[piqi]

> ...got tired of debating whether it was healthy or not...

I've had a similar experience. "unhealthy" seems to often be used in place of "not normal."

I don't blame them. Advertising has been pushing "normal" food choices for 100+ years. Social gatherings are focused too much on eating. People are shamed for being "skin and bones."

I've been doing it for more than 10 years. I never get hunger pangs. I don't feel the need to eat something before leaving the house, or stopping at a drive-thru while out. I'm able to make better food choices. It doesn't mean I starve myself, or abstain from eating lunch/dinner with friends. I get all necessary calories for whatever my goals are (ie fat loss, maintenance, or weight gain).

Constant calorie intake from accessible food products designed to sit on store shelves for months should be considered not normal and unhealthy.

[red-iron-pine]

> People are shamed for being "skin and bones."

In all of western and handful of middle eastern countries I've lived in, I've never once seen people say that except in jest; e.g. imitating the Concerned Italian Mother or Babushka, etc.

With the exception of 2-3 very skinny coder-types, pretty much everyone I met could have lost 3kg and still looked fine, and most of them (myself included) could probably stand to lose 5kg or more. Pretty much everyone I met in Dubai and the US was fat as fuck; little more reasonable in Canada, Australia, and France. Asia was still pretty lean, but getting bigger.

[birdyrooster]

I mean some people look unhealthfully slim like they would starve if there was too much snow or they couldn't leave their house for a protracted time.

[piqi]

Intermittent fasting has has nothing to do with being fat or skinny. My point about "skin and bones" is more about how normal it is to comment on someone that isn't overweight. I can't imagine people tolerating fat-shaming people in a friendly social context.