I'm not sure intermittent fasting is really for me, but I am curious about it and some of the claims of energy levels. However, it's one of those health practices where there's a ton of discussion around the benefits, and then on closer look I realize 90% of them are talking about weight loss, which is not something I need or that interests me at all.

I find I run into this all the time. In nearly every online discussion weight loss is synonymous with health improvement - true for many people, but it makes navigating these topics in larger public spaces a minefield for someone on the lower end of what is traditionally considered a healthy range.

At the moment I just have to avoid any specific practices and stick to the basics: staying active, eating whole foods (:im-vegan:), getting enough sleep, breaks from sitting, refraining from too much alcohol, stretching, etc. Also the psychosocial side: maintaining community around me, getting enough nature, work-life balance, yada yada yada.

How do you parse this out? Can anyone speak to benefits from a practice like intermittent fasting (or anything else touted) if you're not trying to shed pounds? Does anyone else resonate with my position?

Not trying to whine as being thin comes with a lot of fucking privilege.

EDIT: I wasn't intended this post to be exclusively about intermittent fasting. I'm curious about it in particular, but I also wanted to speak to the general phenomenon that so much of the general health advice I see around is actually just weight loss advice. This is pervasive outside of discussions too - books and articles outside of strict academic work seem to conflate the two all the time because for a large portion of the audience that's really what they're after.

  • melon_popsicle [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I think that for a lot of people the most important thing about 'diets' for weight loss or gain is the rules, structure, and mindfulness around food they provide for people who are are not able to 'intuitively eat' (eat in a way that keeps them happy and healthy). Of course once the goal is achieved and the structure is lost many people yo-yo back to their original weight because they haven't learned what healthy eating feels like.

    People I've known to achieve their weightloss goals might be experiencing some 'resets' or tapping into some epigenetic stuff, but I think a huge part of it for them is just reducing how much they are eating. Modern society can find someone easily surrounded by not-so-healthy food, so having an rule/excuse to make you say 'no' to the office birthday cake or the Drive-Thru on the way home is a big difference maker. This excuse can be any of the no-carb, wrong time of day, seed-oils, etc rules that are popular nowadays.

    In the opposite direction, weight gain diets for the underweight often read as 'If you at least consume this one calorie dense thing every day you won't waste away.' The 'meme' body builder diet GOMAD (Gallon of Milk a Day) is an extreme example, but I know a handful of ADHD/Neurodivergent types who are underweight or chronically dehydrated that have 'at-least' rules and use pre-portioned meal/shakes and phone reminders.

    All in all I think a lot of diet success is similar to the exercise adage "The Best Workout (Diet) Program Is the One You Actually Enjoy/Do." However, it might be also the case that to graduate from consistent, conscious dieting to healthy intuitive eating some underlying mental barriers might need to be addressed.

    Disclaimer: I am not a dietician or anything close, this is just a pet theory that I've had rolling around for a while.