Intermittent Fasting Guide: the 411

Need an intermittent fasting guide? While it’s just started gaining mainstream attention in the past decade, this process of not eating for extended periods of time has been practiced for centuries. It can also provide some amazing health benefits.

Here’s the 411 on fasting…  

Intermittent fasting has been observed in many religions since ancient times.  Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan, and fasting is the 4th of the 5 Pillars of Islam. Many Christians fast during the 40 days of Lent before Easter Sunday. Fasting is also found in early Buddhism as a way to promote meditation. So, it’s not a new concept, despite its recent resurgence in the health + wellness arena.

Before you think, “Great, another restrictive diet,” you should know that intermittent fasting is more of a structure for when to eat. It isn’t a set of food limitations and hard-to-create recipes. Basically, you cycle between short periods of eating and fasting. The word “fasting” may sound harsh, but we actually do this already at night between dinner and breakfast. It’s not a new state for our bodies. In fact, the word breakfast literally means “to break the fast.”

While we fast at night, “our body releases beneficial growth hormones, repairs tissues and cells, and increases blood supply to organs.” So studies have shown many increased health benefits by extending this period of not eating further into the day.

Intermittent fasting benefits

For one, intermittent fasting helps you lose weight. Our body turns to good ol’ sugar for its quickest source of fuel. When we don’t use all the sugar up, our body stores it as fat. But when we fast, “our insulin levels will go down and our fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy.” This helps us lose fat and, over time, excess weight.

In addition to a slimmer waist, intermittent fasting lowers your risk of diabetes, reduces inflammation, and can “enhance cognitive function and protect against changes in memory and learning function.” It also decreases both bad LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, while improving your good HDL cholesterol, keeping your heart healthy. So while you may think you’ll end up feeling sluggish and grumpy, you could be giving your body the boost it needs!

Ways to fast:

The most common way to ease into a fasting practice is to follow the 16/8 rule. You fast for 16 hours each day and then you can eat during the other 8 hours. A University of Alabama study found that when that 8-hour period was earlier in the day (specifically 7 am to 3 pm), the results were “dramatically lower insulin levels and significantly improved insulin sensitivity, as well as significantly lower blood pressure.” In simple terms, people lost weight while also not feeling starved, so consider extending your fasting through the evening for a more manageable experience.

Now if this sounds too extreme to start, you can acclimate yourself with a shorter duration in between eating and fasting time — like eating for 10 hours, fasting for 14 or eating for 12 and fasting for 12  — and work your way up to the 16/8 rule.

NOTE: You can still consume water, black coffee, and tea without milk or sugar while you’re fasting, but I recommend you skip other beverages even if they’re low on calories. If you get stir crazy though, you can add some lemon or berries to your water or have a small bulletproof coffee (coffee with a healthy fat like ghee and/or coconut oil). And this goes without saying, but no alcohol either. 😉

Fast every other day. During the fasting day, you can still consume a small amount of whole foods to maintain your energy, but keep it under 500 calories.

Another option is to eat your normal healthy diet for 5 days during the week and then fast for the other two, basically a 5-2 plan. You can split up the two days or group them together. Think of this as like the opposite of “a cheat day a week”.

HEADS UP:

Intermittent fasting is not recommended if you have a history of eating disorders. If you’re nursing, pregnant or have a chronic health condition like diabetes, heart disease, or low/high blood pressure, check with your doctor first before you start a new eating plan.

One of the biggest pitfalls with intermittent fasting is that it takes a commitment to continue to do it consistently. To see the health benefits, you will need at least six weeks of a regular practice.

This type of eating plan may not fit within a busy schedule of after-work drinks and impromptu dinners, so before you dive in, just remember to put on your Beginner’s Mindset and remove all judgements if it doesn’t work for you. That’s is the purpose of this process anyway, to figure out what works best for your body! Inevitably, some plans won’t work out. No big deal. I just recommend that you give it the full 4-6 weeks to see how your body truly feels after it adjusts to this new way of eating.

Are you ready to take the plunge? Blown away by this intermittent fasting guide? Let me know which fasting option you’re going to try first, in the comments below.

 

LOVE + healthy practices!