The Fasting Doctor “Fasting Cures Obesity!”, This Controversial New Drug Melts Fat, Fasting Fixes Hormones! Skip Breakfast!

In this insightful discussion, Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist and pioneer of intermittent fasting, challenges the conventional 'calories in, calories out' model of weight loss, emphasizing the pivotal role hormones play in obesity and type 2 diabetes. He argues that frequent eating and processed carbohydrates spike insulin, driving energy into storage and leaving individuals perpetually hungry. Fung advocates for intermittent fasting and dietary changes as effective, accessible tools for reducing insulin levels, activating fat burning, and potentially reversing type 2 diabetes, shifting the focus from calorie counting to understanding the hormonal impact of food and the importance of fasting periods. He also touches on the evolutionary advantages of fasting, the regenerative process of autophagy, and the societal stigma surrounding obesity, urging a deeper exploration of eating patterns and their physiological effects.

• Dr. Jason Fung criticizes the conventional weight loss model of calories in, calories out.
• Exercise has minimal impact on weight loss.
• The timing of eating, such as eating immediately after waking up, is not necessary.
• Genetics play a significant role in obesity risk, but they don't account for the recent obesity epidemic.
• Obesity cannot be cured by simply reducing calorie intake; hormonal imbalances must be addressed.
• Intermittent fasting is recommended by Dr. Fung to improve health and activate the body's functions.
• Fasting can increase energy and concentration and is available to everyone for free.

"This calories in, calories out model doesn't work at all if you're trying to lose weight."

This quote emphasizes the ineffectiveness of the traditional approach to weight loss that focuses on calorie counting.

• Hormones, particularly insulin, play a crucial role in weight gain and obesity.
• Insulin instructs the body to store energy, leading to weight gain regardless of willpower.
• The real question in weight management is why the body is storing more calories than it expends.
• Dr. Fung uses the analogy of alcoholism to explain the importance of understanding the underlying causes of behaviors, such as overeating.

"It's about fixing the hormones that are behind the calories."

Dr. Fung's quote highlights the need to address hormonal imbalances to effectively manage weight.

• Dr. Fung wrote "The Obesity Code" to explore beyond the calories in, calories out paradigm.
• His background in nephrology led him to realize the conventional wisdom on weight loss was unhelpful.
• The book aims to understand why people eat more calories than they expend and how to address it.

"The whole point was how to get people to lose weight."

The quote reflects Dr. Fung's motivation for writing the book, focusing on effective weight loss strategies.

• Different foods cause different hormonal responses, affecting how energy is stored or used.
• Refined carbohydrates cause insulin spikes, leading to immediate energy storage and increased hunger.
• Foods like eggs do not cause significant insulin spikes, providing sustained energy and satiety.

"If you eat an egg, you don't get that spike in insulin."

Dr. Fung explains that certain foods do not lead to rapid insulin increases, which can help control hunger and manage weight.

• The body has natural mechanisms to regulate food intake, such as stomach stretch receptors and satiety hormones.
• Overeating triggers hormonal responses that reduce hunger and increase energy expenditure to maintain a baseline weight.
• The concept of body set weight suggests the body has a preferred weight and works to maintain it.

"If you gain too much body fat, your fat cells, for example, will produce leptin, which is another hormone."

This quote explains how the body uses hormones like leptin to regulate food intake and maintain a healthy weight.

• The current food environment, dominated by ultra-processed foods, contributes to obesity.
• Blaming individuals for their weight ignores the influence of the environment on eating behaviors.
• The prevalence of obesity suggests a systemic issue rather than individual failings.

"The problem is likely not an individual willpower problem. The problem is likely that there's something wrong with the message we're giving people."

Dr. Fung argues that the widespread issue of obesity is not due to a lack of willpower but rather to the flawed dietary advice and food environment.

• Leptin resistance is a factor in obesity, and understanding its causes is crucial.
• Insulin and leptin have opposing effects on weight, and an imbalance can lead to weight gain.
• Finding the reasons behind leptin resistance and hormonal imbalances is key to addressing obesity.

"Insulin is pushing us to gain weight. Leptin is pushing us to lose weight."

The quote explains the balance between insulin and leptin in regulating body weight.

• Genetics are a significant factor in obesity, with twin studies showing a strong correlation.
• While genetics contribute to individual obesity risk, they do not explain the recent rise in obesity rates.
• Environmental changes in the last few decades are more likely to be responsible for the obesity epidemic.

"About 70% of your risk of becoming obese is due to genetics."

Dr. Fung acknowledges the genetic influence on obesity but suggests that other factors have driven the recent increase in obesity rates.

