^^^^^^^

What he said.

I would add that it is easier to do the intermittent fasting if you are already keto adapted. When we started we just reduced carbs to about half of what we had been using for the first week. Mostly for practical reasons rather than a specific goal. We had groceries to use up so we just ate half portions of the carby stuff till it was gone. But after the first week we were feeling so much better on the lower carbs that we gave away or threw away the rest of the carby food.

Starting the second week we targeted <20 grams carbs a day and have been with that since. We started out eating 3 meals a day with no snacks and like BigNorsk says, after a while it became easy to skip breakfast because we were not hungry as long as we ate a meal the night before with enough meat protein and fat. Been on two meals a day since. Started on the journey a year ago Feb. 1 so about 15 months now. We never got the keto flu at all by doing it that way. Some extra salt will do wonders if a person starts feeling hungry and low energy.

I just went to a local restaurant to eat for lunch. Had a hamburger steak with grilled onions, green beans and cottage cheese for sides. No bread. Came back home and checked sugar level and it was 167 an hour after eating. That is the worst I have seen it in ages. Normally stays around 125 when I eat at home. Onions, cottage cheese and green beans all have some carbs. None of the three are really high but the three together was enough to drive my blood sugar up beyond where I like to see it. Back when I was on 4 shots of insulin a day and eating a lot more carbs I thought I was doing ok if I kept it under 180. But that is actually poor control. I take no insulin nor any medications at all now. I'll check it again in another hour and see it if had dropped like it should. If it does I will not get too worried about it. If it is still up at 2 hours I know I still have a lot of insulin resistance and have to continue to be extra careful. That is if I don't want to end up with a bunch of diabetes complications, which includes a much higher likelihood of dying if I get covid 19. So I have good reason to stay on the straight and narrow. Got a neice that is completely stupid in the way she eats, is 20 years younger than me, and has already had a couple of toes chopped off and may lose a whole foot before it is over. That is the stuff you CAN see. Imagine what is going on internally that can't be seen. She is on insulin therapy. NOT a good way for a diabetic to go.

Low carb/keto is a good way to slide into a better eating pattern. Then the intermittent fasting just kind of comes as a natural progression when a person realizes they are not hungry all the time. But for people with big problems that want to make big changes and don't mind suffering a little for a few weeks to get there, doing the fasting right off the bat is a sure fire way to lower insulin and blood sugar levels. For a person with big problems it is a big intervention that works fast.

For anyone on any medication, particularly blood sugar lowering or blood pressure lowering, be mindful of those conditions. I went from using 100 units of insulin injections a week to nothing in two weeks. Got off blood pressure medicine a couple months later. Had I not been monitoring myself and understood how the medicines work, I could have went into a low blood sugar coma and died. So a person needs to understand the ramifications lowering carbs will do if they are on medications. If not on medications or underlying health issues there are no dangers that I am aware of.

John