Is Intermittent Fasting A Good Idea For Diabetics? There Are Two Sides To The Story with Terry and Roy

There are two sides to every story. Of course Feeding Fatty suggests you do your own research and always seek out medical professionals before starting new routines or programs. Intermittent fasting has worked for some and may not be the best for others. Intermittent fasting may help control inflammation & may even lower the risk of heart disease type two diabetes & some cancers.

About Terry and Roy

After years of weight, health and fitness challenges, Roy Barker and Terry Mallozzi made a commitment to changing their eating habits. And implementing realistic fitness goals for them. They chronicle their journey for health on the Feeding Fatty Podcast speaking to experts about related aspects of health challenges (type 2 diabetes, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism), losing weight (need to) and staying positive (easier said than done). Little did they know it’s not just counting calories and cutting out sweets

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Is Intermittent Fasting A Good Idea For Diabetics There Are Two Sides To The Story with Terry and Roy

00:00:15
Roy
Hello and welcome to another episode of Feeding Fatty. This is Roy, of course we are the podcast that Chronicles our journey through eating, trying to eat, right, eat more healthful, more thoughtful eating, trying to get out, move every day and also mindset. It's funny, I think as we go through this in the beginning, it was more about what were eating and I think we have shifted a lot of this, more to mindset just with the realization that to, in order to make sustainable change, we have to get our minds right. And to be ready. And,

00:00:50
Terry
All signs were pointing to the mindset, every time we thought, okay, well, we're going to try this other, we'll do it for a day or two or a week or whatever. Then, got to figure out what's what is sustainable for us.

00:01:05
Roy
So, today we wanted to talk about diabetes. We release our, interview episodes with professionals and others stories in the industry. On Tuesdays on Thursdays, we've kind of been focusing a lot on diabetes because I struggle with that and, trying to keep my sugars in control and it's very difficult, especially the older you get and the more sedentary you are. So, anyway, we found a good article. I'll let you start into it if you want there. Yeah. This.

00:01:35
Terry
From KSAT, it's the, at an ABC affiliate in San Antonio and they, it was an article just said is intermittent fasting, right for you. We've been seeing a lot that intermittent fasting could be good for people with diabetes. It might be a positive thing for them to help them reverse it because that it is reversible, but you have to eat your way to it, Right. I don't.

00:02:08
Roy
Know. It's asked your way to it. Yeah. I think this article brings up some questions and again, before we go too far, we are not doctors. We don't pretend to be, we don't IX dispense advice. We always ask, that if you're going to start something new or different, go to your doctor, go to a nutritionist or a registered nutritionist, find somebody that's really trained for this because we're not, we have, we've been trying this intermittent fasting, not, I don't know, for the last few months it seemed more or less, and we've had varied results. I, at the very beginning, it was, my sugars were a lot more stable. Here lately, they've been way high and much more out of control. I don't know if it's some other stuff, I know there was one, a specific piece of food that I was eating that I thought was, no to low carbs and was actually pretty high in them.

00:03:11
Roy
That was just a mistake that I had made. But, reading through this, because we've heard evidence from a lot of people that the fasting is good because it lets our body have time to recover,

00:03:24
Terry
Digest and do what it needs to mechanically, ? And it counts, I mean the hours count while you're sleeping. So it's not as high. It's not as bad as it sounds, but if, we go from like 7:00 PM at night until noon the next day, right there,

00:03:43
Roy
There's some people that just do from seven at night to seven in the morning. That's where a doctor I think could help you kind of dial in what's right for you. But, the thing is like your body is always working to digest. The other part of that's good, I think is like, I'm a night eater. After seven o'clock, it's good for me to be done instead of, like nine, 10 o'clock instead of looking for a snack or wanting to go, get an ice cream cone or something like that, you're just done and let your body kind of, have it, give it a break where it's not always digesting your food. Anyway, as we read through this story, it says that, and this is a quote, this is from a M K sat.com, which is a San Antonio, when you say ABC news outlet. Right. It's, I think they're quoting Tisha Calvo with consumer reports.

00:04:43
Roy
It just says that when done in a healthful way, intermittent fasting can help control inflammation and may even lower the risk of heart disease type two diabetes and some cancers. Okay. Which that's great. This is what we have heard, over and over that it can be helpful. The inflammation has gotten to, it's kind of the root of all evil. It seems like in our bodies, when we talk about cancer and other heart disease and things like that. In the very next paragraph, it says intermittent fasting isn't for everyone. It could be too extreme for older adults, people with diabetes and those who take medications at certain times. Anyway, it just kinda left us, wondering, if the, in the top part about inflammation, if they're talking about like before you actually become a diabetic, if you do some fasting, maybe you can help that. Or, maybe it's just certain people with diabetes.

