Image Pixabay - IanZA
Health For Life
I have been interested in health, nutrition and exercise for many years now, to the point of being called a ‘health-nut’ in the past. I’m not that fanatical anymore, but still attentive to health related issues.
Over the years I have undertaken many cleanses / fasts etc. The longest one lasting 28 days, not recommended unless you have done the proper research and preparation (including mental).
What is fasting? It is simply abstinence from food or caloric drinks for a period of time. The period is usually between 24 hours and several days. I don’t really do those types of fasts anymore.
Time Restricted Eating
However, what I have been doing is a form of Intermittent Fasting
In particular I do what is called ‘Time-Restricted Eating (Feeding)’, which is –
“…eating only during a certain number of hours each day. A common form of TRF involves fasting for 16 hours each day and only eating during the remaining 8 hours, typically on the same schedule each day. A more liberal practice would be twelve hours of fasting and a twelve-hour eating window, or a stricter form would be to eat one meal per day, which would involve around 23 hours of fasting per day.” Wikipedia
Note – To do the above correctly, there should be NO intake of caloric food or beverages between meals or during the extended daily fast. Unsweetened tea of coffee would be okay for example, but not juice or milk etc.
This is because, “every time you eat, glucose is stored in your liver as glycogen, which takes about 10 to 12 hours to be depleted.” Source This is very important, because in order to burn fat, your body must first use up glycogen stores.
Scheduling and What to Eat
There are variations in the scheduling, as you can see from the above. I generally eat no more than twice a day, giving myself a 16 to 18 hour fasting period. This gives rest to the digestive and other systems in your body.
For me, this isn’t a diet or a ‘test’ anymore, I have been doing it for maybe 3 years now, it is a lifestyle. I don’t even have to think about it anymore. But for you, scheduling would depend on your work and family committments etc.
In fact, I don’t really like the term ‘intermittent fasting’, I refer to it as ‘intermittent eating’. The word ‘fasting’ can sometimes have connotations of starving or suffering, whereas ‘intermittent eating’ is what you are actually doing.
Just a note on what to eat during your meal times. Well, it’s up to you really, but if you fill up will sugary sweets or junk food, you are really not doing yourself any good. I stick to meat, poultry, fish and vegetables. Lots and lots of steamed vegetables. But that's just me, eat what you want, as long as it has nutritional value.
So why adjust your eating habits to allow for an extended daily fasting period? There are many benefits including weight loss, insulin regulation, and improved mental clarity, to name just a few.
But First a Brief History of Intermittent Eating (Fasting)
For someone unfamiliar with fasting, it might seem like a strange or unusual think to do. But humans have been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years.
Humans, Homo Sapiens, emerged some 300,000 years ago. That is about 290,000 years before agriculture was developed.
All during this time, in fact even back to the time of Homo Erectus, there is evidence of hunter-gatherers.
What this means, is that we humans were hunter-gathers during our entire time of emerging as a new, separate species. This fact has important implications for how and what we should be eating.
This lifestyle shaped our human genome, with profound implications for metabolism, digestion, hormone normalization and gene expression.
Image - A Kali'na hunter with a woman gatherer. - Pierre Barrère, Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
How Did Our Ancestors Eat?
As the term implies, our forebears hunted other animal species, and foraged for whatever edible fruit, roots, nuts, seeds, berries etc. that could be found.
For a moment, put yourself back in that time so long ago. No electricity, no roads or cars or guns. No 7-11s or McDonalds. No vast supermarket selling food. There was also no refined sugar or processed foods.
Food had to be worked for, whether hunting or gathering. That means exercise. So we worked hard for a period, then we ate and rested and recovered.
Hunting was a difficult, dangerous task. A clan might goes days or longer without a big kill. In winter, foraging was difficult if not impossible. People often went comparatively long periods without eating. Feast and Famine, as the saying goes.
What Happens to Your Body While Intermittent Fasting?
Here are some of the many beneficial results –
The blood levels of human Growth Hormone increase by up to 5 times. This serves to increase muscle growth and speed up fat burning. As well, the cells release waste materials and toxins, cleaning the body internally. Source
Fasting improves learning and memory functioning, and there are indications it may help prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s, although more human studies are needed. NCBI
There is growing evidence that fasting increases longevity and plays a role in preventing cancer. UNSW
Blood pressure and cholesterol levels begin to normalize. Source
The base level of human Hormesis was established during our fasting evolution. This has general impact on our immunity from disease, and our sense of general well-being and functioning. In a broad sense, every time we eat a modern processed or GMO food, we are introducing a foreign agent into the body that is received as a toxin, either weakly or strongly. Think of inflammation or auto-immune related diseases.
Bodily inflammation is greatly reduced or eliminated. Source
My Anecdotal Experience
Here is a brief summary on improvements for me when I started intermittent eating –
I felt more energetic, and lighter. I slept much better, and naturally woke up early without effort and feeling rested. I lost weight until it stabilized at my optimum weight for my frame.
My mental clarity vastly improved, and I could do more work faster. Physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically I felt much more balanced.
Image Pexels - Chevanon Photography
Most of all, I just had a greatly improved sense of general well-being. My grandmother used to say when she was tired, “my get up and go, got up and left!”
Well, my ‘get up and go’ came back.
