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- Hi, I'm Susan Taylor with Scripps Health
in San Diego, California.
Okay, you're on a mission to lose some weight
and live a longer healthier life.
Have you thought about intermittent fasting
and the flexitarian diet?
Joining us to talk about this
is Dr. Jennifer Chronis,
she's a family medicine physician
at the Scripps Coastal Medical Center
in Oceanside, California.
Dr. Chronis thanks so much for being with us.
- Thanks so much for having me Susan.
- Sure, all right what is the flexitarian diet?
- Flexitarian diet is pretty much just what it sounds like
the marriage of being flexible and also vegetarian focus.
So what that means is focusing on whole plant foods
for the majority of your diet.
- All right, so what can you eat
and not eat on this diet?
- Allowable foods, foods that we wanna encourage
include lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes,
nuts seeds, healthy fats
such as avocado and olive oil and whole grains.
And then foods that you want to avoid
or very limit in a good amount would be processed foods.
So this is things like packaged chips,
crackers, candy, and then limit meats,
which would be specifically red meat,
poultry and dairy products.
So cheese, milk, those types of things.
- What about sugar?
- Yeah so sugar falls more into that processed foods
category.
So if it's sugar contained in sodas
or sugar-sweetened beverages
you definitely want to avoid that.
Anything that comes in a box
or bag again that has added sugars
is gonna be something that you want to avoid.
- And is it okay to eat this vegetarian plant-based diet?
And then let's say once a week
if you have any wiggle room to say,
"well maybe I wanna have a hamburger today."
- As long as you're getting the majority of your nutrition
from the whole foods and plant-based sources
then it's okay to deviate once in a while.
- And what are the benefits of this flexitarian diet?
- I think the health benefits of following
this mostly plant foods diet
can include mainly decreasing your risk
of many chronic diseases
such as heart disease, diabetes, depression
and even some cancers.
- All right, let's talk about intermittent fasting.
What is that?
- Intermittent fasting is an eating plan
where you go for a prolonged period without eating
or fasting for about 16 hours,
and this period can be overnight
so part of it will be when you're sleeping.
And then you have an eight hour period
during the day, during which you eat all your meals.
- So people say breakfast is the most important meal
of the day.
So should you start eating at breakfast time
and then eat for eight hours past that and then stop
or is it better to try and fast until lunch?
And then you eat between noon and 8:00 PM
so that you can still work in dinner
with your friends or family.
- The eight hour eating window
is recommended to be whatever fits your lifestyle the best.
If you are hungry, the first thing in the morning
then you can go ahead
and have your eight hour window start then,
but if you still want to have more of a social dinner time
and eat later in the day that's fine too.
The main advice though is just that we want to avoid eating
later in the evening
because that is when the calories
are not being metabolized as well.
- So when you say later in the evening
what hours are you talking about?
- I typically will counsel patients
to really end the eight hour fast latest at 8:00 PM.
Again, 'cause you really wanna avoid
that late nighttime snacking.
- And can you have a cup or two of coffee or tea
in the morning with no sugar
to keep you full until 11, 12, 1:00 PM?
- It's fine to drink those during your fasting period.
You just want to not have any additives
like a lot of sugar or milk in the drinks
because then that again would break the fast.
- What about folks with health conditions
like diabetes is intermittent fasting
an issue for blood sugar levels?
- Intermittent fasting actually has been shown to help
with insulin sensitivity and stabilize blood glucose levels.
So I actually may recommend
mild type 2 diabetics can do intermittent fasting
as long as of course they're not on insulin
or any medications that would cause them
to have hypoglycemia or low blood sugars.
And it's definitely not a safe plan
for anyone who has type 1 diabetes.
- As far as the intermittent fasting
and the flexitarian diet,
is this something that you're doing to basically
change your lifestyle altogether,
or you're doing these things
let's say for a couple of weeks
and then you go back to your old ways?
- I recommend that both of these eating patterns
are a lifestyle change
and a shift to doing these of all the time,
rather than just once in a while
because you'll get so many more health benefits
If it's a lifestyle and long-term change.
- Who should avoid
both the flexitarian diet and the intermittent fasting?
- The flexitarian diet is because it's inherently flexible
I think that can be more broadly applied to most people.
I think in general for intermittent fasting
people who should avoid this
are as we mentioned certain people with diabetes,
the elderly, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
and then people who are immunocompromised
or on certain medications
that may put them at risk for malnourishment.
- So when you change your lifestyle
with regard to these diets,
what kind of long-term benefits
do you get from the intermittent fasting
and the flexitarian diet?
- Specifically with the intermittent fasting diet
because of the way that it works
from shifting your metabolism from glucose
to more of a ketosis or burning fatty acids in the body,
you get a lot of metabolic benefits.
This includes better insulin sensitivity
or lower blood sugars, improving your blood pressure
decreasing inflammation in the body.
And then there's even been evidence
that going into that fasting period
can help clear out toxins
and cellular blood byproducts.
It can decrease your risk of developing diabetes
high blood pressure, some cancers
and even improve your mood, boost your cognition,
and decrease your risk
of dementia or other degenerative diseases.
- Any final thoughts doctor?
- These eating plans can be applied
to many different people.
I think it's very important to contact your doctor
and have them help you develop
an eating plan that incorporates some of these ideas
and fits your lifestyle and your health goals.
- Dr. Chronis thanks so much
we appreciate you taking the time.
- Yeah thank you so much Susan
this is really great.
- Sure.
If you want more information
on the flexitarian diet and intermittent fasting
just click on the link or go to scripps.org/videos
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I'm Susan Taylor
thanks for joining us.
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