Weigh to go Keto

What is intermittent fasting?

 

First let me start out with what it’s not. Fasting is NOT starvation. Many have made this assumption the minute they hear the word fasting. However, this is generally done without really taking the time to understand the difference. I’ve actually found this to be more of a defense mechanism for those who have no interest or want to tell me why it’s wrong.

 

Fasting has actually been used all throughout human history. The power of fasting has the ability to increase energy, aid in weight loss, reverse type 2 diabetes, and it will help free you of the shackles of food addictions. For me fasting has also freed up a lot of meal prepping and cooking time.

 

So, fasting only means that we refrain from eating within a certain window of time. There is no a definitive time frame. Some will choose to eat in a 16:8 window and others may do a 20:4 window. What this means is that for 16 hours out of the day you would not eat any food or drink any calorie dense beverages. This would include refraining from artificial sweeteners and drinking primarily water, tea, or black coffee.  Then you would have all your food intake within an 8-hour window. Now the easiest way for me to do this is I generally eat from approximately 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m and then at this point I only drink water or tea until the next day at 1:00 p.m. What this does for us is gives us the majority of our fasting while we sleep which makes it much easier throughout the day. There is a multitude of different ways to fast, I will give a brief run-down of the popular ones below

 

If you are eating mostly fat and protein for food, then fasting is that much easier. When you are fueling your body with fat you WILL NOT be nearly as hungry as you have ever been when eating a carbohydrate dense diet. Trust me on this, it’s really amazing to see this in action and I urge you to give it your all… You will NOT be disappointed!

 

When you fast, your body will burn up all its stores of glucose and at this point your body will switch to burning the stored fat that it already has. This stored fat is a way better fuel source, and this is what will help you start losing fat.

 

Types of fast:

 

16:8

We’ve touched on this one above. You would eat in an 8 hour window and fast the remaining time of the day. For example, eating from Noon until 8:00 p.m. and fasting from 8 at night until noon the next day.

 

24-Hour fast

This way requires you to only eat one meal a day and fast from either dinner to dinner or lunch to lunch. However, you want to space it out but mostly you would only eat one meal a day. Many refer to this type of

of fasting as OMAD or "one meal a day". 

 

5:2

This involves 5 regular eating days and 2 fasting days. However, on these two fasting days, it is permitted to eat 500 calories on each day. These calories can be consumed at any time during the day – either spread throughout the day, or as a single meal. Some will simply us bone broth for a little sodium and calories to get them through without really consuming anything that will spike insulin. 

 

Extended Fasting

Generally, any fast greater than 48 hours would be an extended fast. If you decide to give this a try, make sure you have a general multivitamin to help avoid any nutrient deficiency. The world record for fasting was 382 days and many people do fast of 7+ days with no issues. With anything though be smart, if you start to feel bad listen to your body and break that fast with some broth. Also remember that no matter how long you fast that salt, and electrolytes will be some of the most beneficial products in your arsenal!

 

If you find yourself interested in learning more about fasting I would suggest reading Dr. Jason Fung's book about the fasting lifestyle. FIND IT HERE!

** More content to come**