"Can you have fruit juice on the No-Breakfast Plan?"

Fruit juice for breakfast on the No-Breakfast Plan? Or even whole fruit? Since fruits and fruit juices are full of (natural) sugars, and in the case of juice, fast-acting sugars, it’s fairly plain that they will stimulate your insulin response and your hunger. 

But it’s understandable that some people think that fruit juice is allowed on the No-Breakfast Plan. Paul C. Bragg, in ‘The Miracle of Fasting,’ speaks of the No-Breakfast Plan but then says it allows fruit. The Diamonds in ‘Fit for Life’ say the body isn’t ready for food in the mornings, but allow fruit (which is a food) during breakfast hours. Ori Hofmekler in ‘The Warrior Diet’ wants you to divide up your day into fasting and feasting periods— but allows juices, fruit and vegetable, during ‘fasting.’

This is wrong. Fasting is not eating, though drinking water is allowed. Some fasting experts also allow certain calorie/carb-free beverages, like tea, coffee, and herbal tisanes (‘herb tea.’) But others reject that. And adding food— especially a carb-filled food that diabetics should not be having— to a fast is breaking the fast.

There is no such thing as juice fasting. “Health nuts” and the manufacturers of high-end juicing machines have been talking about ‘juice fasting’ for years, but a juice diet is not fasting. It does not have the benefits of true fasting. There are people who because of health issues (like diabetes) cannot go on a juice diet, but who can fast (once a doctor adjusts their medications.)

The No-Breakfast Plan is about fasting. It’s beginner-level fasting for just a short time during the day. Since daily hormonal changes make people the least hungry at breakfast time, and the most hungry in the evenings at supper time, the No-Breakfast Plan takes advantage of this to let you fast at the easiest time of day. 

Fruit is a problem. Early humans didn’t have the kind of specially bred, sweet and tasty fruits available. They certainly didn’t have them year-round at the grocery store. So humans are not adapted to be fruit eaters or fruitarians. Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, author of ‘Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution’ and ‘The Diabetes Diet’, who is a Type 1 diabetic, has not eaten any fruit for decades. He eats a low-carb diet, which along with his insulin controls his diabetes. His example shows that you don’t need fruit to live.

Fasting, including the No-Breakfast Plan, gives your body a break. When you are eating, your body has to produce insulin— maybe too much insulin, if you have Insulin Resistance as so many of us do. Your body has to digest the food— three times a day, or more if you eat snacks. And your mind has to plan meals, and perhaps cook and clean up after them. On the No-Breakfast Plan, your body gets a daily break from these things in the morning. 

Fruit eating is not fasting. Eating fruit breaks your fast, and takes you off the true No-Breakfast Plan into some fruit-eating plan. Now, your body may be in good enough shape that you can eat a little fruit from your own garden, in season. But not while you are fasting! Eating while fasting is like having sex during celibacy or committing murders while ‘respecting all life.’ A contradiction in terms. 

What the No-Breakfast Plan is. It is extending the natural fasting we do every night while we are asleep. There is no law that compels us to start eating at 7 or 8 in the morning. There is no law that insists that you must have 3 large meals every day. At some periods of history two meals were the norm, anyway. When you are on the No-Breakfast Plan, in the mornings you drink water. Perhaps pure distilled water. And you may have certain calorie/carb-free beverages such as tea, coffee and herbal tisanes. 

On longer fasts many people need a little home-made bone broth to help them through it. Dr. Jason Fung even allows people to add a bit of cream or MCT oil to a beverage to help them get through. But on the No-Breakfast Plan, it’s best not to make use of the broth unless you have persistent hunger that will drive you to eat before the appropriate time. (If you are very new to the No-Breakfast Plan, you might plan on consuming broth in the mornings at first, and stopping it when you are used to morning fasting.)

The No-Breakfast Plan can help you get started doing longer, more intense fasts, and has benefits of its own when you don’t do longer fasting, but it’s important to gain real fasting knowledge to do it correctly. The Complete Guide to Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore is perhaps the best source of information— please consider reading it.  

Recommended books for the No-Breakfast Plan:

Note that the Dewey book is very old-fashioned and not up-to-date or based on modern research. But it's interesting from a historical perspective. 

Who is Jillian Michaels to condemn keto?

Recently I became aware that some celebrity I'd barely heard of, Jillian Michaels, had seen fit to ignorantly condemn the keto way-of-life. She did it in a blog post misleadingly entitled "The Truth about Keto." Worse, since her blog allows no comments, there is no way that we can defend ourselves against this ignorance.

