June 10, 2025 • 29 mins
Episode #208
In this Fasting Q&A episode, hosted by Coach Lisa Chance, Dr. Jason Fung answers questions from the TFM Community:
- Do you think healthy individuals should take a daily multivitamin? [04:40]
- I am a 300-pound male and usually have about 20g of protein a day when I fat fast. If I have more, I can’t stick with it. I’ve found that before I do a 66 (two per week), I need about 140-200g of protein the day before in order to complete the fast. In other words, doing a fat fast right before my fast doesn’t hold me and I binge. Is there anything wrong with doing this? [05:50]
- What is the best way to extend a fast when someone has a history of gout? [11:40]
- What is your opinion on Dr. Roy Taylor's work about the pancreas not really being burned out but clogged with fat so the beta cells cannot function properly? [12:51]
- If someone has a high LP(a) of over 200, but their Trigs:HDL ratio is 1:1, then don’t worry, but what about plasmapheresis for Lp(a)? [14:19]
- Will younger people respond quicker to IF than older people? [15:45]
- I’ve read the science behind creatine and the many benefits to your muscles (I weight train) and your brain, and recently purchased a high quality brand. Creatine doesn’t contain protein, it’s a naturally occurring compound made from amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine, so will it prevent autophagy? [17:15]
- If instead of adding MCT oil to the morning coffee we would take an omega pill instead, which of these might have less of an insulin release? [19:49]
- TFM’s Book Club is reading Dr. Christopher Palmer's “Brain Energy” this month. He covers the metabolic theory of mental health, specifically with regards to mitochondrial health and optimal brain-energy metabolism impacting our prefrontal cortex function. Can you talk about this ‘hidden in plain sight’ mental metabolic disorder of the brain, showing the progressive degeneration of the prefrontal cortex seen so rampant in our culture today? [21:21]
- What kind of fasting protocol can be done for someone considered to be a TOFI and doesn’t want to lose too much weight? [25:34]
- There’s some conflicting research on how keto and fasting affects T3 levels. For individuals with low T3 production, do you recommend a specific keto or fasting approach and are there any important considerations? [27:26]
LINKS
Dr. Fung’s Livestream on YouTube (April 30, 2025)
https://www.youtube.com/live/bZCS-trzJWM?si=BzzR0EgHpwiSZU5A
Dr. Fung’s Medium article (free to access for TFM Community members)
The (Lack of) Benefits of Supplements
https://drjasonfung.medium.com/the-lack-of-benefits-of-supplements-65bc09eb9774
Low carbohydrate and psychoeducational programs show promise for the treatment of ultra-processed food addiction. Jen Unwin et al
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36245868/
Yale Food Addiction Scale
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/fastlab/yale-food-addiction-scale/
Sign up TODAY for the Optimize Your Weight (Fat) Loss Workshop with Heather Shuker, CRNP.
Starts July 15th. 10% Discount with code PODCAST10
https://www.thefastingmethod.com/masterclasses-and-live-workshops-2025/#Optimize
Please note that you need to be a member of the TFM Community to submit qu
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's really only been in the last couple of
years that both food addiction and
ultra-processed foods have really gotten the
attention, and I think it's well deserved.
I think it's actually a really important
topic because, like, if you just
control your calories, for example, you
don't necessarily cut out ultra-processed
food, where it's very important to
sort of reduce it to as low as possible.
(00:21):
[music]
Welcome, everyone.
This is our monthly Q&A with Dr.
Jason Fung where he answers questions
submitted by our TFM Community members.
And hello to our podcast listeners who will
be able to listen to this Q& A with Dr.
(00:43):
Fung a few weeks after our Community
members. So good morning,
Dr. Fung. How are you today?
Good morning.
By the way, Dr. Fung, I love the
livestreams that you're doing now.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, the last one you were talking about on
April 30th, you talked about
processed-food addiction and
(01:03):
Jen Unwin's latest research report.
I'll put the link to that video in the show
notes, along with the article that
she mentions, as well as the modified
Yale Food Addiction Test.
And I have to admit, Dr. Fung, it took me
a while to recognize I was addicted
to highly-processed food.
I tried so hard to moderate them.
(01:25):
And taking that test actually
helped cement it better for me because
I think I clicked all the boxes.
[laughter] Did you do a Medium
article on that topic too?
Uh, not on that, although it should be
coming up. So I'm doing some writing right
now. So you'll see it on Medium, and keep in
mind that, for The Fasting Method, you should
(01:46):
be able to get a link, because, Medium, they
used to allow people to join for free
and watch the other things for free.
It's just a blogging site, so I was using it
for many years. Then they changed it so it
was only paid members could see it, but they
do allow me to send out a friend link.
So any of The Fasting Method participants can
get that friend link for any of the blogs and
stuff, and they should be able to access that
(02:07):
article for free.
So there is some stuff on food addiction, and
so on, coming because I'm actually working on
a new book, sort of a part two to The Obesity
Code. So that's going to talk a little bit
about some of this newer research about food
addiction and ultra processed foods,
which is actually, I think, very, very
important because it's sort of different
dimension on things,
(02:29):
something that we should be looking at.
I mean, it's been in the periphery for a
while. I mean a lot of people talk about
natural foods and so on.
And of course it's very topical these days
with Robert Kennedy and so, but
for sure, it is a really important
topic that should be getting more attention.
And it's really only been in the last couple
of years that both food addiction and
ultra processed foods have really gotten the
(02:50):
attention. And I think it's well-deserved.
I think is actually a really an important
topic. Because if you just
control your calories, for example,
you don't necessarily cut out ultra-processed
foods, where it's actually very important to
sort of reduce it to as low as possible.
Real food, for me, makes it so much
easier to fast.
And that tells you something right there,
(03:12):
right?
Yeah.
And I was excited to hear that you're coming
out with a new book. Do you know about when
that will be?
Is it going to be The Obesity Code part two,
or what?
It'll probably be something like The Obesity
Code part two, because, you know, initially
we were going to call it something different,
but then I didn't want to repeat all the
stuff [unitelligible] because it's
like, I'm trying to let people know about
(03:34):
what causes weight gain so that you can
more effectively lose it, but I don't
want to go over to all of that.
So then I said, well, if we just say a part
two, then at least the people who can go back
to the part one if they want to, because then
it's fully explained.
That way I can sort of jump off into some of
these other things like GLP-1s,
ultra-processed foods, food addictions,
(03:57):
habits, mindsets and stuff.
A lot of the stuff we talk about here at The
Fasting Method is, I think, underappreciated
in terms of how important it is.
So having group sessions, having peer
support, all of this stuff is actually what
makes it work as opposed to just
knowing about it, right?
And that's the thing.
It's about it being a community that is able
(04:17):
to help each other. And that's sort of the
stuff I am talking about there, as opposed
to the first book.
