What is intermittent fasting? Does it work for people with diabetes? Nutritionist Jane Sandwood explains.
Disclaimer: This is not dietary advice and you should not make any changes to your diet without consulting your doctor.
Everyone is different
“I’ve been a nutritionist for ten years, and I’ve learned two things,” explains Jane Sandwood. “Firstly, dieting is not the solution to being out of shape or overweight, and secondly, everyone’s bodies are different. For example, a well-balanced, but restricted diet and exercise works for me, but my husband has found a fasting regime mixed with exercising on an empty stomach to be better for him.”
Intermittent fasting can help some people lose weight and actually boost their workouts – you can find out more in this Guide to Intermittent Fasting. The guide covers what fasting is, how it compares to diets, who should not do it, and also the different kinds of fasting people can undertake.
Does intermittent fasting work for diabetics?
While genetics play a significant role in whether or not someone will become diabetic, for a lot of people, lifestyle choices and diet are the main contributing factors, especially in cases of Type 2 diabetes.
Way back in 1916, Dr Eliot Joslin, working at Harvard University, wrote about the benefits of using intermittent fasting techniques to aid control of diabetes. The main health benefits are as follows:
- Lower blood sugar: Your body will use up the glucose in your system more effectively because you are fasting for between 12 and 16 hours.
- Increase in metabolism: This will then increase the number of calories you burn.
- Increase in receptivity to insulin: As the glucose in your system is being used in a better, more efficient way, the insulin you do create will work better and do the job it’s supposed to, which is moving the sugar out of your body properly.
- Healthy weight loss: You may find that intermittent fasting results in slower, healthier weight loss of around 500g to 1kg per week, which is ideal.
Intermittent fasting for diabetics: 16:8 (Lean Gains)
People with diabetes obviously need to be more careful of how often they eat, particularly those who are on insulin. As a result, the most popular intermittent fasting model is the 16:8 Lean Gains model. It’s one of the most popular fasting methods for beginners, and was created by Martin Berkhan as a way to make fasting both convenient and habitual.
The idea is simple: you don’t eat anything for 16 hours and then you eat within an eight hour eating window (16/8 fasting).
Most people eat their last meal of the day around 8pm and then fast through the night and morning until 1pm. You could also make this 7pm to 12pm (noon), or even have dinner at 6pm and then eat again at 11am. To burn fat, some people choose to exercise around 11am or noon – but people with diabetes need to be on the alert for low blood sugar.
Safety and intermittent fasting
If you’re planning to try intermittent fasting, please speak to your doctor first.
In-depth podcast
Listen to this fascinating podcast with endocrinologist Dr Sundeep Ruder. In it, he looks at the whole picture of intermittent fasting.
Have you tried intermittent fasting?
Does it work for you? Let’s talk about it!
Photo by Szűcs László on Unsplash
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I am a type 2 diabetic on insulin twice daily and I am afraid I cannot agree that intermittent fasting is beneficial. Only yesterday I, without actually planning it, had a very light breakfast and absolutely nothing more, other than a cup of tea in the afternoon until my supper at about 6.30pm. I tested my glucose level just before supper and it was 14.8 mmol/L. I was told by my Doctor a few years ago that if your body starts getting low on sugar due to nothing being consumed, very often the body will secrete extra glucose to assist in the blood sugar remaining above the dangerously low levels as a safety feature. After a reasonable supper last night, my “fasted” sugar level this morning was 7.2 mmol/L which is what I would expect.
How fascinating, Evan! I wonder if it makes a difference what time of day the fasting is? I’ve only ever tried it overnight (ie finished dinner at 7pm and not eaten again till 7am). But I’ve also had those experiences of longer stretches than usual without eating and then unexplained high blood sugar.
Perhaps I should add in a disclaimer that this is just an opinion and not to be taken as dietary advice – thanks for the reminder and your input!
I think most diabetics will basically fast once they have had their supper – after all, most of us check our blood sugar first thing in the morning after a period of at least 8 hours of fasting before we have eaten or have drunk a cup tea or coffee. It definitely does happen that the sugar levels are unexplainably higher after consuming little of nothing during the day which is what my Dr told me would happen. It has happened many times with me. Of course they say that a diabetic should have 5 or 6 meals a day (small ones in between main meals) which also makes sense now. Glad to have been able to input something that may help someone.