Now, if Jillian Michaels is out there condemning keto, we might assume that she is DR Jillian Michaels and that she's done a good deal of original of scientific research on keto and diets in general.

But she's not a doctor or scientist. According to Wikipedia, she's just a famously lesbian personal trainer and product pitchwoman. She was also associated with the TV show The Biggest Loser. If you have read The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jimmy Moore & Dr. Jason Fung, you know that the contestants on the low-calorie and exercise based Biggest Loser program have gained their weight back, in part because they have slowed down their metabolisms.

I'd like to contrast Jillian Michaels' approach to keto to that of Jimmy Moore, also a non-doctor. Jimmy Moore's book Keto Clarity is just chock-full of quotes from doctors in support of keto, and of mention of legitimate scientific studies (The Biggest Loser was not a legitimate scientific study.) Jillian Michaels just seems to presume the facts  support her side, without bother to check. After all, she's a celebrity. And a LESBIAN celebrity. You are not supposed to be allowed to question her. (My own same-sex orientation doesn't count toward making ME beyond being criticized, since I'm also chaste & Catholic. Sigh.)

In JM's blog post, she starts out saying she's going to infuriate the keto community. Like she's doing something brave or something. Yet she's not brave enough to allow ketonians to have their say by opening up the comments on her blog.

I would not waste my time reading this celebrity personal trainer's opinions. Though I did have to read through the swill to compose this blog post. I would rather re-read Jimmy Moore's book Keto Clarity, or, better yet, listen to one of Jimmy Moore's podcasts. (You can find links to the Jimmy Moore podcasts in this blog's sidebar.)

The keto diet is not a 'fad' diet. The first diet book published in the English language advocated low-carb. There were other low-carb supporting books on the market before Atkins. And Atkins/low-carb morphed into today's keto as a result of scientific facts becoming known to the community. If anything is a fad, it's the idea that calorie & fat restriction plus 'going to the gym' will result in a permanent change in weight or health.

Keto is here to stay. The science backs it. And unlike a celebrity-personal-trainer approved diet, the keto way will change for the better as more good scientific studies are done. Keto has already improved my diabetes so that I have lower blood sugars without any meds than I did without keto and on two meds. I'm sticking with it for the long haul!

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What do you think about the Jillian Michaels condemnation of keto? Do you think she knows enough about the keto diet and medical issues in general to have an informed opinion? Answer with a comment, please.

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Books mentioned in this blog post. This are links to the real-book editions, the Kindle ebook versions are $9.99 for each book. 

Using keto/lowcarb podcasts daily to stay motivated

This is how it happens with me: I get started on my keto/low-carb diet, at first I am mildly obsessed with it, always reading my diet books and looking for new recipes to try.

And then I stop being so obsessed, don't think about food or my diet much, don't daily record my blood sugar, weight, and blood pressure numbers, and before you know it, I pick up a candy bar or bag of chips on my next trip to the Family Dollar store to buy cat food. Eating the carbs gets me to crave more carbs, and so before you know it I'm making a daily snack run, buying more than one candy bar or bag of chips, or having carb-laden restaurant meals with my mother....

Because of my diabetes and related kidney disease, I can't live like that anymore. It would just make my life miserable and short. So: I have to stay a little obsessed with the keto way of life in order to stay motivated.

My method: podcasts. Specifically the Jimmy Moore family of podcasts. You can find links to these podcasts in the sidebar on the right--- scroll down.

I usually download a podcast 5 days a week. I put the audio files on a Sansa Clip mp3 player, which clips to my shirt so I can listen while doing things like exercising, folding clothes, hauling manure from the barn, moving chicken pens, or herding sheep. People who commute to work can listen while commuting, I'd imagine. Jimmy Moore, the 'LL Cool J' of podcasting, or so some guy on his podcast says, does 5 podcasts a week. All of his old podcasts are still available, but I listen to the best and most informative podcasts more than once.

There are other keto podcasts out there, but what I like about Jimmy Moore is that he so often has medical doctors as guests or co-hosts of his podcasts. He often talks about medical research studies that have come out. It makes me feel like I am on the keto cutting edge--- a different feeling than when I was doing Original Atkins based on a decades-old second-hand book.

Before I became aware of the podcasts, I used diet books for the same purpose. I would daily read a little from the original Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution or more modern books, up to Keto Clarity and The Complete Guide to Fasting.

This concept is not original to me. I've read that members of Alcoholics Anonymous often make a habit of reading daily from their Blue Book to keep on track. And Christians often do daily Bible reading, or watch the daily Mass on EWTN television. It's a way to keep in touch with what is important to you.