• Obesity is a worldwide problem, not limited to the USA.
• The increase in obesity over the last 50 years is not due to a change in genetics.
• The entire population's genetics cannot explain the rise in obesity rates.

"So every continent is seeing this increase in obesity. Therefore, this recent change within the last 50 years is not due to a change in Genetics."

This quote highlights the global nature of the obesity epidemic and dismisses genetics as the primary cause for the recent increase in obesity rates.

• Genetics contribute to individual predispositions to obesity.
• Hormonal responses to food, influenced by genetics, play a significant role in obesity.
• The food environment has changed, affecting our hormone responses differently than our ancestors.

"So, while, yes, it's true that there is a strong genetic component that explains my risk of, say, obesity compared to yours, but doesn't explain how the population of the United States, for example, all of a sudden became much more obese in general."

Dr. Jason Fung emphasizes that while genetics may explain individual differences in obesity risk, it does not account for the widespread increase in obesity across populations.

• The calorie in/calorie out model is flawed; the two are not independent.
• Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is not stable; it adapts to caloric intake.
• Reducing caloric intake can lead to a reduced BMR, limiting weight loss.

"It's unquestionably false because every single study that we've done over the last 50 years shows that if you eat 500 fewer calories, then over time, depending on what foods you're eating, eventually your body will just burn 500 fewer calories."

Dr. Jason Fung refutes the notion that a simple reduction in calories leads to weight loss, explaining that the body adapts by reducing its energy expenditure.

• Yoyo dieting results from the body's adaptation to reduced caloric intake.
• After dieting, the body's metabolism can remain low, leading to weight regain.
• Hormonal responses, particularly insulin, prevent fat burning during periods of high intake.

"So that's that yoyo dieting effect. So say you start with 2000 calories. In, 2000 calories out, you're not gaining weight, you're not losing weight. Right? Now you decide, okay, I'm going to go on a diet. [...] Your metabolic rate has just now gone down by 500 calories. And guess what? You're not losing any body fat."

This quote describes the process of yoyo dieting, where caloric restriction leads to a lower metabolic rate, which can cause weight gain once the diet ends.

• Hormones, particularly insulin, dictate whether the body stores or burns fat.
• Intermittent fasting can help reduce insulin levels and promote fat burning.
• The timing of food intake affects hormonal balance and weight.

"Food contains calories, energy, but it contains instructions as well as to what to do. [...] It's the hormonal signal that says, please take energy out, open up the doors so that body fat can come out."

Dr. Jason Fung explains that food provides both energy and hormonal instructions to the body, with intermittent fasting serving as a tool to regulate these signals for weight loss.

• Exercise has a limited effect on weight loss due to the low number of calories burned.
• Exercise can increase hunger, potentially leading to greater caloric intake.
• Diet, specifically hormonal impact from food choices, plays a larger role in weight loss.

"It's very hard to exercise enough to lose weight. And that's not to say that you shouldn't exercise. You really should exercise. Everybody should exercise. But if you're trying to lose weight, you still got to focus on the main topic, which is the foods that you eat."

Dr. Jason Fung acknowledges the benefits of exercise but stresses that for weight loss, dietary choices and their hormonal consequences are more critical than exercise alone.

• Eating frequency has increased from three meals a day to five or six.
• Snacking can cause insulin levels to remain high, preventing fat burning.
• The change in eating patterns has contributed to the obesity epidemic.

"In 1977, we told people, eat lots of carbs, okay? [...] But what happened is that as we started to eat sort of a lot of carbs, what happened is exactly as what we discussed before. You eat two slices of bread in the morning with jam, you have no satiety."

Dr. Jason Fung discusses the shift in dietary advice and eating habits since 1977, leading to increased snacking and associated weight gain due to poor satiety and high insulin levels.

• Dr. Jason Fung is credited with popularizing intermittent fasting for weight loss.
• He faced criticism from medical professionals for his advocacy of fasting.
• Fasting has been used for health purposes historically, but its application to weight loss was not mainstream.

"You because in 2013, 2014, really, nobody was talking about it from a medical standpoint. [...] And really, I was for years, sort of this one voice in the wilderness that was saying, like, hey, this is a tool for us."

Stephen acknowledges Dr. Jason Fung's role in bringing intermittent fasting to the forefront of weight loss strategies, highlighting his early advocacy despite professional skepticism.

• Fasting can increase basal metabolic rate, contrary to the belief that it decreases.
• Dr. Jason Fung discusses a study where participants' metabolic rates were measured before and during a fast.
• The study found an increase in calories burned from 2000 to 2200 after four days of fasting.
• Fasting activates the body, increasing the fight or flight response, cortisol, and growth hormone levels.
• These hormonal changes help the body utilize stored calories, making fasting beneficial for weight loss.

