"Fasting is the greatest remedy--the physician within." Paracelsus (1493-1541)
This is part 2 of What Is Intermittent Fasting:
Why should I fast?
A recent blog was about balance. Fasting can help in this area. Not having to prep as many meals makes things more simple. Not having to hyper-focus on which foods to eat keeps it simple.
Healthline.com mentions that "when you fast, human growth hormone levels go up and insulin levels go down. Your body’s cells also change the expression of genes and initiate important cellular repair processes." WOW. That's an incredible reason to try intermittent fasting right away! It even helps to put your body in ketosis if intermittent fasting lasts at least 14-16 hours. Tell all your friends on a Keto diet that this will help them even more!
Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week.
These are the most common methods:
- The MOST popular is the 16/8 method: Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between. Or the 7-11 Where you fast from 7PM to 11AM. This method seems the simplest and easiest to stick with.
- The 5-2 plan: This may be easier to ease into I.F. if your schedule looks different most days. For 5 days, you eat normally, but 2 non-consecutive days you would eat 1/4 of your normal calories. For example, if you should eat 2,000 calories on a normal day, only have 500 calories on your "fasting" days.
- Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
- OMAD: One meal a day. You have even more time in your day with this one! You need to be very mindful of nutrition to get all your body's needs in one meal.
There is even one type of Biblical fasting, called the Daniel Fast. This one is more about the what vs the when.
More types are discussed in my course, Guided Intermittent Fasting.
What to Expect when Fasting:
When you fast, your body detoxifies and eliminates toxins from your system. This can cause mild discomfort such as headaches and irritability during withdrawal from caffeine and sugars. And naturally, you will have hunger pains. When doing longer fasts, 2 days on up, limit your activity and exercise moderately. Take time to rest.
How to End Your Fast:
Don’t overeat when the time comes to end your fast. Begin eating solid food gradually; eat small portions or snacks. Best to break your fast with fruit which will give you a fructose energy lift and is easy and quick to digest. There is a juice and smoothie recipe unit coming soon that will give you drink recipes that you can use for breaking fasts.
It needs to be mentioned that there are some people who should NOT fast or should fast with caution:
AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT: Intermittent Fasting can be more complex for people who have issues with blood sugar regulation, suffer from hypoglycemia, have diabetes, etc. If you fit into this category, check with your doctor or dietitian before adjusting your eating schedule. It also affects women differently, possibly causing menstrual cycles to stop if you fast for longer time blocks. Pregnant women and those trying to become pregnant may want to avoid fasting.
Join me in the Guided Intermittent Fasting Course group. Tons of information, tips, recipes, and encouragement in bite-sized chunks. See it here.
If you'd like to get some smoothie or juicing recipes, pop over to the Units in my Dancing Through Eden group on Facebook. Get a reset and a good kick in the pants!
Come on the journey with me!
Christy
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