Over the last few days I’ve discussed that there are two main issues to address when trying to lose weight.
There’s the food you actually eat – that’s the what.
Then there’s the timing of the food you eat – that’s the when.
Today I’ll be focusing on the second part, or the when.
In life, timing is everything. The same is true for food. The timing of when we consume our food is just as important as the actual food that we eat.
Intermittent fasting addresses the timing of the food we eat and has numerous documented benefits. It is also one of the most effective strategies when it comes to weight loss.
Intermittent fasting addresses the long-term problem of insulin resistance which keeps our insulin levels high and leads to fat storage and weight gain.
To break the insulin-resistance cycle, the goal is to have recurrent periods of low insulin levels.
Remember, every time we eat, insulin rises. All foods raise insulin to some extent, but certain food such as concentrated sweets, artificially raise levels.
If all foods raise insulin, then the only way to lower it is to completely abstain from food for some period of time, hence the concept of intermittent fasting.
Everybody practices intermittent fasting; it’s what we do when we sleep at night. We go through a prolonged fasting period and then the first food into our mouth after we awake is our break-fast.
There is nothing new about fasting and it is a common ancient practice of nearly every culture and religion on earth. There are also numerous modern studies showing that it is a beneficial practice with many health benefits.
Fasting is NOT starvation. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food. Fasting is the voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual, health, or other reasons.
Furthermore, some of the concerns that occur with calorie restriction, such as decreased metabolism and energy expenditure, have NOT been found to occur in physiological studies of fasting. In fact, the opposite happens; energy expenditure increases over the duration of a fast as the body switches from energy inputs from food to stored food (fat). Essentially, when you fast, your body starts “dining in” from your own fat stores and other hormonal adaptations take place, such as increased adrenaline and growth hormone, to maintain your energy expenditure and muscle mass.
Intellectually it seems that if we want to lose weight, we should restrict our calories, but what these studies show is that it’s fasting, not calorie restriction, that turns on all the right switches to allow our bodies to most easily lose weight in a way that maintains our energy and muscles.
If you’re anything like me before, the thought of intermittent fasting may sound horrifying to you. It may sound like torture and something you don’t believe you could do. The truth is, it’s actually much easier than I thought it would be. In fact, it made my life much simpler. I was usually running around in the morning getting three kids ready for school and myself to work and now a dog to take care of as well. When I practice intermittent fasting on these busy mornings, it becomes one less thing I have to consider. I just have my morning coffee with a little heavy cream and I don’t have to think about food again until lunchtime.
Intermittent fasting was also easier for me to implement when I made the following changes:
– I changed the type of food I chose for breakfast from carb choices like bagels or pastries or cereal to protein or good fats like eggs and fruit or avocado toast on Ezekial sprouted (nonflour) bread that kept me full longer.
– I stopped snacking at night and made a hard stop on eating after dinner was done to give my body more time to fast even if I did eat breakfast the next day.
– I started slowly shifting my breakfast time later and later. I would eat at 9am, then 10am, then 11am and finally between noon and 1pm. Once I became fat adapted, I no longer felt hungry or deprived.
– I also didn’t do it daily which helped me to not feel deprived. I mostly did it during the weekdays and still ate breakfast on the weekends with my family.
These changes made intermittent fasting very doable and helped me drop several pounds that I held onto for years. I don’t believe that you have to do intermittent fasting in order to lose weight and you should check with your doctor before you do consider starting, but it certainly can be very effective and can help you reach your goals much faster.
You know what to do, but need help getting it done? Want to get your mind in the right place? Interested in learning more about how I can help you? Go to my calendar link below to schedule a free call.
