salt.
So it may help some people, it may not help
other people, but the good news is that
(03:15):
that's not the way to look at it.
The way to look at it is, if you try
it and it helps you, it doesn't
matter if it doesn't help anybody else.
If it helps you, that's all you need to know.
And because there's such a limited downside
to the fasting, what are you going to lose?
Is it dangerous? No, not really, so,
therefore, why not try it because
(03:36):
you have nothing to lose?
And the thing about tinnitus, is that
it's one of these things that is
very, very debilitating, can be extremely
debilitating. Anything that ends in
-itis is inflammation,
right? So tendonitis-- which I actually
thought you were talking about tendonitis,
but it's tinnitus, but both are inflammation.
(03:56):
And that's quite exciting because I actually
had a lot of problems with tendonitis, which
got-- I'll tell you in a second.
With tinnitus you have this inflammation and
fasting can be quite anti-inflammatory,
because the idea is
that, when you're fasting, you're basically
telling your body that you need to slow
down, shut down, and go from a growth mode
(04:18):
into a sort of maintenance/repair
mode, right?
This is done because you have nutrient
sensors in the body.
So insulin tells your body that you're eating
carbs and mTOR tells your body
that you're eating proteins or amino acids.
When you get that, then your body wants to
grow, so you move into growth mode.
When you don't eat, when you fast, then
(04:38):
insulin goes down, mTOR goes down, and
you switch over into this sort of
maintenance/repair mode.
And that's where some of the magic can really
happen and that's where the body is going
to say, "Well, I need to shut down any
of these cells that are overactive and don't
need to be so active because I need to
conserve energy," and that's where you get
this inflammation.
So inflammation is where your body
(05:00):
is sort of attacking itself almost.
And if you have this overactive immune
system, then your body's going to shut it
down because it needs to conserve energy,
which is good thing if you have tinnitus, or
whether you have - tendonitis, bursitis,
or any of these things. So I actually had a
lot of tendonitis.
I had some problems with my Achilles tendon.
I don't know if is related, but it all
(05:21):
started after that Covid vaccine.
I had terrible shoulder bursitis
and then I got terrible Achilles tendonitis.
So I don't know if is related, but what
was sort of funny was that a lot of
my doctor friends actually noticed the same
thing. But anyway, so then I decided
to do a five-day fast with
some vegetables in the middle,
(05:42):
and I was actually quite stunned because it
actually helped a lot.
So then I did it again and then it helped
a lot again.
So I don't think it was just coincidental,
you know, and it was because of this fasting
as a sort of anti-inflammatory measure.
But the other thing that you get is that you
get this real increase in growth hormone.
And when you increase your growth hormone,
(06:04):
you're going to be able to repair any of the
damage that the inflammation has caused,
for example. So what I had noticed
anyway for my tendonitis was that
a lot of the swelling and stuff actually came
right down. So with tinnitus it may be the
same. You may find that you have that same
getting rid of all the inflammation,
but also rebuilding anything that needs to be
(06:25):
built. So very powerful - a five-day fast.
The data on this is mostly
from this company called L-Nutra,
which does the fasting-mimicking diet.
And what they do is they give you a five-day
fast, but not a complete fast, you actually
get some food. So they sell you the food
packages that go with it.
I didn't use that.
I just took a little bit of vegetable.
(06:46):
So rather than a full fast, I did a bit of
vegetables with it.
So that is very similar because that's where
the data is. There's no other good data on
the anti-inflammatory action of fasting.
And, again, I was quite surprised that it was
actually quite effective.
So I actually quite like that.
So if you do a fast, just remember that you
don't have to go water-only
fast. Sometimes you can take a little bit
(07:07):
of vegetables. And keep in mind, I ate once
a day and I ate probably like, you know, a
small head of broccoli.
It was probably like 200 calories.
So very little but it was something.
But at the same time, it's where the data
is. And I was actually quite stunned at how
effective it is. So for tinnitus it could
have the same effect.
Sleep apnea is a different problem and
(07:28):
often that's related to-- the
snoring and the sleep apnea is a loss
of tone in the upper airway.
So as it falls back, it causes you to
stop breathing.
So, again, if you get rid of some of this
excess tissue inside
the pharynx, it flops back.
So if you get rid of some of that, which the
fasting is going to be very beneficial for,
(07:49):
then you could potentially reduce the sleep
apnea as well, because, again, it's
just got better tone. You're losing some of
that excess tissue because the body's
going to start to reabsorb it.
And so these are some of the things that
might be beneficial with a longer fast.
And, again, maybe with a little bit of
vegetables, so it's not a full fast.
And, you know, here, we talk about fasting
(08:10):
alternatives, we talk about fasting training
wheels because you don't have to do
water-only, you don't have to
be a purist. You can get a lot of the
benefits. So if there's a way to get like
90% of the benefits but at 60%
of the effort, yeah, then that's a good deal,
right? So fat fasting is sort of like that.
It's not a fast, but you're getting a lot of
(08:31):
the benefits without doing like the full
amount, right?
So that's where this sort of longer
fast with some support might be a very,
very useful thing.
And the good thing is that, hey, if it works
great, do it.
If it doesn't work, then do something else,
right? You always have to understand that
your own body reacts differently.
Mine will react differently than yours,
(08:53):
will react differently than somebody else's.
So just because it worked for me doesn't mean
it'll work for you. You have to find out what
works for you. So you have to try it and see,
but you can take these suggestions.
That's what we're here for, to help each
other.
And just a quick thing about the question,
you know, the podcast and stuff, you can also
"Ask Jamie" [TFM Community members] if you
have a question about that.
She'll be able to locate those resources as
well.
(09:14):
Yeah. I've always been an autophagy-fast
person. Because of my migraines,
because I had 160 pounds to lose,
I wanted the misfolded proteins to
be eaten up, I wanted the autophagy, I didn't
want to have to have skin surgery.
But I am calling 2024 'the
year of fasting aids' because I have
suddenly started using fasting aids
(09:35):
through my fasting, and it does help me
make it through. So, yet again, after
six and a half years, I tweaked it.