So it'll probably be called part two.
[laughs]
D you have an ETA on it?
Probably spring of 2026,
so it's probably next year.
Great. Good to know.
Yeah, it takes a while from the first draft
to the publication.
(04:37):
So spring of 2026 is what they're saying.
Speaking of the Medium article, somebody
asked a question about supplements, and you
wrote another good article on that, and so
I'm going to post the link to that in the
show notes also.
Okay. I'll just say that the only one I
do recommend quite often, supplement
wise, is magnesium.
I have nothing against multivitamins
(04:59):
and stuff, but there's not a lot of evidence
that they're helpful.
But magnesium and, you know, we've talked
about this many times, but that is the sort
of exception is that I actually think it's
super, super useful for magnesium
supplementation for cramps and all that sort
of stuff.
I just switched to Magtein because I usually
take three different types of magnesium
throughout the day and I found that magnesium
(05:20):
malate really helps my migraines,
but the Magtein that I take on a daily basis,
I can really tell the difference.
I've been doing that pretty steady now for--
I take it in the morning and in the evening,
a liposomal through Quicksilver Scientific.
And I'm really noticing the difference.
It's just like, wow!
It's like hitting all the different types of
(05:41):
magnesium.
Interesting.
I fell in love with magnesium in the ICU
because I just saw what it did.
It was amazing.
So I have a really interesting question here
to start off with.
This person says, "I'm a 300-pound male
and usually have about 20
grams of protein a day when I
fat fast.
If I have more, I can't stick
(06:01):
to it. But then I have found that
when I'm ready to do a 66,
I need to do about 140 to
200 grams of protein that day
before the start of the 66 in
order to complete it.
In other words, doing a fat fast before my
fast doesn't hold me and I
binge. I do two 66s
(06:23):
a week. Is there anything wrong with
doing this, consuming this much protein
right before a fast?"
Uh, no, not at all.
And the protein
does have a lot of good effects
on satiety.
So if you find-- and everybody's different,
right? So when we give general
recommendations, they're general, but if you
(06:43):
find something works for you, then really you
should do it because everybody reacts
differently.
But protein, generally, it's best to
use like natural proteins, not like processed
proteins, like protein powders and stuff.
And that's true for everything.
Like, it's better to eat natural than
processed, right?
The thing about protein though is that it
does create a lot of satiety.
When you eat protein, you get a lot more
(07:04):
activation of the GLP-1, which is
the satiety pathways that are activated in
the Ozempic and so on.
So what you're feeling is perfectly
reasonable, that, if you're taking more
protein, you're activating more satiety
signals, therefore you're not having
to binge as much. So it definitely could
be. You know, some people do
fine with tha and some people don't, but
(07:26):
there's clearly a reason why that taking more
protein can be very beneficial.
And they find this also for a lot of people
online, they eat a higher-protein diet
and they find it's better.
And yeah, it may be not through
calories as such, but mostly through sort
of satiety, it just creates more satiety.
The problem is, when you try to go very, very
(07:47):
high protein and low fat and low carb,
then it tends to be difficult as a diet
because it doesn't taste very
good. But if you find that it's very helpful,
then go ahead because there's good science
behind why it should work.
It's my understanding, too, that you don't
need to worry about your amount of protein
when you're doing a fat fast because it's a
fasting-mimicking diet, so you're actually
(08:09):
mimicking a fast.
So you don't need to concentrate on getting,
oh, I've got to get this amount of protein in
on this day that I'm fat fasting.
Coorect?
Yeah, I mean, for protein in general,
most people are getting enough.
So this idea that you have to hit
a certain amount every day, that's just not
how the human body works, right?
(08:29):
We take in food when it's available.
So if you think about if you're a
caveman or whatever, you might catch a deer
and then you'll get a lot of protein, or you
might get very little protein.
So it's not that you to have it every
single day. Like, if you need it, you can
have more on the day that you're not fasting,
for example. If you find this very
beneficial, taking more just before the fast
(08:51):
or so on, that's perfectly acceptable.
But if you look at the daily recommended
allowance, it's 0.8 grams per
kilogram per day, which is...
This was established in the 1940s
and really people were completely
healthy at that level and most people are
eating at least 50% more than that, and some
people 70, 80%
(09:11):
more that. So I don't think people really
need to worry about eating too little.
In fact, if you look at worldwide,
we're eating more protein really than we've
ever eaten before.
Protein tends to be expensive,
so meat has always been sort of expensive
for us vs vegetables.
So that's why most traditional diets,
(09:32):
when you go back 100 years, they're mostly
based on vegetables like grains,
rice, potatoes, that kind of thing, because
it's a lot cheaper than more beef.
But now, of course, with industrial farming
and so on, the amount of protein that is
being raised is much higher than before.
So it's cheaper than ever.
So that why you see a lot more people--
like, the amount of protein has been going
(09:54):
up. So you don't have to really worry about
it. People were healthy in the 70s,
60s, right, with the amount of protein they
were eating, but it was very little.
You know, if you think about, back then, a
McDonald's hamburger was like, that was
your whole meal, right? That was all the
protein that you had for the whole meal.
Like, that's a tiny little burger.
(10:14):
That's a tiny burger [laughs] when you
compare it to today's burgers, right, and a
lot of people are getting double burgers and
quarter pounders and-- So, yeah,
I wouldn't be too worried about it.
It's one of these things that I think most
people are getting enough of, which is not to
say that some people may do better getting
more protein because of the satiety effect.
So, definitely, if it works for you, then go
(10:35):
for it. But if you don't like it or you don't
need it, don't try and force yourself to take
protein. [music]
[promotion] Have you ever said, "I know
exactly what I need to do to lose weight,
I just can't make myself do it."
If so, you are not alone.
But have you considered this...
What if making yourself
do it is exactly what you need to learn
(10:57):
how to do.
In my experience, not only as
someone who has personally lost 80 pounds but
also as someone who coaches clients to
lose weight, that's exactly the
missing piece of the weight-loss puzzle that
is keeping people from reaching their
weight-loss goals.
My name is Heather Shuker.
I'm a coach with The Fasting Method.
(11:17):
And if you would like me to teach you
what I know about weight loss and how
to stay consistent, you're in luck.
This July 15th, I will be teaching
a Weight-Loss Workshop, a three-day workshop.
I'm going to be covering the principles,
the pitfalls, and the protocols necessary
for sustainable weight loss.
I hope to see you there. [music]
(11:40):
What is the best way to do an extended
fast when someone has a history of gout?
Yeah, that's the one thing that can be a
problem. So mostly you have to make sure the
gout is well-controlled.
So there's a drug called allopurinol,
which you take to prevent gout from
happening, because that's the one thing that
can go up. Almost everything else goes down
in a longer fast.
(12:01):
So, sugars go down,
cholesterol tends to go down.
