One study found that fasting for more than 24 hours lowered inflammation by reducing oxidative stress in the cells. Another study found that both intermittent fasting and alternate-day fasting were both effective at reducing insulin resistance, which is the precursor to type 2 diabetes (an inflammatory condition).
Chances are by now, that you’ve heard of intermittent fasting (IF) or time-restricted eating. Maybe you know someone who has tried it for weight loss or maybe you have actually tried it yourself. Or maybe you are familiar with religious or spiritual fasts (think Lent, Ramadad and Yom Kippur to name a few). Whether you have read about it online, have seen it on tv, heard it from a friend or on a podcast, recently there has been a lot of discussion around fasting and for good reason. Science has proven time and time again that fasting is safe, effective, and has many health benefits. A recent review in The New England Journal of Medicine concludes that, “Pre-clinical studies and clinical trials have shown that intermittent fasting has broad-spectrum benefits for many health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and neurologic disorders.” Simply put, fasting is Free, Fundamental, Flexible, Forgiving, and anti-inFLAMMATORY. It can help improve your Focus and Fatigue and it can teach you to be Fearless!
Fasting is FREE. Absolutely Free. In fact, it’s better than free. You might even save money! You don’t have to buy any expensive books, supplements, fancy foods or pay a specialist to learn how to fast. Fasting is built right into your DNA – all you have to do is tap into your biology and use it to your advantage. When you fast, you don’t eat and when you don’t eat, you don’t spend money on food! The more you fast, the better tame your hunger. When you are less hungry, you eat less and thus, save money!
Fasting is FUNDAMENTAL. It may seem like fasting is new, but it’s actually one of the most ancient practices that humans have been doing since our species became a species. Our ancestors routinely had to fast out of necessity. In the early days, food wasn’t always so readily available like it is today. They could eat only what they had hunted, fished or harvested. There were often times when drought, floods and other challenges forced early humans to fast, which became an evolutionary advantage that we should all consider taking advantage of today.
Fasting is FLEXIBLE. Unlike some eating plans and diets, fasting is not restrictive at all. In fact, you can continue to eat the same way that you do now and still get the benefits from fasting. Although we recommend you pair fasting with healthy eating to get the maximum benefits, you certainly don’t have to if you are not ready to give up your french fries and pizza (yet!) Not only is fasting flexible in what you choose to eat, it’s also flexible in when you choose to eat (and when you don’t eat). There are several fasting plans that have proven to be safe and effective and you can change it up as often as you like. An easy way to start your fasting journey is to work towards a 16:8 time-restricted eating plan. Basically, you restrict your eating to an 8 hour period of time, while the remaining 16 hours are spent fasting (and half of which can be done while you are sleeping.) Water, unsweetened black coffee and tea are allowed during the fasting periods. You can find the best window for you by simply counting backwards from the time you normally finish dinner. For example, if you generally finish eating dinner by 7 p.m., then your first meal of the day would be at 11 a.m (basically you skip breakfast – gasp!) Another popular and good entry into fasting is the 5:2 method. This plan restricts eating to 5 days per week with 2 days of fasting. On the fasting days, you are allowed to eat up to 500 calories either as a single meal or spread out throughout the day. This method is slightly more difficult than the 16:8 because you may begin to feel very hungry or experience symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) during the fasting days. Once you have successfully conquered one of the beginner fasts, you can work your way up to alternate day fasting. With this approach, you eat normally every other day, except for up to 500 calories that can be consumed on the fasting days. The 24-hour fasting approach uses a full 24-hour fast, (usually from dinner to dinner the next day), but could be lunch to lunch, or breakfast to breakfast, whichever you choose. Essentially, if you normally eat dinner at 6 p.m., then you would not eat again until 6 p.m. the next day. This type of fast is usually done three days per week.
Fasting is FORGIVING. Unlike restrictive diets that require you stick to their plan perfectly or you won’t see the benefits or will have to start all over again, with fasting you can choose how often, how long and how frequently you want to fast and you really can’t mess it up!
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Fasting is anti-inFLAMMATORY. Recent research has shown intermittent fasting reduces inflammation. Chronic inflammation, which is widely known as the root cause of most chronic diseases and has been correlated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In a recent study, pro-inflammatory cells called monocytes were reduced in the fasting groups as compared to the fed groups. One study found that fasting for more than 24 hours lowered inflammation by reducing oxidative stress in the cells. Another study found that both intermittent fasting and alternate-day fasting were both effective at reducing insulin resistance, which is the precursor to type 2 diabetes (an inflammatory condition). And more simply, when you are fasting for 16 or 24 hours that means you’re not putting any more inflammation into your body and allowing your body to perform its repair and recovery mechanisms.