[laughter]
Yeah, I just started tweaking it this year
too because the thing about the data
is that-- the fasting-mimicking-diet people,
because they have a product, they're
interested in doing research, which is great.
(09:55):
So if they do the research, then you have to
say, "Well, this is what they do, so, you
know, if I copy it, I should do something
similar to what they do," which was actually
five days but with some food.
And again, I initially thought it was sort of
silly. Why don't you just do five days
straight? But, you know, having tried it,
again, I tweaked it and I thought, "It's not
bad at all and I think I get almost all the
(10:17):
benefit." So it's interesting because, when
they do the studies, they claim that there's
actually more benefits.
So it's possible, I suppose.
I mean, it's all up to the research.
And if you're doing the research, then at
least we have something to talk about.
Great.
I have a question here.
This person says, "Is distilled
water okay to drink?
Background - we have distilled well water
(10:38):
for drinking on our property as
it isn't palatable otherwise.
I know that the distillation
process takes everything out of the water
and I'm wondering if I need to add stuff
back in, like minerals or something."
Yeah, distilled water has
nothing in it.
It doesn't taste very good,
(10:58):
I don't think, because some of the minerals
give the water sort of their distinctive
taste. So most people don't
drink distilled water straight.
It's very flat.
It's very-- you can buy it, right?
Like, if you go to a grocery store, you can
buy distilled water.
And it's great to make stuff with, but it
actually is quite funny tasting I
think (maybe I'm not used to it) because it
(11:20):
has nothing. So when you have companies like
Dasani, for example, they never sell just
distilled water even though they could.
They actually put back a bunch of
electrolytes. And same with mineral water,
right? So when you get it from the springs,
there's a certain mineral content in it and
that's what gives it that little bit of
flavor. So you see this with any of the
waters that are out there, whether it's like
(11:40):
San Pellegrino, or Evian, or
these sort of things.
So the purest water you can get is distilled
water, but it tastes very flat
because it doesn't have any of those mineral
ions. You can drink it.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But on the other hand, a lot of people will
take a little bit electrolytes.
The problem with tap water, if you ever
ask any sort of city officials and stuff,
(12:03):
they say, "Well, it's good for you and it's
fine," but the problem is that there's all
kinds of stuff in the tap water
that you don't know. Now, some of it is
probably good (so there's some minerals and
stuff in there as well), but with tap
water everybody gets the sneaking
suspicion that it's probably-- there's all
this other stuff in there that's not so good
- aluminum and all this other stuff and
(12:23):
chlorine and so on.
So that's why we use-- I use a Brita filter
just to filter the water.
So, certainly, you can but I
think taste is one thing.
The amount of minerals, if you're worried
about the minerals in it, then you can
always take a supplement like any kind of
standard multivitamin or whatever if you're
worried about the minerals.
On the other hand, I don't think it's
(12:43):
necessary to drink distilled water.
I think that most of the water that we drink
is fine. Tap water is probably fine.
I just take that extra step to use a Brita
filter, personally, I just-- that's just
what I do.
Because, you know, when they-- with municipal
tap water, when they clear it,
they use some kind of aluminum thing.
(13:04):
It's some kind of compound that contains
aluminum to make it clear,
and, you know, I'm always worried that
there's a little bit of aluminum because
these are really small parts per billion,
sort of thing. So I'm always worried that
there's a bit of aluminum because, you know,
aluminum content has been linked to
Alzheimer's disease, right?
So aluminum pots, which were used very
prevalently in the 70s, some people think
(13:25):
that the aluminum that you get from the pot,
which is that tiny bit overall,
could contribute to things like Alzheimer's.
So I just use that.
But yeah, if you want to, you can, but you
don't have to.
I myself have been using parchment
a lot more instead of aluminum foil, even,
just because.
Yeah, I've actually stopped using-- for the
(13:46):
most part, I've stopped using aluminum foil
as well. Parchment paper I use for everything
now. The problem is it burns sometimes
if you use too higher heat. [laughs] So
sometimes when you're using a high heat to
grill it or something, I use the
Silpat, you know, that erm...
Oh yes.
That one you can buy.
So I have aluminum foil
(14:06):
in my house and I think I haven't changed
that roll in, like-- at least since
Covid, I don't think I've bought a roll of
aluminum foil. You know, I used to go through
a lot, like everybody else, right?
You'd just line your stuff with it.
It's easy to clean up, but then I actually
have stopped.
This person is talking about the convenience
of working people going
(14:26):
out to restaurants, getting food.
I always say if I ever win the lottery, I'm
going to start a chain of restaurants that
say 'Protein and a Veg' on them
[laughter] and nothing else.
But they said it's not always easy or there
are not a lot of good options.
Is there a certain type of restaurant
that would be the best for simple,
no-prep, not a lot of
(14:48):
additives in their foods, for
someone who doesn't want to cook a lot?
Do you have-- like, should you look for
Thai restaurants, or Japanese restaurants, or
Italian restaurants?
Which ones do you think are most friendly for
somebody who's wanting to eat out?
Yeah, I think Japanese is quite
good because you can get like sashimi and
(15:09):
stuff, but it tends to be kind of
pricey because seafood tends to be a bit
pricey.
Yeah, I mean, Italian restaurants
are a bit difficult because there's a lot of
pasta.
So if you're trying to cut down the
carbohydrates and stuff-- now, most Italian
restaurants will have other things like veal
and so on. Again, that tends to be a bit
on the pricier side of things.
(15:31):
But certainly a lot of the Asian restaurants
are also based on noodles and rice
sort of thing, but you can get good choices
at a lot of these places.
So even if you go to a Chinese restaurant,
they usually have a huge, substantial
menu. So then you can just get the vegetables
and kind of thing.
Interestingly, some of the fast food places
(15:52):
are actually not bad.
What I often do is get a lettuce wrap
with the burgers.
So places like McDonald's won't do
it, but I know A&W does.
You can get it replaced as a lettuce wrap for
free. So you get whatever burger
you're going to get, then you get the lettuce
wrap instead of the bun.
And it's actually not bad because they always
make guarantees. A&W, for example,
(16:14):
says that they use pesticide-free
beef, and Wendy's uses never-frozen
beef, and so they're actually not bad because
they worry about the perception.
