digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: To succeed at intermittent fasting, plan ahead for hunger using three keys: avoid environmental triggers, understand that hunger rises and then falls, and build habits so you don't rely on willpower. Hunger is expected during fasting, but it passes in roughly 30 to 45 minutes if you wait it out and redirect your attention.
Key Points
- The three keys named in the video are: (1) avoid the triggers, (2) understand the nature of hunger, and (3) build habits.
- Triggers are learned cues, such as the kitchen, the clock, a cafeteria, TV, a movie theater, or the car, that prompt eating through conditioned response (Pavlov's bell and dogs).
- Dr. Fung says hunger is not simply a function of time since eating; he notes people are typically least hungry in the morning and most hungry at night, even when 8:00 p.m. is not the longest gap since food.
- Dr. Fung says hunger builds in a wave, crests, and then diminishes back to baseline, as the body draws on stored body fat for energy.
- Habits reduce the willpower needed each day, and a new habit can feel strange for about two weeks before it becomes routine.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Avoid triggers: work away from the kitchen if possible, avoid eating in front of TV, in the car, or at the movie theater, and eat only at a table with properly prepared meals.
- If you cook for your family, cook once or twice a week in larger batches on days you would eat anyway, so family members can reheat meals and you stay out of the kitchen on other days.
- Consider online ordering or grocery delivery, including ready-to-cook meals that only need stir-frying or assembling, to avoid grocery store temptation.
- When hunger hits, wait it out for about 30 to 45 minutes; it will pass and you return to normal.
- Plan a substitute at the usual mealtime, such as a large cup of green tea, coffee, bone broth, a hot bath, or a walk with a friend, so the hunger wave passes while you are occupied.
- Build habits by replacing an old routine with a non-food one, for example having coffee or tea instead of breakfast in the car, and expect about two weeks of discomfort before it feels normal.
- Dr. Fung says green tea contains the antioxidant ECGC, which he says studies have shown to have a very mild appetite-suppressing effect, and he suggests drinking a big cup while the hunger passes.
- Coffee and bitter herbal teas, including turmeric tea, are mentioned as options some people find helpful for suppressing appetite or distracting from hunger.
- Dry fasting (no food and no liquids) is mentioned: the speaker says it is not great for long periods due to mild dehydration, but for fasts under 16 to 18 hours some people find hunger is less when they drink nothing, though it does not work for everyone.
Bottom Line
Hunger during fasting is predictable and temporary, so plan for it by removing cues, waiting out the wave, and making non-eating routines automatic.
