Any type of fasting doesn’t sound good right? I totally understand your apprehension but keep reading to find out about the idea of intermittent fasting (IF) and the benefits it may bring to your body and mind. This is a light read and I hope you get some insights and ideas from it.

Let’s start with some sciency stuff. While your body is in a fasted state, it’s not getting the spikes of insulin as it may normally be getting by the carbs and sugars you would have otherwise consumed. You will still be going about your normal routine of work, exercise and play. So your body just carries on burning calories like normal. Since you haven’t consumed anything, your body finds an alternative fuel source, which is….. the stored fats in your body. Boom. Mic drop. 

That’s right folks, intermittent fasting is the kick starter to your metabolism that you might have been looking for. 

On another note, just think about the knock on effect that you will have by lowering your blood sugar levels. This shouldn’t be glossed over, as it’s super important. This will help in reducing insulin resistance and lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. Here’s an interesting report in the science direct which compares intermittent fasting with a calorie reduction diet. It finds it a viable alternative for type 2 diabetes risk reduction. The fact is though, there’s no reason that it needs to be just an alternative, you could combine the two together and reap the benefits of both approaches. 

He who eats until he is sick must fast until he is well. - English Proverb

But there’s more. Your muscles, and body in general, needs an energy source to breath and regenerate. As you are restricting any macro nutrients during your fasted state, your body will use your existing fat stores to start producing ketones instead. If you don’t know what ketones are, or what ketosis is then please read my other blog post here as it’s a really interesting topic in its own right. Anyway, the increase in ketones in your body has all sorts of benefits from neurological to improved performance. 

There’s some great resources online if you are interested in finding out about all the other benefits of intermittent fasting. I’ve not gone into all of them as there’s quite a few. Check out HealthLine for some more info to get you started. 

That’s enough about why intermittent fasting is the greatest thing since “sliced bread”, let’s get to what it actually is. Intermittent fasting is the notion that you compress the window of time when you eat. In other words, the majority of the day your body is in a fasted state. So, rather than eating throughout the day, you would eat between a certain time frame. For example, you could fast throughout the morning and then from 12pm you could have your breakfast, lunch, dinner and let’s not forget dessert, all before 8pm. This would be a 16 hour fasted state with an 8 hour eating window. Then just rinse and repeat every day.

There are many variations of intermittent fasting. The one I follow is the 16:8 which basically means that I break my fast at 12pm and then start it again 8 hours later. Similar to the example above. Some people go for a longer fasting state of 20hrs or sometimes even a whole 24hrs. There’s a lot of info about this and I think there’s no particular right or wrong way. The principles are still the same. 

Like most things I write about, it kind of boils down to you listening to your body and adjusting the routine accordingly. It’s also about doing it right… just because you’ve been on a 16 hour fast, that doesn’t mean you can break the fast by loading up on carbs and fats. You have to be mindful of what your body is doing during the fasting state and the condition of your gut and other organs and so feed them appropriately to get the maximum benefit. Thomas DeLauer has an awesome YouTube video on this called Top 3 Mistakes People Make when Breaking a Fast. 

Finally, I want to touch on the fact that this is by no means new science or a recent fad. Just think about it. The very origin of the word Breakfast comes from the idea of it being a meal to break a fast. There’s religions and cultures around the world that have been preaching and practicing the techniques behind intermittent fasting for centuries. It just comes in different guises and is often just not thought of in this way. For example, Fasting in Hinduism is a very common occurrence with practices like Ekadashi, or fasting during festivals. In the Islamic religion muslims fast daily during the month of Ramadan. In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting. You get the idea… it’s abundant all around us. We just don’t notice or think of it in this way.

The light of the world will illuminate within you when you fast and purify yourself. - Mahatma Gandhi

Useful Links

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/charliefoundation.org/intermittent-fasting/