Some of the fast food restaurants actually
can-- you can get pretty good options.
You don't get the fries, obviously, and, you
know, some other things, but the lettuce-wrap
burgers-- and I know some people go
(16:36):
in and just buy the patties as
well. I've seen that online where people just
by the patties.
So that can be an option.
Steakhouses, obviously, can be-- it's
there but it's on the pricey side.
The chicken restaurants, I would probably--
because a lot of them do fried chicken.
There, it's a little different.
It's not so much the breading (because there
is a bit of carbs in the breading), but
(16:57):
there's always this concern about
high-temperature cooking with seed oils,
which is a whole different discussion.
But seed oils-- so a lot of the the
deep frying is done in vegetable
oils because, for a long time, we were told
that vegetable oil is good for you.
The problem is that they're not that stable,
they're not that heat stable.
So, therefore, when you're doing
high-temperature cooking with vegetable
(17:19):
oils, there tends to be a lot of
free radicals. They break down
and it might not be very good for you.
So I think that's the reason I try
to avoid deep-fried foods in the
first place because they're deep frying in
vegetable oils for the most part.
So those are some things, but you can
actually get pretty good options.
I mean, even if you go to Subway,
(17:41):
you don't have to get the bun any more, you
can put it in a bowl.
And at Chipotle, you can do it as a bowl.
It's actually very good, too, the
Chipotle, because you can choose whatever you
want. If you put it in a bowl, you
don't get the rice, but you can
get beans (which is, you know, yes, it's a
carb, but it's unrefined and there's a lot of
fiber in there), and you get the chicken
(18:02):
and stuff. So there's a lot of good options,
even in the fast food restaurants or the
quick service restaurants like the Chipotles.
In fact, sometimes they're a lot easier than
the regular restaurants. The regular
restaurants you always can find something,
but they tend to be a lot more if you're
going to go out a lot.
Yeah, I had one client and she just
started wearing a CGM, and her
(18:22):
company had a meeting that she had to go
to that was at an Italian chain
restaurant and she was so worried about
it. But she had listened to your video on
Carb Order.
And so she's like, "Well, if I'm going to
have a carb, I'm going to have it last." And
so she thought she did pretty good but she
was still pretty worried.
And then the dessert menu came out, and she
(18:42):
was going to order but she decided
to check her CGM first.
And when she got her reading, she realized
she hadn't spiked, she hadn't done that bad.
So then she was more at ease and, "Nope,
I don't need the dessert, I'm fine," whereas
if she'd already blown it, she might have
gone there, right?
So another good thing about feedback from the
CGM.
(19:03):
Yeah, and there's ways to change the carbs
so that they're not spiking your insulin and
glucose quite so much.
The carbs, the vinegar, for example.
Apple cider vinegar, yeah.
Fiber is a good way to sort of
neutralize a lot of the effect of the carbs,
making sure you're eating unrefined carbs.
So it's interesting, if you look at sweet
potato, for example, versus a regular potato,
(19:25):
it's actually quite different.
The profile is quite different.
The glycemic index of a sweet potato is
actually not even that high, and it's because
it's unrefined and the way it gets absorbed;
there's a lot slower digestion to it.
Instant oatmeal versus steel-cut oatmeal.
So there's these differences in the food
itself.
And what we talk about sometimes
is the chia water, which-- I don't know
(19:47):
if you've seen a lot, but chia can really
help in a lot of ways because
there's really no calories, there's no carbs,
but it's a lot of fiber.
But the other thing it does is it creates
this sort of mucusey, jelly thing.
You know, that's why they make it into, like,
desserts, right, with the gel.
But some people say that when
(20:07):
you take the chia seeds with the water,
that it has this sort of mucus that sort of
coats it and slows down the absorption
of other carbs, for example.
So not only are you getting the fiber, it's
got that filling effect.
Maybe it may be even helpful for slowing
down that effect.
That's super interesting because
chia seeds are-- you know, you put it in a
(20:28):
bit of water and, you know, they get that
little bit of gel.
So on the inside, what that gel, if
it coats the inside of the intestines, well,
could it have a benefit? Well, that's
interesting because, if you are at an Italian
restaurant, maybe that's something you could
do - a little chia seed and water.
It's actually one of the things that we talk
about a bit in that new program is a bit of
that.
Yes. And TFM has a Quick Guide on
(20:50):
chia seeds, so you guys can refer to that
too.
This person asks, "Can I use spices
like green cardamom pods, cloves,
and fennel seeds during my healing
hours or my fasting days to combat
bad breath? My coach says it's okay
to have the green cardamom pods, but I wanted
to know if I can extend that to other
(21:12):
spices.
And also, are there any that I should
specifically avoid?"
I think all of those spices and herbs and
stuff are quite fine because the effect
on your insulin is going to be minimal,
just because the amount is small, and also
the flavors tend to be quite strong so you
don't need to take a lot of it, like mint
and stuff. You can chew a little bit of mint
(21:33):
leaves and stuff (it's actually very
pleasant), or cardamom.
Some people like that licoricey flavor,
so that's also another one that can be very,
very useful.
All of those herbs and spices, basically, are
great. I mean, they're traditional foods,
they've been used for a long time, they
give a lot of flavor, and have a lot of other
(21:54):
benefits.
So, yeah, I wouldn't be really worried about
any of the spices or anything.
You know, and people talk about tumeric and
all these things that could have a lot of
benefits. So I think the better rule is to
say that all of them are fine unless there's
specific ones that are not fine.
And most of those would be things that are
sort of sweetened, or artificially sweetened,
(22:14):
or that have sugar in them, but most of them
don't, right, unless you put it with a little
sugar or a little honey or something like
that, then, yeah, then maybe that it is,
but it's more because of the sugar or the
honey that you put with it.
Right. I really like this question.
This one popped right out at me.
"Could you please talk about how we should
change our dietary fat consumption
(22:35):
as we progress through our fat-loss
journey on low carb, high
fat, specifically, from the angle
of needed support for healthy
endocrine function?
