In this article, we are going to focus on a fascinating subject that is very close to my heart : Fasting.
And more precisely to a variant of fasting called “intermittent fasting” which has nothing to do with intermittent performing of course! (yes, yes I have already been asked).
As a reminder, a fast consists in carrying out a complete calorie restriction during a certain period. Basically we temporarily stop eating, only water is allowed, this is also called a water fast.
It is not easy to talk about fasting because we have learned to be afraid of lack ... This is undoubtedly the case of a very large number of people who think that this practice of food restriction is ridiculous and dangerous for our health. … In truth, it is not !
On the contrary, today, a large number of studies highlight the incredible therapeutic and purifying virtues of fasting cures:
Weight loss, improvement of certain chronic diseases, improvement of cognitive faculties, cleansing of the digestive system and overall purge for our body; the applications of fasting are innumerable !
In addition, fasting is an ancient therapy present in many teachings and spiritual movements as well as in a large number of traditional medicines around the world.
And this for the simple reason that it would be one of the best ways to purify body and mind. Long forgotten, fasting is back in fashion.
Let me now talk to you more specifically about the benefits of intermittent fasting.
1/ Intermittent fasting, but what is it ?
Intermittent fasting is simply fasting "halfway"!
Instead of chaining whole days without eating (= traditional fasting) we will ALTERNATE periods of fasting with normal food intake periods during a 24-hour day.
It is, for example, possible to divide up your day according to a 16/8 ratio: I will fast for 16 hours and allow myself to eat for 8 hours.
In concrete terms :
Today I stop eating at 20h00, the next day I don't eat before noon, I organise my meals until 8pm, I stop eating again after 20h00.
Have you understood the logic ?
There are other variants of intermittent fasting where the periods of fasting are more or less long: 17/7, 18/6, 19/5, ...
The longer the period of fasting, the more effective intermittent fasting will be !
To sum up simply, intermittent fasting consists of not eating solid food for part of the morning while waiting for the midday break to make one's first meal.
I have chosen to tell you about intermittent fasting because it is more easily achievable than traditional water fasting and it has very beneficial results for your health.
Intermittent fasting: a difficult cure ?
As mentioned above, intermittent fasting is a simplified version of traditional fasting, however it is not necessarily a health walk for everyone ...
The main challenge faced by the fasting apprentice will be not to eat in the morning !
Indeed it can be very disturbing not to eat in the morning, especially for people who are not used to it.
A few minutes after waking up, you often find yourself with that damn painful belly that grunts and is very often (wrongly) associated with a sign of hunger.
In reality it is a natural signal from your body that your digestive system is in the process of being purged.
Luckily, after some time of practicing intermittent fasting the grunting of your belly will stop completely in the morning and you will be able to do without food without difficulty.
For the record, I was personally unable to do without food after waking up, I had to swallow my half Nutella stick... But after improving my diet and practicing intermittent fasting, this need for food in the morning simply disappeared.
By the way, did you know that eating early in the morning is not something natural for humans ?
2/ Eating as soon as you wake up: a bad habit !
Finally, when we take a step back, we realize that intermittent fasting reproduces the way our ancestors fed themselves (mainly Palaeolithic ancestors).
At that time they did not have a fridge on hand and they had to look for food in their environment before being able to feed themselves much later in the morning. Our bodies have been genetically programmed to function in this way.
It was only much later, in parallel with the rise of modern industry, radio alarm clocks and early morning work, that breakfast was introduced to provide the energy and stimulation needed to make the worker productive.
3/ Why is intermittent fasting so good for our health ?
Intermittent fasting is for everyone: men and women, young and old, people with serious health problems but also people who just want to keep fit.
Joking aside, the practice of fasting is one of the best therapies to prevent a large number of pathologies and should be part of our habits...
There is one important thing you must understand; when you fast your body systematically goes into cleansing mode.
To take a picture, fasting is the ON button on your body's purging system. And the good news is that this button is free and accessible at all times. (Well, it's rather bad news... for the pharmaceutical industry, but that's another story).
