Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting is an interesting idea that has also become very popular recently. I have studied the concepts associated with “IF” extensively and I am convinced that this is a healthy and sustainable way to live.
There are many different ways to approach Intermittent Fasting. These include:
Fasting for a certain number of hours every day.
Going on a 24 or 48 hour fast intermittently, ie. weekly or monthly.
Going on a longer fast for a few days or up to a week on a less regular basis, ie. quarterly or yearly.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Why would anyone want to do this? There are a number of research proven benefits to such a practice including:
Weight loss
Improved markers of health
Reduced risk of chronic health conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, and Alzheimer’s Disease
improved brain health and enhanced performance
Increased longevity
Below are some of the specific pathways that may contribute to the above benefits.
Lowers blood insulin levels (see later post about Insulin Resistance to understand why this is so important).
Increases levels of Human Growth Hormone - facilitates fat burning and muscle gain.
Slightly increases your metabolic rate.
Puts you into a state of Ketosis, at least temporarily.
Leads to a consumption of fewer calories.
Promotes weight loss through burning fat instead of losing weight through muscle loss.
Loss of belly fat - which means the harmful fat in the abdominal cavity that causes disease has decreased.
Reduces oxidative stress and inflammation in the body.
May improve blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, blood glucose levels, and inflammatory markers.
Autophagy - clears damaged cells in your body to be replaced by healthy cells.
May increase the growth of new nerve cells.
Increases the levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) - may improve depression and other neurologic diseases.
Resets your body’s digestion
Decreases the TOR pathway (promoted by high protein) and the Ras-PKA pathway (promoted by sugars)
History of Fasting
All major religious figures including Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Buddha made fasting a principle part of their personal life. And almost every religious practice today suggests fasting. Examples include the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Christian season of Lent, and the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have personally engaged in a religious practice of fasting on the first Sunday of every month since I was a teenager and I teach my kids to do the same. But until recently, I didn’t understand the potential health benefits from such a practice.
Fasting Mimicking Diet
The longer fasts are interesting because they may provide the benefits on a deeper level when compared to daily intermittent fasting. I am a fan of Dr. Valter Longo, a researcher at the University of Southern California. After intense research, he has put together a program called the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD). He has a prescribed 5 day diet that keeps your daily calories under 1000, eating very specific foods that are supposed to trick your body into acting like it is actually fasting. His research shows all the same benefits of fasting with FMD.
Daily Time Restricted Eating
I personally think the practice of daily Intermittent Fasting is the best way to go, and this has been my practice for many months. If you think about what the word BreakFast means, you know we should all be doing this daily. Breakfast is the meal where we are supposed to BREAK our FAST. The problem is we have become a society that continues to eat after dinner and often right up until bedtime. And typically, the foods we are eating late at night are the worst types of food for us. I think everyone would agree that it is probably best for our health to stop eating after dinner. The only question to be answered on an individual basis is how long should we fast every day? If I finish dinner by 7pm and don’t have breakfast until 7am, I have completed a 12 hour fast. This is fantastic. But if I can extend my fast to 14 or 16 or 18 hours, the benefits really start to accumulate. I personally try to fast for 16 hours every day. I finish eating by 7pm and don’t eat again until at least 11am the next morning. I drink plenty of water during those morning hours, but I do not eat anything.
Breakfast
This is a good time to address the popular myth that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. Where did this idea come from? It has been promoted by industry that sells breakfast foods. This myth is similar to the idea promoted by the dairy industry that we need to drink a lot of cows milk in order to have strong bones. However, many studies have shown that the nations that drink the most milk also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. Now I have been a believer of both of these myths for a long time, but they simply are not true. Is breakfast good for you? Well, that question entirely depends on what you are eating for breakfast. Does skipping breakfast or having a late breakfast mean poor health? No, in fact the opposite may be true. The better thing to say might be “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day to get right.”
My experience with IF
Undergoing a daily 16 hour fast has been an easy practice for me to adopt. The first few days may be hard, but this is not because our body needs the nutrition. Almost everyone in normal health can easily go for 16 hours without food. Most of us could survive for days without food. The reason skipping breakfast is really hard is because of our habits. This is also the reason avoiding food after dinner time can be a serious challenge. The normal household in the United States has ready access to food until late at night and first thing in the morning. But once I established the routine of fasting for 16 hours, my body got used to it and it became easy.
So what is the key to successfully adopt intermittent fasting? Take it slow. First, eliminate any eating after dinner. Like I said previously, a 12 hour fast every night is better than what most of us do. Then, if desired, slowly push back the time you have breakfast until whatever hour seems right for your individual health.