I recently received the comment:

Phyllis Collins, I've been following you and have been a fan of yours.
Have u tried the 24 or 36 hour fasts? Was wondering what your experience was?

I've done quite a lot of experiments with "modified" fasts --- like JUDDD & EOD, and with total water fasting as well. I’ve written quite a lot about this already. To easily find some of them here at DietHobby, …go to the right side of the page about half-way down.... for BLOG CATEGORIES, Fasting, ……where you can easily find past articles I've written about my thoughts and experiences with Intermittent Fasting.  

Once you’ve arrived at the “Fasting” category, the best way to find relevant articles is … go to the bottom of that page, below the 5 blog articles, where it says “Page 1 / Page 2 / …. Oldest", and CLICK the link to the Oldest.  Then work your way forward, from the past to the present.

Many of my previous blog articles discuss, in depth, my own experiences with various types of intermittent fasting.

The Donkey, the Stick,
and the Carrot,

an allegory applicable
to Intermittent Fasting.

"A farmer wants the donkey to take the load and travel. 


But, the donkey does not move.
He hits the donkey with a stick, but it still won’t move. 


So, he ties a carrot to the stick  and holds it in front of the donkey, just out of reach. 


The donkey wants to eat the carrot and moves forward. 


At the same time, the carrot also moves by the same distance.

The donkey cannot eat the carrot, till the farmer reaches his destination."

The Donkey is me, or another “intermittent faster”.

The Stick is Fasting = eating zero or very small amounts of food on “fasting” days or times.

The Carrot is the Promise of eating whatever you want on non-fasting days or times.

There’s a lot of talk in the Diet World about Ophra’s purchase of WeightWatcher’s stock which caused the value of the stock to soar, to the extent that she doubled her $40 million investment in one day. 

She is now acting as a spokesman in WW advertisements, and the 2016 catch phrase is “Beyond the Scale.”  Allegedly the focus is now “Healthy” eating …although the diet program is … and has always has been… WEIGHT WATCHERS.

As someone with years of participation in that diet program,… between 1972 and 1992 I joined and involved myself as a WW member more than 15 times,….. I am greatly amused by this recent development, and the fact that otherwise intelligent people will no doubt buy into this latest Shell Game.  

My own position is:
Every diet works for someone, but no diet works for everyone.
 
Decades of records show that only a very tiny percentage of WW members have ever achieved long-term weight-loss. (Long-term is 5 years or more.)

This current plan is clearly an attempt to refocus members toward the belief that it’s okay to continue shelling out the big bucks for an unsuccessful diet program because…  “Well, I’m still fat (or fat again), …but NOW I’m healthy.”

As part of my dieting hobby, after a bit of online research, I made a brief visit to the local WW store and bought a few books about the 2016 program. After that review, I was unimpressed, but even more amused when I understood that their “new” point system contains limitations which, if followed correctly, will serve to ban all but the tiniest amounts of sweet, fatty foods.  WW’s new system also penalizes saturated fats despite the tons of current scientific research on that matter.

Originally WW used an extremely restrictive Food Exchange Plan in order to guarantee that memers ate a "healthy" diet while losing weight.  See the detailed 1972 food rules posted below. Over the years the Food Plan evolved into a more flexible Exchange System.

By 1997 WW had changed it's Food Exchange System to a "Point" system, which was highly advertised as a change that was designed to allow a great deal of personal choice in the selections of one's daily foods.

WW’s previous point systems have treated all types of food in a similar manner, assigning about 40 calories as 1 point, however their 2016 new points+ system limits choices of foods such as sweets and saturated fats by assigning them a far higher point number than the points of “healthier” foods which have the same calories. 

Almost all fruits and vegetables are still “free” foods with zero points, (as they were in the most recent past points ...

I am not, nor do I wish to be, a nutritional expert. My writings here at DietHobby are a result of my choice to manage my own personal problem with weight-loss and weight-maintenance by treating the many aspects of dieting as an enjoyable hobby.

I enjoy looking at many different viewpoints on the issues of food, nutrition, and obesity, and remain open to the possibility of new ideas. I have opinions about what behaviors are effective for me, and sometimes even opinions about which behaviors appear to be effective for others. My opinions are based on my own experiences; on what I have personally witnessed; and on information that I’ve gathered in my own pursuit of knowledge about those issues. Sometimes my opinions change.

For Dieting Perspective, see my past article located in the DietHobby ARCHIVES, What is the Best Way to Diet?

Life is filled with conflicting views, and just because two different “experts” hold differing opinions doesn’t really mean that either one is wrong.

“Experts” can be correct in some areas, and incorrect in other areas.

I have no personal need to decide who is “right” and who is “wrong”, and although an “expert” with a convincing argument can cause me to lean toward a specific belief, another “expert” can make a counter-argument which results in me changing my mind.

DietHobby is a combination of thoughts and ideas that interest me. Often, when I share the ideas and thoughts of others, I include my own. Sometimes I haven’t yet formed an opinion on an idea that I share here at DietHobby, except for the fact that I find it worth thinking about.

I read many, many books, articles, and comments involving issues relevant to my Dieting Hobby, but usually, I only write about the concepts that I find the most valuable to me, OR the most interesting to me.

I was recently intrigued by the statement: “Obesity is seen as a simple problem: people get overweight because they eat more calories than they expand. That’s a bit like saying “cancer is simply a cell gone wrong”.

After reading a few articles by the author of the statement, I ordered a book that he published about a week ago, November 2, 2012, entitled: “