Re: Fasting Safety

[Guest guest]

thought you'd enjoy this from someone who is fairly knowledgeable in

diabetes, I found it very interesting

> I have been considering a short fast, probably 24 to 36 hours. Don't get

> me wrong, I'm not looking for weight loss. What I hope will happen is

> that my stomach will shrink and I'll be able to return to my grazing

> style of eating. For some reason, I have been eating larger quantities

> of food at one sitting for the last few months. I'm not consuming any

> more food over all, but the larger amounts at one time are much harder

> on my glucose readings. I love carbs, and spreading them out over the

> day is much easier for me.

>

> I am on no medications other than insulin at this time. Other than

> diabetes my only health issue is that I leak some protein from my

> kidneys. Not enough to be concerned with at this point, but enough to

> warrant watching.

>

> My question is this; does anyone know if a short fast would be damaging

> to my health? My most pressing concern is if it could be harmful to my

> kidneys. I have fasted a few times in my life, but not since I was

> diagnosed at age 24, which was about seven years ago. For the record, I

> seem to not only be insulin resistant but insulin deficient as well. At

> least this is what my last doctor said.

>

> I would appreciate any information you have on this issue. Thanks guys!

>

answer:

I'd thought someone would have answered this since this morning. Since

it still wants an answer, I 'll take a go.

My opinion: probably a bad idea.

For one thing, stomachs don't " shrink. " That's a myth. Actually, what

I'm saying is that stomachs are very elastic and will stretch or contract at

the drop of a hat. Fasting doesn't make them better. I've fasted myself

(for weight loss years ago) and I know you feel something going on inside

you, but it's not your stomach shrinking.

Feelings of hunger seem located in the stomach area, but it's all an

illusion. The part of our tummy most people poke when they talk about their

stomach is really our intestines. The actual stomach-organ is higher up

nearer the heart. Worse, it's not the stomach that's causing hunger, it's

really a center in the brain sending out nerve impulses. So a shrinking

stomach isn't what's making us hungry.

(I have an analogy for this: it's a lot like a computer monitor's

screen. the screen is a user interface. It's just a way for us to

communicate to the computer and for it to communicate back to us. What you

see on the screen really isn't what's going on in the computer. What's

really going on inside the computer is electrons, memory locations, and

binary logic. But the screen makes sense to us. Many physical sensations

are like that. The body needs a way of telling our consciousness it needs

fuel, so it makes that funny feeling in our stomach. When we feel that, we

know to go hunting for food. It's just a user interface.)

I've generally heard fasting is bad for diabetics. Your insulin/glucose

system is out of kilter anyway. It's not self-regulating well anymore. To

deliberately strip your liver of it's glucose supplies while manually trying

to estimate your insulin needs is bad business. Best for us not to tinker

with an out of kilter system. Gets unpredictable.

Alternative? Try shifting to grazing via a less drastic measure.

>>

carol