Dr. Jason Fung sits down with Mikhaila to discuss fasting and its benefits. They delve into the health benefits of skipping breakfast, fasting for weight loss, fasting for people with a low-body fat percentage, the importance of salt intake during a fast, and fasting while sick. They also delve into IGA Nephritis and removing dietary lectins.
Dr. Jason Fung is a Canadian Nephrologist (Kidney Specialist). He’s a world-leading expert on intermittent fasting and low carb, especially for treating people with type 2 diabetes. He has written three best-selling health books and he co-founded the Intensive Dietary Management program.
- Show Notes:
- [2:30] Dr. Fung is a nephrologist out of Toronto, who became more interested in nutrition during the last ten years spike in obesity and kidney disease.
- [4:00] “The whole idea of ‘a calorie is a calorie’ is pretty much wrong…” the body gains fat based on hormonal signaling, which comes from food
- [6:00] Fasting had a bad wrap until very recently, but Dr. Fung had great success in using it to treat kidney disease
- [7:00] Dr. Fung’s books The Obesity Code and The Diabetes Code discuss weight loss weight gain in type two diabetes. And the Complete Guide to Fasting, a how-to manual for implementing fasting.
- [8:30] Propensity towards obesity is about 70% genetic, meaning the type of diet that is most beneficial is highly individualized. No two people get the same results from a diet because of genetic predisposition.
- [11:30] Dr. Fung switches up his own fasting routine but favors a 16-8 because of a personal preference for skipping breakfast.
- [14:30] For fasting to facilitate weight loss (30 lbs or more) it’s important that the type of fast can be maintained from a social perspective. Lifestyle and social interaction need to be accounted for. 16-8’s tend to fit in smoothly with day-to-life. Longer fasts are fine-once in a while.
- [17:30] Dr. Fung defines fasting as a combination of the length of time and what is allowed during the fasting period. What really matters, more than what is allowed or not allowed, is if you are seeing the results you want.
- [21:30] Benefits of salt for fasting
- [23:30] Age-appropriate fasting
- [27:30] Fasting for individuals with low body fat
- [29:30] Fasting does not slow the metabolism. Metabolic rate goes down with high insulin. Maintaining high insulin blocks the body’s access to body fat stores. Fasting changes the body’s hormonal signaling, giving access to body fat stores.
- [36:30] Routine exercise is a relatively new idea
- [37:30] Conventional diets, like the six-meal-a-day-mostly-carbs from the 1960s, have not yielded positive results for 99% of the population, so it’s time to start questioning conventional dieting wisdom. Every generation finds a new thing to blame for lifestyle decline that often has nothing to do with diet and nutrition.
- [40:30] When fasting, your body still needs glucose but it is able to consume Ketones for most energy use. Typically your blood glucose levels will lower into the low-end of the acceptable range and then stop.
- [42:30] Your body is much more capable of adapting to your environment than most people expect
- [43:30] Fasting during either Viral or Bacterial infection
- [48:00] IGA Nephritis, potentially treated by a gluten-free diet
- [52:00] Dr. Gundry’s book on removing lectins
- [54:30] “People’s bodies aren’t just innately screwing up. I was told for so many years there was a genetic component, and I just got unlucky. We did not evolve for so many years to attack our own joints”
- [56:00] People are typically ready and willing to try a new medication aka immune suppressant, but are terrified to try a new diet for a month!