Done properly fasting can be very beneficial for improving health and accelerating fat loss. There are many different types of fasts, but the most popular and practical is called intermittent fasting.
The most popular way to do
intermittent fasting is also known as time-restricted eating where you restrict
your daily food intake to a specific window of time - typically six to
eight-hours per day.
For example, if you skip
breakfast and make lunch the first meal of your day, you might restrict your
food intake to the hours of Noon and 8:00 p.m. If you are a breakfast lover,
your window could be between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. It is also important to eat the last meal
at least three hours before bedtime because the body's circadian rhythm are negatively impacted by eating near bedtime which negatively impacts sleep and help.
By fasting about 14 to 16
hours a day, you give your body enough time to drain your glycogen stores (storage
form of blood sugar) and shift into fat-burning mode. This pushes your body to
use fat as a fuel. Because fat is a
slow-burning fuel, you will not only have a more balanced energy supply, but
you will also avoid the typical sugar "highs" and "lows"
that come with typical diets.
While you will undoubtedly
feel hungry on occasion, that is perfectly normal. Once your body adjusts, you
may be surprised to discover how much less food you will consume to feel
completely satisfied. In many cases your food cravings literally disappear once
you have regained your ability to burn fat for fuel.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting provides
a number of health benefits including:
- Forcing the body to become efficient at burning fat as
the primary fuel which can eliminate sugar cravings
- Increased growth hormone which helps with fat-burning
and maintenance and growth of lean tissue like muscle and organs!
- Enhances brain health and helps prevent neurological
disorders like Alzheimer's
- Reduces oxidative stress and fights aging and diseases
like cancer
- Lowers triglycerides and reduces inflammation
- Dramatically boosts brain derived neurotrophic factor
(BDNF) which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons.
- Dramatically increases the process of Autophagy
Benefits
of Autophagy
Autophagy means “self-eating” and refers to processes that your body uses to
clean out various debris and detoxify while also recycling damaged cell
components. It is quite literally like
your body’s recycling program. It
improves metabolic efficiency, gets rid of faulty cellular parts, and retards development of cancer in early stages. It also helps to
dramatically decrease inflammation throughout the body.
During the bio-energetic challenge of exercising or fasting, autophagy is
increased. This stimulates stem-cells
including muscle stem cells which can help prevent sarcopenia (muscle loss with
aging). So, intermittent fasting can
help maintain the regenerative capacity of muscle stem cells.
There are three ways to boost autophagy:
exercise, fasting, and nutritional ketosis.
Who Can Benefit from Intermittent
Fasting
Intermittent fasting can benefit just about everyone, but athletes may
benefit even more. A 2016 study that tracked the effects of intermittent
fasting on 34 resistance-trained men found that restricting their eating to an
eight-hour window positively affected several health-related biomarkers, while
decreasing fat mass and maintaining muscle mass.
For eight weeks, the
participants divided their daily calorie intake across three meals eaten at 1
p.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. They fasted the remaining 16 hours of the day, and
completed three weekly sessions of resistance training on non-consecutive days.
Among the biomarkers noted, there was a significant decrease in blood sugar for
the intermittent fasting group as compared to the normal diet group.
While additional studies need
to be completed to further investigate the effects of intermittent fasting on
athletes, it seems that intermittent fasting could be used during maintenance
phases of training when the goal is to maintain muscle mass while reducing fat
mass.
The
Importance of Proper Food Choices during Intermittent Fasting
During intermittent fasting
and reduced food intake, your food choices are very important. Since you'll be
eating less, it's vitally important that you get proper nutrition from your
food. Healthy fats are essential because intermittent fasting pushes your body
to switch over to fat-burning. Particularly if you begin to feel tired and
sluggish, it may be a sign that you need to increase the amount of healthy fat
in your diet.
Cutting net carbs (total
carbs minus fiber) is equally important. Focus on:
- High quality fat intake in the form of avocados,
coconut oil, organic grass-fed butter, organic egg yolks and nuts.
- High-quality protein from from organically raised, grass-fed or pastured animals, eggs, chicken and fish.
- High amounts of fresh, low-net-carb vegetables, ideally
organic
Contraindications
for Fasting
Although most people can
safely benefit from intermittent fasting, it's important to take caution if you
have certain health challenges. Do NOT use fasting unless approved by your
physician if any of the following are true:
- You are underweight with a body mass index (BMI) of
18.5 or less
- You are malnourished
- Children
should NOT fast!
They need nutrients for continued growth; if your child is obese, consider
cutting him or her back on refined grains and sugar to promote weight loss
- Pregnant
and breastfeeding women should NOT fast because a consistent flow of nutrients must be shared with
the baby to ensure its well-being
- If you
take medications that should be taken with food you will need to be very
cautious about fasting and consult with your physician first. This is especially true for diabetics
and those with gout.
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