A thank-you email from a neighbor and friend included a link
to a 2018 Cleveland Clinic’s Heart and
Vascular News article, “How
Fasting Affects Your Heart.” The subtitle is, “A Cardiologist’s Perspective
on Pros and Cons of Fasting.” The Cleveland Clinic is “mainstream medicine,”
thus way behind the curve on nutrition,
especially saturated fat, but the article makes some excellent
points about the benefits of Intermittent Fasting.
Quoting from the article: “Cardiologist Haitham Ahmed, MD,
sees many advantages in fasting from food for short periods, and given the
promising findings in this ‘emerging area’ of research, he expects that more
people will want to try it. Though it depends on what you’re hoping to accomplish
(it’s not safe for everyone), it’s beneficial to limit your food intake, in
general. He says, ‘By every measure,
eating less is better.’”
The first
sub-heading in the article, “CAN EATING LESS STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART?” begins,
“Research shows that fasting can lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, control
diabetes and reduce weight. Dr. Ahmed says, ‘Four of the major risk factors for
heart disease are high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and weight, so
there’s a secondary impact. If we reduce those, we can reduce the risk of heart
disease.’”
Well, I’d call that an endorsement
of fasting. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse managed by fasting. Alas, “One word of caution, though,” Dr. Ahmed
says. “Fasting can lead to an electrolyte imbalance. This can make the heart
unstable and prone to arrhythmias. So, whenever we prescribe a protein-sparing
modified fast, we do blood tests…and prescribe potassium supplementation to
prevent electrolyte imbalance from occurring.’”
The fasting community generally agrees. Electrolyte balance
is a good cautionary note. I take supplemental potassium (99mg). I also take
magnesium (500mg) daily. And I add salt to almost everything I eat, and my Electrolyte
Panel, a blood test ordered by my doctor once a year, is always great, with
everything in mid-range.
The “protein-sparing modified fast” Dr. Ahmed described is a
Very Low Carb (VLC), moderate protein diet with just enough dietary fat to allow the body to burn body fat to provide whatever
energy is needed for homeostasis (energy balance). The body has a reduced need
for glucose from dietary carbohydrates
on VLC because it makes the glucose it needs from the glycerol molecule from
fat breakdown and via gluconeogenesis from proteins not needed and stored as
amino acids in the liver, thus “sparing” the breakdown of muscle protein for
glucose. The liver also makes ketones,
which the brain loves, from the breakdown of dietary and body fat.
The Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Ahmed continues, “Is fasting a
good way to lose weight? Although it offers health benefits – including reduced
heart disease and weight loss – it’s not really the best way to lose weight. While
fasting helps you drop pounds quickly, it doesn’t help you stay in shape.” What?!!!
Okay, then add exercise! Remember, though: exercise definitely has
cardiovascular and many other health benefits, but weight loss is not among
them.
The Cleveland Clinic then says, “The only time we really
recommend fasting for weight [loss] is if someone needs rapid weight loss, for
instance, for surgery.” So, are they saying it’s okay for fat people to
otherwise be fat, until it makes surgery riskier and therefore inadvisable for
the patient (and the surgeon)? Geez….
The rest of the Cleveland Clinic article is garbage, with
advice to eat a “healthy diet” of “low-fat yogurt” and high-carb foods like “dates,”
“dried fruit,” “chick peas” and “peanut butter” before and after attempting a
fasting diet.
My summation: Cleveland Clinic concludes that fasting is a
“healthy diet” for the overweight and obese for the four benefits they
acknowledge – that it “can lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, control
diabetes and reduce weight,” and thus, “reduce the risk of heart disease.”
Given that, I would double down; I would say that fasting is THE optimal lifestyle
for the ENTIRE population. Watch this video of the
Diet Doctor’s Andreas Eenfeldt interviewing Dominic
D'Agostino. In it, D’Agostino, a leading researcher in ketogenic
metabolism, says he follows a “ketogenic
intermittent fasting diet” about 95% of the time.
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