"Your body's activating itself during fasting, which is fascinating, because if you're trying to lose weight, dropping that basal metabolic rate is death."

This quote emphasizes the counterintuitive finding that fasting can activate the body's metabolism, which is advantageous for weight loss efforts.

"When you don't eat, what happens in your body from a hormone standpoint is that your insulin is going to fall. You're going to allow your body to start using the calories that are in the body. At the same time, other hormones go up, so the sympathetic tone goes up, which is your fight or flight response. Your cortisol levels go up, because, again, it's an activation. And your growth hormone goes up because those hormones are going to start telling your body to start pulling calories out."

Dr. Fung explains the physiological response to fasting, where a decrease in insulin and an increase in other hormones leads to the body using its stored calories.

• The necessity of breakfast and the concept of breaking one's fast are discussed.
• Dr. Fung challenges the idea that breakfast is a necessary meal immediately after waking up.
• The etymology of "breakfast" implies a natural fasting period that should occur daily.
• Eating patterns with fewer meals per day tend to lead to lower overall caloric intake.
• Skipping breakfast can lead to consuming fewer calories throughout the day.

"The whole idea that you need to eat as soon as you get up is just false."

Dr. Fung argues against the common belief that breakfast is a mandatory meal to start the day.

"The more often you eat, in general, the more calories you take in."

This quote highlights the relationship between meal frequency and caloric intake, suggesting that less frequent eating may lead to consuming fewer calories.

• Different fasting durations are discussed, ranging from 14 hours to multiple days.
• Fasting allows the body to utilize stored fat for energy.
• Dr. Fung regularly practices fasting and mentions there are no strict rules for its duration.
• Hunger is hormonally mediated and not directly correlated with the time since the last meal.
• Fasting can lead to increased growth hormone levels and a process called autophagy, which can rejuvenate the body.

"There's no rules for fasting. It could be 16 hours. So 14 hours, remember, is sort of a baseline."

Dr. Fung explains that fasting can vary in duration, and there is flexibility in how it can be practiced.

"If you have all those calories sitting on your body, right? 100,000 calories sitting in body fat and you don't eat for three days. Well, you need 6000 calories. Well, you have 100,000, 200,000. So what's the problem? Take it out of your body fat."

This quote clarifies the logic behind fasting, where the body is expected to draw from its fat reserves during periods without food.

• Medications like GLP-1 agonists (e.g., Ozempic) reduce appetite and promote weight loss by affecting hormones.
• These medications demonstrate that controlling hunger, not just calories, is crucial for weight loss.
• GLP-1 released from the intestines signals the brain to stop eating, showing the importance of hormonal balance in appetite regulation.

"It's about controlling your hunger. It's about that one level deeper. Why are you taking so many calories? So if you simply reduce the hunger, you're going to naturally eat fewer calories, which is going to cause weight loss."

Dr. Fung emphasizes that managing hunger through hormonal regulation is key to reducing caloric intake and achieving weight loss.

"Every successful drug to gain or lose weight, right, is a hormone. It's a hormone based, because that's instructions to the body."

This quote underlines the significance of hormones as the primary drivers of bodily functions, including weight management.

• The decline in fiber consumption is attributed to food processing, which makes foods more appealing but less healthy.
• High-fiber foods slow down digestion and insulin release, reducing the risk of overeating.
• Processed foods cause a significant insulin spike, which can lead to pleasurable responses and cravings.
• Unprocessed foods high in fiber, such as beans and whole grains, are recommended for a healthier diet.

"Taking out fiber is a great way to make foods more appealing, if you will."

Dr. Fung discusses how the removal of fiber during food processing can make foods more palatable but less beneficial for health.

"If you have a lot of fiber, it acts almost sort of like an antidote to that carbohydrate because you're slowing down that release."

This quote highlights the role of fiber in moderating the body's insulin response and mitigating the negative effects of carbohydrates.

• Protein is an inefficient macronutrient for energy storage, unlike carbohydrates and fat.
• Fasting is one way to manage insulin levels, but choosing less processed, unprocessed foods can also help.
• Juice fasting is less effective than traditional fasting due to the sugar content in juices.
• Autophagy, activated by fasting, is a process of cellular rejuvenation that may have health benefits.

"Protein is not a way for the body to store energy. So when you're eating a lot of protein, it's very difficult for it to turn it into a storage mechanism."

Dr. Fung explains that the body does not store protein as energy, making it a less significant factor in weight gain compared to carbohydrates and fat.

"Fasting is certainly one way, but just changing the foods to other ones, because if you look at the insulin release in processed foods versus unprocessed foods, there's a huge difference."