If we define the different stages of fat loss
in terms of how much adipose tissue is needed
to lose (more than 50 pounds,
more than 20 pounds, less than 20
(22:56):
pounds), would dietary fat requirement
increase as we progress through these
different stages, as we would need more
dietary fat to support the endocrine
function?"
That is a very interesting question.
I think that the best thing is really
to not go overboard
on the fat. Like, for a while, remember,
with the keto diet, people were eating fat
(23:17):
bombs where they were just eating fat for no
reason. That's not what the idea
is.
[laughs] We've never thought that was a good
idea, although some people did.
It sort of gave a lot of the keto people a
bad name. But the idea is to eat
it where it's naturally there,
right? So you don't want to add a lot of,
say, vegetable oils or something.
But if you're adding olive oil as
(23:39):
a dressing, then, yeah, don't be afraid to
use a bit more of it because it is a healthy
fat. But on the other hand, the way that fats
are metabolized is that
it gets absorbed. It doesn't go to the liver,
actually, it gets absorbed through the lymph,
and then the lymph gets transported into
the blood where it goes into the fat cells.
So it sort of goes directly into the fat
(23:59):
cell. You don't want to be low,
low fat because there are essential fatty
acids that are necessary.
But on the other hand, if you're adding a lot
of extra fat to your fat cells, then you're
going to have to work that off too.
So you don't want to be super high as well.
You want to be-- you don't want to be low,
you don't want to be high, you just want to
be what you normally would be.
So if you want to fry stuff in oil, if you
(24:21):
want to fry your eggs in butter, fry your
eggs in butter, right? That's just the
natural way. People used to do that, have
been doing that for thousands of years.
You know, so not to be super low fat because,
again, I think that there's other health
consequences when you do that, things like
that. So, for example, back in the day
when everybody was low fat, low fat, low
fat-- you know, I went through
(24:42):
all my formative years as, you know, low
fat, low fat; everybody got that.
So I was using a lot of nonstick cookware
because then you needed very
little oil, and that was the point.
It turns out that a lot of that nonstick
cookware is not that good for you with
the chemicals and stuff.
So Teflon had a big lawsuit,
and I think they're called PTFEs -
(25:04):
polyfluorinated tetra or something
or other. [polytetrafluoroethylene] Anyway,they're
chemicals and, when you're cooking in the
nonstick, you get a little bit of the
chemical with it and the chemical's not very
good for you. So I've completely switched.
I almost exclusively use cast iron
now, but you have to use oil.
You have to use butter, you have to use olive
oil.
So, you know, the best thing is that do your
needs change?
(25:25):
They probably do because you probably need
less fat if you have a lot of weight to lose,
if you have a lot of body fat.
But on the other hand, you know, how much is
too much, how much is too little?
If you're eating natural fats - butter,
olive oil, or animal fats - then you don't
have to worry. If you're at 20%, 30%,
40%, which is sort of an average number,
then that's fine. You don't have to be keto,
(25:47):
which is like 80%.
You don't have to be low fat, which is like
10%, right?
So in that sort of 30%
range, which is roughly where-- you
know, if you didn't worry about your diet,
that's sort of where you'd land anyway
(around 30%) because you do need
some oil, like if you're stir frying your
vegetables or whatever.
And if you're using olive oil, you know
(26:08):
how you cook it, right?
You put the garlic, right, you need a little
oil to make it taste better, or you get the
butter and the garlic, so you have to have
that bit of oil. So around 30% is
sort of on target, but a little bit higher or
a bit lower is fine.
Just don't go up to like, you know, 80%, 90%
and don't go down to like 10%,
and you'll be fine.
Okay, Dr. Fung, this person says, "I'm
(26:30):
perimenopausal and I just started
hormone replacement therapy.
My doctor is very supportive about
my desire to use fasting as
part of my goal to
lower my hemoglobin A1C (I'm pre-diabetic)
and my apoB.
She recommends that I do lab testing
every six months.
I noticed in the Quick Guide that some
(26:52):
of the follow-up is three months (for some
of the other labs that are mentioned on that
Quick Guide)." Should she wait
six months to check and see if she's going
down the right pathway for the lifestyle
change or should she check at three?
The ones that are three months, mostly, are
going to be like the A1C because that's
a three-month average of sugar.
(27:13):
So if you check it every three months, you'll
get a good idea of what your blood sugars are
resting at.
Checking hormones (like progesterone,
estrogen, and so on) is generally not
done every three months because sometimes
the changes are very slow, so thyroid
hormone, for example.
There's no point checking it that often
because thyroid hormone actually changes very
(27:33):
slowly, so you don't want to check it every
month. You want to actually give it-- three
months is on the short side, so six months is
probably more standard for some of those
hormones. It would depend on what
specifically the hormone is, so I can't give
specific advice, but I'll say that the
every-three-month testing is more for
metabolic parameters,
such as with the A1C, for example,
(27:53):
the sugars.
Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Fung.
Always a pleasure.
Always an honor.
I will hopefully see you next month.
Okay, bye.
Thank you so much.
Bye.
Before we get started with today's episode,
I would like to quickly read you our podcast
disclaimer.
This podcast is for educational
purposes only, and it is
not a substitute for professional
care by a doctor or other qualified
medical professional.
You should always speak with your physician
(00:27):
or other healthcare professionals before
doing any fasting, changing
your diet in any way, taking or
adjusting any medications or supplements,
or adopting any treatment plan
for a health problem.
The use of any other products or
services purchased by you as a result
of this podcast does not create
(00:50):
a healthcare provider-patient
relationship between you and any
of the experts affiliated with this
podcast.
Any information and statements
regarding dietary supplements have not
been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration and are not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure, or
(01:11):
prevent any disease.
All right. And now we'll get started with
today's episode.
No. Hello. Welcome.
Hi, Dr. Fung. How are you doing today?
Good. How are you?
I'm good.
So a warm welcome to all
of our podcast listeners who will be able to
listen to this Q&A with Dr. Fung
(01:32):
in a few weeks after our Community members.
This is our monthly Q&A with Dr.
Jason Fung, where he answers our questions
submitted by our Community members.
And since it is recorded, it may be found by
our members under our program session.
