Intermittent fasting is getting a lot of buzz these days. It appears that it can do a host of wonderful things for your body, from
improving memory and boosting energy to helping repair your bodily systems and increasing fat burning efficiency. When your body is functioning at its best, it is hard not to notice.
Many people spend a lot of time trying to find the 'right' diet. A diet that will fit their lifestyle and workout routine without leaving them feeling deprived. And for many of these people, it doesn't seem to matter what they try, they will fall off the wagon eventually, leading to an overwhelming sense of disappointment and guilt. If this sounds familiar, intermittent fasting may be the thing for you!
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Studies on the subject have found that intermittent fasting can:
- Limit inflammation
- Improve circulating glucose and lipid levels
- Reduce blood pressure
- Improve metabolic efficiency and body composition, including significant reductions in body weight in obese individuals
- Reduce LDL and total cholesterol levels
- Help prevent type 2 diabetes, as well as slow its progression
- Reverse type 2 diabetes
- Improve pancreatic function
- Improve insulin levels and insulin sensitivity
- Reproduce some of the cardiovascular benefits associated with physical exercise
- Protect against cardiovascular disease
- Modulate levels of dangerous visceral fat
The reason why intermittent fasting works seems to be because our bodies are designed to function in a climate of "feast or famine." If you think about our early ancestors, food was not always readily available for them. Their bodies were able to adapt to these stresses, and bounce back even stronger. While our lifestyles are dramatically different from those ancestors, our bodies are not!
If you think that fasting is something you want to try, here is a method that might work for you. Keep your eating confined to a 8-hour period like 12 p.m.-8 p.m. for example, and fast for the remaining 16 hours of the day. This will prevent the habit of late night eating by giving you a clear cut off time and prevent the stress of making breakfast in the morning. Since most of the fasting hours are spent sleeping, it will be less difficult. You can basically create any type of fasting schedule you want. You can fast for longer periods or you can move those eight hours to a different time frame. Take a look at your day and see what will work best for you. But you must remember to eat lots during your 8-hour period. Starving yourself on top of fasting will not do you any good. And if you are doing intense workouts during your fasting periods, make sure to have a scoop of protein powder or branched chain amino acids 5-10 minutes before your workout. This will prevent the increased breakdown of protein that can happen during a fasted workout.
What are your feelings about intermittent fasting? Have you tried intermittent fasting? If so, do you think it's beneficial or does it make you feel hangry and ravenous?
Source:
Collective Evolution