All of it tends to go down except for uric
acid. And it's probably because you're
reclaiming some of it from the urine, and so
it sometimes goes up and sometimes you get a
flare. Sometimes it's the shifts of water
that caused this, but there's not much you
can do if you have gout.
Not all doubt is related to
(12:21):
metabolic syndrome, so you just have to make
sure it's well-controlled.
You may need to take medication.
If you're not on medication, then the only
thing to do is stay well hydrated,
but that may or may not work.
A little bit of lime?
A little squeeze of lime in that water, and
probably doing a low purine diet
and avoiding alcohol on
your refeeding days would be important.
(12:43):
Be alert to those players.
And gradually-- I would gradually build your
fasting muscle, but that's everybody, right?
This person has a question about your
opinion, if you've heard of Dr. Roy
Taylor's work in the United Kingdom
about the pancreas not really
being burned out, but clogged
with fat that the beta cells cannot function
(13:05):
properly.
Yeah, I mean, he did some great
work on that. I wrote all about it in The
Diabetes Code, about how that whole thing
sort of works. But basically, if you think
about what's happening, when you're eating a
lot of glucose, carbohydrates,
so you're getting high glucose levels, high
insulin levels, that glucose gets turned
into fat by the liver, right?
(13:26):
And that's called de novo lipogenesis.
So when you are eating a lot of glucose, your
liver turns it into fat.
The liver doesn't really want to hold
on to that, so what it does
is it sends out the fat into
the blood for the fat cells.
And so you do get fatty liver because of the
excess fat, but you also get fat sort
of being exported out of the liver because it
(13:47):
wants to get rid of this newly-created fat.
The thing is that a lot of that gets
deposited in the abdominal organs.
As the fat gets exported out, it gets taken
up by the abdomen, and
then the pancreas also takes up some fat.
So you get not just fatty liver, but you get
fatty pancreas as well.
If you reduce the carbohydrates-- he used
(14:10):
calories-- but then, as you get rid of some
of this fatty pancreas, then the pancreas
produces more insulin and you can measure
that the insulin secretion starts to go
back up.
This question I found interesting.
"If someone has a high Lp(a)
of, say, over 200, but their triglycerides
to HDL ratio is 1:1,
(14:30):
then they're not going to worry.
However, what about plasmapheresis
for Lp(a)?"
We don't know because the studies haven't
really been done on that.
There is recently a drug I saw that
lowers Lp(a), but that
hasn't been yet studied to see if that
will reduce heart attacks, and
(14:51):
strokes, and mortality.
So, while a lot of people think that it is
related, it's not clear 100%
for sure.
So, you know, when they say
Lp(a) is the most important, it's all based
on association studies, which is always very
dangerous. What you have to do is give
some kind of intervention and see if that
actually helps.
(15:12):
That's the thing. So before you jump to like
something like plasmapheresis, which they do
do for very, very, very high levels,
but that's a very small percentage of people,
then the best thing is just to watch and see,
because it's an invasive procedure.
It's difficult to do.
Even if you'd get it done, it's quite
expensive. So it's not like just taking a
pill or something or some kind of easy-to-do
(15:32):
things. So plasmapheresis is quite limited in
terms of how much you can do.
So I don't think it's quite ready for the
prime time yet, but it's interesting.
It certainly is interesting.
Like, there may be more data coming out for
that.
"Will younger people respond quicker to
intermittent fasting than older people?
Or are other things a factor in
(15:54):
the equation, such as the degree of
insulin resistance, our co-morbidity,
our genetics?"
I think all of that is a factor.
You know, I think everybody responds to some
degree, but I agree that older people
will maybe have a little less.
One, is that you don't want to push as hard.
So if you're younger, of course, you
(16:15):
generally have less other problems,
so therefore you can push much harder, in
terms of how long you fast for or how much
you fast for.
For older people, who are on medications or
have gout or whatever, you have to always be
a little careful. So you always have to start
really slow and sort of build up.
Where as a young person, you know, if they're
otherwise healthy, could really just jump in
and do a longer fast.
And a lot of people have done that in the
(16:36):
past. And then insulin resistance, of course,
goes up the longer you have hyperinsulinemia,
so therefore you're going to see a little bit
less response because you're trying to
lower the insulin.
For young people, it's going to come down
much faster. But if you're an older person
with hyperinsulinaemia, insulin resistance,
then it may take a little bit longer for that
insulin to come down, which is what you're
looking for. So, yeah, I agree.
(16:58):
I mean, like most things, you have to adjust
it to where you are.
So there's nothing to stop an older person
from doing a long fast, I have a lot of
people who do longer fasts, but, generally,
because you want to be a bit more
cautious, you would go slower and
build up, but, yeah, definitely.
This person-- I like this person, they made
me smile. [laughs] They said,
(17:20):
"Please say no!"
So, "I've read the science behind
creatine and
the many benefits to your muscles
(I weight train) and also to your brain.
And recently, I purchased a high quality
brand, which is important, and
(17:40):
I really want to take it every day,
in powder form in water or
my coffee. Vreatine doesn't
contain protein.
It's a naturally-occurring compound
made from amino acids -
arginine, glycine, and methionene.
The brand I purchased has a great rep.
I know in fasting we can only take water,
(18:02):
plain coffee, or plain tea.
Will just a tablespoon of this
stop autophagy?
I need to lose twelve pounds?
Will this break my fast?
Please say no." [laughter]
So, during fasting, you
get a lot of the benefits from the
lowering of insulin.
(18:23):
So if you're trying to fast, most of the time
we're mostly worried about insulin so
that, you know, you can turn into that sort
of fat-burning stage and so on.
If you're looking for autophagy,
then you have to really also cut
down the protein.
And proteins are
basically made of amino acids.
So if you're taking creatine, which is amino
(18:44):
acids, it's basically the same as protein.
And basically, unfortunately, it will turn
off autophagy because it's very sensitive
to protein.
So during a fast, the classic, water-only
fast has nothing, but you can take
a little bit and most of the time it's going
to have great benefits.
So a lot of the studies-- so the 5:2 Diet,
(19:06):
which was Dr. Mosley's diet, which is five
days of regular eating and two days of 500
calories a day. So it wasn't necessarily
fasting, but it still
had great benefits. And then the
fasting-mimicking diet, which also is a five
days every month, but, again, you're
not fully fasting, you're still taking some
stuff that they provide you.
So it's not a full fast, but, again, the
(19:28):
studies show you have great benefits.
So, even if you take a little bit during
that, you're gonna have great benefits.
So if you're not worried about autophagy, if
you're just thinking about overall benefits
of fasting, even if you take the creatine,
you'll get most of the benefits of the fast.
However, for autophagy, if that's
specifically what you want, then, yes, you
have to avoid the proteins because
that's what turns off the autophagy.
