In this dialogue, Speaker A (a researcher) and Speaker B (a Bulletproof diet practitioner) discuss why some people struggle to fast while others succeed. Speaker A hypothesizes that pre‑fast food choices create cravings that undermine fasting, sharing a personal 72‑hour fast experience. Speaker B expands on this by outlining five broad categories of foods that can trigger cravings for certain individuals: lectins, oxalic acid (e.g., raw spinach/kale), phytates in whole grains, histamine‑rich foods (e.g., fermented tofu, pork), and mycotoxins or high omega‑6 oils. She notes that genetic and individual sensitivities cause these triggers to vary widely, making it difficult to predict who will struggle. She suggests that clustering people based on their trigger profiles could forecast fasting difficulty, though she acknowledges the need for more data. The conversation then shifts to emerging research on macronutrient timing: carbohydrates are likely best consumed in the morning when insulin sensitivity peaks, while protein may be optimal later in the day. Speaker A adds that timing of medication intake (chronopharmacology) is an analogous, growing field. Both agree that they focus on whole‑food patterns rather than micronutrient specifics. The exchange is exploratory, highlighting hypotheses, practical observations, and potential research directions without presenting definitive conclusions.
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My working hypothesis is that the people who don't acclimate to fasting are eating foods that cause cravings right before they start a fast. And when they tweak what they eat to avoid that, suddenly they can go through a fast. But if they eat the wrong stuff before the fast, they're just a train wreck. I know I'm like that. I can. I did a 72 hour fast a couple weeks ago just because it was kind of convenient. Like I've just, I've got it. I did six or seven shows and I'm just, I'm ok. But then, you know, if I was to eat something that was wrong for me, like a big old kale salad or something, I'm going to be ravenous and then it's going to be distracting and then, you know, I'm probably going to be less emotionally resilient than I normally would be.
Yeah. So yeah, I haven't studied that, but I don't disagree with you there. I think that that is potentially, potentially true. And yeah, it's. I don't actually know what the right food is to do that either. So it would be interesting to learn that, to see if there is something, something to that.
I will send you fast this way if you'd like to. It is not an academic book, but it has a lot of references. I'd be happy to do that just to give you some ideas to think about the direction of it. But I find there's five big categories of foods that are triggers for some people and not others. And this is from working with very large numbers of people over the last 10 years on the bulletproof diet side of things, which is like, what are the triggers? But lectins are a major trigger for some people and different types of lectins for others. And they cause perturbations in ghrelin, insulin and even overall anxiety. So if you get inflammation from a nightshade vegetable because of your genetics, you're going to have a craving, but the next person doesn't have those genetics eats them and they're just fine. So it's really hard to tease out. You've got oxalic acid is another one that causes just environmental perturbations in people. This raw spinach and kale can be cravings. You've got phytates and things like that that come in whole grains for some people a major issue, other people, not that big of a deal. You can give one person beans or whole grains and they're fine. The next person's like, I'm going to eat a horse. And so you get into these buckets. Histamine will do it, too. Fermented tofu full of histamine. People are histamine intolerant men. They're going to need a cookie. They cannot fast without turning into a jerk. But then teasing those out. And the final one is if you're eating things like mycotoxins or high omega 6 oils, both of those can cause, can cause cravings in people as well as things they're allergic to. So for me, it's been like, how do I get a million people to figure out what's doing it for them so they can eat everything else? And that's been a challenge. But I do not publish studies the way you do. Although a few people have worked on studies using the bulletproof guidelines. But I imagine if you clustered for those things, especially the first three or four, you're probably like, that's funny. People eat pork, which is high in histamine, and those are the ones have a hard time fasting. And the ones who aren't eating pork before their fast or processed lunch meats or whatever, they don't have a hard time. So I could predict those clusters and I'd bet on it. But I could totally be wrong, too. I bet you'd find another cluster I never even thought about.
Yeah, well, I don't tend to look down at the micronutrient level to see what, what's going on there. So when we're, I mean, we're starting some studies where we're looking at macronutrient timing. So, you know, trying to put carbohydrates in the, in the morning when you are, I guess, biologically ready to have carbohydrates. You know, you have a big insulin secretion in the morning. You're most insulin sensitive in the morning. So carbohydrates are probably the time when, if you're going to have carbohydrates, you should probably have them in the morning. But we're studying that now and also, you know, protein. So maybe there's some evidence of having it later in the day. It's not great evidence yet, but maybe, maybe that's the best time to have protein. So there's, there's that kind of timing of macronutrients. And I think that's an emerging, emerging field right now where timing of things, you know, timing of medicines is really exciting field right now as well. So all of, all of the medications that people take is beginning to be an appreciation that maybe we're not looking at when they're taking the medications. And that could be. We might not be getting the optimal best bang for buck. And the same thing with carbohydrates and protein. So, yeah, I think that is interesting. But I don't look at the micronutrients. We just kind of focus on the whole level. The whole level? Yeah.