I did want to address-- two people--
somebody sent in a question about
constipation.
(01:53):
You can find that answered in podcast
#147.
And somebody else asked
a question about how to get to longer fasts.
Dr. Fung answered that last month (#180).
Somebody else asked about gallbladder.
Check out podcast #47
for the answer to that.
So, Dr. Fung, let's start off
(02:13):
here-- I have actually a two-part question.
And the first one (I know you answered
probably a year or two ago) is about tinnitus
being helped with fasting.
It's anecdotal. I know it helped me.
My tinnitus went away.
Dr. Kraft (who is the inventor of the Kraft
Test) addresses it in his book,
Diabetes and You, but the second
(02:34):
part is they have tinnitus *and*
sleep apnea.
Have you any information on if fasting
helps with sleep apnea?
Yeah, there's not a lot of data.
So, as you know, the entire idea
of doing fasting was quite
pooh-poohed for [laughs] a long time until,
probably, about seven or eight years
(02:55):
ago when we started talking about it.
We were like the first people to really talk
about it. But there seems to be a
lot of potential benefits, there's
a lot of anecdotal evidence, although
there's not a lot of scientific study.
So all I can say is that you have to take
it with a grain of salt.
So it may help some people, it may not help
other people, but the good news is that
(03:15):
that's not the way to look at it.
The way to look at it is, if you try
it and it helps you, it doesn't
matter if it doesn't help anybody else.
If it helps you, that's all you need to know.
And because there's such a limited downside
to the fasting, what are you going to lose?
Is it dangerous? No, not really, so,
therefore, why not try it because
(03:36):
you have nothing to lose?
And the thing about tinnitus, is that
it's one of these things that is
very, very debilitating, can be extremely
debilitating. Anything that ends in
-itis is inflammation,
right? So tendonitis-- which I actually
thought you were talking about tendonitis,
but it's tinnitus, but both are inflammation.
(03:56):
And that's quite exciting because I actually
had a lot of problems with tendonitis, which
got-- I'll tell you in a second.
With tinnitus you have this inflammation and
fasting can be quite anti-inflammatory,
because the idea is
that, when you're fasting, you're basically
telling your body that you need to slow
down, shut down, and go from a growth mode
(04:18):
into a sort of maintenance/repair
mode, right?
This is done because you have nutrient
sensors in the body.
So insulin tells your body that you're eating
carbs and mTOR tells your body
that you're eating proteins or amino acids.
When you get that, then your body wants to
grow, so you move into growth mode.
When you don't eat, when you fast, then
(04:38):
insulin goes down, mTOR goes down, and
you switch over into this sort of
maintenance/repair mode.
And that's where some of the magic can really
happen and that's where the body is going
to say, "Well, I need to shut down any
of these cells that are overactive and don't
need to be so active because I need to
conserve energy," and that's where you get
this inflammation.
So inflammation is where your body
(05:00):
is sort of attacking itself almost.
And if you have this overactive immune
system, then your body's going to shut it
down because it needs to conserve energy,
which is good thing if you have tinnitus, or
whether you have - tendonitis, bursitis,
or any of these things. So I actually had a
lot of tendonitis.
I had some problems with my Achilles tendon.
I don't know if is related, but it all
(05:21):
started after that Covid vaccine.
I had terrible shoulder bursitis
and then I got terrible Achilles tendonitis.
So I don't know if is related, but what
was sort of funny was that a lot of
my doctor friends actually noticed the same
thing. But anyway, so then I decided
to do a five-day fast with
some vegetables in the middle,
(05:42):
and I was actually quite stunned because it
actually helped a lot.
So then I did it again and then it helped
a lot again.
So I don't think it was just coincidental,
you know, and it was because of this fasting
as a sort of anti-inflammatory measure.
But the other thing that you get is that you
get this real increase in growth hormone.
And when you increase your growth hormone,
(06:04):
you're going to be able to repair any of the
damage that the inflammation has caused,
for example. So what I had noticed
anyway for my tendonitis was that
a lot of the swelling and stuff actually came
right down. So with tinnitus it may be the
same. You may find that you have that same
getting rid of all the inflammation,
but also rebuilding anything that needs to be
(06:25):
built. So very powerful - a five-day fast.
The data on this is mostly
from this company called L-Nutra,
which does the fasting-mimicking diet.
And what they do is they give you a five-day
fast, but not a complete fast, you actually
get some food. So they sell you the food
packages that go with it.
I didn't use that.
I just took a little bit of vegetable.
(06:46):
So rather than a full fast, I did a bit of
vegetables with it.
So that is very similar because that's where
the data is. There's no other good data on
the anti-inflammatory action of fasting.
And, again, I was quite surprised that it was
actually quite effective.
So I actually quite like that.
So if you do a fast, just remember that you
don't have to go water-only
fast. Sometimes you can take a little bit
(07:07):
of vegetables. And keep in mind, I ate once
a day and I ate probably like, you know, a
small head of broccoli.
It was probably like 200 calories.
So very little but it was something.
But at the same time, it's where the data
is. And I was actually quite stunned at how
effective it is. So for tinnitus it could
have the same effect.
Sleep apnea is a different problem and
(07:28):
often that's related to-- the
snoring and the sleep apnea is a loss
of tone in the upper airway.
So as it falls back, it causes you to
stop breathing.
So, again, if you get rid of some of this
excess tissue inside
the pharynx, it flops back.
So if you get rid of some of that, which the
fasting is going to be very beneficial for,
(07:49):
then you could potentially reduce the sleep
apnea as well, because, again, it's
just got better tone. You're losing some of
that excess tissue because the body's
going to start to reabsorb it.
And so these are some of the things that
might be beneficial with a longer fast.
And, again, maybe with a little bit of
vegetables, so it's not a full fast.
And, you know, here, we talk about fasting
(08:10):
alternatives, we talk about fasting training
wheels because you don't have to do
water-only, you don't have to
be a purist. You can get a lot of the
benefits. So if there's a way to get like
90% of the benefits but at 60%
of the effort, yeah, then that's a good deal,
right? So fat fasting is sort of like that.
It's not a fast, but you're getting a lot of
(08:31):
the benefits without doing like the full
amount, right?
