Fasting days do not slow down your metabolism

by Brad Pilon, author
Eat Stop Eat

I'm back home after a whirlwind trip down to New York City to film
a spot on the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

From my experience this was a win. Not a giant win, but a small
significant one.

After all, the point of my appearance on that show wasn't to win
the approval of a dietitian and a medical doctor (It's not like
this was a scientific debate), and I fully expected them to be
skeptical....(after all, they got to hear a 30 second hyped up
montage, me talk for about 1 minute and then were asked to give an
opinion.)

Instead, my plan was to expose a large audience of people to a
style of eating that can help them lose weight, and to help them
understand that this method is incredibly simple and effective.

No supplements, no phases, no stress, no guilt, no unhealthy
obsession with 'eating clean', just a simple way to eat less while
enjoying the foods you eat.

Given the time I had, I think I did a fairly good job.

OK, so now lets get to the good stuff, here is the behind the
scenes info:

First, let's start with the evil dietitian and the mean medical
Doctor - They were actually both super nice, open minded women. I
kid you not! Off the air they were both very likable people.

And, Dr. London is no stranger to the weight room, that lady had
some muscle!

As for their on-air personalities and their concerns about Eat Stop
Eat, well we've all heard them before. "Your metabolism will slow
down and you will lose muscle."...nothing new here.

I knew this was what they were going to say, after all, I thought
the EXACT SAME THING before I went back to school.

And as I said before, my goal wasn't to convince these two people
that I was right and they were wrong...because you simply can't
change a person's way of thinking in only 30 seconds.

But just for the sake of argument and to show that I'm not just
cherry picking one random unnamed, unreferenced study here is

a snapshot of just a few of the papers that I review in Eat Stop Eat

that show that your metabolism does NOT slow down and that you

do NOT lose muscle::

* Carlson MG, Snead WL, Campbell PJ. Fuel and energy metabolism
in fasting humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 Jul;60(1):29-36.

* Halberg N, Henriksen M, Söderhamn N, Stallknecht B, Ploug T,
Schjerling P, Dela F. Effect of intermittent fasting and refeeding
on insulin action in healthy men. J Appl Physiol 2005; 99: 2128-2136

* Jensen MD, Ekberg K, Landau BR. Lipid metabolism during
fasting. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2001 Oct;281(4):E789-93.

* Johnstone AM, Faber P, Gibney ER, Elia M, Horgan G, Golden
BE, Stubbs RJ. Effect of an acute fast on energy compensation and
feeding behavior in lean men and women. Int J Obes Relat Metab
Disord. 2002 Dec;26(12):1623-8.

* Klein S, Sakurai Y, Romijn JA, Carroll RM. Progressive
alterations in lipid and glucose metabolism during short-term
fasting in young adult men. Am J Physiol. 1993 Nov;265(5 Pt
1):E801-6.

* Mittendorfer B, Horowitz JF, Klein S. Gender differences in
lipid and glucose kinetics during short-term fasting. Am J Physiol
Endocrinol Metab. 2001 Dec;281(6):E1333-9.

* Samra JS, Clark ML, Humphreys SM, Macdonald IA, Frayn KN.
Regulation of lipid metabolism in adipose tissue during early
starvation. Am J Physiol 1996;271:E541-E546

* Webber J, Macdonald IA. The cardiovascular, metabolic and
hormonal changes accompanying acute starvation in men and women. Br
J Nutr. 1994 Mar;71(3):437-47.

* Zauner C, Schneeweiss B, Kranz A, Madl C, Ratheiser K, Kramer
L, Roth E, Schneider B, Lenz K. Resting energy expenditure in
short-term starvation is increased as a result of an increase in
serum norepinephrine. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Jun;71(6):1511-5.

* Gjedsted J, Gormsen LC, Nielsen S, Schmitz O, Djurhuus CB,
Keiding S, Ørskov H, Tønnesen E, Møller N. Effects of a 3-day fast
on regional lipid and glucose metabolism in human skeletal muscle
and adipose tissue. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2007 Nov;191(3):205-16.

So even if they weren't taking the opposite view just for the
sake of good TV, I should point out that I certainly did not expect
either woman to be completely up to date on the literature in this
field.

I had to go back to school full time, spending almost two years
reviewing papers full-time just to get to the level of
understanding I currently have - and I am nowhere near the world's
leading expert on this topic.

Both these woman run extremely busy personal practices...it simply
wouldn't be fair to think they had time to review all of these
papers before we went on the air. (TV moves fast, I only found out
about this appearance on the Weekend, so I imagine both Kerri and
Dr. London only even heard about Eat Stop Eat on Sunday, maybe 24
hours before the show went live.)

So in the end, despite the fact that I was met with the same old
argument, it was a good experience and I met some great people.

I hope I exposed a lot of people to a style of eating that will
help them lose weight without asking them to become obsessive
compulsive about what they eat or by asking them to spend hundreds
of dollars a month on useless supplements or specialty foods.

The Morning show is run by a group of very nice, very professional
people, and if even one person who saw the show has success with
the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle then it was worth my time.


