After graduating from college, I was faced with what I am sure everyone goes through. I was plunged into a world where eating out was the norm and work took precedence over everything. I had much less time to work out, minimal opportunities to make my own food, and I was constantly surrounded by unhealthy items to eat. My health declined fast 6 months into the real world, and I needed a way out. Eventually, after some research, I stumbled onto intermittent fasting. Essentially extending the time you go without eating and shortening the time in which you consume calories.
At first, this diet style goes against everything we are taught growing up; always eat breakfast, more small meals are better than less large ones, and you can’t focus without a full stomach. Turns out all the previously mentioned ideas are complete horse hockey. The truth is you don’t need to eat over an entire day. In fact, we can go much longer without food than we think. Humans have evolved over thousands of years without having a constant food supply every day. It is for these reasons that our bodies actually benefit from taking an extended break from eating. Fasting raises growth hormone levels, increases your insulin sensitivity, promotes cellular repair, and even has been shown to slow down aging.
How to Fast
There are multiple ways to intermittently fast, but I choose to employ the 16:8 method. This includes a 16 hour fast, usually completed from 8 pm till lunchtime the next day. Once it is lunch time you may eat at any time until 8 pm that day. There are some that say you don’t receive the full extent of benefits from the 16:8 method, but in my experience, it has brought me control over my body composition and very productive mornings.
Now, this does not mean load up on sweets, bread, and chips during the feeding window. To enjoy the full benefits of intermittent fasting a person should still choose natural unprocessed foods more than the previously mentioned items. That being said, you can be a little more liberal with what you consume as long as it is in moderation. For example, being in sales, intermittent fasting has been beneficial because most of my lunches are were my customers want to go. Usually, their choice isn’t the healthiest place to sit down for a meal. I do my best in these situations to not go overboard and eat the healthiest options possible (Usually a fatty salad). The biggest goal during this window is to keep your calories in a healthy range and you will see great benefits.
I know what you are thinking right about now. It is going to be hard to get used to not eating in the morning and the first few days are going to be tough. The saving grace in this situation is black coffee and tea. These items will not break your fast as long as they have no sugar, cream, sweeteners, etc. The caffeine suppresses appetite as well as aids in burning fat. The real fasting gangsters do their fast without any coffee either. The reason is, there are some studies that show coffee and tea hinders some of the benefits that intermittent fasting brings to the table. To me, that is crazy and I refuse to give up my coffee.
To sum things up, I really do suggest Intermittent fasting if you are looking for a little boost in your health and well being. That being said women should approach it with much more caution. Below I have a link the intermittent fasting beginners guide as well as one specifically written for women attempting the change in dining schedule. Please do not hesitate to shoot me an email on the contact page and stay tuned for more blogs. I will be posting Sundays and Wednesdays every week.
With Big Love,
Robbie
Want to go deeper? Check out these links
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-for-women
informative read!
well written Robbie!
Thanks Hilly! Hope all is well up in Jax!