Intermittent Fasting Benefits
Time-Restricted Eating window or Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an age-old method for regulating weight but the benefits don’t stop there. In fact, there are so many benefits to TRE and IF that many people do it just for health reasons, even when they don’t want to or need to lose weight.
My curiosity with Intermittent Fasting started with a desire to curb the middle-age weight creep, but I am now sold on the health benefits and consider it a way of life that I have firmly embraced.
I started my journey with IF during the great lockdown of 2020. Living in LA at the time, the quarantine was strict and long. Restaurants, shopping, socializing, beaches..all closed! So the temptation to sit at home, lonely, bored, (surrounded by DIY sourdough bread), and eat was a real thing. I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood, and during that time I discovered a podcast called Intermittent Fasting Stories. It piqued my interest and from there I learned about a book called Delay, Don’t Deny authored by the host of the podcast, Gin Stephens.
This is a fantastic resource for anyone curious about the most effective way to transition into this lifestyle. It gives a good overview of the science behind why it works as well as some advice on different approaches that other people have had success with. Since then, she has written a second book call Fast Feast Repeat which adds additional information collected over several years of IF stories. Both of her books have their basis in the science of Dr. Jason Fung, author of The Obesity Code. This is also a fantastic resource but slightly more technical in its approach. Some people may prefer the layperson descriptions of Gin over Dr. Fung. But if you love the science behind the results, definitely check out Dr. Fung’s book.
Moving on to the benefits of this lifestyle. Dr. Fung does such a great job explaining how fasting tells your body, “the kitchen is closed, go down to the basement freezer and eat something you stored away for later”. Our fat stores are basically the basement freezer. Nobody wants to go downstairs and open that up, go to all the effort of getting it out and eating it if you don’t have to but, when you are fasting, that is exactly what happens. The brain realizes no food has been coming in for a while, the blood sugar has started to drop, still, no food, but wait…do we have anything to utilize for fuel, anywhere? OMG, yes, yes we do. Right here on your belly. Well, I guess we should use that then…and just like that, years of evolution that was constantly looking out for a possible famine…has paid off!!! There is food and it’s right here on the belly. The reason I could never lose belly fat before was that there just wasn’t any reason to switch over to fat-burning when the kitchen was always open.
So, that’s the abbreviated version of why it works. You may be wondering how to do this. Won’t I feel hangry all the time? Well, possibly…but after you have done this for a couple of days, you might just be shocked at how good you feel when fasting. Really? yes.
You might just be shocked at how good you feel when fasting
Gone are the ups and downs of blood sugar responding to snacks and meals all day long. Now you have a constant stream of ketones from the fat your body is utilizing for fuel. And it turns out, ketones are a preferred fuel for your brain. So suddenly, you can think clearly and you have more energy than normal. It makes sense. Imagine you are actually in a famine, starving (and by the way, fasting is not starving…it’s a choice to not eat for a period of time). But if you WERE in a famine, you would need to have your best game on. You would need to be thinking clearly. You would need to have the energy to search for food in order to survive. So this is, in fact, what happens when you are fasting as well.
So suddenly, you can think clearly and you have more energy than normal.
This is one of the benefits people are often surprised about but, there is more. When you are fasting, after a period of time your body will enter into autophagy. This is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells, according to Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University. “Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating.” I mean, this is the ultimate of detox programs and it’s free and simple to do anytime!
People have reported unusual benefits from fasting, and it probably comes down to autophagy. Skin tags disappearing, loose skin tightening up, improvements in vision, seasonal allergies disappearing. These may sound like hocus pocus, but the stories are common and the science makes sense. This was another motivator for me during the Covid 19 pandemic. A clean system is a strong system and I wanted my immune system to work optimally.
Skin tags disappearing, loose skin tightening up, improvements in vision, seasonal allergies disappearing.
Another benefit of time-restricted eating is the amazing freedom that comes from being able to eat whatever you want within your eating window. No foods are off-limits unless you personally have allergies or restrictions. No foods are good, no foods are bad. They just are. This was probably the biggest gift I felt from this lifestyle. I didn’t have to make separate meals or versions of meals for my family anymore. I could eat it all but just within the window. When the window was closed, I was thinking of other things. I no longer had to think about food all day long. I suddenly seemed to have so much free time. I don’t think I even realized how much time I wasted thinking about, planning, and eating food. Since my eating window was in the afternoon, my mornings became simple. Water, black coffee.
Since my eating window was in the afternoon, my mornings became simple.
How to start Intermittent Fasting
Starting this lifestyle is pretty straightforward. You will just pick a period of time, or eating window, in which to eat. This is going to be a personal decision. If you have a medical issue, make sure you speak with your doctor first. Your doctor will probably be thrilled to hear you are taking such a proactive step with your health, if not… you may want to shop for a new doctor. The science is so strong if they still don’t know about the health benefits of this, they probably aren’t staying current in many other areas either.
Start slow and work your way to longer fasts, as your body adjusts and gets better at fat burning. This could take a couple of weeks. You may drop weight quickly but even if you don’t, understand that your body is healing. There may be a lot of repairs and balancing happening totally unrelated to weight loss. Just be patient. Give yourself a year before you make a decision. Compare your blood markers, your energy, your sleep, your mood…there are usually significant non-scale victories as well. And be aware that fasting can increase human growth hormone so you may actually build more muscle causing the confusing but common phenomenon of gaining weight while getting smaller. Focus on the wins. The scale can be deceptive for an Intermittent Faster because of this benefit. And it IS a benefit to gain muscle while losing fat.
Lastly, make sure you are drinking water during your fasts. Eating food makes us hold onto water so if you are fasting, you may lose water quickly. Some people find a bit of salt on the tongue can help with dizziness at the beginning. Also, coffee is ok but make sure you drink your coffee black. To get into autophagy and stimulate the growth hormone you need to be truly fasting. That means no calories, no fake sweeteners, no flavored beverages of any type. Keep it clean. It will actually be easier if you aren’t stimulating your tastebuds with a false alarm that food is coming when it really isn’t. These are just a few tips. I would encourage you to join a Facebook support group like the Delay Don’t Deny group. You will be amazed at the power of this tool to change your body and life.
Now you know about Intermittent Fasting and how to get started with this truly healthy lifestyle tool.
Addendum, after a year of intermittent fasting, my weight started creeping up again. I also noticed I was eating the majority of calories later and later in the day. This study may explain why my results were not optimal. Based on this I will be shifting my calorie consumption earlier in the day and try to finish eating by 6 or 7 pm ideally. There is a lot of trial and error to find out what works for your unique body but overall TIme Restricted Eating is a very powerful tool for health and weight-loss
