The Calorie Myth by Jonathan Bailor. Discussion.

I fully agree Angus! In fact, today my wife and I initiated a three day fast.

On that front I have all but morphed into an OMAD (One Meal A Day) guy. It's just more convenient. But without even trying, my body fat continues to slowly melt away.

I've done a couple of three day fasts before, I am excited to be beginning one today.

I admit, the COVID 19 virus spooked me away from fasts longer than 24 hours the past few months.....that's what kept me away from that.

 

Angus,

A year and a half on hard mode is definitely an accomplishment. Awesome!!!

I definitely think that the discipline has spilled over into other areas of your life and contributed to your ability to control your diet.

I find this inspiring and indicative of the fact that NoFap is about learning to become a better person by replacing bad habits with new productive ones.

Cheers!!

 

Thank you!
It is almost 2 1/2 years at this point and as you said, the practice of semen-retention has spilled over into many other areas of my life. Of course I consider the larger, most recent reward being the ability to control and expel my former gluttony and gluttonous habits from my life as I nowadays only need to eat one big meal per day. The ketosis-like state you start entering after 20 hours without food feels amazing as I know a lot of junk is being expelled from my system.

My latest discovery though, is that veganism (or only plant-based diets) are causing mental illness, cognitive problems, anemia and a myriad of malnourishment issues. Videos, interviews and articles written by several ex-vegans do confirm and support those statements as many of them were close to dying as a result of sticking to those diets for several years.
I actually tried out plant-based diets for almost 18 months the other year and no words can describe how de-energized, bloated, and sick it made me feel at times (not to talk about the recurring hunger and food-cravings). It was probably my frequent cheating that helped saving my physical and health from going down the drain.

 

I concur. "Plant based" sounds good, but it's really not. I don't know of ANYONE who can stick to it, just for the reasons you mention Angus.

.....if we just ate the way Grandma served us: a fatty meat, a vegetable....lots of butter. (the only mistake was the potato)

 

And in the middle (39 hours) of a 72 hour fast.

 

You guys ROCK!!!

 

True statement! (That potato did contain a whole lot of insulin-spiking starches, hehe)
That veganism/plant-based movements seems like a huge cult that lures many young, insecure millennials into it because it all sounds so good, healthy and good for the planet and all animals while it actually does the exact opposite.
It only creates malnutrition, gut-problems, deficiencies, depression, lethargy, cognitive issues, metabolic syndrome and accelerated aging in its footsteps. I have tried to warn one of my German acquaintances (who is also an athlete) for this but in vain and now I can almost see the inevitable disaster unfold in front of my eyes.

Any vegan parents who try to feed their children the same diet as they eat themselves should be charged with child-abuse because they will be malnourished as a result:

 

To Die2Self (I love the nickname, I agree!)

I appreciate your points about calories. YES, you are correct insofar as the laws of thermodynamics dictate a conservation of energy. Thus, in some sort of macro way there has to be some stasis on calorie consumption and expediture.

However, our bodies are designed (by God.....as I see you would agree) in a far more clever way. But instead of me trying to hastily distill that complexity--because it can't be done--I am going to cite my source. His name is Dr. Jason Fun, a board certified nephrologist and expert on diabetes. In the linked video he explains how there's much more to dietary life than "calories in and calories out".

Here ya go:

 

You know Angus, I never thought of that aspect--abuse (intentional or not) of children by conveying bad dietary information to children. EXCELLENT point and citation.

 

I was just thinking about a video I watched where a reporter was asking random people in public (choosing "healthy" looking individuals who were jogging or whatever, lol) if they were following a gluten-free diet.

Many who enthusiastically said they were couldn't answer the question of what gluten was. Omg it was hilarious.

 

I do partially agree on that but those body-builders you mentioned must be on steroids and/or a ton of supplements because there are over 50 nutrients found in animal-products that can't be found in any plants or plant-based foods. I also consider most supplements as quite useless and many times toxic since they are synthetic/man-made and will have a hard-time being absorbed by the small intestine.
Especially if there are an excess of plant-based fibers going through the intestines (whose fermented by-products will attack the normal gut-bacteria) which will destroy the gut-health in the long run and hinder any absorption even further.

Hence, I do consider that no one (for the sake of their own health and well-being) should adopt a plant-based only diet as that will lead to malnutrition and a lot of plant-toxins accumulating in the body.
Still, I won't force my recommendations or advice onto anyone (as I consider everyone having the freedom of choice) but rather let people find it out on their own and make that decision themselves. The worst group of people I know are cult-or religious like zealots who try to force their lifestyle and/or beliefs onto others while shaming them and claiming some kind of moral superiority and unfortunately, many vegans seem belonging to this group (although there are exceptions of course).

 

Thanks mate!
Although many of those vegan parents don't intentionally hurt their children, they should at least (if they have some common-sense and cognitive functions still intact) be able to consider as to why their kids after a few years still look so malnourished, lethargic, pale, tiny and thin-haired compared to other kids their age.
If the social services remove kids from families where the parents are substance abusers and don't take care of their kids, they should do the same for parents who in other ways are either abusing and/or malnourishing their kids but rarely are any of those vegan parents (who force their diets and beliefs onto their kids) held responsible or accountable for their abusive parenting (intentional or not), until it's almost too late to save them.
There are many cases out there where kids have died of malnutrition-related ailments and illnesses as a result of being fed a plant-based only diet.

 

I have read his book about fasting and it was some great and interesting reading overall.

 

Today, I only fasted for 18 hours (because of a weird time-schedule) but after this meal, I will be go fasting for 27-28 hours straight. Last day, I was drinking bone-broth for the first time and although it tasted a bit strange (since I'm not used to the bone/organ taste of it), I know it is full of well-needed minerals that make you strong and healthy.

 

Thanks for note. I am finding this thread particularly satisfying: pretty cool having a bunch of thoughtful people discussing a complicated topic.

I was thinking about that video (and I don't blame anyone for not watching the entire thing.....it's 37 min. long) so I will try to take a stab (however imperfectly) at the calories "don't matter" topic:

Think of your body as having multiple gas tanks. (The liver, the muscles, the blood and the cells) SOME types of calories (carbohydrates) are more prone to "Fill" certain gas tanks and be stored as fat. A calorie--as a unit of energy--IS just a "calorie". But the things you eat (carbohydrate, fat, protein) all get treated differently by the body. THAT'S why it's important to think beyond the calorie.

As an aside to Die2Self: I am guessing your Taco Bell experiment "worked" because most Taco Bell food items were relatively high fat. I'll bet if you ate the same calorie count at a bakery over the same time period you'd have a different result.

Cool stuff. Thanks guys.

Keep up the good work Angus. A lot of the literature and expertise argues that the 18 hour window is perhaps ideal. Obviously we are all slightly different, so the ideal fasting window must fluctuate. But just like our NoFap streaks, we guys tend to think longer is always better.

My 72 hour planned fast turned out to be a 48 hour one. My wife was eating. I am meeting my weight/composition goals, so hitting 72 hours was serving no apparent purpose other than the "suffering". Not really suffering, but you know what I mean. The part I am happy with was that my meal at 48 hours was a proper high fat, moderate protein and VERY low carbohydrate one.