40 Quotes by Jason Fung

Try to physically remove yourself from all food stimuli during a fast. Cooking a meal or even just seeing and smelling food while fasting is almost unbearably difficult. This is not simply a matter of weak willpower. Our cephalic phase responses are fully activated, and to feel those responses without actually eating is like trying to stop a piranha feeding frenzy. This, of course, is the same reason you should not shop for food when hungry, or keep snacks in the pantry.

Interestingly, I’ve seen the highest success rates with husbands and wives who try fasting together: the mutual support is a big help and makes fasting far easier.

OBESITY IS NOT caused by an excess of calories, but instead by a body set weight that is too high because of a hormonal imbalance in the body.

All the conditions we thought were problems – obesity, insulin resistance, and beta cell dysfunction – are actually the body’s solutions to a single root cause – too much sugar.

A recent study suggests that 75 per cent of the weight-loss response in obesity is predicted by insulin levels.29 Not willpower. Not caloric intake. Not peer support or peer pressure. Not exercise. Just insulin.

Metabolic syndrome, of which obesity and type 2 diabetes are a key part, are ultimately caused by – you guessed it – too much sugar.

Hunger is a state of mind, not a state of stomach.

The basics of good nutrition can be summarized in these simple rules. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Avoid sugar. Avoid refined grains. Eat a diet high in natural fats. Balance feeding with fasting. !

But diet and exercise are not fifty-fifty partners like macaroni and cheese. Diet is Batman and exercise is Robin. Diet does 95 per cent of the work and deserves all the attention; so, logically, it would be sensible to focus on diet. Exercise is still healthy and important – just not equally important. It has many benefits, but weight loss is not among them. Exercise is like brushing your teeth. It is good for you and should be done every day. Just don’t expect to lose weight.