THE 8 HOUR DIET

[sunday]

Cindy, I started PHD in Jan and the reason that the 16 hour fast is working so well according to Jaminet is that it correlates with our natural circadian rhythm. I agree, because have you ever noticed if you eat a late night meal that sleep is restless? My daughter worked the graveyard shift in NeoNatal IC and when her cirdadian rhythm went wonky, she gained about 20 lbs. She wasn't doing anything differently except eating her large meal at 9:00 pm and then heading to work.

From book Perfect Health, by Dr. Jaminet~

In the hypothyroidism post, I suggested the following tactics for improving circadian rhythms:

Light entrainment: Get daytime sun exposure, and sleep in a totally darkened room.
Daytime feeding: Eat during daylight hours, so that food rhythms and light rhythms are in synch.
Intermittent fasting: Concentrate food intake during an 8-hour window during daylight hours, preferably the afternoon. A 16-hour fast leading to lower blood sugar and insulin levels, and the more intense hormonal response to food that results from concentration of daily calories into a short 8-hour time window, will accentuate the diurnal rhythm.
Adequate carb intake: Eat at least 400 “safe starch” carbohydrate calories daily during the afternoon feeding window. Relative to a very low-carb diet, this will increase daytime insulin release and, by increasing insulin sensitivity, may reduce fasting insulin levels. It will thus enhance diurnal insulin rhythm.

[scalestepper]

Hi to all,

I hope you don't mind if subscribe. I'm doing 5:2, coming off Atkins for 6 months and I am soaking up all this info like a sponge.

Awesome info, thank you!

[Seabreezes]

Thanks again, Sunday, for all you post.

I can't believe how easily I am maintaining my JUDDD losses by now doing the 8 hour eating window. I'm doing a bit of 5:2 in there, but not all the time as there seems to be a lot of eating out at the moment. Monday will be the next down or lessor day and that is fine.

Being able to eat potatoes and some other starches and not feel guilty after years of low carb is the best gift ever! Between being hit by a car last May and having undergone 7 surgeries, I feel great. I still have a long way to go therapy wise, but being in much smaller clothes makes my day! People can't believe how I look considering all I have been through and I am in the over 70 group!

YAY for intermittent fasting....my body seems to really like it!

[Mholbrooks]

To those that are doing this are you sticking to a certain calorie amount?

[sunday]

I am not but I only eat 2 meals per day, so my high cals are very rarely at 1500. Most of the time a bit less. Since I eat PHD foods, the nutrition is the main thing, I have to concern myself in eating the proper nutrition and the cals are really not important.

Seabreeze, I am so glad this is working for you! Please keep updating.

[route66]

I'm onboard with Seabreezes - I am maintaining JUDD loss with a combo of 8 hour window and 5:2 (or 6:1) - it's very flexible. I log food a few times a week to make sure I am in the ballpark, but mostly stick to 1 meal, 2 meals or 3 meals a day - that gives me a rough range of 500-800, 1000-1500 or 1500-2000+ cals...seems to be working for me.

[Seabreezes]

I just find it so interesting that I am not hungry in the morning and can go until noon quite easily without solid food. I. Enjoy a cup of coffee with almond milk and some DaVinci sweetener with some fiber in it like Benefiber.

My meals are not huge when I do eat. I often have a small homemade chocolate chip cookie just before 8 PM and that is my treat. I had one very low cal day this past week.

We do go out for breakfast every Sunday, but not until later in the morning. That day gets a bit off. We leave tomorrow for the mainland for a couple of weeks, so eating up what is in the frig today - known as "Mustgoes"

It is a bit more challenging to follow different eating plans when we travel and I haven't been away since I started this, so will see how it goes.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

[silkandsand]

I'm interested in doing this so I am subscribing to this thread but plan on doing a coconut oil detoxifying fast first.

[Beeb]

Just wondering how everyone is doing with this WOE?

[route66]

I'm not following this WOE to a T, but I have moved from general JUDD/cal counting to eating in a window (1-8 hours) most days and it is going great. When I am finished with my last meal of the day, I note the time and then 16 hours later is more or less when I break the fast. I eat 1, 2 or 3 meals in my window depending on my schedule. I decided on this for maintenance, so anything under 145 pounds is now considered gravy. My low from last week was 141.0, so I am pleased as can be. Thanks for asking!