(19:52):
THis one's an interesting question. "If I'madding
MCT oil in the morning to my coffee--
and that goes-- you know, MCT goes straight
to the liver, it's not bypassed through the
lymph, like other oil is.
If I take an Omega pill
instead, would that help
eliminate insulin release?"
Would either one of those be the better
option to not have insulin release?
(20:13):
I know there's not much release when you
have a fat, but is there a difference between
those two?
Yeah, I'm not aware that there's any
difference, but both are going to be expected
to be quite low.
In either case, because, you know,
what releases insulin is mostly
carbohydrates, but also proteins can release
insulin, but it releases glucagon at the same
time, which is why glucose doesn't go up.
(20:34):
But you do get that insulin release.
And it's because insulin is a growth factor.
So when you're taking energy, calories,
or you're taking protein, then your body
actually wants to grow.
That's why, you know, when they do the
fasting-mimicking, of course, they try to
keep it relatively lower in carbohydrate and
lower in protein because they don't want to
stimulate these nutrient sensors.
(20:54):
But, you know, either of those are perfectly
fine because they're going to have fairly
minimal release of that.
And that's why the keto diet got very
popular a few years ago, because of the-- you
know, people are always trying to limit fat,
but you know sometimes, when you just
eat more fat, you do better.
So, for sure, I think either of those is
perfectly fine. They're probably
(21:15):
about the same in terms of insulin release,
but it's not much, so I wouldn't be too
worried about it.
Okay, "TFM's book club is currently
reading Dr. Christopher Palmer's
'Brain Energy' book.
Great book, amazing.
And he covers the metabolic theory of
mental health, specifically with regards
to mitochondrial health and optimal,
(21:36):
brain-energy metabolism impacting
our prefrontal cortex function.
Can you talk about the 'hidden in
plain sight' mental, metabolic
disorder of the brain showing the progressive
degeneration of the prefrontal cortex
that seems so rampant in our
culture today, and cover how
(21:57):
mitochondrial health is improved through
fasting, all leading to empowering
people to maintain their reasoning
abilities and make wiser
choices, despite increasing
global uncertainty."
Yeah, it's a really interesting book,
actually, because mental illness
increases, you see, whenever people
(22:19):
eat a more processed diet, and a
lot of it may be related to the
hyperinsulinemia. And what he's saying is
that it may related to the mitochondrial
health. So the mitochondria is the little
sort of power plants of the cell, and
what you want is to have a good metabolic
flexibility, that is be able to burn both
glucose and fat.
(22:40):
So if you never burn fat as a source of
energy, you're just taking refined
carbohydrates all day long, then
it never burns fat, so you don't have that
flexibility. And then the mitochondria,
their health goes down.
So during fasting, it also helps with
autophagy. There's a process called
mitophagy, which is sort of autophagy
of the mitochondria, where you sort of also
(23:02):
improve their health and increase this
flexibility by forcing them to burn fat,
right? So if you do fasting for longer, you
don't have any glucose, so then you're forced
to burn fat. And that increased flexibility
helps the mitochondria.
What he's saying is that the brain, all
these mental illnesses, including
schizophrenia and others, they're
all linked to this poor
(23:23):
mitochondrial health, so the brain is not
getting enough energy, and that's why you're
seeing all the symptoms.
And when they switched over to a sort of
ketogenic diet, by forcing them--
not forcing, but by providing them with a lot
of ketones and stuff, you're making them burn
ketones or you're giving them ketones to
burn, which becomes more efficient, and then
the mitochondria in the brain provide more
(23:43):
energy, so your brain gets more energy, and
then you don't get these symptoms.
So depression, schizophrenia, a lot these
things, of course, because you see that
over the last 50 years, they've actually
increased significantly in our society.
We try and treat it with antidepressants and
antipsychotics and all this sort of thing,
and he's saying that, well, that's not really
the underlying reason for that.
(24:04):
While they may help, they're not getting to
the underlying reason. And if you just change
the diet, you can actually improve
metabolic flexibility.
And it's a metabolic disease, just like
diabetes is, is what he's saying.
And he's actually had a lot of success with
it. And that's where it's super interesting
because it sort of changes the whole--
the way you look at these diseases,
(24:25):
because, rather than saying, with
schizophrenia or depression, "Oh, well,
that's just the way it is.
I just need to take my pills," then it gives
you another option to change your diet,
try and improve that metabolic flexibility,
improve the mitochondrial health, and
therefore improve the symptoms of this.
So it can actually apply to a
lot of different things, and, of course,
opens up all kinds of intriguing
(24:47):
possibilities for somebody to sort of
take control of their own health, in terms of
their mental illnesses and stuff.
It applies also to Alzheimer's disease,
which has been increasing.
Is there a possibility that changing the diet
could impact that?
That's certainly a strong possibility.
I mean, the data is obviously still
coming, you know, because there hasn't been a
(25:08):
lot of research into it, but
what's there is actually quite intriguing
because, if you're suffering from it, it's
just such a huge-- like,
you know, what's the risk?
Not a lot. I mean, if you follow a
low-carbohydrate diet, there's not a huge
risk with it, other than you might have
to change your lifestyle a bit, but, from a
risk standpoint there's not much, but, on
(25:29):
the other hand, the benefit standpoint could
be very massive.
So it's very interesting.
"What type of fasting protocol can be done
with someone who is considered to be a TOFI
and does not want to lose too much
weight?"
I think all of them could work.
It depends. I think people respond
differently to different-- so I think it's a
bit individual.
(25:50):
Fasting, I think is better than others
because, of course, when you're fasting,
the body wants to pull energy
out, right?
And the easiest place is going to be the
blood glucose. So that's why it's good for
diabetes. The second easiest place is to pull
it from the liver.
So the fat that's in the liver, you can pull
it out, so very good for fatty liver disease,
for example. And then the next easiest
(26:12):
is the fat around the abdomen, which is the
TOFI, right, thin on the outside, fat on the
inside. You just have a lot of
intra-abdominal fat, so it doesn't appear
fat, but you have this little pot belly
thing. And that's related to carbohydrates.
So low-carbohydrate diets work very
well and also fasting.
In terms of regimens, I think that's a bit
personal. I think cutting down the
(26:33):
carbohydrate. I think just fasting alone is
probably not the most efficient way, but
changing your diet to reduce the
carbohydrates is certainly one of the things
that I would do.
Some people do better with a longer fast with
that, or these sort of modified fasts,
where you're doing a longer fast but not a
full fast. You can do, for example,
a five-day fast with a little bit
(26:54):
of low-carbohydrate something just
to take a little bit of the stress off.
So if you don't want to lose that much
weight, then you can do this fast, but maybe
take a little bit of vegetables, or take a
little bit of something in between just so
that you're not losing so much weight.
So a modified fast may do very well.