What about you? Do you listen to keto or low-carb podcasts? Which ones are your favorites? If you share your favorite podcasts in a comment, I will listen to them and possibly add them to my list in the sidebar. Do you have any other daily methods to keep you motivated? Let me know in a comment! (You may notice I'm a little obsessed with comments today. Haven't had one on this blog in a while.)
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Do you have questions--- for me or for other folks on keto/intermittent fasting? Join my new Facebook group, KetoNissa's Ketogenic and Fasting group, right here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/583596832037760/

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And now, the advertising. Sorry, it's annoying to some, but I'm on disability and my house needs some repairs, so any little bit helps.

First Keto, then Fasting

I've been listening to old episodes of the Fasting Talk podcast every day and this morning I listened to episode 10. Jimmy Moore was telling how he had been traveling for a while and how he couldn't fast while traveling because of the stress.

Now that he was home, Jimmy said he was going to get in a full week on the ketogenic diet before getting back on his usual fasting routine.

That's a good notion. Being on a good ketogenic diet switches your body over from burning carbs to burning fat. It kills your hunger. When you have been doing keto for a while you find yourself skipping meals by accident because you are just not hungry. It's the ideal prep for fasting.

A lot of the people who have discovered Fasting and Intermittent Fasting were on a ketogenic or low-carb diet first. Adding fasting just came naturally.

I currently am in a bad state due to having eaten carbs on several occasions, including at a meal at my brother's house where the food choices consisted of spaghetti and garlic bread. I have found that if I go off my keto--- even 'just for one meal' I end up eating carbs for days or weeks. The food cravings wake up and I am not a person will anything in the way of willpower.

So I'm back on my keto diet, without the morning fasting, until I get on track. What fasting does, when I haven't been on keto, is awaken my hunger and cravings so that when my eating period starts I can't really resist the temptation to run to the grocery for chips or other carb foods.

Today I had some of my low-carb cheese pancakes, recipe found in the 1974 Dr. Atkins Diet Cookbook (Gare, Monica) with the delicious low-carb 'maple' syrup from this recipe: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/sugar-free-maple-syrup/

 I've got some chicken parts so I can make my favorite baked chicken for lunch, and some chicken to freeze so I have the making for keto meals in the house. The secret to being a successful ketonian? Plan for meals ahead of time!

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While Jimmy Moore's excellent Fasting Talk podcast is no longer in current production, back episodes are still available here: http://www.fastingtalk.com/ There are also links there to the current podcasts, Livin' La Vida Low-Carb and Keto Talk.

Keeping yourself motivated on a keto diet

Sometimes the keto diet life is hard. Some days I'd rather be able to go out to a restaurant or fast food for breakfast, or pour myself a bowl of cereal. Some days I'm just not in the mood to cook, and clean up, and cook some more.

I need to stay motivated to stick to the diet. One thing that I have learned helps is each day I read a little from a low-carb diet book. It helps me feel like the diet really will work if I stick to it. And it helps me think of the diet as more than just a set of restrictions that make my life harder.

I started doing this when I first tried the Atkins Diet, years ago after having bought the book 'Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution' at a Goodwill store. I still do it today. I have loads more low-carb diet books to choose from. Like 'Keto Clarity' by Jimmy Moore.

Now we have a new motivator: podcasts! Jimmy Moore has podcasts five days a week to listen to--- they can be found in my blog list in the sidebar.

Some days, like today, I get distracted. I'm not feeling well, I'm behind on doing the laundry and dishes, one of the barn cats is refusing to mother her week-old kittens.... My life is pretty stressed today.

But I listened to a fresh Jimmy Moore podcast, I heated up a mug of bone broth, and I got started. I may not LIKE being on Keto today, but I can handle it. Maybe I'll even zip over to the grocery store for something meaty for my evening meal today.

How gluconeogenesis can be a low-carber's problem

In the original Atkins diet book, unlimited amounts of meat were allowed. And for younger dieters this could be a help. Any time you were hungry you could eat something.

But lots of us have grown up since then. And found that Atkins doesn't work as well for us as it used to. Why? Gluconeogenesis.

Gluco
Neo
Genesis

What is that? It comes from the fact that when you aren't eating sugars any more, and are staying low-carb, your body can make its own sugar out of the protein you are consuming. So if you eat too much protein, that can give you all the problems that come with eating sugar. Because your body is turning it in to sugar.

Jimmy Moore says that a good keto diet is: high in (healthy) fats, moderate in protein, low in carbs. Protein isn't a health food! It is actually healthy fats such as grass-fed butters, coconut oils and olive oils that we should be eating more of. (And scientific research backs up this claim.)