So that's where this sort of longer
fast with some support might be a very,
very useful thing.
And the good thing is that, hey, if it works
great, do it.
If it doesn't work, then do something else,
right? You always have to understand that
your own body reacts differently.
Mine will react differently than yours,
(08:53):
will react differently than somebody else's.
So just because it worked for me doesn't mean
it'll work for you. You have to find out what
works for you. So you have to try it and see,
but you can take these suggestions.
That's what we're here for, to help each
other.
And just a quick thing about the question,
you know, the podcast and stuff, you can also
"Ask Jamie" [TFM Community members] if you
have a question about that.
She'll be able to locate those resources as
well.
(09:14):
Yeah. I've always been an autophagy-fast
person. Because of my migraines,
because I had 160 pounds to lose,
I wanted the misfolded proteins to
be eaten up, I wanted the autophagy, I didn't
want to have to have skin surgery.
But I am calling 2024 'the
year of fasting aids' because I have
suddenly started using fasting aids
(09:35):
through my fasting, and it does help me
make it through. So, yet again, after
six and a half years, I tweaked it.
[laughter]
Yeah, I just started tweaking it this year
too because the thing about the data
is that-- the fasting-mimicking-diet people,
because they have a product, they're
interested in doing research, which is great.
(09:55):
So if they do the research, then you have to
say, "Well, this is what they do, so, you
know, if I copy it, I should do something
similar to what they do," which was actually
five days but with some food.
And again, I initially thought it was sort of
silly. Why don't you just do five days
straight? But, you know, having tried it,
again, I tweaked it and I thought, "It's not
bad at all and I think I get almost all the
(10:17):
benefit." So it's interesting because, when
they do the studies, they claim that there's
actually more benefits.
So it's possible, I suppose.
I mean, it's all up to the research.
And if you're doing the research, then at
least we have something to talk about.
Great.
I have a question here.
This person says, "Is distilled
water okay to drink?
Background - we have distilled well water
(10:38):
for drinking on our property as
it isn't palatable otherwise.
I know that the distillation
process takes everything out of the water
and I'm wondering if I need to add stuff
back in, like minerals or something."
Yeah, distilled water has
nothing in it.
It doesn't taste very good,
(10:58):
I don't think, because some of the minerals
give the water sort of their distinctive
taste. So most people don't
drink distilled water straight.
It's very flat.
It's very-- you can buy it, right?
Like, if you go to a grocery store, you can
buy distilled water.
And it's great to make stuff with, but it
actually is quite funny tasting I
think (maybe I'm not used to it) because it
(11:20):
has nothing. So when you have companies like
Dasani, for example, they never sell just
distilled water even though they could.
They actually put back a bunch of
electrolytes. And same with mineral water,
right? So when you get it from the springs,
there's a certain mineral content in it and
that's what gives it that little bit of
flavor. So you see this with any of the
waters that are out there, whether it's like
(11:40):
San Pellegrino, or Evian, or
these sort of things.
So the purest water you can get is distilled
water, but it tastes very flat
because it doesn't have any of those mineral
ions. You can drink it.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But on the other hand, a lot of people will
take a little bit electrolytes.
The problem with tap water, if you ever
ask any sort of city officials and stuff,
(12:03):
they say, "Well, it's good for you and it's
fine," but the problem is that there's all
kinds of stuff in the tap water
that you don't know. Now, some of it is
probably good (so there's some minerals and
stuff in there as well), but with tap
water everybody gets the sneaking
suspicion that it's probably-- there's all
this other stuff in there that's not so good
- aluminum and all this other stuff and
(12:23):
chlorine and so on.
So that's why we use-- I use a Brita filter
just to filter the water.
So, certainly, you can but I
think taste is one thing.
The amount of minerals, if you're worried
about the minerals in it, then you can
always take a supplement like any kind of
standard multivitamin or whatever if you're
worried about the minerals.
On the other hand, I don't think it's
(12:43):
necessary to drink distilled water.
I think that most of the water that we drink
is fine. Tap water is probably fine.
I just take that extra step to use a Brita
filter, personally, I just-- that's just
what I do.
Because, you know, when they-- with municipal
tap water, when they clear it,
they use some kind of aluminum thing.
(13:04):
It's some kind of compound that contains
aluminum to make it clear,
and, you know, I'm always worried that
there's a little bit of aluminum because
these are really small parts per billion,
sort of thing. So I'm always worried that
there's a bit of aluminum because, you know,
aluminum content has been linked to
Alzheimer's disease, right?
So aluminum pots, which were used very
prevalently in the 70s, some people think
(13:25):
that the aluminum that you get from the pot,
which is that tiny bit overall,
could contribute to things like Alzheimer's.
So I just use that.
But yeah, if you want to, you can, but you
don't have to.
I myself have been using parchment
a lot more instead of aluminum foil, even,
just because.
Yeah, I've actually stopped using-- for the
(13:46):
most part, I've stopped using aluminum foil
as well. Parchment paper I use for everything
now. The problem is it burns sometimes
if you use too higher heat. [laughs] So
sometimes when you're using a high heat to
grill it or something, I use the
Silpat, you know, that erm...
Oh yes.
That one you can buy.
So I have aluminum foil
(14:06):
in my house and I think I haven't changed
that roll in, like-- at least since
Covid, I don't think I've bought a roll of
aluminum foil. You know, I used to go through
a lot, like everybody else, right?
You'd just line your stuff with it.
It's easy to clean up, but then I actually
have stopped.
This person is talking about the convenience
of working people going
(14:26):
out to restaurants, getting food.
I always say if I ever win the lottery, I'm
going to start a chain of restaurants that
say 'Protein and a Veg' on them
[laughter] and nothing else.
But they said it's not always easy or there
are not a lot of good options.
Is there a certain type of restaurant
that would be the best for simple,
no-prep, not a lot of
(14:48):
additives in their foods, for
someone who doesn't want to cook a lot?
Do you have-- like, should you look for
Thai restaurants, or Japanese restaurants, or
Italian restaurants?
Which ones do you think are most friendly for
somebody who's wanting to eat out?
