10 Benefits of Intermittent Fasting you cannot ignore

Hello friends!

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t really need to eat as often as we do. Some diet plans suggest that we eat 5-6 times a day. This idea ends up making us eat more than we need to every day. Eating that much can have a very detrimental effect to our weight loss efforts. If you are struggling to lose weight and you follow these types of plans, you may want to read on to learn that there is a better way.

See, when we eat we trigger insulin which is released into the bloodstream. Insulin is the hormone that tells our cells to take in glucose. Glucose or blood sugar is the main source of energy for our cells and insulin gets that process started.

However, if we are constantly eating throughout the day, our insulin levels remain high and our cells continue to take in more and more sugar. When the cell gets to a point where it can’t use all the energy, it begins to store this excess glucose as fat. So the more you eat past what your body needs, the more fat your body has to store to stay balanced.

There are so many benefits to eating less and spacing out meals. When blood sugar level is low, the body triggers the release of glucagon. This hormone does the opposite of insulin because it signals you body to release more glucose into the bloodstream. When there is little blood sugar available, glucagon tells the body to release glycogen (stored glucose) into the blood. Once the stored glucose is gone, the body turns to fat for fuel.

So when you go long period of not eating and use up the food you ate, your body has to tap into fat cells for the energy it needs to function. The act of abstaining from eating is called fasting. What I want to talk about today is intermittent fasting.

What is intermittent fasting?

As I mentioned earlier, fasting is defined as abstaining from all or some kinds of food or drink for an extended period of time. Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and periods of fasting, or not eating. IF does not focus on what you should be eating, but rather when. IF is not a diet plan but more of a lifestyle. You can technically eat whatever you want if you stick to the eating window, but you know better, right?

10 Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

There are so many benefits to intermittent fasting and believe it or not it is very doable. Most of your fasting window is usually overnight while you sleep. Then it’s just a matter of skipping breakfast (which is fine!). If you’re not convinced here is my list of reasons you should definitely try intermittent fasting.

1.Burns body fat loss through ketosis

Intermittent fasting decreases insulin levels and the body burns up the glycogen supply. Once your body burned through it’s main energy source which is carbohydrates (glucose), it begins to naturally start burning fat for fuel. The longer you fast the more you dip into your fat stores for energy. Fasting trains your body to use fat and your liver produces a different fuel source called ketones. Ketones are a clean source of energy that comes directly from your fast cells. When your glucose supply has run out, that is the fuel your body produces.

This phenomenon is know as being in a state of ketosis. The Keto Diet uses this process to make the body function purely on fat. Keto requires a diet very low in carbohydrates and moderate in protein. The diet calls for 70-75% of your daily calories to come from (healthy) fats and has become very popular in the weight loss world.

2. Improved overall body composition

We already know that fasting forces the body to use fat as fuel, which can be very powerful for weight loss. It has also been shown to increase levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HGH is crucial to the development of children and adolescents but is also very important for adults as well. HGH allows good cells, like in cartilage or tendons, to multiply and increases the production of collagen to build muscle. It helps the body get leaner and better utilize fat as fuel. HGH deficiency in adults leads to higher levels of body fat, lower lean body mass and decreased bone mass. Intermittent fasting increases the body’s HGH levels and plays a major role in reshaping your body.

3. Boosts energy levels

When you get your energy from glucose, you blood sugar changes throughout the day. This causes periods of fatigue and low energy. This “sugar crash” is what can happens when you are eating through out the day, constantly raising and lowering blood sugar levels. With fasting, you body runs on fat and fat is digested more slowly and gives your body steady energy levels throughout the day (until you eat of course). There is no crash and you don’t feel the midday energy slump and the hunger associated with it.

4. Promotes a healthy gut and digestive system

Fasting gives your gut a break from digestion so that it can focus on repairing itself. It can help improve the lining of the gut and prevent or repair a condition called “leaky gut syndrome”. Fasting also increases the level of Immunoglobulin A, which is an antibody blood protein in the immune system. When the gut is in a period of stress, like when fasting, it heightens the immune response. This encourages the gut to expedite the bacterial clearance of bad bacteria. Fasting also improves the colonization of good bacteria and leads to a healthier, more efficient gut.

5. Detoxifies the body on a cellular level

Fasting gives your body time to clean up it’s processes and get rid of waste on a cellular level. This process is called autophagy and its occurrence helps the body clean out weak or non functioning cells, such damaged mitochondria or cancer cells, so that it can work more efficiently. Fasting gives the body a break from digestion so that it can support the function of other areas of the body through self-healing.

6. Balances your hormones

I already mentioned the effect fasting has on HGH and its important effects on body composition and weight loss. Fasting can also balance levels of cortisol, the fight or flight hormone, which effect weight gain, anxiety, poor sleep, and chronic fatigue. Cortisol simultaneously induces the fat loss and fat storage mechanisms of the body. When you are eating it induces fat storage, and when fasting, fat loss. Fasting has a dramatic effect on insulin. More on that later.