But it's a bit personal in terms of how you
want to do it. I mean, you don't have to do a
long fast if you don't want to.
I think a low-carbohydrate diet will still
(27:16):
work very well for that.
Somebody also asked about spices
during the fast, which are fine.
We have a Quick Guide on Fasting Aids, and
Spices on Food.
"There's some conflicting research on how
keto and fasting affect T3
levels. So, for individuals
with low T3 production,
(27:37):
do you recommend a specific keto or
fasting approach?
And are there any important considerations?"
I think it's a little inconsistent.
So what we do see is some people who
have low thyroid, sometimes they actually do
better with fasting and so on.
That might be related to the
anti-inflammatory sort of-- there's a
lot of inflammation in the body which can
(27:58):
cause this Hashimoto's.
With some of the fasting, you can--
especially the longer fasting, it seems
to have beneficial effects on the
inflammation, and, by decreasing it,
sometimes people find that their thyroid gets
better. Other than that, I don't have a
specific-- there's not a lot of data on
fasting and thyroid levels,
but we've noticed it sort of anecdotally that
(28:20):
some people's hypothyroidism or low thyroid
does get better so that they actually don't
need to take quite as much.
But, you know, it doesn't affect it directly.
Some people do get a little bit lower thyroid
production if they do a lot of long fasts,
so you might want to stick to sort of shorter
ones if that becomes a problem for you.
But, yeah, there's not that much data on
(28:40):
that.
Thank you so much, Dr. Fung.
I will see you next month then, all
right?
Okay, thank you.
Take care. Bye.
It's really only been in the last couple of
years that both food addiction and
ultra-processed foods have really gotten the
attention, and I think it's well deserved.
I think it's actually a really important
topic because, like, if you just
control your calories, for example, you
don't necessarily cut out ultra-processed
food, where it's very important to
sort of reduce it to as low as possible.
(00:21):
[music]
Welcome, everyone.
This is our monthly Q&A with Dr.
Jason Fung where he answers questions
submitted by our TFM Community members.
And hello to our podcast listeners who will
be able to listen to this Q& A with Dr.
(00:43):
Fung a few weeks after our Community
members. So good morning,
Dr. Fung. How are you today?
Good morning.
By the way, Dr. Fung, I love the
livestreams that you're doing now.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, the last one you were talking about on
April 30th, you talked about
processed-food addiction and
(01:03):
Jen Unwin's latest research report.
I'll put the link to that video in the show
notes, along with the article that
she mentions, as well as the modified
Yale Food Addiction Test.
And I have to admit, Dr. Fung, it took me
a while to recognize I was addicted
to highly-processed food.
I tried so hard to moderate them.
(01:25):
And taking that test actually
helped cement it better for me because
I think I clicked all the boxes.
[laughter] Did you do a Medium
article on that topic too?
Uh, not on that, although it should be
coming up. So I'm doing some writing right
now. So you'll see it on Medium, and keep in
mind that, for The Fasting Method, you should
(01:46):
be able to get a link, because, Medium, they
used to allow people to join for free
and watch the other things for free.
It's just a blogging site, so I was using it
for many years. Then they changed it so it
was only paid members could see it, but they
do allow me to send out a friend link.
So any of The Fasting Method participants can
get that friend link for any of the blogs and
stuff, and they should be able to access that
(02:07):
article for free.
So there is some stuff on food addiction, and
so on, coming because I'm actually working on
a new book, sort of a part two to The Obesity
Code. So that's going to talk a little bit
about some of this newer research about food
addiction and ultra processed foods,
which is actually, I think, very, very
important because it's sort of different
dimension on things,
(02:29):
something that we should be looking at.
I mean, it's been in the periphery for a
while. I mean a lot of people talk about
natural foods and so on.
And of course it's very topical these days
with Robert Kennedy and so, but
for sure, it is a really important
topic that should be getting more attention.
And it's really only been in the last couple
of years that both food addiction and
ultra processed foods have really gotten the
(02:50):
attention. And I think it's well-deserved.
I think is actually a really an important
topic. Because if you just
control your calories, for example,
you don't necessarily cut out ultra-processed
foods, where it's actually very important to
sort of reduce it to as low as possible.
Real food, for me, makes it so much
easier to fast.
And that tells you something right there,
(03:12):
right?
Yeah.
And I was excited to hear that you're coming
out with a new book. Do you know about when
that will be?
Is it going to be The Obesity Code part two,
or what?
It'll probably be something like The Obesity
Code part two, because, you know, initially
we were going to call it something different,
but then I didn't want to repeat all the
stuff [unitelligible] because it's
like, I'm trying to let people know about
(03:34):
what causes weight gain so that you can
more effectively lose it, but I don't
want to go over to all of that.
So then I said, well, if we just say a part
two, then at least the people who can go back
to the part one if they want to, because then
it's fully explained.
That way I can sort of jump off into some of
these other things like GLP-1s,
ultra-processed foods, food addictions,
(03:57):
habits, mindsets and stuff.
A lot of the stuff we talk about here at The
Fasting Method is, I think, underappreciated
in terms of how important it is.
So having group sessions, having peer
support, all of this stuff is actually what
makes it work as opposed to just
knowing about it, right?
And that's the thing.
It's about it being a community that is able
(04:17):
to help each other. And that's sort of the
stuff I am talking about there, as opposed
to the first book.
So it'll probably be called part two.
[laughs]
D you have an ETA on it?
Probably spring of 2026,
so it's probably next year.
Great. Good to know.
Yeah, it takes a while from the first draft
to the publication.
(04:37):
So spring of 2026 is what they're saying.
Speaking of the Medium article, somebody
asked a question about supplements, and you
wrote another good article on that, and so
I'm going to post the link to that in the
show notes also.
Okay. I'll just say that the only one I
do recommend quite often, supplement
wise, is magnesium.
I have nothing against multivitamins
(04:59):
and stuff, but there's not a lot of evidence
that they're helpful.
But magnesium and, you know, we've talked
about this many times, but that is the sort
of exception is that I actually think it's
super, super useful for magnesium
supplementation for cramps and all that sort
of stuff.
I just switched to Magtein because I usually
take three different types of magnesium
throughout the day and I found that magnesium
(05:20):
malate really helps my migraines,
but the Magtein that I take on a daily basis,
I can really tell the difference.
I've been doing that pretty steady now for--
I take it in the morning and in the evening,
a liposomal through Quicksilver Scientific.
And I'm really noticing the difference.
It's just like, wow!
It's like hitting all the different types of
(05:41):
magnesium.
Interesting.
I fell in love with magnesium in the ICU
because I just saw what it did.
It was amazing.
So I have a really interesting question here
to start off with.
This person says, "I'm a 300-pound male
and usually have about 20
grams of protein a day when I
fat fast.