[corgimom]

I started this today. I did well on low carb, but want more flexibility and to lose 7 pounds that found me. I'm happy I found a thread as I just discovered this take on intermittent fasting today. I'll do my best to pop in most days to update how it is working for me. I'm hoping I kick up the metabolism, because I think my gain is from a slow down due to being smoke free for almost 5 months, plus the menopause thing.

[route66]

Good for you, corgimom! I think this WOE has great flexibility. You may find this thread a little slow...check out some of the others as well including the general IF thread. Lots of folks there doing an eating window but not necessarily this particular diet.

[sunday]

Everyone that is following Perfect Health plan is doing this 8 hour window as well. I am loving the daily fast and find it has helped me to identify some of my past bad behaviors that resulted from mindless eating later in the evening. I don't eat extra wasted cals with 16 hour fasting and I don't miss it!

Have any of you noticed better sleep since moving to the 8 hour plan?

[corgimom]

Originally Posted by route66

Good for you, corgimom! I think this WOE has great flexibility. You may find this thread a little slow...check out some of the others as well including the general IF thread. Lots of folks there doing an eating window but not necessarily this particular diet.

Thanks, I will check it out!

[Filly]

I have been going back and forth with IF for a little while. I recently read about this plan. I have no fear of hunger or being hungry. I welcome it. My fear is cravings. When they hit I don't know how to resist them. Of course they usually come when I have already eaten.

[corgimom]

While I had an initial weight gain, which was depressing considering the amount of walking we worked into our weekend activities, I decided to just keep at it and trust that it would work. This morning, after having slept through the night for the first time in ages, I awoke minus that initial weight gain.

I got up, dressed and out the door for a short walk to get that 8 minutes of morning exercise. I feel really terrific for the first time in ages too.

I hope everyone has a great day!

[sunday]

Originally Posted by Filly

I have been going back and forth with IF for a little while. I recently read about this plan. I have no fear of hunger or being hungry. I welcome it. My fear is cravings. When they hit I don't know how to resist them. Of course they usually come when I have already eaten.

Most of the time cravings are usually because we are missing something in our nutrition. Depletion of important nutrients have caused me some rather strong cravings. It wasn't long ago, that I went on a walnut & raw pumpkin seed binge every night for a period and when I began researching, realized I had not been getting enough magnesium or zinc. My body was yearning for this relatively simple nutrition and alerting me. I just wasn't paying attention!

Unless you are craving sugar. If it is sugar, then it could be a sign that you are ill. Our bodies are not designed to take such a sugar overload, and this sugar overload is contributing to many modern ills, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The problem is that sugar is highly addictive. Researchers at Yale University revealed that dramatic falls in blood sugar, which occur after eating ‘bad’ carbs such as sweets and bread, affect the part of the brain controlling impulse.

Jenny Ruhl does a great job in addressing this in "Blood Sugar 101". Also, Julia Ross has a book called "The Diet Cure" which addresses the reason we have very strong cravings and it is an excellent resource.

Great job Corgimom! I hope you keep updating us. I am now on my 4th month of 8 hours and found that I can stay in a 6-7 hour window rather easily.

[robbelkk]

hi! i'm interested in this thread and happy i came across it. i'm dabbling in the IF world because i binge eat and working on NK WOE and doing pretty well over-all. i do believe that i binge for reasons that include bad habits and just giving in to not wanting to think about not binge eating! so, i am finding that for a few days IF works then i find an excuse to stuff my face at night and undo the lbs lost from NK...I've lost a good 90 lbs and have hit the 100 lbs mark but keep getting there then bouncing back up so do feel like i'm still trying to find the WOE that works best. i enjoy LC/HF/mod prot WOE so NK with 85% fat is making me satiated and happy but still find ways to sabotage myself and i truly think it's just for comfort and bad habit. I started eating a bit after 8a today and now it's a bit after 4p so just now finishing my last "meal" for the day. will continue to follow this thread as i enjoy reading other's success post and about new WOE period (new to me). just discovered CAD last night by browsing this forum and it scares me a bit because i like to eat uncontrollably so doubt that WOE would work for me but still find it super interesting. anyway, just wanted to say hi and stalk the thread

[JMBM]

I'm combining a window with 4:3. So far so good. Tomorrow is my second DD so hopefully it will go well. Will have a small something probably around 6 pm.

[sunday]

Still enjoying the window! I am 10-6 and very happy to stay here. I will bend it once in a while on the weekends to include dinner out, but that is rare. I think the nice part is that it doesn't mess with my work or day schedule, so I love that.