Re: Why break a fast with fruit?

Hi Chris (and Bruce),

I'm the author of that original post Bruce quoted from his guest book.

I know that this is a support forum and debates are forbidden, so can we just call this a friendly chit-chat instead? Any discourse on fasting and diet should be considered support for Bruce, but if not, I guess the moderators will deal with it as they see fit.

I'm a proponent of intermittent fasting and paleolithic diets that are low in carbohydrates , moderately low in protein and high in fats. I have personally seen tremendous improvements in my own health since switching from the modern "healthy" neolithic diet (high carb, high protein, low fat) and wish to address the points you made in your post:

"There are a number of cases where people have broken their prolonged fasts on meat, and died as a result; meat is a concentrated protein-food and where the body is unable to handle it after a protracted fast."

- I never said Bruce should break his fast with "meat" (i take it you mean the conventional lean cuts). High amounts of protein are not good for the body, during fasting or not. On the other hand, consuming nothing but fruit for a week (or a lifetime like the fruitarians) is an equally bad idea. To save time, I won't go into detail why i think fructose is better or worse that other carbohydrates, but i will urge you to read wikipedia's article on fructose (specifically the sections on fructose metabolism and health effects). You also mentioned GI, which adds further problems to your argument. There are too many variables, and human metabolism too complex for us to use such a simple index such as GI to determine preference of one food over another.

I tend to think that dietary carbohydrates in general aren't the best fuel for our metabolisms (especially if we are trying to manage bodyfat as Bruce is) , and more recently (last 80 years perhaps) have led to the omission of many important dietary fat sources, and their associated fat soluble nutrients. As an additional note: the fat/protein sources I advocate are mostly saturated and mostly animal based (butter, cheese, bone marrow, liver, brain, fatty muscle, some nuts and seeds).

"The NORMAL state of anyones metabolism is the burning of glucose for energy; the Brain for example requires much glucose for its normal operation."

- Gluconeogenesis occurs alongside ketosis (in the liver AND kidneys) producing glucose for our precious brains. This metabolic process can use lactate, glycerol, and amino acids. Ketones provide the bulk of Bruce's energy (even for his brain!) during his fast, but the glucose is still there in small amounts.

Whether or not a low carb diet and the associated ketosis and gluconeogenesis are preferable to higher carb diets, and their associated metabolic processes is under debate by many parties. The winner was quite clear to me when I began intermittent fasting and a low carb diet.

"If the body remained permanently in a state of ketosis you would eventually reach the skeleton condition and die of starvation. "

- This is only true if Bruce did not break his fast. Ketosis (fat burning) can continue on a low carb diet. At the moment , the fat source is Bruces' "love handles" , but it could just as easily be dietary fats fueling ketosis.

We live in a litigious society , so I'm not going to suggest what Bruce should break his fast with. My fasting experiences have been shorter time periods than what Bruce is attempting, so I can't speak from experience there.

I just hope Bruce doesn't overdo the carbs (fruit or otherwise) when he stops fasting. It would be a shame to see insulin do it's job and put back on all the fat he has lost. That would really give the anti-fasting crew over at bodybuilding.com alot of ammunition.

ps. I love fruit (provided it's low carb)





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