This quote suggests that in addition to fasting, choosing less processed foods can also positively influence insulin levels and overall health.

• Autophagy is likened to a necessary breakdown before rebuilding, much like renovating an outdated house.
• Fasting activates the body, providing energy from fat stores instead of food, which has evolutionary advantages.
• Lowering blood glucose during fasting is a natural response to stress and illness, helping to fight bacterial infections.
• Fasting enhances mental capacity and energy, crucial for survival situations like hunting in ancient times.

"Well, autophagy might be that way to break down some of the stuff that you actually can't break down any other way."

This quote explains the concept of autophagy as a unique process for breaking down cellular waste, which cannot be eliminated through other means.

"So what it does is says, okay, well, I'm going to give you more energy, so I'm going to activate the body, but then I'm going to change where you're getting your energy from."

Dr. Jason Fung describes how the body adapts during fasting by shifting energy sources from external food to internal fat stores, an evolutionary mechanism for survival.

• Stephen announces the UK launch of Huel's Daily Greens product, which provides a range of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
• The product aims to support a healthy gut microbiome and overall health.
• Stephen personally endorses the taste and quality of the Daily Greens product.

"This product, called Daily Greens, is one of the most highly requested products at Huel, but it's never been sold in the UK before until now."

Stephen shares the news about the availability of a popular Huel product in the UK market, highlighting its demand.

• Dr. Jason Fung finds the potential to reverse type 2 diabetes through diet changes to be the most fascinating topic.
• Type 2 diabetes is a dietary disease often treated with drugs, which do not address the core problem.
• Intermittent fasting and low carbohydrate diets have shown promising results in reversing diabetes.
• The treatments are accessible and free, unlike expensive drugs or surgeries.
• There is resistance to adopting these methods due to established beliefs and the influence of big pharma.

"But the most interesting thing, I think, is in the field of type two diabetes, because it's such an important disease."

Dr. Jason Fung emphasizes the significance of type 2 diabetes as a major health issue and the promising results of reversing it through dietary changes.

"I'm not talking about a drug that costs thousands of dollars. I'm not talking about a surgery which is only available to the 1%. I'm talking about a treatment which is intermittent fasting, which is available to everybody in the entire world for free."

This quote highlights the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of intermittent fasting as a treatment for type 2 diabetes compared to conventional medical interventions.

• There is an inherent resistance to change among academic doctors and other professionals.
• Dr. Jason Fung criticizes the entrenched calories in, calories out model for its simplicity and failure to address deeper issues.
• The model does not consider the hormonal and hunger aspects of obesity and weight loss.
• Fung suggests that a better understanding of hormones and their role in weight management is crucial for long-term success.

"They're just very slow to say, hey, this makes a lot of sense, because for them, they've invested so much in this calories in, calories out model."

Dr. Jason Fung points out the reluctance of the medical community to accept new ideas that challenge long-held beliefs on weight management.

"It's a fad diet. Well, it's been around for 2000 plus years. That's a long, long, long fad."

This quote from Dr. Jason Fung counters the argument that intermittent fasting is a temporary trend by referencing its historical and widespread practice.

• Dr. Jason Fung introduces the concept of hormones as a key factor in obesity and weight loss.
• He argues that the current approach to obesity is often shallow and fails to address underlying causes.
• Compassion and community can play a role in weight loss by reducing stress hormones like cortisol.

"It's correct. But it's sort of not getting to that root deeper cause that we need to in order to help people, and that's causing us to blame them."

Dr. Jason Fung criticizes the calories in, calories out model for being superficial and leading to victim-blaming in the context of obesity.

"If you look at a lot of religions, for example, it's like, oh, they were so far ahead of us. What did they do? They brought people together every week."

This quote connects the importance of community and shared practices like fasting to health and happiness, suggesting that modern society could learn from historical and religious models.

• Dr. Jason Fung hopes his work on reversing type 2 diabetes and reframing the understanding of weight loss will be his greatest contribution.
• He aims to stimulate a deeper conversation about the role of hormones and diet in health.
• Fung acknowledges the challenge of changing ingrained beliefs but remains motivated by the positive impacts he has seen in his practice.

"I really hope that my work helps people sort of reverse the type two diabetes, because that is really sort of one of the most close things that I deal with."

Dr. Jason Fung expresses his aspiration to make a significant impact on the treatment and perception of type 2 diabetes through his work.

"I'm trying to tell them about something that everybody in human history has been exposed to, which is intermittent fasting."

This quote by Dr. Jason Fung underscores his goal to reintroduce the concept of intermittent fasting as a natural and historically prevalent health practice.