If I have more, I can't stick
(06:01):
to it. But then I have found that
when I'm ready to do a 66,
I need to do about 140 to
200 grams of protein that day
before the start of the 66 in
order to complete it.
In other words, doing a fat fast before my
fast doesn't hold me and I
binge. I do two 66s
(06:23):
a week. Is there anything wrong with
doing this, consuming this much protein
right before a fast?"
Uh, no, not at all.
And the protein
does have a lot of good effects
on satiety.
So if you find-- and everybody's different,
right? So when we give general
recommendations, they're general, but if you
(06:43):
find something works for you, then really you
should do it because everybody reacts
differently.
But protein, generally, it's best to
use like natural proteins, not like processed
proteins, like protein powders and stuff.
And that's true for everything.
Like, it's better to eat natural than
processed, right?
The thing about protein though is that it
does create a lot of satiety.
When you eat protein, you get a lot more
(07:04):
activation of the GLP-1, which is
the satiety pathways that are activated in
the Ozempic and so on.
So what you're feeling is perfectly
reasonable, that, if you're taking more
protein, you're activating more satiety
signals, therefore you're not having
to binge as much. So it definitely could
be. You know, some people do
fine with tha and some people don't, but
(07:26):
there's clearly a reason why that taking more
protein can be very beneficial.
And they find this also for a lot of people
online, they eat a higher-protein diet
and they find it's better.
And yeah, it may be not through
calories as such, but mostly through sort
of satiety, it just creates more satiety.
The problem is, when you try to go very, very
(07:47):
high protein and low fat and low carb,
then it tends to be difficult as a diet
because it doesn't taste very
good. But if you find that it's very helpful,
then go ahead because there's good science
behind why it should work.
It's my understanding, too, that you don't
need to worry about your amount of protein
when you're doing a fat fast because it's a
fasting-mimicking diet, so you're actually
(08:09):
mimicking a fast.
So you don't need to concentrate on getting,
oh, I've got to get this amount of protein in
on this day that I'm fat fasting.
Coorect?
Yeah, I mean, for protein in general,
most people are getting enough.
So this idea that you have to hit
a certain amount every day, that's just not
how the human body works, right?
(08:29):
We take in food when it's available.
So if you think about if you're a
caveman or whatever, you might catch a deer
and then you'll get a lot of protein, or you
might get very little protein.
So it's not that you to have it every
single day. Like, if you need it, you can
have more on the day that you're not fasting,
for example. If you find this very
beneficial, taking more just before the fast
(08:51):
or so on, that's perfectly acceptable.
But if you look at the daily recommended
allowance, it's 0.8 grams per
kilogram per day, which is...
This was established in the 1940s
and really people were completely
healthy at that level and most people are
eating at least 50% more than that, and some
people 70, 80%
(09:11):
more that. So I don't think people really
need to worry about eating too little.
In fact, if you look at worldwide,
we're eating more protein really than we've
ever eaten before.
Protein tends to be expensive,
so meat has always been sort of expensive
for us vs vegetables.
So that's why most traditional diets,
(09:32):
when you go back 100 years, they're mostly
based on vegetables like grains,
rice, potatoes, that kind of thing, because
it's a lot cheaper than more beef.
But now, of course, with industrial farming
and so on, the amount of protein that is
being raised is much higher than before.
So it's cheaper than ever.
So that why you see a lot more people--
like, the amount of protein has been going
(09:54):
up. So you don't have to really worry about
it. People were healthy in the 70s,
60s, right, with the amount of protein they
were eating, but it was very little.
You know, if you think about, back then, a
McDonald's hamburger was like, that was
your whole meal, right? That was all the
protein that you had for the whole meal.
Like, that's a tiny little burger.
(10:14):
That's a tiny burger [laughs] when you
compare it to today's burgers, right, and a
lot of people are getting double burgers and
quarter pounders and-- So, yeah,
I wouldn't be too worried about it.
It's one of these things that I think most
people are getting enough of, which is not to
say that some people may do better getting
more protein because of the satiety effect.
So, definitely, if it works for you, then go
(10:35):
for it. But if you don't like it or you don't
need it, don't try and force yourself to take
protein. [music]
[promotion] Have you ever said, "I know
exactly what I need to do to lose weight,
I just can't make myself do it."
If so, you are not alone.
But have you considered this...
What if making yourself
do it is exactly what you need to learn
(10:57):
how to do.
In my experience, not only as
someone who has personally lost 80 pounds but
also as someone who coaches clients to
lose weight, that's exactly the
missing piece of the weight-loss puzzle that
is keeping people from reaching their
weight-loss goals.
My name is Heather Shuker.
I'm a coach with The Fasting Method.
(11:17):
And if you would like me to teach you
what I know about weight loss and how
to stay consistent, you're in luck.
This July 15th, I will be teaching
a Weight-Loss Workshop, a three-day workshop.
I'm going to be covering the principles,
the pitfalls, and the protocols necessary
for sustainable weight loss.
I hope to see you there. [music]
(11:40):
What is the best way to do an extended
fast when someone has a history of gout?
Yeah, that's the one thing that can be a
problem. So mostly you have to make sure the
gout is well-controlled.
So there's a drug called allopurinol,
which you take to prevent gout from
happening, because that's the one thing that
can go up. Almost everything else goes down
in a longer fast.
(12:01):
So, sugars go down,
cholesterol tends to go down.
All of it tends to go down except for uric
acid. And it's probably because you're
reclaiming some of it from the urine, and so
it sometimes goes up and sometimes you get a
flare. Sometimes it's the shifts of water
that caused this, but there's not much you
can do if you have gout.
Not all doubt is related to
(12:21):
metabolic syndrome, so you just have to make
sure it's well-controlled.
You may need to take medication.
If you're not on medication, then the only
thing to do is stay well hydrated,
but that may or may not work.
A little bit of lime?
A little squeeze of lime in that water, and
probably doing a low purine diet
and avoiding alcohol on
your refeeding days would be important.
(12:43):
Be alert to those players.
And gradually-- I would gradually build your
fasting muscle, but that's everybody, right?
This person has a question about your
opinion, if you've heard of Dr. Roy
Taylor's work in the United Kingdom
about the pancreas not really
being burned out, but clogged
with fat that the beta cells cannot function
(13:05):
properly.
Yeah, I mean, he did some great
work on that. I wrote all about it in The
Diabetes Code, about how that whole thing
sort of works. But basically, if you think
about what's happening, when you're eating a
lot of glucose, carbohydrates,
so you're getting high glucose levels, high
insulin levels, that glucose gets turned
into fat by the liver, right?
(13:26):
And that's called de novo lipogenesis.
So when you are eating a lot of glucose, your
liver turns it into fat.
The liver doesn't really want to hold
on to that, so what it does
is it sends out the fat into
the blood for the fat cells.
