INTERMITTENT FASTING
What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting is when you restrict food every day for a period, and eat your food for the day during a shortened window of time.
Most people do a 16 hour window, they eat their first meal at 11AM and their last bite of food at 7PM. There are MANY articles on how you should fast, the biggest question being:
Does coffee break your fast? I feel like the experts are 50/50 on this. Technically the only way to “break” a fast is with carbohydrates or protein, so that would mean you could drink coffee or tea with fat and still be fasting. This is how most people handle their fast. I believe that this is still beneficial because you are still creating AUTOPHAGY, but just not as much.
Dr. Valter Longo is one of the top doctors studying IF. Last year he stated from his studies that the 12 hour window was the window that was most reliable with good changes. He found that his 16 hour group had gall bladder issues. My take on this is that we don’t know exactly how the 16 hour window people were living/eating outside of the fasting. I believe from my research that you can safely do the 16 hours window especially if you rotate it and then if you also eat healthy.
Learn about Valter Longo
Valter Longo’s fasting product, PROLON
Why would you do this?
You are working towards AUTOPHAGY, which is basically clearing out waste of old damaged cells. These damaged cells cause inflammation.
You can create AUTOPHAGY through exercise, sauna, cold baths etc. It occurs because of the extreme change that your body must adapt to. This extreme “change” is what causes so many beneficial hormones to be released and insulin to be down regulated.
Benefits of IF
Weight loss
Hormone balance
Increased Life span
Increased focus and mood
Decreased Insulin Resistance
From Dave Asprey:
“Intermittent fasting is the best insulin resistance diet to help your cells respond to insulin. When your body gets the signal that you've eaten, beta cells in your pancreas produce insulin, a hormone that tells your cells to absorb glucose to use as fuel. Your cells respond by receiving the glucose from your bloodstream"
My Approach
My approach as a female is different because I think that sometimes IF can disrupt hormone balance. Because one of the goals of IF is to create a change that the body has to adapt to thereby releasing a rush of beneficial hormones, I choose to do it 3 times a week. I choose to drink coffee with fat like coconut cream or heavy whipping cream to keep energized until my first meal. You can also take fasting mimicking supplements like THIS ONE.
PODCASTS on Fasting
https://daveasprey.com/intermittent-fasting-benefits-podcasts/
XOXO and Happy Wednesday!!