What is Fasting?
Fasting is not a new thing. It’s been done for hundreds of years in a deliberate manner for religious reasons, therapeutic or health reasons, and even reasons beyond control, such as; food scarcity. Simply explained, fasting is just a term for any period of time between meals.
You can fast for a short time, or longer periods of time. I like to use intermittent fasting or short daily fasts, for health.
Why Fasting?
Fasting has benefits. If we look back in history we can see several reasons people fasted, and it’s becoming more popular due to its health benefits, which include; detoxification, rest for body, mental clarity, focus, reset of the system, fat loss, etc.
How do You Fast?
It’s a fairly simple process to do your own fast. Learning how to do it correctly is important.
Fasting as a Lifestyle
I fast for about 15-17 hours every day. Many people in the health/fitness industry are recommending fasting as a way to jumpstart a new lifestyle, or diet. I do sometimes recommend longer fasts to people for this reason (24, 48 or 60 hours), but I recommend that they follow the intermittent fasting rules as a general lifestyle for long term health benefits. It’s easier for your body to burn fat in a fasted state because insulin levels are low.
Intermittent fasting rules
- Do not eat for 16 hours, usually while sleeping.
- Eat all your meals in an 8 hour window during the day
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- If your last meal is at 6pm, then don’t eat again until 10am
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- Drink lots of water – 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day
- Do not eat a big heavy meal before bed. It takes about 8-12 hours to process a large meal. Eat a light dinner, not heavy in animal protein.
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This process allows your body to detoxify, heal and repair overnight.
Many studies have been done on the benefits of fasting. It’s been found that it decreases cholesterol, limits inflammation, prevents progression of type 2 Diabetes, reduces disease, increases longevity, etc. For more information check out this study on the International Journal of Health Sciences.
In addition, being in a state of ketosis is beneficial as well, and may be the reason that fasting is so beneficial for health. Keeping this in mind, a longer duration fast (more than 12 hours) is better for you than a short one. This is because it takes the body a period of time to switch to ketosis, which in simple terms is “burning its own fat”. This period of time can be longer for some people than others depending on their metabolic code (hours to days in some cases). Teaching your body to switch between sugar burning mode into fat burning mode can be a bit challenging, because the body is programmed to burn sugar (glucose/glycogen) for energy. The challenging part about this period is what is often called “Keto Flu”. Keto flu can present as fatigue, sugar cravings, poor focus or brain fog, nausea, difficulty sleeping or irritability. The body can also burn muscle for energy and often does before switching into a state of “fat burning” or ketosis.
Recently, research has been ongoing using therapeutic levels of ketones, induced by drinking a ketone salt. The benefit of drinking a ketone salt or ester is that it provides ketones to the cells for energy immediately and elevates blood ketones immediately. This process may also help curb the effects of the “Keto Flu”.
Benefits of Fasting
- Detoxification – allowing the body to rest from the digestive process allows room for healing and cleansing.
- Ketosis -fasting encourages a state of nutritional ketosis, which offers many benefits of its own.
- Prevention -May reduce the risk of cancer
- Longevity -May extend lifespan
- Cardiovascular Health – Reduce cardiovascular disease
- Less Inflammation – Reduce inflammation
Benefits of Ketosis
- Focus and Mental Clarity
- Neuroprotection – Protects the brain
- Energy – Better physical efficiency
- Burns fat and saves muscle
- Reduces insulin resistance
- Clearer skin
- Better digestion
- Better Insulin Sensitivity
Check out this book The Ketogenic Bible (afl link)
https://annettec.pruvitnow.com/research/ My research & source for PTK
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