Sincerely,

Brad Pilon

Author, Eat Stop Eat

How Prebiotics Work

by Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Related articles: GO-diet I Functional Foods I Probiotics

Living in our intestines, are a number of species: some are friendly (e.g., bifidobacterium, eubacterium and lactobacillus); some are hostile (e.g., clostridium, shigella, and veillonella); and some might be deadly.
A prebiotic (not probiotic) is "a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host [you] by selectively stimulating the growth and/or the activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon." (Am Clin Nutrit, 2001; 73:406S-409S.)
A probiotic brings external friendly bacteria into the gut's ecosystem, while a prebiotic stimulates the growth the potentially health-promoting microbes-insiders, thus modulating the composition of the natural ecosystem.
Inulin
The best (and, some researchers believe, the only) example of a prebiotic is inulin. Inulin is a "non-digestible oligosaccharide," which simply means that it is a carbohydrate that can not be digested. It can be - and is being - fermented in the lower parts of the intestinal tract. As a result, the friendly intestinal microflora (bifidobacterium) grows better. (How we benefit from that friendly flora is another question and we'll discuss it next time; sign up to be notified.)
Inulin occurs naturally in large quantities in some of the most famous herbs, such as burdock root, dandelion root, elecampane root and chicory root. It is soluble only in hot water, which is why it traditionally been ingested in hot teas. It has a mildly sweet taste and is filling, but, because it is not absorbed, it does not affect blood-sugar levels.
The directly registered effects of the prebiotic inulin are -

• improved bowel functions mainly due to the increase of fecal bulk;
• improved bioavailability of minerals that, among other things, may contribute to a reduction in the risk of osteoporosis;
• improved fat metabolism: there is preliminary evidence of a triglyceride-reducing effect of inulin; and

• possible reduction of the risk of colon cancer. A "synbiotic" approach combining inulin and bifidobacteria was shown to be more effective than either the probiotic or the prebiotic alone.

Warning! Inulin can trigger an allergic reaction!
Sources:
J Nutr 1999;127(suppl):S1398-401
Annu Rev Nutr 1998;18:117-43
Am J Clin Nutr 2001;73:456S-8S
Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 73:459S -64
Br J Nutr 1999; 82:23-30
Carcinogenesis 1997; 18:1371-4

How to measure after-meal fullness or before-meal hunger

There are so called satiety scales helping to accurately esstimate how full people become after eating this or that food or meal.

Labelled Magnitude Satiety Scale

1 Greatest imaginable fullness
2 Least imaginable hunger
3 Bursting
4 Stuffed
5 Extremely full
6 Very full
7 Gorged
8 Surfeited
9 Moderately full
10 Extremely sated
11 Very sated
12 Very satisfied
13 Extremely satisfied
14 Extremely content
15 Satisfied
16 Slightly full
17 Very content
18 Moderately sated
19 Moderately satisfied
20 Moderately content
21 Slightly satisfied
22 Slightly sated
23 Slightly content
24 Semi-satisfied

Source: Cardello, A. V., Schutz, H. G., Lesher, L. L., & Merrill, E. (2005). Development and
testing of a labeled magnitude scale of perceived satiety. Appetite, 44(1),
1–13.

And here's are a couple of much simpler scale including 10 points for both satiety and hunger:

Hunger and Satiety Scale

0 - Ravenously hungry.
1 - Feel like ordering everything on the menu.
2 - Preoccupied with hunger, everything on the
menu looks good.
3 - Feel hungry and the urge to eat is strong.
4 - Feel a little hungry. Can wait to eat.
5 - Neutral, not hungry, not full.
6 - Sense food in your belly, could eat more.
7 - Hunger is gone. If you stop here, you may
not feel hungry for 3 to 4 hours.
8 - Not uncomfortable, definitely full belly.
9 - Moving into uncomfortable.
10 - Very uncomfortable, maybe even painful.

Source: Rockies and Univ. of Wyoming Coop. Extension Service, Family & Consumer Sciences.

Hunger/Satiety Scale
Developed by University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, 1998

1 = Famished, starving
2 = Headache, weak, cranky, low energy
3 = Want to eat now, stomach growls and feels empty
4 = Hungry - but could wait to eat, starting to feel empty but not there yet
5 = Not hungry, not full
6 = Feeling satisfied, stomach feels full and comfortable
7 = Feeling full, definitely don’t need more food
8 = Uncomfortably full
9 = Stuffed, very uncomfortable
10 = Bursting, painfully full

What fulness after a meal depends on?

One of the direction is studies into the so called satiety signals, which can decrease in the size of at meal. The most usual suspect was glucose: when its level drops in the time course after the previous meal, this drop is 'felt' by sensor cells in the brain resulting in sensations of hunger. (Ann NY Acad Sci 63: 14–42, 1955.)

Another candidate to satiety signals is one of ketone bodies (produced in the liver from body fat during fasting,even the overnight one,exercise, stress, or on a low carb diets. This ketone body is called beta-hydroxybutyrate and it reduced food intake after intra-venuos injection before meal. (Nutrition. 1999;15:704-714).

The meal used consisted of 250 g cooked vegetables, 35 g cheese, 50 g croutons and 25 g olive oil but for one group of volunteers, the meal was vegetable pieces in the broth they cooked in while for another group, the vegetables were homogenized, also with the broth, in a blender. The meal was significantly more satiating when in the homogenized form than when eaten in a solid–liquid state. It corresponded to longer time the food remained in the stomach and with higher levels of the "satiety hormone" cholecystokinin. (British Journal of Nutrition (1998), 80, 521–527)

Protein has been observed to increase satiety to a greater extent than carbohydrate and fat and can therefore reduce energy intake. Sleeping metabolic rate was significantly higher on a high-protein diet than the same-calorie, lower protein diet. Most importantly, the high protein diet resulted in increased use of body fat to cover the increased metabolic rate. Hunger sensation was higher especially during the evening and satiety was the higher the higher protein content of the diet. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 1, 89-94, 2006)

Glycaemic and insulin responses to carbohydrate foods are inversely proportional to the CCK response and satiety (Appetite. 1992 Apr; 18(2): 129-41)