fasting and intermittent fasting specifically have gained a lot of popularity in recent years
and rightfully so because the benefits of fasting go far beyond weight loss with one
of the biggest ones being increased longevity but with so many variations
of fasting out there it can be a little bit confusing what breaks a fast can you
drink coffee during your fasting window how long do you have to fast to see the benefits
we're going to break it all down in today's video we're going to talk about 10 different
ways you can do fasting and how to know which one is right for you and your goals
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is Kait I'm a certified health and
nutrition coach I post videos twice a week here on YouTube talking all things insulin resistance
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today to fast means to abstain from eating and intermittent fasting means you have a fasting
schedule now modern wisdom has drilled into us that we need to be eating all the time for health
a hearty breakfast first thing in the morning and multiple snacks between meals throughout
the day but the truth is is that not eating for periods of time AKA fasting actually has a lot of
benefits one of the most obvious of which being weight loss but there are several other mental
and physical benefits as well and before we begin I want to hear from you if you currently fast let
me know in the comment section down below what your routine looks like I'm curious to hear but
anyways back into it there are two main ways you can categorize different types of fasts the first
being what you consume during the Fast and the second being duration and frequency so we're
going to start off by talking about six ways you can fast based on what you consume during
your fasting window the first is water fasting this is the most basic and most common type of
fasting during a water fast the only thing you can consume is water and electrolytes
this type of fasting has been used by thousands of years by different religions and one of the
biggest benefits of this type of fast is the DraStic increase in autophagy so I do have a whole
video on autophagy which I will link above but I'm just going to give a quick explanation of it for
now autophagy is a cellular process where the body cleans out damaged cells and regenerates new ones
so basically any cells in your body that are not functioning properly when autophagy increases
these cells are recycled autophagy comes with Benefits such as reducing inflammation and
reversing and even preventing certain diseases such as Alzheimer's now autophagy is triggered
when there's an increase in glucagon glucagon is the hormone that signals our body to release
stored energy and it is the counter hormone to insulin now without getting too technical what
you need to know is that when you don't eat for a period of time glucagon increases basically
there's no food coming in so glucagon is released to Signal your body to release stored energy and
when glucagon is triggered autophagy ramps up so if you're looking for healing to reduce
inflammation if you're looking to prevent or even treat disease or if you're looking
to enhance longevity then a water fast is going gonna be for you but with that being said some
people do include other zero calorie drinks as well and there's some debate over which
of these break a fast so I would say if your reason for fasting was you wanted to maximize
autophagy stick to just water and electrolytes but if you're fasting for weight loss or for
overall health you have a little bit more wiggle room in which case I would say any zero calorie
drinks or fair game so black coffee unsweetened tea things like that stay away from artificial
sweeteners though because those are going to do more harm than good and that brings us into the
next variation of fasting which is dry fasting and this is where things get a little bit more intense
so unlike water fasting where you can obviously drink water during a dry fast you don't have
anything you don't have any water you don't have any food you don't have any other drinks
some people will also take this to the extreme and not even touch water during a dry fast they won't
wash their hands they won't shower they won't brush their teeth and it is said that one day
of dry fasting equals the equivalent benefits of three days of water fasting but here's the thing
there are very few studies done on dry fasting so there really isn't anything to support this
claim whereas there are thousands of studies that have been done on the benefits of water fasting
so proceed with caution if you're considering a dry fast but honestly why not just do a water
fast that would be my recommendation the next fast we're going to talk about is fat fasting
fat fasting is where you consume mainly fat during your fasting window over 80 percent of
your calories this is typically done as a bit of a reset or to break through a weight loss Plateau
the idea is that you're going to get into a deeper state of ketosis by only eating fat and keeping
calories under 1200 it's usually only recommended to do a fat fast for no more than two to four days
so if you've been eating low carb keto carnivore for a while and maybe you've fallen off track
or maybe you've hit a weight loss Plateau then a fat fast could be an option but honestly I'm not
really a fan of this approach if you're wanting to do a reset if you're wanting to get into a deeper
state of ketosis then it's best to just do a water fast but that's easier said than done for some
people next up we have egg fasting an egg fast is similar to a fat fast in the sense that it's
meant to get you into a deeper state of ketosis and help you to break through a plateau the rules
of egg fasting are a bit particular though you're supposed to eat at least six eggs per day and for
