Intermittent fasting, what is it and for you?

The word fast brings up my Catholic guilt.

In the early days of the church, like when I went, there was this fasting ritual at different times. It included, (so-called) starving on Sunday mornings so we could partake of a little white wafer that represented salvation while the other kids had pancake orgies. This moment of my childhood is not fondly remembered. It was sold as a way to save my soul, too esoteric a concept for this hungry 9 year old. Defiantly I dove into my secret stash of Fruit Loops thinking it would all work out.

So far so good.

So why would I want to revisit this idea, especially if I take the side of science that says juice fasting or using concoctions of any kind in place of food for extended periods of time can be dangerous and unhealthy for many?

Because there’s a new kid in town called intermittent fasting, and much of the available science has good things to say.

There are at least 6 different styles developed by as many enthusiasts and a couple of doctors, each with a twist on when to eat and when to eat and how much. Effects range from fat and weight loss to improved cognition and long-term disease prevention.

Let’s start with some science on the physiology of fasting.

When we eat, the body goes into digestion mode. Insulin rises because blood sugar is produced by the digestion of said food. This will last between 3 and 5 hours. Once it feeds and the food has been digested, it is in post-absorptive mode. This means that it has finished processing and absorbing the nutrients. Insulin has dropped, returning to normal. Now enter fasting mode. The longer you stay here, the more likely your body is to burn stored fat for energy. However, spend too much time here and the body will burn muscle and slow down the metabolic rate as a way of preserving energy stores.

The key is to fast long enough (and how long is hotly debated) to burn off stored fat and give you the benefits of calorie restriction without the aforementioned drawbacks.

The simplest of these plans says to eat within an 8 hour time frame, no matter what 8 hours, and fast for 16. It might seem like eating dinner at 8, skipping breakfast, and eating again at 1.

Confusion has just set in. Isn’t it bad for you to skip breakfast?

For some it will be. If you have hypoglycemia, this is not your plan.

For others, the body will adapt, you won’t die, and the results for those looking to lose weight may make the traditional diet fade away.

Why is it mainly because it’s easier to restrict meal times than how much or what you eat.

There are other plans, The Every Other Day Diet by Krista Varady, a scientist, is popular and well researched. You pretty much eat like it sounds, every other day you fast or feast. An interesting finding from Krista’s research is that most people don’t overeat enough on party day to prevent weight loss.

Martin Berkhan originated the IF name and has a variety of options if you want to give it a try.

Precision Nutrition’s John Berardi is, in his words, a professional dietitian. I mean, he tries diets and exercise programs for a living. He has the best free download on the IF way to weight loss and health. you can grab it here. He tried just about every variation you can think of. Since exercise is still important, address when to exercise within a fasting time frame.

It is worth noting that your last word on whether or not it works for weight loss and is healthy is this, many programs will work if the person adapts to them and sticks with them. This is just one option.

There are extreme versions of this concept where you eat 500 calories one day and normally the next or you eat one day and fast for 2 and so on. I’m never a fan of extremes, even as a launching pad for a plan. If it DOES sound like a good idea or you just want to try it and see how you feel and if you lose weight, start by shortening the times of the day when you eat. Like in the first scenario I described.

Aside from smaller thighs, what else is good going on?

Intermittent fasting falls into the category of calorie restriction that has well-researched science behind it as a way to increase lifespan.

Animal studies have supported IF as a bridge to better health and longevity and warned against it. Scientific America published a full article in this.

We are in the early days of IF science, but it’s hard not to believe the science that exists. If you try, monitor how you feel when you’re fasting. Don’t go longer than you feel safe, but be prepared to feel hungry. Learning to feel real hunger versus the urge to eat out of boredom or anxiety is one of the benefits of IF.

Now that I’m no longer forced to follow someone else’s rules about when to eat or why, I’m going to experiment with IF without guilt or thinking for a minute that it will be my salvation.