fasting the willful refrainment of eating for a period of time most of us
have been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that
we shouldn't go more than a few hours without eating but is this really true
you might be surprised to hear that not eating for periods of time
aka fasting actually has a lot of benefits and that's what we're gonna
dive into today hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is
Kait I'm a health coach and I post videos on high-fat nutrient-dense way
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the start of this video fasting is any period of time where you refrain from
eating intermittent fasting pretty much just means do you have a fasting
schedule for example probably the most popular variation is 16 8 you fast for
16 hours every day you don't consume any food and then you have all of your meals
within an 8 hour window there is also alternate day fasting where you eat one
day and then fast the entire next day but anyways we're going to talk more
about how to implement intermittent fasting into your lifestyle at the end
of this video but for right now if you've never heard of or tried
intermittent fasting you might be thinking why on earth what I want to do
this I'll tell you why
benefit number one is that it stabilizes your blood sugar and improves insulin
sensitivity if you're diabetic then you probably already know how important it
is to manage your blood sugar but this is something that should matter to
everyone insulin resistance is when your cells start resisting or ignoring the
signals that the hormone insulin is trying to send out the way it is
supposed to work is that as our blood sugar Rises our bodies produce insulin
to transport it to ourselves when working correctly this allows our blood
sugar to remain stable the reason this mechanism stops working
is because it is overused the good news is that if you have high blood sugar our
diabetic or our insulin resistant or are on your way to having any of these
conditions they can be reversed with fasting by not eating for periods of
time you are giving your body a break from the cycle where your blood sugar
Rises insulin is pumped out and breaking out of this cycle even just for periods
of time gives you a chance to become more insulin sensitive in one study all
three patients who are type-2 diabetic eliminated their need for insulin by
initiating a therapeutic fasting regime all three patients succeeded within a
month and one in as little as five days benefit number two is increased
production of human growth hormone human growth hormone is as the name says a
hormone that promotes growth but also cell reproduction and cell regeneration
it's naturally produced by the body but remains active in the bloodstream for
just a few minutes human growth hormone helps to maintain
build and repair healthy tissue in the brain and other organs and also helps
speed up repair of injuries and muscle tissue after exercise in one study 14
men were randomized into two groups one was given human growth hormone therapy
and the other just a placebo after six months there's a statistically
significant increase in leg press responsive muscles of those in that
there P grip but this doesn't just help with
muscle gain and injury repair it also helps with weight loss human growth
hormone stimulates lipolysis which is the breakdown of fat and since we've now
brought up weight loss that is another benefit of fasting in and of itself now
there's no denying that in clinical studies intermittent fasting has been
shown to result in weight loss but why exactly that is is debated some people
argue that those fasting only see weight loss because they end up eating less
calories overall basically the calories in calories out theory whereas others
argue that it's due to other factors some of which being decreased insulin
and increased human growth hormone which we've already talked about either way
fasting has been shown to not only accelerate weight loss but all while
maintaining lean muscle mass benefit number four is increased etaf ajit
leading to decreased disease risk and increased lifespan a toff adji is the
body's way of cleaning up old damaged cells in order to regenerate new cells
it removes toxic proteins from the cells that are attributed to diseases
especially Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and even cancer the best way to produce
a toughie G is by fasting although other things such as exercise and coffee have
been shown to increase it as well benefit number 5 is that it improves
digestion this one is pretty straightforward if you're not eating
anything there's nothing for your body to digest it's kind of the same as we're
talking about earlier with insulin you're basically just giving your body a
break when you're constantly eating your body is constantly having to process
food
and now for the cons fasting die frogs might say that there are no downsides to
fasting but that isn't entirely true I'm not talking about claims that your body
starving or anything like that but for certain people in certain situations
fasting might not be ideal Khan number one is that it stresses your body
fasting is a stress on the body there's no denying that but stress isn't always
a bad thing exercise is a stress for example short
bursts of stress like this are beneficial but if you're already
stressed if your cortisol is already high then fasting might be adding too
much to a glass that is already full the key here is to not force it let parents
of fasting fall into place naturally I'll talk about this a little bit more
at the end of the video Khan number two is that it can lead to nutrient
deficiencies now this one's tricky because I really
do believe that you should only eat until satiety but if you're doing one
meal a day which is a variation of intermittent fasting it can be really
hard to fit all of the nutrients your body needs into one meal short term this
isn't too much of a concern but if you stick to a fasting schedule for let's
say months or years deficiencies can build up and protein especially once
symptoms some people experience when fasting is hair loss and this really
just comes down to not getting enough protein this is one of the reasons why
you want to make sure that the foods you are eating are all really nutrient-dense
you don't want to be wasting your time with foods that are empty calories I
have another video on my channel that is the five nutrient-dense foods that I eat
every single day you can check that one out after this one if you like Khan
number three is that it can be used as a form of self punishment now this one
really comes down to the individual and their history with food for someone who
has a history of binging restricting or any other sort of eating disorder
fasting can ultimately cause more than good and those are the pros and
cons of fasting and now if you're looking to implement intermittent
fasting into your routine here are some tips number one define your goal is it
weight loss is it healing is it disease prevention or just general health no
other reason why you want fast decide if you need a strict schedule or it can be
more flexible if you are someone with a lot of weight to lose or someone who
struggles with moderation then a strict fasting schedule with clearly defined
eating and fasting windows might be a better option for you personally I like
to take a more flexible approach once you've been low carb or keto or
carnivore for a while fasting starts to come naturally you aren't hungry when
you wake up in the morning so you can skip breakfast without a second thought
generally I fast from between 14 and 18 hours every day if I wake up and I'm
hungry earlier then I'll have my first meal earlier if I'm not hungry I might
push it later but in the end both strategies are effective number three is
to stay hydrated and replenish electrolytes during your fasting window
you should not be consuming any food or caloric drinks most experts agree the
tea and black coffee are accepted during this window so you can include those
water is of course recommended dry fasting is a whole other topic for
another day but one really important thing that I have noticed to make such a
difference is salting your water I like to add a teaspoon or even two to my
bottle of water if I'm doing a longer fast
and even if I'm not I've started doing this pretty much every morning and make
sure to get a high quality salt don't just use table salt Redmon's is one good
option and in terms of other electrolytes sodium is really the only
one you need to worry about unless you're doing fasts longer than 24 hours
in which case you might want to add an electrolyte supplement that includes
potassium and magnesium as well anyways guys that's all I have for you today let
me know in the down below if you practice intermittent
fasting and what your schedule looks like let me know down below and I will
see you next time bye guys