Linda Gardner's Blog: Ask Our Expert About Diabetes and Intermittent Fasting

Dr. Fung is a Canadian nephrologist. He’s a world-leading expert on intermittent fasting and LCHF, especially for treating people with type 2 diabetes.

Do you have a question for Dr. Fung? Ask him here:

Ask Jason Fung about intermittent fasting and type 2 diabetes – for members (free trial available)

Here are three questions answered by Jason:

Question from Larisa

Dear Dr Fung

I fasted for 5 days straight, I only had water in this time as well as a cup of broth from bones on 2 occasions. I had no problems at all I had lots of energy and I slept well, and I wanted to keep going up to 7 days but stopped on day 6 because I developed horrible muscle pains in my upper back (as if my muscles were being stretched) I took electrolytes when the pain started and waited a 5 hours but the pain continued.

Would you know what would have been the cause of this?

(Over the years I have “fasted” over 8 – 12 hours often with no problems as I’m one of these people who forget to eat when busy, I am also currently 3 – 4 kilos over weight due to deviating from my low carb diet here and there over the last 12 months – I did my 5 day fast in this period… And I also hardly lost 1 kilo). I’m a 44yo lady.

Kind regards
Larisa

Dr. Jason Fung: Muscle cramps are quite common and you may need to make sure you take sufficient magnesium, although not necessarily during fasting as it may cause diarrhea. Try Epsom salt baths and magnesium oil (on the skin).

Question from Daneesh

Hi Dr. Fung,
Considering a diagnosis of high cholesterol, Type 2 Diabetes and a fatty liver, should I not be worried about the high fat component in the lchf lifestyle affecting my cholesterol? Or would I have to go easy on the fat consumption and wait until my body enters effective ketosis for a considerable period of time before I can consume high amounts of fat.

Thanks

Dr. Jason Fung: There is no correlation between diets high in natural fats and heart disease. I don’t believe that high fat diets are dangerous.

Question from Lynn

Good morning Dr. Fung,
I have been following the LCHF way of eating for over a year. I test my fasting blood sugar every morning and I am now pretty much every day under 90 mg/dl sometimes as low as 70 mg/dl with fasting blood ketone levels above 1.0 mmol/L. My question is: how do I test whether I am insulin resistant? Is there a special test for it?
Thank you

Dr. Jason Fung: If you are not taking any medications, then either of fasting blood glucose or Hemoglobin A1C will be an accurate reflection of your insulin resistance. For more accurate testing, check your fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels and plug the numbers into an online HOMA calculator.