7. May boost immune function, reduce inflammation, and prevent diseases such as cancer

Fasting allows the body to reduce the focus on digestion, which allows it to focus on its other processes. This includes the function of your immune system, such as reducing inflammation. Inflammation is an immune response that works to damage to the body. While inflammation kills off bacteria, for example, it also attacks cells in the body. Fasting allows the body is able to better control the cells that cause inflammation and damage associated with many autoimmune disorders.

Fasting also has the ability to reduce risk for many health conditions, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and heart disease, through the processes of autophagy and reduced inflammation. It also have an effect on cancer growth due to decreased sugar levels; this important because sugar feeds the cancer. Fasting also promotes the production of cancer fighting cells.

8. Reduces insulin resistance and lowers risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Now back to insulin. We know the effect insulin has on the body. So now let’s talk about insulin resistance. Insulin resistance occurs when the cells stop responding to the insulin in the bloodstream. This forces the body to produce more insulin. When this occurs blood sugar levels become too high, your pancreas (the organ that produces insulin) begins to function less efficiently and you become insulin deficient. This can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Fasting is the best way to reverse your insulin resistance. It keeps insulin levels low so that your cells become more insulin sensitive, thus helping you pancreas restore to its normal function.

9. Benefits brain function and prevents degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s

Fasting has been found to improve cognitive function and reduce inflammation in the brain. Fasting helps the brain find new ways to cope with stress and increases the production and growth of neurons. It also improves learning, memory, alertness, and may delay the onset of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s through autophagy.

10. Slows down the aging process and extends lifespan

We know that fasting allows the body to efficiently enact a process called autophagy, in which the body recycles dead and dysfunctional cells to clean up the processes of the body. As we age, autophagy slows down which impairs our ability to recycle and repair. This causes degeneration of the cells and body. Fasting speeds up autophagy which has anti-aging effects because it slows degeneration.

How to start intermittent fasting

Now that you know the major benefits of fasting, you may be wondering how to get started. Here I outline the different types of intermittent fasting and show you why it is so valuable for weight loss.

Top 5 styles of intermittent fasting

There are several different intermittent fasting methods. Each style is defined by the number of hours you eat and the number of hours you fast.

Leangains or 16:8

The most popular type of fasting is the lean gains fasting protocol. 16:8 means that you are fasting for 16 hours and only eat during an 8 hour window. This is a lot easier than it sounds. If you stop eating at 8PM, most of your fasting window occurs while you sleep. Then it is just a matter of skipping breakfast. You eat your first meal at noon and eat until 8PM. You can have black coffee or tea in the morning to hold you over to lunch time. You need to fast least 12-16 hours to really experience the positive effects of IF. Trust me this is totally doable!

The Warrior Diet or 20:4

The Warrior Diet is a bit more challenging than the lean gains method. You fast for 20 hours and eat all your calories during a 4 hour window. If you can hold off eating and widen you window, you give your body more time to use fat as fuel.

Eat Stop Eat

This method means doing a 24 fast once or twice a week. You will probably need to work towards this one because going a whole day without eating can be very challenging.

5:2

This style means eating normally 5 days a week and fasting, or having very few calories, for 2 days a week. During your fasting window you restrict you diet to at most 500-600 calories a day then have a full day of eating 5 days a week. Difficult but not impossible.

OMAD or One Meal a Day

This one is super challenging but highly effective. With this method you get all your calories in one meal and fast the whole rest of the day. This keeps the triggered insulin response to only a brief window during the day and you are fasting, therefore burning fat, the rest of the day.

Alternate Day Fasting

With this method you basically eat every other day. This means you do a fast of at least 24 followed by a day of eating normally. Super tough but super rewarding.

Intermittent fasting for weight loss

IF is sooo great for weight loss! For one thing, when you reduce you eating window to just a few hours, you naturally eat less because there is simply less time to get calories in. Also like I mentioned earlier, when you eat less you restrict the effects of insulin to certain times of day. This means you are able to use fat as your fuel sources for the rest of the day. This is great for weight loss because the whole point is to get rid of fat and IF is super effective at doing this.

Fasting and exercise

Fasted workouts can be hard to get used to but have great benefits. When you work out on an empty stomach, you don’t have a lot of glucose to burn through. Once your use up your glycogen stores, your body has to turn to fat for fuel. Plus you rev up your metabolism in preparation for when you break your fast. The only draw back is you may not be able to exercise at the same level of intensity as if you had eaten before the workout.

So there you have it! Your complete guide to intermittent fasting. It may seem foreign at first because we are all so use to spending most of our days eating. However, once you start to the see the benefits, you will be hooked! You’ll find that you don’t get hungry as often and can go about your day more efficiently and with tons of energy!

Always remember, You are capable of amazing things and You are worthy of your wildest dreams!

Until next time friends!

XOXO

~~Valerie~~