Intermittent fasting isn’t a new concept to human beings. We’ve being feasting and fasting in regular cycles for millennia. The difference is that humans used to do this out of necessity when hunting for food – that food didn’t come every 4 hours on the dot. Today, we do the opposite. We eat more often, far from our ancestral norm of periods of food-free, metabolic “downtime” which may be one cause of the weight gain and metabolic disruption plaguing our society.
Intermittent fasting has become a recent buzzword in the health community because of it’s ability to help lose weight or keep blood sugar and insulin levels in healthy range. It’s also used proactively to maintain good health because fasting initiates cellular repair processes which can slow down aging, remove waste material from cells, dampen inflammation, and optimize mitochondrial function (protecting you from disease) (1).
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is the practice of waiting about 16 hours between meals, most typically between the last meal of the day and the first meal of the next. This fasting state signals your metabolism to burn fat that is stored in the body. This also allows your body to experience a longer than normal period of low insulin in the blood, telling your body to burn energy and keep insulin low- doing this a powerful reset for the body and the opposite of what happens when we eat constantly throughout the day.
P.S. The goal of this shouldn’t be dramatic instant weigh loss but what’s happening here is you are reeducating your hormones to return to more regulated functioning to support a longer-term weight loss program. Worried about losing muscle if you fast? Fortunately, research shows evidence that intermittent fasting causes a favorable shift in metabolism that preserves muscle.
Intermittent fasting is a tool you can try if you’re struggling to lose weight of keep blood sugars & insulin levels in healthy range. You can also use it proactively to maintain good health.
How Do you Do It?
It’s as easy as waiting sixteen hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the following day. If you finish dinner at 8:00, your next meal will be around 12:00pm the following day (halla to all those people that got scolded for skipping breakfast growing up). You can cater this time window to your preference; I like to eat dinner at 5:00 some nights which means I can eat around 9:00 the next day – not too bad at all!
For those out there that read this and are like NO WAAAY I need food more often than 16 hours & this is too extreme for me, take HEDE; I try to respect a 12 hour window overnight every night regardless of an attempted fast just to give my body ample time to digest, rest, and tap into my fat burn. Consider ending dinner around 7:00 and then waiting until 7:00 to eat breakfast – so doable, right?!
How Often To Fast?
One or two days per week is the sweet spot for preventative measures. Do this daily if you’re looking at it from a weight loss lens. I recommend listening to your body to determine the frequency that is right for you. ALWAY consult your doctor before attempting anything new or fasting related.
Fasting Fast Facts
from Dr. Frank Lipman’s book, “How to Be Well”
- Give your body a month to get used to it. You may experience annoying side effects like constipation, cramps, and headaches during fasting. Many of these side effects go away as your body gets used to fasting.
- Stay busy, it keeps your mind off food!
- You will get hungry at your accustomed meal times, but it will pass. Ignore it!
- Sticking to a low-carb, high fat diet before fasting makes this a lot easier (look for Keto recipes to help prepare meals that support this method of eating)
- Do all your usual activities. Continue your usual exercise routine. Your body will get all the energy it needs from your body fat.
Additional Resources:
The Complete Guide to Fasting – Dr. Fung
Podcasts covering Intermittent Fasting
