Hello everyone,
I started doing the 5:2 diet a few months ago, not for weight loss as am already naturally thin (unable to put weight on thin) but for brain health. Before starting fasting I was really depressed and suicidal, suffered from depersonalization, extreme mood swings, spaciness, fogginess, problems with my vision (for which I go to a specialist), digestive problems especially constipation and bloating, ... I had tired so many things before and nothing helped. Because my mother was doing fasting to lose weight I looked into it a bit and when I read about all the benefits associated with fasting I was very eager to tried it as I had become desperate to lift the fog from my brain.
Guess what, it helped tremendously. I started to feel more hopeful and positive, my cognitive ability increased, my vision improved so well that the specialist was amazed by the results, old long forgotten memories came back, fear and anxiety lessened and my sleep improved and I have not lost any weight while fasting so far. So every thing was going smoothly, however last week I started to have symptoms of what I think are blood sugar related and I started to have trouble sleeping and having heart palpitations.
I feel really bad after eating, a very uneasy feeling, dizzy, very weak. It will subside after a while but come back even worse few hours after eating and will then lessen when I eat something and came back again. It is like a rollercoaster and I just generally feel really weak. I also do not have an appetite anymore while I used to have a very big appetite.
I started doing some more research and apparently studies are not so positive about the effects of fasting on nonobese women. (I am a woman btw). Fasting would increase glucose intolerance, fertility problems and adrenal problems. at least in apes and mice (will look for the studies and post them)
Anyway, I think it is best if I stop fasting obviously. However, I am really scared that the above mentioned problems will come back (the fogged, depressed brain) when I resume my normal diet. How could I get the same brain benefits without fasting ? What goes on in the fasting brain and how to reduplicate it. I know BDNF levels are raised when fasting, so I will have to find a way to raise them. What other things induced by fasting could have contributed to the fast and significant improvement in my mood ? Maybe immunity regulation ?
Could minimal calorie restriction but with frequent meal planning have the same benefits for the brain but without the assumed blood sugar problems ?
Thanks for your the help anyways
