You mean fasting, fAsTiNg? Are we starving ourselves out here again?? I thought we got over that in the '80s!?!
I discovered Intermittent Fasting (IF) a year ago and, boy, has it accelerated my metabolic flexibility. Although for some people, it's a temporary practice until they reach their weight loss goals, but IF is something I still practice EVERY DAY and not only to maintain fat loss but also to take advantage of the other remarkable HEALING benefits it provides.
Fasting is not new.
Our ancestors hunted and gathered their food daily. Often, their first meal wasn’t until midday. They went long periods of time without food, and this is coded in our DNA.
In modern times, food is available all the time, everywhere, we never stop eating and allow our bodies to rest from digesting. Remember the “Eat small meals throughout the day, every 2-4 hours, 5-6 meals.” fad? Well, that has a failure rate of 99.5% in obese people.
Regardless of our current eating methods, researchers estimate that 99% of our genetics haven’t changed in over 10,000 years.
What IF is NOT
Calorie restriction
Punishment
Starving yourself
Portion control
Let me be clear,
Chronic calorie restriction
Reducing your average daily caloric intake below what is normal, for a long period of time
Restricts how much you eat
Temporary results of weight loss, leads to increased risk of binge eating and loss of muscle mass
Intermittent fasting
YOUR BODY IS NOT A CALORIE CALCULATOR.
"Most diets fail, and they fail for a reason: chronic calorie restriction will slow down your metabolism and put your body into starvation mode."
- Dr. Will Cole, functional medicine practitioner and author of Intuitive Fasting
Intermittent fasting FACTS
In 28 obese adults, fasting led to a greater weight loss and fat loss than calorie restriction. From the journal Nature.
Comparing two groups of diabetic patients, one group eating 5-6 meals a day and one group eating 2 larger meals a day with both groups consuming the same amount of calories, the group eating 2 larger meals led to greater weight loss, less hepatic (liver) fat content, increased oral glucose insulin sensitivity and more. From the randomized trail in the journal Diabetologia.
The conventional advice of "eating small meals through out the day" helps only 1 in 210 obese men and 1 in 124 obese women lose weight according to the American Journal of Public Health.
Comparing 100 women, half of whom followed an IF regimen and half of whom followed a 25% caloric reduction diet, both groups of women lost about the same amount of weight after 6 months, but the women who followed IF showed a greater increase in insulin sensitivity and a larger reduction in waist circumference. From the journal International Journal of Obesity.
A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine has specifically shown that IF additionally improves glucose regulation, blood pressure and heart rate regulation, and efficacy of endurance and abdominal fat loss.
Stay tuned for more about how IF is being used to heal and prevent diseases, and a step by step process on how you can practice IF in your daily life!!
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References
Cole, W., & Lidicker, G. (2021). Intuitive fasting: The flexible four-week intermittent fasting plan to recharge your metabolism and renew your health. Yellow Kite.
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