Intermittent Fasting

There are a lot of diets out there and also ways to be healthier. Intermittent fasting is one of them and is even beneficial for those not aiming to lose weight but to feel overall healthy.

What is fasting?

Fasting is the process in your body where there is no sugar or energy that you put in by eating and drinking. This is when your body starts to rely on burning the stored energy like the sugar in your liver and the fat stored in your body. In the modern American diet, fasting is not emphasized and we keep recommending multiple meals per day and never really talk about why it’s important not to eat. It sounds wrong, right? Because we have been told its important to eat breakfast, and lunch and dinner and snacks, because thats the only way to lose weight. But actually that is very wrong. Our bodies appreciate times where there is no excess food and eating. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat.

How to fast?

You do not have to fast for many days to get the effects of fasting. That is why this is called intermittent fasting- you fast for short periods of time. The best method is fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8 hours (16:8). So if you typically eat dinner around 6pm, you would stop eating right after dinner (probably 6:30pm or 7pm). After that you would only drink water. Then you would continue to fast until 16 hours past, which would be around 11am the next day. Contrary to what we have been told, breakfast is not important to be the first thing we do in the mornings. You do not need to eat breakfast, or at least the traditional breakfast. Most people aren’t even hungry in the mornings. “Break-Fast” is just that, you break your fast. Whenever that may be for you, it does not need to be early in the morning.

In the hours that you do eat- you need to be cautious of not overeating. This would completely take away the effects of your fasting. Being healthy involves eating the right foods too. One of my favorite ways to break my fast is to eat a handful of almonds and an egg white- protein and fiber increase your metabolism!

It might be hard at first, but overtime your body will adjust to it and you will feel all the benefits. If it is difficult to fast for 16 hours, start with the 12:12, then increase to 14:10, then 16:8. It just takes some time for your body to get used to and for you to change old habits.

What if I get dizzy, isn’t my blood sugar too low if I fast for too long??

Unless you have diabetes or other metabolic diseases- you are most likely dizzy from dehydration. When people don’t eat, they also tend to not drink water. And not drinking water leads to dehydration.

What are the benefits of fasting?

Improved metabolism- yes you read that right, your metabolism gets faster when you fast regularly. That’s because you are lowering insulin- the hormone that actually makes you hungry and fat.
Decreased inflammation in the body- there are great results seen in people with autoimmune disease
Lowers cancer risk: There have been reports of decreased recurrence of breast cancer in patients who had breast cancer, were in remission, and fasted. They were less likely to get the breast cancer to come back than those people who did not fast. So fasting is important to keep our cells healthy too!
Less hunger and feeling full longer-when we decrease the insulin hormone, which is what fasting does, we are less hungry.
Weight loss!! If you eat the right foods during your non fasting time- you can eat less and thus lose weight.
More energy- everyone needs more energy and feeling less tired.

Try intermittent fasting, it is a great way to feel better!