But if you cut back on protein--- eat a smaller steak--- won't you be hungry? Well, you have to make sure you are getting enough fat. You can't do low fat and low carb at the same time, it's not healthy.

Fasting and intermittent fasting are one way to help with gluconeogenesis. I don't have much appetite in the morning anyway. So I do Intermittent Fasting and don't eat in the morning at all. If I don't eat anything for breakfast, my body can't turn the protein I didn't eat into sugar.

Morning is also when Type 2 diabetics like me have the highest blood sugars. So not eating at this time when I'm not hungry anyway helps get those morning numbers down.

And not eating in the morning means that I'm only getting the amount of protein from my lunch and/or dinner, and so that brings down my protein total naturally.

It's kind of sad, though. When I first tried Atkins I was attracted by the fact that I could eat something at any time that I was hungry. But now that I am older and diabetic, life is tougher. I have to say no to eating sometimes, and I have to say no to larger portions. But it's the only way I have found to keep my diabetes problems under control.
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My stuff.
Weight: 197
I did my IF until noon. Ate a small helping of carb foods because I had to go to the store and couldn't resist temptation. At least I kept the cheat smaller than usual.

My keto diet experiences

My first experience with a keto diet was sometime in the 1990s when I picked up a copy of Dr. Atkins' first diet book in a Goodwill store in Iron Mountain, Michigan.

I read the book cover to cover and tried the diet. I was so surprised how easy it was to lose weight! The Atkins diet, at least in the Induction Phase, is ketogenic. Dr. Atkins recommended that you run out and buy ketone test strips and test your urine for ketones. That way you could tell if your body had shifted over into fat-burning mode.

After that point I started purchasing any diet book I could find that was low-carb or ketogenic in nature. I read all the info in the books, especially if they referenced scientific studies. And I tried low-carb recipes from a lot of different books.

I lost some weight on Atkins. But in time I stopped doing it. The reason was that it was just hard to find low-carb food you didn't have to cook from scratch. And I had to give up going out to restaurants. There were no restaurants in my area that had low-carb items. And my family members liked to take me out to eat.

I went back on Atkins at some point. I think I was on Atkins for a full year when my father died. But I had to go off the diet at that time because I was eating out with my mother, or eating at mom's house.

At some point, my mother gave me her old blood sugar meter when she got a new one from her doctor. I tried it and found out I had diabetes. My mom's nurse-practitioner put me on Metformin. Later another drug--- I think Actos--- was added.

I found that my blood sugar was only staying under control when I was ALSO doing low-carb. Since the nurse-practitioner didn't care what my diet was, that was working out. Except I wasn't losing weight much, since I was older, menopausal, and diabetic. I was more concerned with blood sugar numbers than weight at this point.

I got a bad number on a kidney test and so had to go to a kidney doctor. And then I had to apply for Medicaid and I had to get a new kidney doctor and new doctor-substitute. One of my kidney doctors took me off all my drugs saying they caused the problem. So I really had to go low-carb. A kidney doctor messed me up by demanding I go on a government approved diet (DASH diet) that did nothing to address my carbohydrate problems. But when I got worse blood sugar numbers she said I could do what worked for me.

I noticed that the more I stuck to my diet, the better my kidney tests were. My most recent kidney doctor told me that diet had no effect on kidney disease. Since I had recently read a medical journal article that said otherwise, and heard about others, she became my former kidney doctor.

I had been collecting cookbooks by Dana Carpender for some time by then. She came out with a new one with Jimmy Moore as co-author. That's how I learned about Jimmy Moore's health podcasts. And when he came out with The Complete Guide to Fasting with Dr. Jason Fung, a kidney doctor (nephrologist), I had to buy a copy.

I feel that I am getting very well read on the science behind ketogenic diets and behind fasting. But the follow-through is hard. I still live alone, don't have a dishwasher or running water in the kitchen sink, and have to drive to another state for a grocery store with good selection.

And so, this blog. I figure if I become a health blogger I will be more motivated to stick to my keto and fasting plan. And if I can help other people to become informed or inspired, that's a bonus. Since I am a Christian (Catholic flavor) I think helping others is cool. So, if I can help you--- maybe answer a question or something--- I will.

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My personal stuff.
On Sept 23, my weight was 199 pounds. (My all-time high was about 255 pounds.) My blood sugars, particularly in the morning, have been BAD. (Not saying how bad.) My blood sugar this morning was still BAD, but was significantly down from the 300+ blood sugars I have been getting in the morning. I have been doing Intermittent Fasting in the mornings, eating only after 11am. I'm trying to hold off until 12 noon every day, and stop eating after 6pm.

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Some books mentioned in this post.