Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the recent exponential surge in people trying intermittent fasting to lose weight, build muscle mass, and increase energy. I’ve always lived a fasted lifestyle, so when by the time I heard about IF I realized I was already doing it! Intermittent fasting is the practice of consuming your daily calories within a restricted time window. It is not an diet, it is more of an eating protocol. The idea is to get the same amount of calories you would normally eat within your eating window. For example from 8 am to 8 pm, which is a moderate twelve hour window, or the popular 9-5 pm, which allows for 16 hours of fasting and an eight hour window for eating. In our modern age of fad diets and quick nutrition fixes, the practice of fasting remains constant as a tried and true discipline that has been scientifically proven to provide health benefits and unleash the super-charged power to heal conditions.
If going cold turkey on food for days seems too intense for you, intermittent fasting or restricting your food intake to a short eating window in one day, may be a way to still get some of the positive results. Research has proven that intermittent fasting has similar benefits to fasting longer periods when incorporated regularly. One study followed overweight adults with moderate asthma who consumed only 20% of their normal calorie intake on alternate days [5]. The subjects who were able to stick to the diet lost 8% of their body weight over an eight week period, decreased markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, improved asthma-related symptoms, and several quality-of-life indicators.
Another study, found that intermittent fasting was as effective as longer term continuous restriction for improving weight loss, insulin sensitivity and other health biomarkers [3]. Intermittent fasting also improves brain functioning, as a lack of eating for 10-16 hours starts the flooding of ketones in the body, which have been shown to protect memory and learning functionality, as well as slow disease processes in the brain. Going in to full on ketosis, however, does not happen until 2-3 days into fasting with no intake of food.
Dr. Jason Fung, Author of The Complete Guide to Fasting and several other fasting books, has been implementing a fasting protocol to heal clients of Type 2 Diabetes, PCOS, and many other conditions related to glucose intolerance and more. One of my favorite parts of The Complete Guide to Fasting are the testimonials from patients with a range of conditions who tried fasting and were successful in reversing their conditions and coming off of medications. The most insightful thing I took from this book was Dr. Fung’s personal professional revelation that the way we treat diabetes in Western medicine actually leads to further progression of the disease as the medications cause weight gain and the excess weight worsen the condition. He realized that by reducing the amount of insulin in the diet by decreasing the amount of carbs or frequency of eating (fasting being the complete reduction), allows those with glucose intolerance to heal faster and lose the weight. The patients were on a low carbohydrate, high in healthy fats diet, and incorporated two to three days of complete fasting alternating with days of eating. If you or someone you love is struggling with diabetes, I highly recommend you read this book and consult with a physician to help you with a fasting protocol. Doing it on your own can be dangerous if your medication is not also reduced with the practice because your blood sugar levels could get dangerously low.
Last, but not least, one of the most important benefits of any type of fasting is that it activates the parasympathetic nervous system which helps to relax, rest, digest food properly, and enables the body to heal itself. Most of us are taught to try to eat our way to health, when in fact, refraining from food allows the body to repair and restore. If you are struggling with healing or just want to incorporate a practice that can boost your health I highly recommend giving fasting a try. -Xo Raw Girl
References:
- Collier, R. (2013). Intermittent fasting: the science of going without. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal, 185(9), E363–E364. http://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4451
- Dai, Q., Borenstein, A. R., Wu, Y., Jackson, J. C., & Larson, E. B. (2006). Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Alzheimer’s Disease: The Kame Project. The American Journal of Medicine, 119(9), 751–759. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.03.045
- Harvie MN, Pegington M, Mattson MP, Frystyk J, Dillon B, Evans G, Cuzick J, Jebb SA, Martin B, Cutler RG, Son TG, Maudsley S, Carlson OD, Egan JM, Flyvbjerg A, Howell A. The effects of intermittent or continuous energy restriction on weight loss and metabolic disease risk markers: a randomized trial in young overweight women. Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 May;35(5):714-27. doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.171. Epub 2010 Oct 5. PubMed PMID: 20921964; PubMed Central
PMCID: PMC3017674. - Johnson JB, Summer W, Cutler RG, Martin B, Hyun DH, Dixit VD, Pearson M, Nassar M, Telljohann R, Maudsley S, Carlson O, John S, Laub DR, Mattson MP. Alternate day calorie restriction improves clinical findings and reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in overweight adults with moderate asthma. Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Mar 1;42(5):665-74. Epub 2006 Dec 14. Erratum in: Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Nov 1;43(9):1348. Tellejohan, Richard [corrected to Telljohann, Richard]. PubMed PMID: 17291990; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1859864.
- PAKerndt, P. R., Naughton, J. L., Driscoll, C. E., & Loxterkamp, D. A. (1982). Fasting: The History, Pathophysiology and Complications. Western Journal of Medicine, 137(5), 379–399.