Intermittent Fasting

leggo

Hoping that somebody who practices this can answer a quick question for me. As I sit here drinking my umpteenth glass of water (I cheat a little with citrus slices), I'm wondering if fasting would still be beneficial if I sometimes substitute herbal tea? The internet is all over the place on this one, so I'm hoping somebody here had thoughts one way or the other. If you think it's ok, any restrictions on the kind of tea?

letranger

I use teas, store bought and homemade concoctions. How long are your fasts? I did them for 24-28 hours. Then broke fast with small, low-caloric, foods over a short window of 3 hours. I stayed away from sugar and carbs and just felt better overall. I kinda make up my own way. There are so many ways to do it.

LisaAlissa

Which version of intermittent fasting are you doing? How long does each fast last, and how long between fasts?

Are you abstaining from food completely during the fast periods? or just cutting calories way, way down?

Variety is the spice of life (and all that) but I've never seen so much "positivity" over such an amazing amount of variation in the details...I ask because I'm going to give it another try...but still working out what I'm going to try!

LisaAlissa

leggo

Thanks Letranger. I think I'm going to add some herbal teas if it's working out for you.

To answer your questions Lisa, I do a 3 day every 3-6 months, depending on how I feel. I have been doing it for about 7 years. Carbonated water with citrus slices only up until now. After the fast, I do a day of vegetable broth and teas, then slowly add solids on the fifth day.

Good luck to you when you give it another shot!

gemini4

I've only done raw juice fasts (both times at a supervised retreat at an ashram) ... Seems that "fast" is a broad term! ;-)

Herbal teas were allowed; specifically there was some horrible-tasting "twig tea" always available.

I'm no expert, but if it eases the ride for you to drink herbal tea, I say go for it. There are zero calories in herbal teas. I think it's important to listen to what you might need during a fast. For example, the second time I did the juice fast, I felt a strong urge to have a banana. Technically I was breaking the rule with a solid food, but I was having a horrible headache and generally felt awful. I ate a banana or two, and it turned things around so that I could get through the rest of the week. (These were five days of raw juice and vegetable broth.

leggo

Thank you Gemini. I appreciate that info. Makes me feel tons better about adding it into the mix.

pipers_dream

I did a 21 day fast last June and I drank herbal tea sometimes--holistic doc said I could even have broth if I needed it but I kept that to a minimum. The herbal tea didn't ease the discomfort of the fast but it did give me a little something to look forward to. I used no sugar and just the teeniest bit of stevia. The fast helped me quite a lot as it threw me into menopause, which was late at 56, and I haven't had my period since. I think that's because I've had fibroids for years and a fast is supposed to help that and women with fibroids tend to go late into menopause.

bevin

HI there, You may want to check out Dr Mercola's website- mercola.com. He recommends intermittent fasting on a daily basis. So you eat between 11;:00 a.,.m. and 7pm, but fast between those hours. It is very interesting to see the benefits it brings.

Hernie

leggo

Piper, thanks for the info, btw. Bevin, thanks for that info as well. No way could I do a daily fast.....I'm a food grazer but I appreciate the post.

glennie19

I've had difficulty doing a fast for more than a day, but the daily intermittent fasting, I find to be doable. I read about it for the first time on Nerd Fitness. He writes a great blog on fitness and eating, if you all are interested.

kayb: I have blood sugar issues too. I now know that if I indulge in a piece of cake, for instance, I'll feel really crappy for the rest of the day. So I'm really watching what I eat, and trying to stick with a Paleo/Primal type of diet as that seems to work best for me. And limit my eating from 9am to 7pm-ish. It is the snacking that is hard to cut out! I sit down at the computer to work,, I work at home for 8 straight hours on the computer,, and I JUST WANT TO EAT!! So I'm working on that,,,,

leggo

Thanks Kayb and Glennie for that info. I never used to be a grazer, but that seemed to come with the territory when I developed liver mets. Eating became a chore instead of a pleasure. They've been stable, but the grazing habit was hard to break, especially when trying to keep weight on. I keep pretty good track of my blood sugar (thank goodness no diabetes or pre so far) and hopefully, the metformin will take care of my bad habits. I did find that if I took metformin on the fasting days, I felt absolutely horrible, so it's doing something....just don't know what. I was quite concerned about stopping/ starting the metformin for fasts, but as the onc pointed out, I have to stop it for scans anyways, so I try to make sure the two coincide. Feels like a full time job sometimes, this cancer crap. Hey, whatever works to keep us breathing another day, right?

letranger

I saw josalive post and sent her a PM. I believe she was genuine, too. I like to mix up my treatment, too- hybrid treatment plan is what I call it. Some of us are not NED and are willing to try lots of things to get as close as possible to it.

leggo

Thanks for doing that Letranger. Hopefully, she feels better and contunues to post. It was a very helpful post, wish I'd have made a copy.

Hybrid treatment plan. That term is genius!

glennie19

Good point on stopping the metformin if you are fasting. You should be taking it with food, that is the recommendation. As ONC says,, you stop for scans, so it makes sense to stop for fasting too. Do not beat yourself up for being a grazer,, when eating is a chore,, you do what you gotta do. And it freakin' is a full time job. Booooo.

leggo

Thanks Glennie. Not beating myself up per say, just wishing I could eat like a normal person. I very much dislike that rail-thin cancer look and if eating like a bovine gets me passed it.....yay!

letranger

This was Josalive post on the BRAIN METS SISTERS thread. I came through to my email:

Topic:

Brain Mets Sisters by K-Lo

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/...

Post by josalive:

Hi everyone - I'm not sure how I ran across this blog but reading it made me think of some of you. Thought I'd pass it along in case it interests you. The author has stage IV her2+ breast cancer with brain and leptomeningeal mets and has done really well with her treatment choices. http://whatididanddoandwhy.com/about-kaiulani/

And her second one:

Topic:

Brain Mets Sisters by K-Lo

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/...

Post by josalive:

split-bean -sorry... I honestly thought it might have been helpful as I was reading through it. Sorry if it felt unauthentic or irrelevant.

So if anyone wants to review the website, there it is , to decide for yourself if it is helpful.

leggo

Letranger, you're a gem. So glad you kept it.

glennie19

kayb: I'm not strictly Paleo,, I do have rice sometimes (SUSHI!!) and legumes,,, I guess really I should describe my diet as low -carb, low glycemic index?? But I get a lot of recipes from Paleo sites. Like I just made a turkey chili from a Paleo site,, it has no beans in it,, but I decided to add a can of black beans anyway. It doesn't do bad things to my blood sugar the way bread and pasta and "white food" do. When I've been off sugar for a while,, and then indulge,, I feel like I can't stop eating it. I go a little bonkers! (DO NOT put jelly beans in front of me!) Does anyone else have that problem?

Thanks for those links,, I'll check those out too.

Lookforward

hi everyone

This is my first post on this thread. I have been having unrelenting diarrhea every time I eat for the past month. I believe it started from a stomach bug. I have had gi issues from chemo and I am wondering if intermittent fasting would help.

HappyHammer

Lookforward...I agree about asking the doc....but, also found probiotics SO very helpful with all of the chemo related issues....was on THPC and due to the Perjeta- had the big D constantly. The probiotic tablet really did help get things in check.

Lookforward

Kayb and HappyHammer

Thank you for the suggestions, I never thought of a bacterial infection and probiotics sound like a good idea. I live in Canada and once we are finished treatment you go back to your PC, so I will be calling him.

leggo

Thought I'd report back. Sooooo much more pleasant once I added a variety of teas to the mix! Worked great and didn't notice a difference. Thanks for the good advice all!