The 16:8 Fasting Routine

[Gildersleeve]

Today on my timeline by chance a massive article dropped. From a website in Australia that deals with all matters scientific.

I am careful of attempting to post links.

So who has heard of this?

Time-Restricted Eating Helps Control Blood Sugar in Type 2 DiabetesType 2 diabetes affects 1.2 million Australians and accounts for 85-90% of all diabetes cases.

Glucose is high in the morning for many. So the idea is you delay breakfast. Eating after 11am and not eating after 7pm.

It was well written. Quite interesting.

Is this well known? Is it new?
Cheers!

 

[Leadinglights]

Pretty well known and can work for some people. For others the 'fasting' can lead to the liver releasing glucose to give energy to function which leads to a higher blood glucose level in the morning than if having a low carb breakfast.
Many people do naturally 'fast' for 12 hours ish between dinner and breakfast anyway

 

[BobbleHat]

I started 16:8 fasting regularly about a week after my diabetes diagnosis. I had joined this forum and someone directed me to the Freshwell App. I looked through the information units there and the suggestions there about cutting out snacking and using intermittent fasting so that your body wasn't dealing with frequent blood sugar rises linked to digestion through the day made sense to me. In some respects, it was a fear response too - I was like a rabbit in the headlines and removing one meal a day from my mental load of 'Oh my word. What on earth will I eat now?' helped me as I processed my diagnosis. Plus, I've never liked breakfast so I felt relief at giving it up! I don't always do it as well as I could - I know I don't always hydrate as well as I could and, if I do drink during my fast, I opt for a cuppa and I have milk in tea so I suppose its not a TRUE fast in that sense. I'm not hard and fast about it either - I have hungry days where I will choose to have 3 meals.
I have Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver as well as diabetes so I do experience the liver 'dump' first thing in the morning. However, I was diagnosed with an hba1c of 52. I'm not medicated and in the 3-4 months I've been diagnosed and combining IF with low carb, I have never had a blood glucose reading higher than 9 - not fasting nor post prandial. Not on finger prick or CGM. I have had foods that 'spike' me higher than normal or increase my blood sugar by more than 2 mmols but never into double figures. I've had several free trials of CGM and I'm 100% time in range each time. Which means, I don't worry about the early morning glucose dump and it takes my fasting level to around 6.8/6.9 which is still (just) under the top of normal fasting. That, for me, means the benefits of time restricted eating (combined with 60-70g carbs per day max) massively outweigh the risk of higher blood sugars in the mornings.

 

[Gildersleeve]

I was told 43 Hba1c in April. But for having a corn checked at the Dr's surgery and they surprised me with a blood test whilst there. Who knew?

The next to be done next year!

I have another recent thread here. Issues about how my bloods are monitored. My kidney specialist isn't happy.

All other bloods are doing well after 30 years.
He was unaware of the sugar test.

Had just about every test you can think of approx 6 weeks ago including this again at his request.

They have not contacted me so I assume all is well.

He pushed for my Covid Vaccination when they started. I was in a vulnerable group and I was being ignored.

 

[harbottle]

Pretty well known and can work for some people. For others the 'fasting' can lead to the liver releasing glucose to give energy to function which leads to a higher blood glucose level in the morning than if having a low carb breakfast.
Many people do naturally 'fast' for 12 hours ish between dinner and breakfast anyway

Everyone’s liver releases glucose when there’s no dietary source coming in, something like 10g an hour. People with type 2 diabetes are thought to release almost 50% more than normal due to the broken metabolism and also struggle to deal with it due to insulin resistance/lack of insulin.

 

[Gildersleeve]

Interesting I have fasted for a few years but not the 16:8 idea. It could be that I may improve by smaller meals/snacks across the day. And that fasting is my enemy.

If the glucose was up because the test was taken in the morning and I had not eaten it might have given a false reading.

 

[Leadinglights]

Interesting I have fasted for a few years but not the 16:8 idea. It could be that I may improve by smaller meals/snacks across the day. And that fasting is my enemy.

If the glucose was up because the test was taken in the morning and I had not eaten it might have given a false reading.

The HbA1C used for diagnosis is not a fasting test as it represents in simple terms the average blood glucose over the previous 3 months.
A finger prick test is just a moment in time and will change depending on many factors but mainly what people have eaten.

 

[harbottle]

Interesting I have fasted for a few years but not the 16:8 idea. It could be that I may improve by smaller meals/snacks across the day. And that fasting is my enemy.

If the glucose was up because the test was taken in the morning and I had not eaten it might have given a false reading.

Low carb meals and snacks will stop it going any higher, but if fasting levels are high it's because you've reached an equilibrium point where clearance rate can keep levels steady, but higher than normal.