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I have known for a while that many people in western countries have eaten themselves sick, both by the amount and substance of what we are eating. Sugar is in everything (especially so in the US from what I have read) and the 'three meals a day' rule, along with the saying that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!", is just bullshit. Personally, I always hated when my mom forced breakfast on us as a kid. I had just woken up! A conspiracy of Big Cereal no doubt (not even joking here).
But it took another while to truly internalize this and making a change myself. I got a sweet tooth. I admit it. But it's not that I don't have good habits: I am moderately active and can easily run a 10k or even a marathon if given a few weeks to prepare and I am on my feet at work (although it is not further physically demanding that that), I do some light martial arts too. So there's already momentum towards improvement.
However, to be truly healthy I need to get my eating under control. Firstly, I don't eat as much anymore. I fast quite regularly nowadays. Mostly a day out of the week at the beginning of the week, as of writing I have tried to stretch the fast and I am seventy hours into one (only drinking water and/or juice). It's very counterintuitive because we learn that we need to eat constantly to feel energized, but it is almost frightening how much energy you have after not eating for 'merely' a whole day. The tiredness do come eventually. I can feel it in me now, for example.
I would like to know from the more fitness-oriented, the health-nuts and the culinary inclined on what I should break my fast with? I'm thinking a thick chicken soup with boiled broccoli and some light garlic bread. I aim to drink mostly water, from now on, but when not then freshly pressed orange juice and milk. Soda I have promised to cut entirely, with the exception of parties. Thought about also drinking raw eggs, but have yet to try it out. Any other meals I can prepare so that it doesn't get too monotone (preferably I would also still like to eat other meats than chicken)? Perhaps there's a good YouTube channel to follow?
Am I on the right track towards healthy dining at all, or am I going wrong somewhere?
I am exceptionally lazy about breakfast, beyond my typical laziness about food. So I usually just wolf down some yogurt. I do it for the sake of weight gain because I rarely get hungry before mid morning and could wait until lunch.
Yogurt with a bit of granola is the only way I can get some protein for breakfast, it's great.
To be more specific I usually have mine plain. I find sweetened yogurt disgusting,quite aside from the absurd sugar content, but greek yogurt is a bit hard to eat because it's so thick, and there are very few brands available that just do plain yogurt. But then I'm a plain eater.
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The best diet is the one you stick with. Intermittent fasting works for some people, but I don't really see the point in going on long fasts every now and then.
Track your calories for a while. Every single thing you eat. There are plenty of apps with databases. You can just scan the barcodes etc. Gain some knowledge and overview of how many calories and grams of carbs/protein/fat/sugar/sodium you put in your body in an average week.
Cut soda and other sugary drinks entirely if you're serious about losing weight. Keep alcohol and snacks to a minimum.
I believe there is some evidence that certain cancers cannot survive without a continuous supply of glucose. So while your body will survive a fast quite easily, the cancer inside you won't. I'm not sure how well-studied and robust that result is.
When it comes to IF, some people claim it works for them, but the evidence is mounting that it's ineffective on average.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/well/eat/a-potential-downside-of-intermittent-fasting.html
"A rigorous three-month study found that people lost little weight, and much of that may have been from muscle."
Fasting to kill cancer is intriguing, and I've heard it claimed once before. Presumably OP doesn't have cancer atm though. :)
I think IF helps some people with gaining more control over the intake. If you have all your caloric intake in two meals within 6 hours, you're less likely to cheat. It helps sets up a more disciplined lifestyle, I imagine.
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