A video just came out on the Med School Insiders channel
about intermittent fasting and time restricted feeding.
This is the video about my own personal experience.
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Now, in case you missed the Med School Insiders video,
let's get the terminology straight right from the get go.
Usually when people are talking about intermittent fasting,
or IF,
they're usually actually referring to
time restricted feeding.
Time restricted feeding is when
you only allow yourself to eat during certain hours
each and every day.
I do also do intermittent fasting,
which is a, for me, a 48 hour fast
once every couple months and we'll get to that shortly.
Now, I am speaking about my own experience.
I am not saying whether you should or should not do
either IF or TRF.
I am recommending that you speak with your physician first.
(upbeat music)
Now, I'm all about health optimization.
Ever since I was hospitalized as an 18 year old
for an acute flare of IBD, I mean,
thankfully I haven't had any hospitalizations since,
but I just realized how fragile and important health is.
I prioritize it because when you don't have your health,
nothing else really matters.
So, I've experimented with so many different diets
I've tried specific carbohydrate diet.
I've tried plant-based diet.
I've tried gluten free diet.
I even experimented with some keto.
All for the sake of trying to minimize my symptoms
and do what is best for my health, for my gut,
just to live a healthy life.
Now, what I was doing up until that point
was dietary restriction, limiting what I do and do not eat
and that's what most people think about
when they're thinking about dietary interventions.
But I hadn't considered time restriction until 2017.
I mean, until that point, I really thought it was just
just for people that needed to lose weight, and if anything,
at that time, I actually wanted to bulk up.
You know, hit the gym and put on some mass.
But, as you've seen on the Med School Insider channel,
I started learning about some of the other health benefits
of time restricted feeding
and, more importantly, what actually got me over the edge,
is realizing that it could help me with my IBD symptoms.
Now, granted, over the last several years,
I've experimented a lot
to figure out what works and what doesn't,
so my IBD is admittedly extremely well managed.
But, there are still occasionally days
where I am symptomatic
and I want to minimize those symptoms as much as possible.
Now, by restricted the amount of time I ate each day
with time restricted feeding, I would have
fewer abdominal symptoms
and spend less time on the toilet.
Who would've thought?
Now, when I first decided to try it,
I was rotating on orthopedic surgery.
Even though I was in plastic surgery residency,
you still, especially during a first year,
you rotate on different services,
just like you do in med school.
So, I skipped breakfast
and then by the time I actually get to eat food,
it was probably two or three PM,
because you have cases, often back to back,
and then, even between cases,
the time is so limited,
you need to go check in the next patient
and if you do have time to eat,
it's usually just a small snack.
So, I'm like snacking at two or three PM
and then my feeding window closes at seven or eight PM
because, I mean, it's kind of short,
but I don't want to eat too late at night
because these days I'm sleeping around ten PM,
waking up at three AM,
so I don't want to eat too late.
Trying to sleep with a full stomach
is just not comfortable for me.
Long story short,
I tried this a few times.
I was losing way too much weight, way too quickly
because I couldn't fit enough calories in a few hours.
So, I just, kind of, gave up on it.
In early 2019, I decided I'm gonna give it another shot.
After all, I'm working for myself now,
so I do have complete control over my time
and when I do and do not eat.
I started with the standard
16/8 time restricted feeding protocol.
Meaning that, for 16 hours I would not eat
and then I would eat everything in eight hours
and outside of that, it's only water, nothing else.
That came down to 12 - eight PM every single day.
Pretty easy.
Adherence wasn't a problem.
I actually kind of enjoyed it.
I noticed a few things immediately.
First, I was spending less time worrying about food,
eating food, prepping food, cleaning in the kitchen,
whatever
and that was awesome.
I do love food.
Don't get me wrong.
I love, like, give me some good, Omakase, I'm in heaven,
but if I could have it my way,
I would not eat for five days
and hopefully not feel hunger.
Then, on the weekends, just enjoy, you know,
a culinary experience with friends and family.
So, eating is almost like chore at times.
You know, I want to do other things.
Maybe I want to work on Med School Insiders
or build MEM or go cycle or hang out with friends,
but food takes a lot of time.
Now second, I experienced pretty immediate improvements
in my IBD symptoms.
Again, it's pretty well managed, but every now and then,
maybe I'll each some Thai food, a little bit spicy,
and I pay the price the next day.
But with time restricted feeding,
my digestive system wasn't working nonstop, right?
I was only eating for a shorter period each day
and therefore, the gastrocolic reflex
wasn't always in action.
Third, sometimes it was challenging,
but I found that it was rewarding to build the discipline
of saying no to food and then being mindful
of the experience of hunger.
Think of it as, like, discipline training
or mindfulness practice.
The way I see it, discipline breed discipline.
So, if I'm more disciplined in one domain,
it can actually help me in other domains as well
and now, when I'm on a plane and they go around
offering pretzels or peanuts or cookies or whatever,
it's a lot easier for me to be like, nah, not interested.
(upbeat music)
Now, I've experimented and changed a few things
since last year.
One is that my circadian rhythm is very much shifted,
so I wake up around five or six AM
and I go to sleep around ten or 11 PM on most days.
For that reason, I actually shifted my feeding window
to start at 11 AM and now I generally try to stop eating
by six PM, sometimes even five.
So rather than 16/8, I'm doing more of a 17/7 or an 18/6.
I've also changed what I eat.
I'm normally doing just two meals per day
and each of those meals is now a lot larger
than they were in the past.
My breakfast, haven't changed my breakfast in months,
and I love it.
It's awesome.
I have Dave's Killer Bread.
So, three pieces of this toast
and then avocado, smoked salmon,
three individual sunny side up eggs,
and a side salad, usually one of those pre-made kits
and then two cups of almond milk.
In total, it's generally about 1300 - 1400 calories
and maybe I'll have a banana or some fruit
as dessert afterwards as well.
If I get hungry before dinner time,
I will sometimes have a smoothie
with plant based protein powder,
banana, frozen berries, etc.
I generally try to avoid that though.
I'll usually just try to have dinner sooner
and dinner is very varied.
These days, I'm essentially always just cooking for myself,
I'm not really eating out.
So, it's usually chicken, veggies, and quinoa
in various combinations and preparations.
I've also experimented with intermittent fasting
in the form of water only fasts for a couple days
once every few months.
Now, I do want to get up to 72 hours.
Not only because it's a challenge,
but because you reach some important physiologic benchmarks.
So, for example, you deplete your glycogen.
You inhibit MTOR.
You activate AMPK.
Because your glucose and insulin is at lower levels,
you also increase autophagy
and then inhibit senescent cells.
If you're going to do multi-day fasts,
you definitely want supervision from a physician
because you gotta worry about electrolytes,
minerals, things like that.
Anyway, that is my experience.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Let me know if you've tried TRF or IF
down in the comments below.
Much love and I will see you guys in that next one.
(cheerful music)