00:05:45
Roy
I don't know. Anyway, it's a little contradicting, so we're going to have to do a little more research on this to see what's up. But, it does say that, to be sure and eat plenty of, protein and fiber during the day, if you are going to fast eat it lists fruit, oatmeal, cottage, cheese, things like that. That'll help keep you satisfied, from through that period, because it, depending on what you're doing, if you can get on a normal schedule, what I would call normal for me, where, we could be done and go to bed at nine or nine 30, it doesn't affect me as bad. When I'm up late and having to work and do stuff, then that's when I really, have those cravings or that desire is, like maybe 10 o'clock. It's kind of interesting for me, because then it gets back to sleep.

00:06:44
Roy
I think sleep is catalyst for me to really start a lot of bad things happening. And this is definitely one of them.

00:06:52
Terry
Try. And, you have some there, I know you need many more hours in the day to complete everything. Everybody could use a few more hours, but, your body just, you're so tired and your eyes are burning and you're trying to do everything you can just to make sure that you stay up. It's not as simple as just saying, yeah, I need to be done at seven, but it, because when eight o'clock comes around nine o'clock, 10 o'clock and 12, and you're still up. I mean, maybe that's just telling you got to go, you have to go sleep because sleep is so important too.

00:07:30
Roy
Yeah. She mentions here too, that, he had an early dinner between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Late night, eating has been linked to greater risk of obesity, type two diabetes and heart disease. Again, and they suggest, cutting your dinners down and trying to do about 600 calories and eat more veggies, dinner for dinner because, when you go out to eat or even sometimes when we cook at home, you'd be surprised when you really add up your calories. I mean, you can do 800 to a thousand calories. Very, very easy. That's not even counting dessert.

00:08:08
Terry
No. When you add like toppings and dressings and sauces and all that stuff and the salt, when you add all that stuff, it changes the dynamics of your food. Right. So helps with inflammation. Right. Right. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what I was going to say. Sorry.

00:08:32
Roy
Oh, that's the other thing too. We pulled another article. This is from, the express, which I think this is a UK publication, but it's just, it was, actually talking about the, five fruits that can raise your blood sugar. And, it was an interesting list. Watermelon, one of my favorite, the first one, but, it's kind of, to me, it was obvious because it has such a sweet taste to it. Watermelons, pumpkin pineapple, which I was surprised, fruit juice, and then dried fruits again, dried fruits, use, I've been using them in my snacks, eat a little dried fruit, nuts thinking I was doing a good thing, but here again, I may have to recheck that if it's got they refer back to these, have a high G which is the,

00:09:27
Terry
Index. Yeah. This is from what is it cure? I lost it. Curl, curl life. Yeah. Anyway, and the GI is a rating system for foods containing carbs. Did you already say that? No.

00:09:44
Roy
No, no, that's fine. Yeah. And it just, it's.

00:09:47
Terry
Just how quickly each one affects your blood sugar level, all of that. Making sure that you're not metabolized metabolizing too many, carb grams, they list, they also listed, yeah. The worst. I'm sorry. The best fruits. Okay.

00:10:10
Roy
I didn't see that. What, what are those?

00:10:13
Terry
Okay. Oh, here they are. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Fruits for diabetics to consume that top 10 fruits, blackberries, oranges, strawberries, avocados. Now because of fruit, I thought it was a vegetable. Well, why I don't see tomato is on here. Isn't tomatoes of fruit also, sour, cherries. Okay. Not sweet ones. All right. Plums, grapefruit, pears, apples, nectarines peaches, bananas, and blueberries. CNN.

00:10:49
Roy
Interesting about the bananas being on there because I thought that they were one of the higher carbs and maybe there's enough fiber in it that it's got that slower release, but that's good news for me. Cause I like bananas. We typically eat a lot of the blueberries and a lot of the, blackberries, which I like those in small doses. I think people, sometime there are people that talk about, eating fruit because it's natural, won't hurt you, but fruit as a lot of, natural sugars in them. For us diabetics, we still have to pay attention to that. Just be careful when, and I, I try to eat mine earlier in the day just to give me chance to work it off versus, eating them late at night and then going to bed. It'll usually cause me a bump in the morning when I wake up.

00:11:41
Terry
Right. Well, and this article also said, in addition to eating the lower GI foods, that exercise can help keep your blood sugar levels under control and we've. Yep. And.

00:11:54
Roy
It does, it helps me, to try to get out after a meal and walk, if I can get on a good walk and schedule, I think that's been a bad thing about this pandemic is I have become very sedentary, more than usual, I have to set for my job and we set for, doing through our podcast a lot, but it just, it's not been a good thing. It's been great in some respects, but it's not been for that part. I think it's my, movement has not been as good as it should.

00:12:26
Terry
Be, but you are taking proactive steps and you did get a new Fitbit, like yeah. Did you know? And I really.

