Fasting
Intermittent Fasting is a powerful tool for improving your health and vitality. Not only can Intermittent Fasting help you achieve your weight loss goal but it has additional benefits like:
- Anti-inflammatory effects
- Boosting gut health
- Anti-ageing
- Autophagy + anti-cancer
- Improving mental alertness
- Enhancing sports performance
What happens in your body when you fast?
It’s helpful to understand what happens in your body when you fast so you can benefit to the max.
After your last meal, absorbed glucose is circulating in your blood. This stimulates insulin release from your pancreas which pushes the glucose from the blood into your body cells where it can be used for energy or stored. Insulin keeps your blood glucose level within the normal range.
As time goes by, your body cells metabolize the glucose, and your blood glucose level decreases which means you no longer need insulin, and your insulin level will start to decrease.
When your blood glucose level drops sufficiently, your body will release stored glucose from your muscle cells and liver. You have a short-term glucose supply in these tissues which lasts about 1 hour if you are exercising and up to 8 hours if you are more sedentary.
When your short-term glucose stores are completely depleted, you have to get energy from other sources and maintain a normal blood glucose level to keep your brain fueled and working well.
At this point, you enter fat-burning mode. You will start breaking down fat into fatty acids and ketones, which your brain can use as a fuel source. When ketones appear in your blood, you are in ketosis and using fat as your energy source.
For most people, ketosis happens about 12 hours after their last meal.
Now, there is no need for insulin, so blood insulin levels are very low. Your blood sugar level will remain within the normal range because your body will make glucose from the fat molecules that are broken down (gluconeogenesis). Usually, when you are in ketosis your appetite will be lower than usual because insulin is low.
As you continue to fast, human growth hormone is released which is responsible for healing and regeneration of old or damaged tissues. This has an anti-inflammatory effect.
And, by 18 hours of fasting a process known as autophagy is triggered. Autophagy has powerful anti-ageing and rejuvenation effects because old cells are literally engulfed by immune cells and recycled into new molecules for healing.
After 20 hours of fasting, autophagy continues to increase throughout your body and by 36 hours it is well established. Autophagy is responsible for the anti-cancer effect of fasting. Autophagy peaks at around 72 hours of fasting.
To get the most benefit from Fasting, you have to do it right!
I hear this every day: ‘Doc, I’ve been fasting for months, and I’m not seeing results!’
There are 4 common mistakes that I see my patients make over and over:
- Routine of fasting:
This is the most common mistake. People think that by simply skipping breakfast every day, they will lose weight and feel great. Initially, you will see a change in your body because you are cutting out the calories in your breakfast. But, after a while your metabolism will adjust to this new routine and you will hit a plateau.
The key is to keep your metabolism guessing. DO NOT GET INTO A FASTING ROUTINE. Do not follow the same schedule of fasting/eating every day. Instead, switch it up. Have a hearty breakfast with your family on Sunday. Skip breakfast on Monday. If you finish work late on Tuesday, then go to the gym and skip dinner. Thursday’s schedule is crazy so skip lunch. Perhaps include a 24 hour fast every 2 weeks. The more flexible and irregular your eating schedule, the better. Not only will you see better results from fasting, but you can be more flexible with dinners and social events.
- ‘Break-fast’ meal composition:
The meal you have when you break your fast (regardless of the time of day) is extremely important. Many people will reward themselves after a fast with a delicious pizza and ice-cream sundae. Unfortunately, this will immediately switch off fat-burning mode, and instead trigger fat storage mode! Bad idea.
You want to maintain the fat-burning state (ketosis) you have worked hard to achieve by not eating for all those hours. And, you want to feed your body with vitamins, minerals and healthy nutrients that will encourage tissue repair and anti-ageing mechanisms.
Make sure your ‘break-fast’ meal is packed with vegetables, healthy fats and protein. Try to avoid or limit carbohydrates when planning your meal that will break your fast. That way, you stay in fat-burning mode for longer.
- Eating too little fat:
Many people are scared of eating fat. We used to think that eating fat made you fat. It’s not true! In fact, fat is an essential nutrient. You need fat to absorb certain vitamins, and you need fat for healthy brain function.
When you are fasting, eating more healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, dark chocolate, oily fish, nuts and seeds, and coconut will stimulate fat-burning and help you maintain ketosis. If you fast regularly, and you eat a higher-fat diet, your body will become much more efficient at using fat for energy. You will also find that hunger and cravings disappear, and you will be less likely to suffer from constipation. Try to include more healthy fats in all your meals, especially your ‘break-fast’ meal.
- Neglecting fluid balance:
All food contains water. When you skip meals you also reduce your total fluid intake. Be sure to keep drinking throughout the day to make sure you maintain good levels of hydration. Black coffee (without milk and sugar), black tea, herbal infusions, sugar-free carbonated drinks, clear broths and plain water are all acceptable fluids that won’t break your fast.
To get the most out of Intermittent Fasting, you have to do it right.
Here are my top tips for getting the most benefit from Intermittent Fasting:
- Make sure your ‘break-fast’ meal (no matter what time of the day that is) is packed with vegetables, healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, seeds and avocado, and protein. Try to avoid or limit carbs when planning your meal that will break your fast. That way, you stay in fat-burning mode for longer.
- Don’t get into a routine of fasting. Many people skip breakfast every day but if you do this, your metabolism will get used to this schedule and adapt to it. It is better to fast in an unpredictable or irregular way. For instance, skip breakfast 3 days a week and perhaps skip dinner on another day.
- When you first start out with intermittent fasting, get used to fasting slowly so you don’t suffer from unwanted side-effects like hunger, headaches and irritable moods. First start with 12 hours, then extend to 14 hours, 16 hours and so on until you feel comfortable fasting for 16 or 18 hours. Many people fast for extended periods (more than 24 hours), but you should check with your doctor that this is safe for you, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or if you are taking chronic medications.
- Take a multi-vitamin / multi-mineral supplement if you plan to fast regularly. This helps to avoid effects like muscle cramps and fatigue and ensures you have adequate intake of essential micro-nutrients.
- Focus on hydration. All food contains water. When you skip meals you also reduce your total fluid intake. Be sure to keep drinking throughout the day to make sure you maintain good levels of hydration. Black coffee (without milk and sugar), black tea, herbal infusions, sugar-free carbonated drinks, clear broths and plain water are all acceptable fluids that won’t break your fast.
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