It's that Darn F-Word Again!

Yep – today we are going to talk about Intermittent Fasting, also known as IF or IMF.  The concept is easy to explain: eat a little, fast a little, eat a little, fast a lot; eat, fast, eat fast.  Easy peasy.
 
My favorite one is quite popular and is easy because you are sleeping through a lot of the fast, is to eat your meals in a six hour window, and then don’t eat, or fast for 18 hours. So you could skip breakfast (yes, it’s okay to do this); just eat lunch and then dinner in a six-hour window; and then don’t eat for 18. Or, just eat breakfast and lunch, skip dinner and then fast for 18 hours.
 
Other popular versions are 16:8, or 24 hours of fasting every other day; or 5 days eating, 2 days fasting.
 
Note – during your eating times, often called feeding or feasting times by fasters, you do NOT eat for the entire 6 hours or whatever your eating hours are.  You are not supposed to act like you are at an all-you-can-eat buffet! You are doing this fasting protocol presumably for health reasons, so stick to your healthy meal choices as much as possible.
 
Now that being said – if you tumble into the carb barrel and have to eat your way out, Intermittent Fasting is a good way to start repairing the cellular and hormonal damage you have done to your body.
 
Before I get into the benefits of IF, let me share with you the main reasons I love to practice this form of fasting.
 
First, it is really pretty easy.  Like I said, you are asleep for a lot of the hours.  Also, since I am on the Ketogenic food plan, the fat content of my foods is satiating, so I’m not as hungry as when I was burning glucose for fuel. With high carbs, my hunger pangs were dramatic and hysterical, “Feed me now or we will die!!!!” As a fat burner, they are mostly nudges.
 
Second, and most important. I am learning a great deal about my relationship with food and my body during these intermittent fasts.  I have learned that much of my desire for food is out of either boredom or habit.  Either it’s “time” to eat, or I’m just looking for a distraction and for years, food has always been a great one.
 
Third, I have learned that often during these shorter fasts– from 16 to 24 hours, a drink of water, electrolytes or a pinch of Himalayan sea salt is all I need.  I wasn’t hungry – just dehydrated.
 
Lastly, it helps me get acquainted with what hunger feels like and to know that it is not scary, but rather, it is a rest break for my digestive tract and a chance, if long enough, for my body to do repair work.  When I was overeating I rarely experienced true hunger. During these fasting periods, what I feel is a lightness.  I’ve come to learn and enjoy the empty feeling in my stomach.  And I’ll tell you what -- It sure feels a heck of a lot better than the turkey torpor, junkyard dog, stuffed feeling we have all experienced a few times on our lives.
 
Now for the universal benefits of Intermittent Fasting:
 
Reduction in inflammation (all mine is gone!)
Weight loss  (so far 30 pounds in 3 months)
Reduction in T2 Diabetes (no longer have T2 diabetes)
Reduction in blood pressure and resting heart rate
 
What we are doing during these fasting times is shifting our body’s cellular and metabolic processes. One result of this shifting is a positive stressing that can result in autophagy, which is our body’s way of housekeeping or removing undesirable cells from our body.
 
Challenge – whatever diet or eating lifestyle you are on, take a break from eating for 12 hours, 18 hours or even a day.  Get in touch with your hunger and your feelings about food.
 
One caveat – it is easier to do any of the above once you’ve been on the Ketogenic lifestyle for at least a week or two.  Why? Because you have already converted from using glucose as a fuel to being a fat burner which is like going from gasoline to rocket fuel.
 
If you are currently eating high carbs and sugar you certainly can and should give this a go, but your first day will be detoxing from the carb and sugar mess in your cells so it will be a bit rocky – worthwhile – but rocky.
 
And I know, I know – repeat after me:  “I should get my doctor’s approval for any drastic change in my diet. “ (I’m supposed to say that.)
 
Research nerd that I am, I would like to recommend two books by Dr. Jason Fung that were informative and show that the medical community is just now beginning to see that we’ve been approaching health, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses from a “Magic Pill” viewpoint rather than from a cure.  The books are listed below.  
 
Here’s to our health!

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