00:12:33
Roy
Love this. I, I came off my, I watch iPhone, whatever it is, apple watch kinda crashed on me and I didn't use all the functions, the talking or texting and music controls, I just didn't use all that stuff. It went, I actually went back to Fitbit than I'd had. I had a Fitbit prior to that and when it gave up, that's when I went to the apple watch, but I'm happy to be back with the Fitbit because it's got a prompter in apple may have it, but this one here is just a better prompt to get up and walk 250 steps every hour during your waking hours. Those add up, excuse me, after, a day. Yeah. When we, but when we go walk at night, instead of starting with zero, because people don't, I think if you don't work from home and don't stay at home a lot, it may be hard to fathom this, but if I don't make an effort, I mean, I can do three to 500 steps a day.

00:13:41
Roy
That's all, coming from the bedroom to the office, to the kitchen, to the office and back to the bedroom, it's not that many. So, but this watch what it does. It kind of prompts me through the day. In the evening, when we go walk and I've got 2,500 or more steps already in, so I think it's a great thing. That the other thing it helps me through the day to get up and get moving.

00:14:06
Terry
Yeah. Well, and the dogs really like it cause you psych them out thinking that they're going somewhere, but they have to wait because we can't take them out yet. But you do. I mean, you do a good job. You just have to remember to put that on, put that Fitbit on and do it.

00:14:26
Roy
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's been, the, you don't have to do everything at once. Sometimes there's a misconception that we have to do everything all at one time and you really don't, those incremental steps that you take all through the day at the end of the day, they all add up and they all count. And, I'm the worst for when I go to the gym, I love to stay there and do of everything. The, the cardio get on some weights, I used to go to a place that had a punching bag that, you could go do that. I love to go do all that, and then you end up, like you said, being there for two or three hours, but then it becomes a discouragement because now, instead of running there for 15 or 20 minutes, it's like, Ugh, if I can't go do everything, I want stay there for a couple hours and I just don't go.

00:15:17
Roy
Anyway, so you kind of have to get over that, whatever you go and do. The other thing about that, I was kind of noticing, we talked about tonight is that if I am up in busy, if I'm outside working, I don't really eat as bad as if I'm in the house. It seemed like if it's within arm's reach, it's much easier. So, sometimes just, kind of jokingly say the, going to the gym is its own thing for sure. The, the kind of the by-product is when you're gone and when you're there, you're not eating. So, it kind of helps you in that respect as well. That's kind of a, something that I know that is, I don't know if it's a trigger or just an observation that, if I'm staying close to the house, I tend to eat worse than if I'm out running around doing stuff.

00:16:08
Roy
Yeah.

00:16:09
Terry
That's probably, got something to say with who's going to the grocery store and stock in the cabinet. So, that could be a harder thing to, partake in if I wasn't so weak and got the chunky stuff, sorry, whoops. You're out at I'm out. Although I got some really good stuff this last time is it's been interesting. Deals have been interesting for sure,

00:16:42
Roy
We're going to plug through, we're going to make it, and we're going to try to be more active. We're going to try and find out a little more about this fasting, the intermittent fasting to see. I would really like to, kind of figure that out because to be honest, it's one, breakfast is my meal and, that's always had always been the meal that we cook the most and the biggest every weekend. It's tough for me to be done with that. The other thing I think we've mixed up is instead of eating, maybe doing a smoothie, for breakfast, first thing to say,

00:17:20
Terry
Right. I did, hold on. I did just pull up another article that said, the biggest downside to intermittent fasting for people with type two is the danger of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. For this reason, it's recommended that they consult with their nutritionist and doctor to monitor their sugars. So.

00:17:47
Roy
Never been a problem. I had mine are plenty high, a struggle trying to just keep them down. Like we said, go see a doctor. If you're going to start something like this. It's, it's always good just to make sure what advice they've got for you individually, because there may be other health factors that you have that your next door neighbor doesn't have. It's always good to let your doctor tell you specifically.

00:18:13
Terry
Yeah, for sure.

00:18:15
Roy
All alright. You got, you got anything else before we get outta here?

00:18:19
Terry
Nope, not that, Nope. All right.

00:18:23
Roy
Well, again, we appreciate the listeners. Like, I said, we're going to try to, stay more diabetes focused since that's definitely what I struggle with and, trying to release those on our Thursday with our guests on Tuesdays. We, we've got some great guests coming up, had some good interviews, this the last few days. Then, we've got a lot of great content already out there. Just, would suggest to, look back through some of the episodes. See if you can find one that resonates with you've had some great people on and got a lot of great, more common. So we're excited about that. Anyway, until next time, I'm your host. Roy, you can find us at www.feedingfatty.com. We're also on all the major podcast platforms, tune Stitcher, Google, Spotify. If we're not a one that she listened to, please reach out. We'd love to get you added or get the one that you use added.

00:19:23
Roy
We're also in all the major social media networks, probably hang out on Instagram more than any place else. A video recording of this episode will also go up when it goes live on YouTube. If you are a provider of some type in the health wellness, mindset, the area, give us a reach out. We'd love to talk to you about being a guest. Also, if you've got a great story about, overcoming some obstacles, what you've done to get healthy, what you've done to help change your mind, reach out. We'd love to have you on as a guest until next time, take care of yourself and take care of your health.

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