And so you do get fatty liver because of the
excess fat, but you also get fat sort
of being exported out of the liver because it
(13:47):
wants to get rid of this newly-created fat.
The thing is that a lot of that gets
deposited in the abdominal organs.
As the fat gets exported out, it gets taken
up by the abdomen, and
then the pancreas also takes up some fat.
So you get not just fatty liver, but you get
fatty pancreas as well.
If you reduce the carbohydrates-- he used
(14:10):
calories-- but then, as you get rid of some
of this fatty pancreas, then the pancreas
produces more insulin and you can measure
that the insulin secretion starts to go
back up.
This question I found interesting.
"If someone has a high Lp(a)
of, say, over 200, but their triglycerides
to HDL ratio is 1:1,
(14:30):
then they're not going to worry.
However, what about plasmapheresis
for Lp(a)?"
We don't know because the studies haven't
really been done on that.
There is recently a drug I saw that
lowers Lp(a), but that
hasn't been yet studied to see if that
will reduce heart attacks, and
(14:51):
strokes, and mortality.
So, while a lot of people think that it is
related, it's not clear 100%
for sure.
So, you know, when they say
Lp(a) is the most important, it's all based
on association studies, which is always very
dangerous. What you have to do is give
some kind of intervention and see if that
actually helps.
(15:12):
That's the thing. So before you jump to like
something like plasmapheresis, which they do
do for very, very, very high levels,
but that's a very small percentage of people,
then the best thing is just to watch and see,
because it's an invasive procedure.
It's difficult to do.
Even if you'd get it done, it's quite
expensive. So it's not like just taking a
pill or something or some kind of easy-to-do
(15:32):
things. So plasmapheresis is quite limited in
terms of how much you can do.
So I don't think it's quite ready for the
prime time yet, but it's interesting.
It certainly is interesting.
Like, there may be more data coming out for
that.
"Will younger people respond quicker to
intermittent fasting than older people?
Or are other things a factor in
(15:54):
the equation, such as the degree of
insulin resistance, our co-morbidity,
our genetics?"
I think all of that is a factor.
You know, I think everybody responds to some
degree, but I agree that older people
will maybe have a little less.
One, is that you don't want to push as hard.
So if you're younger, of course, you
(16:15):
generally have less other problems,
so therefore you can push much harder, in
terms of how long you fast for or how much
you fast for.
For older people, who are on medications or
have gout or whatever, you have to always be
a little careful. So you always have to start
really slow and sort of build up.
Where as a young person, you know, if they're
otherwise healthy, could really just jump in
and do a longer fast.
And a lot of people have done that in the
(16:36):
past. And then insulin resistance, of course,
goes up the longer you have hyperinsulinemia,
so therefore you're going to see a little bit
less response because you're trying to
lower the insulin.
For young people, it's going to come down
much faster. But if you're an older person
with hyperinsulinaemia, insulin resistance,
then it may take a little bit longer for that
insulin to come down, which is what you're
looking for. So, yeah, I agree.
(16:58):
I mean, like most things, you have to adjust
it to where you are.
So there's nothing to stop an older person
from doing a long fast, I have a lot of
people who do longer fasts, but, generally,
because you want to be a bit more
cautious, you would go slower and
build up, but, yeah, definitely.
This person-- I like this person, they made
me smile. [laughs] They said,
(17:20):
"Please say no!"
So, "I've read the science behind
creatine and
the many benefits to your muscles
(I weight train) and also to your brain.
And recently, I purchased a high quality
brand, which is important, and
(17:40):
I really want to take it every day,
in powder form in water or
my coffee. Vreatine doesn't
contain protein.
It's a naturally-occurring compound
made from amino acids -
arginine, glycine, and methionene.
The brand I purchased has a great rep.
I know in fasting we can only take water,
(18:02):
plain coffee, or plain tea.
Will just a tablespoon of this
stop autophagy?
I need to lose twelve pounds?
Will this break my fast?
Please say no." [laughter]
So, during fasting, you
get a lot of the benefits from the
lowering of insulin.
(18:23):
So if you're trying to fast, most of the time
we're mostly worried about insulin so
that, you know, you can turn into that sort
of fat-burning stage and so on.
If you're looking for autophagy,
then you have to really also cut
down the protein.
And proteins are
basically made of amino acids.
So if you're taking creatine, which is amino
(18:44):
acids, it's basically the same as protein.
And basically, unfortunately, it will turn
off autophagy because it's very sensitive
to protein.
So during a fast, the classic, water-only
fast has nothing, but you can take
a little bit and most of the time it's going
to have great benefits.
So a lot of the studies-- so the 5:2 Diet,
(19:06):
which was Dr. Mosley's diet, which is five
days of regular eating and two days of 500
calories a day. So it wasn't necessarily
fasting, but it still
had great benefits. And then the
fasting-mimicking diet, which also is a five
days every month, but, again, you're
not fully fasting, you're still taking some
stuff that they provide you.
So it's not a full fast, but, again, the
(19:28):
studies show you have great benefits.
So, even if you take a little bit during
that, you're gonna have great benefits.
So if you're not worried about autophagy, if
you're just thinking about overall benefits
of fasting, even if you take the creatine,
you'll get most of the benefits of the fast.
However, for autophagy, if that's
specifically what you want, then, yes, you
have to avoid the proteins because
that's what turns off the autophagy.
(19:52):
THis one's an interesting question. "If I'madding
MCT oil in the morning to my coffee--
and that goes-- you know, MCT goes straight
to the liver, it's not bypassed through the
lymph, like other oil is.
If I take an Omega pill
instead, would that help
eliminate insulin release?"
Would either one of those be the better
option to not have insulin release?
(20:13):
I know there's not much release when you
have a fat, but is there a difference between
those two?
Yeah, I'm not aware that there's any
difference, but both are going to be expected
to be quite low.
In either case, because, you know,
what releases insulin is mostly
carbohydrates, but also proteins can release
insulin, but it releases glucagon at the same
time, which is why glucose doesn't go up.
(20:34):
But you do get that insulin release.
And it's because insulin is a growth factor.
So when you're taking energy, calories,
or you're taking protein, then your body
actually wants to grow.
That's why, you know, when they do the
fasting-mimicking, of course, they try to
keep it relatively lower in carbohydrate and
lower in protein because they don't want to
stimulate these nutrient sensors.
(20:54):
But, you know, either of those are perfectly
fine because they're going to have fairly
minimal release of that.
And that's why the keto diet got very
popular a few years ago, because of the-- you
know, people are always trying to limit fat,
but you know sometimes, when you just
eat more fat, you do better.
So, for sure, I think either of those is
perfectly fine. They're probably
(21:15):
about the same in terms of insulin release,
but it's not much, so I wouldn't be too
worried about it.
Okay, "TFM's book club is currently
reading Dr. Christopher Palmer's
'Brain Energy' book.
