Intermittent Fasting
To fast or not to fast?
There has been a dearth of information about intermittent fasting in the socials, online, even in movies. We’ve all seen people reporting they lost 30lbs with simply eating within a specified number of hours every day. But is it really that easy? Can everyone fast? Are there potential problems?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Intermittent fasting does have incredible benefits.
Why should you fast?
- Decrease inflammation
- Improve cognition
- Gut healing
- Support Longevity
- Improve insulin sensitivity
- Support cancer treatment
- Detoxification
- Weight loss
- Increased stress resistance
- Hormone modulation
- Reduced severity of chronic pain
Who should not fast?
- Pregnant or breastfeeding women
- Children
- Person’s with current hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) (however, in most cases this can be improved)
- Type 1 diabetics
Apart from those mentioned above, almost every other person can benefit from some form of intermittent fasting. However, always consult your health care provider.
So HOW do we fast?
Fasting is like exercise, work up to intense forms/lengths gradually
First clean up your diet. Eat whole Foods. Try a few ketogenic/very low carb meals to adjust to burning fats and ketones.
Start with a 12hr water only fast overnight, every night
Move to 16-18 hrs overnight
Try a 24 hr fast
Try a 24 hour vegetable juice fast.
How long should I fast?
For weight loss, clinicaly speaking I typically don’t see people lose weight until they are fasting for at least 16 hrs a day. However, the clients that often have the most success are those who also complete longer fasts such as a 36 hr fast at least once a month.
Female Cyclic fasting:
Mindy Pelz, in her book Fast Like a Girl, lays out a recommended sequence of fasting or feasting correlated with our menstrual cycle. I have had many women report feeling great and fasting with greater ease while following her plan. See https://drmindypelz.com/
While water fasting:
Drink unsweetened electrolytes such as LNMT OR hiLyte
Ingest salt
Add lemon,ACV, mint leaf, cucumber slice or herbal tea bag to water
Allow 1 cup black coffee, black tea or green tea
Drink LOTS of water: 3-4 quarts/day
Drink unsweetened herbal tea to stay warm Combat hunger with light exercise, walking, yoga. If a 3 day or less fast you may be able to continue moderate intensity exercise.
Chew gum when bored
Take a hot Epsom salt bath
Take sleep supportive supplements
Go to bed early
Can I exercise or work while fasting?
Absolutely!! Fasted exercise can often bring you the most benefit when it comes to autophagy. Once your body is ‘fast adapted’ or keto-adapted, you may actually have MORE energy and perform better both in your workouts at at the office in the fasted state. Be sure to follow all of the above recommendations, especially with hydration and electrolyte replacement.
“I want to fast but I can’t seem to do it!?”
There are lots of resources out there. Depending on your goals, you can still achieve autophagy without truly going without all calories. One option is called the fasting mimicking diet. Basically, you eat very low calorie diet for a specified period of time that keeps your blood sugar stable, prevents headaches, lethargy and other side effects of fasting, but still allows autophagy and weight loss.
You can achieve the fasting mimicking diet simply by eating very low calorie, or there are options for purchasing products that make it easier. Prolon is one of those products. It comes in complete packages of meals and snacks that keeps your total calorie intake in an autophagy or fasted state. For more info see:
https://prolonlife.com/soulandbody1
One caveat I have seen in practice is when someone has been fasting in the same routine for 6 months or more but not seeing their goal of weight loss. For example, someone may be telling me, “Sabrina I don’t understand, I’ve been fasting for 16 hrs every day for a year. I don’t eat until noon, then stop eating at 8pm. But I haven’t lost a single pound!”
In this situation I will actually advise you to stop fasting, or at least change your pattern. Our bodies are very smart, they can adapt to what we eat to maintain our physiology. If you aren’t obtaining your goal you may actually need to stimulate your metabolism right away in the morning with some protein. Or you may need to switch back to eating small frequent meals throughout the day. Or you may be able to switch to longer fasts but only once or twice a week. Any of these methods are viable options to push past the “set point” of your stagnant weight loss.
Educate yourself!
Dr Jockers has a wealth of information about fasting. I agree with and support everything that I have read from him to date. Here are some of his top articles:
https://drjockers.com/10-common-intermittent-fasting-myths/
https://drjockers.com/best-intermittent-fasting-strategies/
https://drjockers.com/is-fasting-bad-for-your-hormones/