Yeah, I think Japanese is quite
good because you can get like sashimi and
(15:09):
stuff, but it tends to be kind of
pricey because seafood tends to be a bit
pricey.
Yeah, I mean, Italian restaurants
are a bit difficult because there's a lot of
pasta.
So if you're trying to cut down the
carbohydrates and stuff-- now, most Italian
restaurants will have other things like veal
and so on. Again, that tends to be a bit
on the pricier side of things.
(15:31):
But certainly a lot of the Asian restaurants
are also based on noodles and rice
sort of thing, but you can get good choices
at a lot of these places.
So even if you go to a Chinese restaurant,
they usually have a huge, substantial
menu. So then you can just get the vegetables
and kind of thing.
Interestingly, some of the fast food places
(15:52):
are actually not bad.
What I often do is get a lettuce wrap
with the burgers.
So places like McDonald's won't do
it, but I know A&W does.
You can get it replaced as a lettuce wrap for
free. So you get whatever burger
you're going to get, then you get the lettuce
wrap instead of the bun.
And it's actually not bad because they always
make guarantees. A&W, for example,
(16:14):
says that they use pesticide-free
beef, and Wendy's uses never-frozen
beef, and so they're actually not bad because
they worry about the perception.
Some of the fast food restaurants actually
can-- you can get pretty good options.
You don't get the fries, obviously, and, you
know, some other things, but the lettuce-wrap
burgers-- and I know some people go
(16:36):
in and just buy the patties as
well. I've seen that online where people just
by the patties.
So that can be an option.
Steakhouses, obviously, can be-- it's
there but it's on the pricey side.
The chicken restaurants, I would probably--
because a lot of them do fried chicken.
There, it's a little different.
It's not so much the breading (because there
is a bit of carbs in the breading), but
(16:57):
there's always this concern about
high-temperature cooking with seed oils,
which is a whole different discussion.
But seed oils-- so a lot of the the
deep frying is done in vegetable
oils because, for a long time, we were told
that vegetable oil is good for you.
The problem is that they're not that stable,
they're not that heat stable.
So, therefore, when you're doing
high-temperature cooking with vegetable
(17:19):
oils, there tends to be a lot of
free radicals. They break down
and it might not be very good for you.
So I think that's the reason I try
to avoid deep-fried foods in the
first place because they're deep frying in
vegetable oils for the most part.
So those are some things, but you can
actually get pretty good options.
I mean, even if you go to Subway,
(17:41):
you don't have to get the bun any more, you
can put it in a bowl.
And at Chipotle, you can do it as a bowl.
It's actually very good, too, the
Chipotle, because you can choose whatever you
want. If you put it in a bowl, you
don't get the rice, but you can
get beans (which is, you know, yes, it's a
carb, but it's unrefined and there's a lot of
fiber in there), and you get the chicken
(18:02):
and stuff. So there's a lot of good options,
even in the fast food restaurants or the
quick service restaurants like the Chipotles.
In fact, sometimes they're a lot easier than
the regular restaurants. The regular
restaurants you always can find something,
but they tend to be a lot more if you're
going to go out a lot.
Yeah, I had one client and she just
started wearing a CGM, and her
(18:22):
company had a meeting that she had to go
to that was at an Italian chain
restaurant and she was so worried about
it. But she had listened to your video on
Carb Order.
And so she's like, "Well, if I'm going to
have a carb, I'm going to have it last." And
so she thought she did pretty good but she
was still pretty worried.
And then the dessert menu came out, and she
(18:42):
was going to order but she decided
to check her CGM first.
And when she got her reading, she realized
she hadn't spiked, she hadn't done that bad.
So then she was more at ease and, "Nope,
I don't need the dessert, I'm fine," whereas
if she'd already blown it, she might have
gone there, right?
So another good thing about feedback from the
CGM.
(19:03):
Yeah, and there's ways to change the carbs
so that they're not spiking your insulin and
glucose quite so much.
The carbs, the vinegar, for example.
Apple cider vinegar, yeah.
Fiber is a good way to sort of
neutralize a lot of the effect of the carbs,
making sure you're eating unrefined carbs.
So it's interesting, if you look at sweet
potato, for example, versus a regular potato,
(19:25):
it's actually quite different.
The profile is quite different.
The glycemic index of a sweet potato is
actually not even that high, and it's because
it's unrefined and the way it gets absorbed;
there's a lot slower digestion to it.
Instant oatmeal versus steel-cut oatmeal.
So there's these differences in the food
itself.
And what we talk about sometimes
is the chia water, which-- I don't know
(19:47):
if you've seen a lot, but chia can really
help in a lot of ways because
there's really no calories, there's no carbs,
but it's a lot of fiber.
But the other thing it does is it creates
this sort of mucusey, jelly thing.
You know, that's why they make it into, like,
desserts, right, with the gel.
But some people say that when
(20:07):
you take the chia seeds with the water,
that it has this sort of mucus that sort of
coats it and slows down the absorption
of other carbs, for example.
So not only are you getting the fiber, it's
got that filling effect.
Maybe it may be even helpful for slowing
down that effect.
That's super interesting because
chia seeds are-- you know, you put it in a
(20:28):
bit of water and, you know, they get that
little bit of gel.
So on the inside, what that gel, if
it coats the inside of the intestines, well,
could it have a benefit? Well, that's
interesting because, if you are at an Italian
restaurant, maybe that's something you could
do - a little chia seed and water.
It's actually one of the things that we talk
about a bit in that new program is a bit of
that.
Yes. And TFM has a Quick Guide on
(20:50):
chia seeds, so you guys can refer to that
too.
This person asks, "Can I use spices
like green cardamom pods, cloves,
and fennel seeds during my healing
hours or my fasting days to combat
bad breath? My coach says it's okay
to have the green cardamom pods, but I wanted
to know if I can extend that to other
(21:12):
spices.
And also, are there any that I should
specifically avoid?"
I think all of those spices and herbs and
stuff are quite fine because the effect
on your insulin is going to be minimal,
just because the amount is small, and also
the flavors tend to be quite strong so you
don't need to take a lot of it, like mint
and stuff. You can chew a little bit of mint
(21:33):
leaves and stuff (it's actually very
pleasant), or cardamom.