The Law of Homeostasis : The Principle of Self-Healing of the Human Body
This great law that governs nature tells us that :
"Any system left to itself in the absence of external disturbance spontaneously returns after a certain time to its state of equilibrium (which is a state of full health, joy, and abundance, if we return to humans), this through multiple regulatory processes".
Explanation : When our body is no longer constantly in full digestion, it becomes able to mobilise its vital energy to activate the self-healing capacities necessary for its cleansing.
Eating too much makes you tired and prevents your body from healing itself.
This can be explained simply: eating constantly throughout the day pumps a lot of nervous energy into our bodies.
It is important to know that digestion uses more than 50% of our nervous resources, some foods even take several hours to be fully digested... This is why we often feel tired after a big meal.
The food we ingest is also responsible for spreading large amounts of toxins, waste and unusable materials through the body (especially if we eat unhealthy food).
This makes our body even more tired because our immune system is constantly on the defensive.
All this is energy that the body cannot use to activate the regenerative forces of homeostasis !
List of beneficial effects of intermittent fasting :
The benefits of intermittent fasting are multiple, one could say that it aims to purify the whole body and improve all its functions.
To support my remarks, here is a small non-exhaustive list of the effects of intermittent fasting :
- Weight and satiety regulation
- Decrease in inflammation
- Reducing the risk of diabetes
- Decrease in cardio-vascular risks
- Decrease in mortality
- Obesity reduction
- Improvement of cognitive functions
- Slowing down the ageing of the brain
- Fight against oxidative stress (cellular ageing)
- Positive effects on the level of bad cholesterol in the blood
- Regulation of weight and satiety (hunger)
Intermittent fasting: a very good way to lose weight !
Intermittent fasting is also a very good way to regulate your weight by eliminating excess fat, the reason is quite simple :
When you fast, you don't bring enough glucoses (sugars) to your body, it's normal since you don't eat anymore....
The body then finds itself in a state of stress and will come and draw from its own fat reserves to provide the body with the energy it needs.
Interestingly, researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center (Murray) Utah have shown that fasting causes a significant increase in the level of growth hormone (GH) secreted by our bodies.
This GH is a so-called "fat-burning" hormone; it also helps to protect muscle mass and regulate blood glucose and various other hormones.
Intermittent fasting cures will therefore be very useful if you want to accelerate your fat loss.
4/ Start an intermittent fast : The 4 steps
1.Choosing your type of intermittent fasting
To begin your intermittent fast, you must first choose your fasting modality as we have seen above:
Rather 16-8, 17-7, or 18-6?
If you are a beginner I advise you to start with the 16-8 version which is the easiest, but nothing prevents you from trying something stronger if you want more results.
Don't forget that the longer the fasting period, the greater the health benefits.
2.How many days ?
Then choose how many days you wish to fast...
There are no real rules, it will depend on your motivation, your tolerance of fasting and your professional/family constraints.
You can start by devoting 1 day of your week to intermittent fasting and then gradually increase to 2, 3, 4, etc...
Some people practise this way of life every day of the year (or almost every day of the year).
Others organise occasional cures of one or more weeks in the spring or at other times of the year.
You can also book your weekend and do an intermittent fast to purge yourself of the week's deviations.
In short, it's up to you! You should know that there is no risk in practising intermittent fasting.
3.Organising your meals...
"so what do we eat?"
During the feeding phases : you eat as you normally do and above all, as you like ! There is no change there.
The only precaution concerns the first meal of the day which breaks the fast, avoid foods that are too heavy to digest such as fatty, cereal, dairy products... Favour vegetables (preferably cooked) and juicy fruits.
During the fasting phases: Remember to drink enough water, you can for example prepare infusions or herbal decoctions.
But be careful, it must remain water, so EXIT juices, kefir (or other lactofermented drinks).
4.My tips and tricks
The fasting phases are a time of refocusing on oneself. To facilitate the regenerative work of the body, it is preferable to be in a calm and caring environment.
I personally like to give myself time to do soft gymnastics (yoga, 5 Tibetans), mindfulness meditation, enriching reading or listening to music .
If by professional constraint you cannot allow yourself these moments of peace, it doesn't matter ! Just make sure you don't put yourself under a lot of stress at work.
Image from pixabay
BEST REGARDS.