each egg you eat you add one ounce of full fat cheese and one tablespoon of oil or fat such as
MCT oil or olive oil you should eat your first egg within 30 minutes of waking up and continue to eat
every three to five hours this ends up being pretty similar to a fat fast in the sense that
it's very high fat has a little bit of protein and basically no carbohydrates and again I'm honestly
not a big fan of egg fasting I think you're better off just to do a water fast but some people do
swear by these types of fasts so just know that they are an option next up we have bulletproof
fasting bulletproof fasting is a variation of intermittent fasting where you have a bulletproof
coffee in the morning within your fasting window and then you don't have your first full meal until
around midday Bulletproof Coffee is a coffee-based drink that has fat blended into it usually this is
butter and MCT oil but you can also swap these out for coconut oil ghee or cacao butter the idea here
is that Bulletproof coffee helps you to extend your fasting window yes you're consuming a couple
hundred calories in the morning and technically this is going to be breaking your fast but because
all of the calories are coming from fat your insulin stays low and you still reap a lot of
the benefits of fasting including increasing your metabolic flexibility now if you're first getting
started with intermittent fasting and the idea of not having your first meal until midday is feeling
a bit overwhelming then I say give bulletproof fasting a try it allows you to start strengthening
your fasting muscle and getting used to not eating first thing in the morning okay so now
we're going to get into the second way that you can categorize fasting and that is by duration
and frequency but before we do that I'm quickly going to take a moment to tell you about today's
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so let's start off talking about time restricted eating this is a type of intermittent fasting
that is meant to be done long term you set a time frame for how long you want your fasting window to
be each day and how long you want your feeding window to be the most popular variation of time
restricted eating is 16 8 where you fast for 16 hours a day and eat within an eight hour window
so for example if you finish your last meal in the evening at 8 pm you don't have your first meal the
next day until 12 pm during the fasting window you can either do a water fast or a bulletproof
vest other popular variations of this are 18 6 and 24 where you fast for 18 hours and then eat all of
your calories within a six hour window or you fast for 20 hours and eat all of your calories within a
four hour window generally this type of fasting is done for weight loss but it can also help you to
increase your energy increase your mental Clarity and your focus and improve metabolic flexibility
next up we have circadian rhythm fasting this is where you only eat when the Sun is up usually this
is around 12 hours every day but it depends based on where you live and based on the time of year
again this is meant to be done long term it helps to improve metabolic flexibility it helps to sync
your circadian rhythm and it can also help with weight loss and overall health next up we have
alternate day fasting this is exactly what it sounds like you eat one day and you don't eat
the next this means you're going to be fasting for roughly 36 hours multiple times a week this
version of fasting as you would assume leads to rapid weight loss but it's pretty difficult to
stick to especially if you're first starting it and one thing you have to be careful of if you
do start this type of fasting is you need to make sure that you're not binging on your eating days
because if that's happening you're really taking away from the benefits the next variation is five
two fasting with this variation of fasting you eat completely normally five days of the week and then
the other two days you eat less than 600 calories this variation is similar to alternate day fasting
but a little bit more manageable as you are still able to eat something on fasting days
but with that being said a lot of people find that it's easier to abstain rather than to
restrict they're better off not eating anything than only eating a little bit if that makes sense
this type of fasting is usually used for weight loss and weight management and finally we have
extended fasting an extended or prolonged fast is a fast that lasts more than 24 hours generally at
24 hours 36 hours 48 hours or 72 hours are the lengths of time people choose well this type of
fasting can lead to weight loss the main benefits here are related to autophagy there's evidence to
suggest that autophagy really ramps up around 36 hours of fasting and it Peaks at 72 hours
this means that your body will be working in overdrive to recycle damaged cells leading to
healing and Longevity benefits extended fasting is usually only done periodically depending on how
long you're fasting you really only want to do it monthly maybe even quarterly or by yearly because
the main benefits here are autophagy healing and Longevity and to maximize these it doesn't
have to be done frequently anyways guys that's all I've got for you today thank you so much
for watching let me know in the comment section down below what type of fasting you currently do
how long do you fast what do you consume I want to hear from you down below and before you go
make sure to check out Squarespace I will put the link in the description box down below if you did
enjoy this video you might also enjoy my video on three steps you can take to get into ketosis
within 12 hours you can check that out here if you want to catch up on my most recent upload
you can find it here and if you want to check out my coaching programs including my insulin
resistance master class and meal plan you can find those here thanks guys I'll see you next time bye