Fasting can improve your FOCUS and improve your FATIGUE. Although much of the interest in intermittent fasting surrounds weight loss (lowering body fat while preserving muscle mass,) fasting is also linked to feelings of less fatigue, better mood, a more diverse gut microbiome, better blood pressure, and enhanced insulin sensitivity. When you fast, you become more metabolically flexible. This has been described as changing your metabolism from using diesel to gasoline. When you fast, your body switches from glucose/sugar burning to fat burning. A byproduct of fat burning is the production of ketone bodies or ketones. Simply put, ketones are brain fuel. It’s been known for a while that ketones can benefit those with neurodegeneration issues like epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and aging-related cognitive diseases. Basically, when you fast, you create ketones. When ketones cross the blood-brain barrier, your brain uses them for fuel and the side effect is that you will feel more mental clarity and focus.
Fasting can make you FEARLESS. Dr. Jason Fung says in his book, The Complete Guide to Fasting, that “Hunger is a “state of mind” not a state of stomach.” Despite all of the overwhelming evidence that fasting works, many people are still initially resistant to the idea of incorporating fasting into their lives. The answer is almost always because they are afraid of uncontrollable hunger. You might assume that you will be overwhelmed with hunger if you fast from food. The truth is actually the opposite. As your body becomes accustomed to fasting and starts to burn fat for fuel, your appetite will surprisingly decrease. For many people, when they do a longer fast, they find that hunger altogether disappears by the second or third day of the prolonged fast. Hunger is mostly a psychological (rather than physiological) obstacle that in time you will learn to conquer. Most people have been accustomed and conditioned to eating all the time. If you consistently eat breakfast every morning at 8:00AM, then you will become hungry at that same time every day merely because of the time and not because your body needs to be fed. In addition, our culture has become one that incorporates food into most everything we do. Just think about all of the times you have eaten when you are not hungry. Maybe you were feeling sad, lonely, bored, stressed, watching TV or celebrating. By skipping breakfast (and/or other meals), you can break your habit of eating three times a day with snacks in between (blah blah blah), and the stronghold that food has over you. It may take some time and practice, but once you reconnect with your “true” hunger (not the conditioned “Pavlov’s Dogs” psychological response), you can overcome your fear of being hungry and truly become fearless!
Fasting Fiction:
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Fasting puts you in “starvation mode” Fasting makes you lose muscle mass Fasting causes low blood sugar Fasting results in over eating Fasting deprived the body of nutrients
Fasting Facts:
Makes your body burn fat (nutritional ketosis) Helps you take back control over food and hunger Help your gut heal itself Helps promote the bodies autophagy and detoxification processes Reduces your risk of almost every chronic disease Causes your body to produce more stem cells Reduces your risk of type two diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity Slows aging from oxidative stress Reduces brain inflammation Improves your relationship to food The world record of fasting is 382 days during which the patient suffered no ill effects (but don’t try this at home!) If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, malnourished or underweight or under the age of 18, you should not attempt fasting. If you are taking prescription medications, have type 1 or 2 diabetes or have gout, you should talk to a qualified healthcare professional before fasting. The benefits of fasting will be increased paired with a healthy diet. Fasting can be made easier with a few “hacks” including bulletproof coffee.
Now that you have learned about all the benefits of fasting, what will you gain or “lose” when you simply skip breakfast?
References:
Barnosky, A. R., Hoddy, K. K., Unterman, T. G., & Varady, K. A. (2014). Intermittent fasting vs daily calorie restriction for type 2 DIABETES prevention: A review of human findings. Translational Research, 164(4), 302-311. doi:10.1016/j.trsl.2014.05.013
de Cabo R, Mattson M. Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging, and disease. N Engl J Med 2019;381(26):2541-2551.
Domaszewski P, Konieczny M, Pakosz P, et al. Effect of a six-week intermittent fasting intervention program on the composition of the human body in women over 60 years of age. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17(11). doi:10.3390/ijerph17114138
Jordan, S., Tung, N., Casanova-Acebes, M., Chang, C., Cantoni, C., Zhang, D., . . . Merad, M. (2019). Dietary intake regulates the circulating inflammatory monocyte pool. doi:10.1101/582346
Motori, E., Puyal, J., Toni, N., Ghanem, A., Angeloni, C., Malaguti, M., . . . Bergami, M. (2013). Inflammation-induced alteration of astrocyte mitochondrial dynamics requires autophagy for mitochondrial network maintenance. Cell Metabolism, 18(6), 844-859. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2013.11.005
Nugraha B, Riat A, Ghashang S, et al. A prospective clinical trial of prolonged fasting in healthy young males and females – effect on fatigue, sleepiness, mood and body composition. Nutrients 2020;12(8). doi:10.3390/nu12082281
Rinninella E, Cintoni M, Raoul P, et al. Gut microbiota during dietary restrictions: new insights in non-communicable diseases. Microorganisms 2020;8(8). doi:10.3390/microorganisms8081140
Sutton E, Beyl R, Early K, et al. Early time-restricted feeding improves insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative stress even without weight loss in men with prediabetes. Cell Metab 2018;27(6):1212-1221.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010
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