Some people like that licoricey flavor,
so that's also another one that can be very,
very useful.
All of those herbs and spices, basically, are
great. I mean, they're traditional foods,
they've been used for a long time, they
give a lot of flavor, and have a lot of other
(21:54):
benefits.
So, yeah, I wouldn't be really worried about
any of the spices or anything.
You know, and people talk about tumeric and
all these things that could have a lot of
benefits. So I think the better rule is to
say that all of them are fine unless there's
specific ones that are not fine.
And most of those would be things that are
sort of sweetened, or artificially sweetened,
(22:14):
or that have sugar in them, but most of them
don't, right, unless you put it with a little
sugar or a little honey or something like
that, then, yeah, then maybe that it is,
but it's more because of the sugar or the
honey that you put with it.
Right. I really like this question.
This one popped right out at me.
"Could you please talk about how we should
change our dietary fat consumption
(22:35):
as we progress through our fat-loss
journey on low carb, high
fat, specifically, from the angle
of needed support for healthy
endocrine function?
If we define the different stages of fat loss
in terms of how much adipose tissue is needed
to lose (more than 50 pounds,
more than 20 pounds, less than 20
(22:56):
pounds), would dietary fat requirement
increase as we progress through these
different stages, as we would need more
dietary fat to support the endocrine
function?"
That is a very interesting question.
I think that the best thing is really
to not go overboard
on the fat. Like, for a while, remember,
with the keto diet, people were eating fat
(23:17):
bombs where they were just eating fat for no
reason. That's not what the idea
is.
[laughs] We've never thought that was a good
idea, although some people did.
It sort of gave a lot of the keto people a
bad name. But the idea is to eat
it where it's naturally there,
right? So you don't want to add a lot of,
say, vegetable oils or something.
But if you're adding olive oil as
(23:39):
a dressing, then, yeah, don't be afraid to
use a bit more of it because it is a healthy
fat. But on the other hand, the way that fats
are metabolized is that
it gets absorbed. It doesn't go to the liver,
actually, it gets absorbed through the lymph,
and then the lymph gets transported into
the blood where it goes into the fat cells.
So it sort of goes directly into the fat
(23:59):
cell. You don't want to be low,
low fat because there are essential fatty
acids that are necessary.
But on the other hand, if you're adding a lot
of extra fat to your fat cells, then you're
going to have to work that off too.
So you don't want to be super high as well.
You want to be-- you don't want to be low,
you don't want to be high, you just want to
be what you normally would be.
So if you want to fry stuff in oil, if you
(24:21):
want to fry your eggs in butter, fry your
eggs in butter, right? That's just the
natural way. People used to do that, have
been doing that for thousands of years.
You know, so not to be super low fat because,
again, I think that there's other health
consequences when you do that, things like
that. So, for example, back in the day
when everybody was low fat, low fat, low
fat-- you know, I went through
(24:42):
all my formative years as, you know, low
fat, low fat; everybody got that.
So I was using a lot of nonstick cookware
because then you needed very
little oil, and that was the point.
It turns out that a lot of that nonstick
cookware is not that good for you with
the chemicals and stuff.
So Teflon had a big lawsuit,
and I think they're called PTFEs -
(25:04):
polyfluorinated tetra or something
or other. [polytetrafluoroethylene] Anyway,they're
chemicals and, when you're cooking in the
nonstick, you get a little bit of the
chemical with it and the chemical's not very
good for you. So I've completely switched.
I almost exclusively use cast iron
now, but you have to use oil.
You have to use butter, you have to use olive
oil.
So, you know, the best thing is that do your
needs change?
(25:25):
They probably do because you probably need
less fat if you have a lot of weight to lose,
if you have a lot of body fat.
But on the other hand, you know, how much is
too much, how much is too little?
If you're eating natural fats - butter,
olive oil, or animal fats - then you don't
have to worry. If you're at 20%, 30%,
40%, which is sort of an average number,
then that's fine. You don't have to be keto,
(25:47):
which is like 80%.
You don't have to be low fat, which is like
10%, right?
So in that sort of 30%
range, which is roughly where-- you
know, if you didn't worry about your diet,
that's sort of where you'd land anyway
(around 30%) because you do need
some oil, like if you're stir frying your
vegetables or whatever.
And if you're using olive oil, you know
(26:08):
how you cook it, right?
You put the garlic, right, you need a little
oil to make it taste better, or you get the
butter and the garlic, so you have to have
that bit of oil. So around 30% is
sort of on target, but a little bit higher or
a bit lower is fine.
Just don't go up to like, you know, 80%, 90%
and don't go down to like 10%,
and you'll be fine.
Okay, Dr. Fung, this person says, "I'm
(26:30):
perimenopausal and I just started
hormone replacement therapy.
My doctor is very supportive about
my desire to use fasting as
part of my goal to
lower my hemoglobin A1C (I'm pre-diabetic)
and my apoB.
She recommends that I do lab testing
every six months.
I noticed in the Quick Guide that some
(26:52):
of the follow-up is three months (for some
of the other labs that are mentioned on that
Quick Guide)." Should she wait
six months to check and see if she's going
down the right pathway for the lifestyle
change or should she check at three?
The ones that are three months, mostly, are
going to be like the A1C because that's
a three-month average of sugar.
(27:13):
So if you check it every three months, you'll
get a good idea of what your blood sugars are
resting at.
Checking hormones (like progesterone,
estrogen, and so on) is generally not
done every three months because sometimes
the changes are very slow, so thyroid
hormone, for example.
There's no point checking it that often
because thyroid hormone actually changes very
(27:33):
slowly, so you don't want to check it every
month. You want to actually give it-- three
months is on the short side, so six months is
probably more standard for some of those
hormones. It would depend on what
specifically the hormone is, so I can't give
specific advice, but I'll say that the
every-three-month testing is more for
metabolic parameters,
such as with the A1C, for example,
(27:53):
the sugars.
Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Fung.
Always a pleasure.
Always an honor.
I will hopefully see you next month.
Okay, bye.
Thank you so much.
Bye.
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