to say that fasting has massively cut down our food bills?

[streth]

I know it's not for everyone but I’ve been doing intermittent fasting one meal a day for a while now and I’ve noticed a huge difference in our food shopping bills. I just eat once a day usually a good sized balanced meal in the evening and I’m genuinely less hungry the rest of the time. I don’t snack anymore and I’m not constantly thinking about food which has been surprisingly freeing.

My teens off their own backs have started eating just twice a day they say they feel fine and they're old enough to make those choices themselves. We still eat nutritious food but we’re just eating less often and wasting far less.

Food bills have gone down significantly and with prices being what they are right now it’s honestly been a relief I know this wouldn’t work for everyone and I’m definitely not saying it’s suitable for people with eating disorders or anyone with specific health needs. But for us it’s made a real difference both financially and in how we think about food.

AIBU to think this kind of fasting can be a practical option for some people in tough times?

so people who eat a lot less are surprised they pay a lot less for food. What is your aibu?

This appears to be a pretty complex comment but I suppose taking it as read the short answer is no-one does that anyway.

People do. I have done longer fasts. The benefits to health are amazing.

Dr Goldhamer has done superb work and had amazing results from water only fasting with his patients:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4684131/

This isn’t quite the full story though is it? Even a quick google shows this is a hugely complex area being presented simplistically. From what I can glean at the least 1) your body is doing autophagy anyway daily, go some degree or a different type to the one you refer to and 2) that potentially you wouldn’t need this extreme version without disease and even then it’s not part of any formal disease management. I really don’t have time to fully understand autophagy but I am cautious about taking advice from a link online from a stranger who could highly likely have an ED rather than scientific/ medical expertise

I am not giving medical advice or claiming to be an expert. I have just shared what I do and what has worked for me. Autophagy is one of many things that can happen during fasting but it was never the main focus of what I posted and I am not telling anyone to fast for that reason or to treat it like a cure for anything.

The body does some autophagy naturally (needs more than overnight though) and it is a complex area with ongoing research. That does not mean people cannot talk about their own routines or how they eat.

It is a big leap and frankly a bit stupid to assume I likely have an eating disorder just because I eat differently to you.

Eating differently is fine, talking about it is fine. Recommending it as a practical solution to lack of money for food, is not.

Encouraging teenagers to partake is not.

You're going to keep doubling down on it because seeing that this is not a cool thing to guide kids into would proper hurt the head I think.

Tbh I was referring to the poster who brought it up. I wasn’t expecting the OP to know about it to- you’ve obviously looked into fasting quite a lot, haven’t you? Spent quite a lot of time finding out about it. About how good restricting food is for you?

I’ve said before but I have a friend who is a fitness influencer married to another fitness influencer. There are tick box things
”nutrient dense”
”high protein”
”carnivore”
”IF”

both of them have life long, managed, ED. I don’t think people realise how common it is to manage your ED this way. I’d go as far to say that it’s quite hard to imagine someone with a healthy attitude to food, health and body image doing these extremes.

having a healthy attitude is also pretty uncommon IME, particularly for our generations

Plenty of teens fast already for religious reasons.

What religion asks teenage followers to fast everyday?

Who said you have to do it everyday? People get great results even doing it regularly but not everyday.

So you and your kids don't fast every day?

You and your kids do it everyday. This is what the thread is about. You go all night through to the next evening fasting and your children I believe do go a little less time. Every day, according to your posts

Where did I say we do it everyday?

I can’t decide whether you think teenagers fasting is good/ suitable (“teenagers do it for religious reasons”) or bad. If you and your teenagers don’t do it why are we talking about fasting? Why are you posting links to how benefical it is?

if you want to call your teenagers copying you “skipping a meal” rather than fasting, fine. I presume you ARE practising IF, only eating one meal in the evening and you’re now going to tell us the teens decided the one meal they’ll skip is lunch, so they are not IF, simply meal skipping. Dandy.

I know it's not for everyone but I’ve been doing intermittent fasting one meal a day for a while now and I’ve noticed a huge difference in our food shopping bills. I just eat once a day usually a good sized balanced meal in the evening and I’m genuinely less hungry the rest of the time. I don’t snack anymore and I’m not constantly thinking about food which has been surprisingly freeing.

Sure sounds like it OP.

The fact that you refer to ‘constantly thinking about food’ suggests you do have food issues.

Why does it mean I have food issues? Eating once a day means I don't have to think about preparing additional meals with the cooking, washing and clearing up it entails. So I naturally think less about food and everything goes with it.

Is that all it takes to have food issues?

You've got an answer for everything - except the pertinent questions OP.

Im not food focused, and can easily forget to eat until evening if im busy at work. I realised the quality of my work and concentration was crap though - I have a huel black each morning on the drive into work now in almost a medicinal way and that definitely improves my work and state of mind. I dont even like huel, but it does a job 😁😁😁

My goodness, is this still going on! Nobody is going to change their mind in this discussion. A lot of good points have been raised, but seriously when do you agree to differ?

Does it matter? It has been a really interesting discussion.

To a point it has been very interesting. Imo it has become repetitive, and as as a result, my interest is waning. I can only read the same arguments a few times. I did think you were right to state what you and your family were doing.