Intermittent Fasting: How to Make it Work for YOU
Intermittent fasting (IF), otherwise known as time-restricting eating, is all the rage these days. From weight loss to cancer regression, people are seeing significant health benefits from this therapeutic practice that’s been a part of many cultures and religions since the beginning of time.
Did you know that up to 80% of your energy goes to digestion? Thus, when you’re constantly eating, your body has limited resources to allocate to other functions. Fasting frees up your energy and allows your body to go into repair mode. Called “autophagy”, this detoxification process removes waste, debris and cancerous cells while encouraging the repair of damaged, inflamed tissues. Hormones rebalance, digestion improves and the immune system reboots. The body also becomes more efficient at burning fat for fuel.
As a nation that barely finishes one meal before thinking about the next, fasting seems like a foreign concept, yet it’s one that we should all embrace if we want to feel and look good for many years to come.
So what’s the best approach? Like most things, fasting is not one-size-fits-all. Each person is unique with different stress levels, schedules and hormones that may affect his or her ideal fasting window.
From dinner to breakfast fasts to a full 24-36 hours without eating, there are many protocols on the market. Certainly the most popular is the 16-8 method which calls for 16 hours fasting, followed by an 8-hour eating window. The 5:2 plan includes normal eating five days a week with two days of restricting calories to just 500-600 per day. There’s also a 20:4 approach which encompasses a 20-hour fast followed by 4-hour feeding window. Really the options are unlimited!
So where do you start? The easiest, and most approachable option is a 12-hour fast, i.e. no eating or drinking anything besides water from 7pm to 7am. Even if you tend to get lightheaded, shaky and irritable between meals, you should still be able to accomplish this beginner fast. And if it goes well, try to expand the fast to 13-14 hours and see how your body reacts. With enough trial and error, you will find your fasting “sweet spot”.
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*Important Note: if you’re going to skip a meal, it’s best to skip dinner, NOT breakfast. Remember, eating breakfast within an hour of rising is THE most important way to energize, boost brain power, control cravings and lose weight longterm.