Great book, amazing.
And he covers the metabolic theory of
mental health, specifically with regards
to mitochondrial health and optimal,
(21:36):
brain-energy metabolism impacting
our prefrontal cortex function.
Can you talk about the 'hidden in
plain sight' mental, metabolic
disorder of the brain showing the progressive
degeneration of the prefrontal cortex
that seems so rampant in our
culture today, and cover how
(21:57):
mitochondrial health is improved through
fasting, all leading to empowering
people to maintain their reasoning
abilities and make wiser
choices, despite increasing
global uncertainty."
Yeah, it's a really interesting book,
actually, because mental illness
increases, you see, whenever people
(22:19):
eat a more processed diet, and a
lot of it may be related to the
hyperinsulinemia. And what he's saying is
that it may related to the mitochondrial
health. So the mitochondria is the little
sort of power plants of the cell, and
what you want is to have a good metabolic
flexibility, that is be able to burn both
glucose and fat.
(22:40):
So if you never burn fat as a source of
energy, you're just taking refined
carbohydrates all day long, then
it never burns fat, so you don't have that
flexibility. And then the mitochondria,
their health goes down.
So during fasting, it also helps with
autophagy. There's a process called
mitophagy, which is sort of autophagy
of the mitochondria, where you sort of also
(23:02):
improve their health and increase this
flexibility by forcing them to burn fat,
right? So if you do fasting for longer, you
don't have any glucose, so then you're forced
to burn fat. And that increased flexibility
helps the mitochondria.
What he's saying is that the brain, all
these mental illnesses, including
schizophrenia and others, they're
all linked to this poor
(23:23):
mitochondrial health, so the brain is not
getting enough energy, and that's why you're
seeing all the symptoms.
And when they switched over to a sort of
ketogenic diet, by forcing them--
not forcing, but by providing them with a lot
of ketones and stuff, you're making them burn
ketones or you're giving them ketones to
burn, which becomes more efficient, and then
the mitochondria in the brain provide more
(23:43):
energy, so your brain gets more energy, and
then you don't get these symptoms.
So depression, schizophrenia, a lot these
things, of course, because you see that
over the last 50 years, they've actually
increased significantly in our society.
We try and treat it with antidepressants and
antipsychotics and all this sort of thing,
and he's saying that, well, that's not really
the underlying reason for that.
(24:04):
While they may help, they're not getting to
the underlying reason. And if you just change
the diet, you can actually improve
metabolic flexibility.
And it's a metabolic disease, just like
diabetes is, is what he's saying.
And he's actually had a lot of success with
it. And that's where it's super interesting
because it sort of changes the whole--
the way you look at these diseases,
(24:25):
because, rather than saying, with
schizophrenia or depression, "Oh, well,
that's just the way it is.
I just need to take my pills," then it gives
you another option to change your diet,
try and improve that metabolic flexibility,
improve the mitochondrial health, and
therefore improve the symptoms of this.
So it can actually apply to a
lot of different things, and, of course,
opens up all kinds of intriguing
(24:47):
possibilities for somebody to sort of
take control of their own health, in terms of
their mental illnesses and stuff.
It applies also to Alzheimer's disease,
which has been increasing.
Is there a possibility that changing the diet
could impact that?
That's certainly a strong possibility.
I mean, the data is obviously still
coming, you know, because there hasn't been a
(25:08):
lot of research into it, but
what's there is actually quite intriguing
because, if you're suffering from it, it's
just such a huge-- like,
you know, what's the risk?
Not a lot. I mean, if you follow a
low-carbohydrate diet, there's not a huge
risk with it, other than you might have
to change your lifestyle a bit, but, from a
risk standpoint there's not much, but, on
(25:29):
the other hand, the benefit standpoint could
be very massive.
So it's very interesting.
"What type of fasting protocol can be done
with someone who is considered to be a TOFI
and does not want to lose too much
weight?"
I think all of them could work.
It depends. I think people respond
differently to different-- so I think it's a
bit individual.
(25:50):
Fasting, I think is better than others
because, of course, when you're fasting,
the body wants to pull energy
out, right?
And the easiest place is going to be the
blood glucose. So that's why it's good for
diabetes. The second easiest place is to pull
it from the liver.
So the fat that's in the liver, you can pull
it out, so very good for fatty liver disease,
for example. And then the next easiest
(26:12):
is the fat around the abdomen, which is the
TOFI, right, thin on the outside, fat on the
inside. You just have a lot of
intra-abdominal fat, so it doesn't appear
fat, but you have this little pot belly
thing. And that's related to carbohydrates.
So low-carbohydrate diets work very
well and also fasting.
In terms of regimens, I think that's a bit
personal. I think cutting down the
(26:33):
carbohydrate. I think just fasting alone is
probably not the most efficient way, but
changing your diet to reduce the
carbohydrates is certainly one of the things
that I would do.
Some people do better with a longer fast with
that, or these sort of modified fasts,
where you're doing a longer fast but not a
full fast. You can do, for example,
a five-day fast with a little bit
(26:54):
of low-carbohydrate something just
to take a little bit of the stress off.
So if you don't want to lose that much
weight, then you can do this fast, but maybe
take a little bit of vegetables, or take a
little bit of something in between just so
that you're not losing so much weight.
So a modified fast may do very well.
But it's a bit personal in terms of how you
want to do it. I mean, you don't have to do a
long fast if you don't want to.
I think a low-carbohydrate diet will still
(27:16):
work very well for that.
Somebody also asked about spices
during the fast, which are fine.
We have a Quick Guide on Fasting Aids, and
Spices on Food.
"There's some conflicting research on how
keto and fasting affect T3
levels. So, for individuals
with low T3 production,
(27:37):
do you recommend a specific keto or
fasting approach?
And are there any important considerations?"
I think it's a little inconsistent.
So what we do see is some people who
have low thyroid, sometimes they actually do
better with fasting and so on.
That might be related to the
anti-inflammatory sort of-- there's a
lot of inflammation in the body which can
(27:58):
cause this Hashimoto's.
With some of the fasting, you can--
especially the longer fasting, it seems
to have beneficial effects on the
inflammation, and, by decreasing it,
sometimes people find that their thyroid gets
better. Other than that, I don't have a
specific-- there's not a lot of data on
fasting and thyroid levels,
but we've noticed it sort of anecdotally that
(28:20):
some people's hypothyroidism or low thyroid
does get better so that they actually don't
need to take quite as much.
But, you know, it doesn't affect it directly.
Some people do get a little bit lower thyroid
production if they do a lot of long fasts,
so you might want to stick to sort of shorter
ones if that becomes a problem for you.
But, yeah, there's not that much data on
(28:40):
that.
Thank you so much, Dr. Fung.
I will see you next month then, all
right?
Okay, thank you.
Take care. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.