Edward Abramson's Blog

If you’ve been trying to lose weight have you tried intermittent fasting? Several bestsellers have touted fasting strategies to “lose weight effortlessly,” “supercharge fat loss,” “reset your metabolism,” and so on. Is it all hype or could there be any special benefit from fasting? Is fasting any better than just cutting calories?

A new review offers preliminary answers. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago looked at 21 outcome studies of the three types of intermittent fasting: 

Alternate Day Fasting: a fast day when you consume fewer (0-500) calories followed by a day when you can eat whatever you want5:2 Diet: on two fast days you consume 500-1000 calories while on the other five days you’re free to eat normallyTime-Restricted Eating: although the specifics vary, the general idea is that you only eat during a 4- to 8-hour period. You’re limited to water or non-caloric beverages (but not artificially sweetened beverages) the rest of the day

The results were mostly favorable; fasting resulted in mild weight loss, usually between 3 to 8 percent over the course of the 8- to 12-week programs. Another positive finding is that there was little evidence that fasting caused people to feel weak or have difficulty concentrating although some headaches were reported during the first two weeks of fasting. Most of the studies lasted for less than 12 weeks; the long-term effects of fasting are unknown.

Comparing the different strategies, Time Restricted Eating was the least effective with reported weight loss of 3 to 4 percent. Also, both the Alternate Day Fasting and 5:2 Diet produced significant visceral fat loss but Time Restricted Eating didn’t. 

Although it results in mild weight loss it doesn’t seem to be any “magic” to fasting. The research suggests that weight loss from intermittent fasting comes from reducing total caloric intake. On fast days, fewer calories were consumed while there didn’t seem to be increased consumption on non-fast days. Likewise, there were no differences in usual food choices on non-fast days. 

The researchers don’t recommend intermittent fasting for children aged 12 or younger and for people with a history of eating disorders. They recommend caution for adolescents, people over age 70, or with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. If you’re not in one of these groups and you want to lose weight, should you try intermittent fasting? 

My interpretation is that for some folks, the structure of an intermittent fast might be easier to implement compared with the usual diet that requires you to give up specific foods or count calories. You shouldn’t expect to “lose weight effortlessly” or “reset your metabolism,” but if you’re tired of restricting your food choices or counting calories it might be worth a try.

References

Varady, K.A. et al. (2022). Clinical application of intermittent fasting for weight loss: progress and future directions. Nature Reviews Endonchronology, 18, 309-321.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” according to William Shakespeare but what about a snack? Would a snack by any other name have as many calories? Recent research suggests that the name given to an eating episode can affect the amount consumed.

When you think about a snack, what comes to mind? Maybe a snack is a quick bite, some food that you can eat while you’re standing up or on-the-go. Now, think about having a meal instead of a snack. When you’re having a meal you’ll probably spend more time eating and, most likely, you’ll be sitting down and using plates, knives, forks and spoons. 

Psychologists at the University of Sussex in England studied the effects of the label “snack” versus “meal” on actual food consumption. Eighty female participants were given pasta which was labelled as either a ‘snack’ or a ‘meal.’ Whatever the portions of pasta were called, they could eat as much as they wanted. But if it was a “snack” they ate the pasta from a container while they were standing up. In contrast, if it was called a “meal” they were seated at a table and ate it on a plate using utensils. 

After both groups of participants finished their pasta they took a “taste test.” They were given chocolates and asked to rate the chocolate on a variety of dimensions. The researchers weren’t interested the ratings; they were just measuring the amount of chocolate consumed after the participants had their pasta “snack” or pasta “meal.” The results showed that participants who had pasta labeled as a “snack” ate more chocolate and consumed more calories compared with participants who had the pasta “meal.”

Since all participants had the same pasta and could eat as much as they wanted, the only differences were how the pasta was labeled and presented. The findings suggest that, when you eat something that you consider a “snack” subjectively it doesn’t register that you’ve had a significant amount of food. Later, when you have the next opportunity to eat, you may not adjust your eating to account for the “snack.” 

Over the past 30 years the average number of snacks per day has doubled and about 90 percent of us are snacking daily. Instead of grabbing a snack and eating it out of the container if we took the same food and sat down and ate it as though it was a mini-meal we might eat less at the next meal. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but calling it a mini-meal instead of a snack might

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...

Here’s a helpful article from iVillage that has 10 tips for parents to prevent their daughters from developing an eating disorder: http://www.ivillage.com/dying-be-thin...

I’m back. I had an accident on my motorcycle – the first in 20+ years riding. It wasn’t my fault but that didn’t make the injury or subsequent surgery less painful. Now I can type so it’s back to work on It’s NOT Just Baby Fat.

We’ve been reading about the risks associated with childhood obesity. Michele Obama’s efforts to tackle the problem have focused attention school age kids but efforts to combat childhood obesity may need to start earlier. Some recent research suggests that events early in life or during pregnancy can set the stage for later obesity. Currently 10% of children under age 2 are overweight.

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy typically give birth to small babies yet these infants are more likely to become obese later. It’s not clear if this is related to socioeconomic status (both smoking and being overweight are more common among poor and less well educated folks) or if there is an underlying physiological cause. Also, lack of sleep is associated with obesity in kids and adults (more about that in a future post), but the same may be true for babies. The risk for later obesity is greater when a baby sleeps less than 12 hours. Early experiences can also be protective. For example, breast-feeding lowers the risk of later obesity. If future research can identify the risks during pregnancy and the first months of life it may be possible to prevent obesity in childhood and later life.

When adults want to lose weight what do they do? Usually they go on a diet. They get the latest diet book, read an article about dieting in a magazine, or join a dieting program. When those same adults are concerned about their kid’s weight the natural tendency is to put the child on a diet too. This is a big mistake. Several studies following teenage girls over several years found that dieters gained more weight than equally heavy girls who didn’t go on a diet.

Stop for a moment and consider what it would be like to be a kid on a diet. You are in the school cafeteria. All your friends are having pizza, what are you going to do? On the way home they stop at 7-11 and have a Slurpee. Pizza and Slurpees aren’t on your diet. If you stick to the diet you’ll feel left out, your friends might tease you, and you feel that it’s not fair. Your cravings for the pizza, Slurpee or any forbidden food increases. Sooner or later you’re going to give in, and if the cravings are strong enough, you might binge and get the supersized Slurpee. Now, how do you feel? Guilty and maybe ashamed; you’re certainly not going to tell your parents.

As this process continues the parents become increasingly frustrated because their child is not losing weight while the child becomes more secretive about eating. No one is happy and the child is gaining weight. It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead, banish the word diet from your vocabulary. Whenever you discuss weight and eating with your child, focus on healthy eating rather than dieting, losing weight, or being overweight. In future blog postings I’ll have some practical tips for encouraging healthy eating and my forthcoming book, It’s NOT Just Baby Fat will describe a complete program for preventing childhood obesity.