Live longer and healthier or just a fancy phrase for manorexia?
All contrary, my friend.
There are many wonderful benefits of intermittent fasting.
[music]
Hey, everyone, I’m Doctor Wagner.
Today we are going to be talking about intermittent fasting.
You see it all over the internet right now with loads of celebrities
like Jen Aniston and Hugh Jackman swearing by it.
And plenty of diet and nutrition experts like Doctor Valter Longo, and Doctor David Sinclair
revealing that fasting is a super beneficial for our health and helps us live longer.
But what is it?
How do you do it?
Is it safe?
And are you just starving yourself?
All really good questions.
I am going to go over all of that plus clear up
some myths about intermittent fasting and why you should maybe try this out.
Hey, everyone, I’m Doctor Wagner.
I am a board-certified Emergency Physician,
answering all of your need to know medical questions.
Before we get started, just make sure that you hit that subscribe
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So what is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is the not eating of food,
or a reduction of some or all food and drink, for a period of time.
Therefore, intermittent fasting is a cycling of periods of time of
fasting and eating.
Instead of restricting specific types of foods like with a diet,
rather intermittent fasting controls when you actually are eating them.
This is more of an eating pattern or schedule than actually a diet.
So what is it actually doing?
Well not eating for a period of time such as with fasting,
allows your body to use to use its stored glucose, and then when your glucose is gone,
your body breaks down your fat cells to make glucose (sugar).
You also do not release insulin which is one of
the major factors that storing sugar into your fat cells.
This can be very good for your overall health benefits for many reasons.
So, the big question, intermittent fasting,
live longer and healthier or just a fancy phrase for manorexia?
All contrary, my friend.
There are many, wonderful benefits of intermittent fasting.
The number one benefit and maybe the most obvious is obviously weight loss.
When you don’t consume calories you typically experience the number on the scale going down.
Due to the fact that you have a shorter time window for food consumption,
people will typically eat less, which then in turn leads to weight loss.
But there other really cool and beneficial things that happen when you don’t eat for a little while.
Number two: Your body initiates important cellular
repair processes and changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible for use.
Number three: insulin levels.
Blood insulin levels drop significantly which helps with fat burning.
Numer four: human growth hormone.
The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold,
which then leads to fat burning and muscular growth.
Number five: cellular repair.
The body induces important cellular repair
processes such as removing waste material from cells.
Number six: There are several beneficial changes
in genes related to longevity and protection against diseases.
For instance, a study in rats showed that intermittent fasting may delay the onset
of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease or reduce its severity.
Number seven: And lastly one of the most exciting benefits of intermittent fasting is living longer.
In some studies, rats that fasted every other day lived 83% longer than rats that did not fast.
So how do you go about doing it?
During intermittent fasting periods,
you should not be eating food and restricting the beverages you intake.
Typically, there are allowances where you can have water, black coffee, or tea.
But no added creamers or sweeteners into your coffee or teas.
Creamers have sugars typically which breaks the medical benefits of the fast.
It has been shown that sometimes using bone broth does not significantly change the fasting state.
When you were trying to complete longer fasts that extend beyond one day's time,
having about 500 calories a day is still acceptable as well.
Types of intermittent fasting:
Well, there are different types of Intermittent fasting including the
16/8 method where you fast for 16 hours and then in an eight-hour window you get to eat.
There are also plans where you go 20 hours of fasting or not
eating and then in a four-hour window you are allowed to eat.
There are also programs where you restrict yourself to only one meal a day and so on.
There are many ways to schedule intermittent fasting but the how is typically the same.
No food and restricting your beverage intake to only water, black coffee, and tea.
There is no concrete evidence yet that suggests which type of fasting is most
beneficial as different things happen at different periods of time during the fast.
So a lot more research is to come on this specific topic.
So how do you get started?
When first trying out intermittent fasting, the transition can be quite challenging, I'll admit.
Many fasters report uncomfortability,
even painful hunger pains as they have abstained from food.
So take it slowly.
Start by first narrowing down the feeding window from initial unrestricted period
of time, to 12 hours, then to 10 hours, then to eight hours.
Before finding a feeding window that is sustainable and works best for you.
Or you can try different kinds or different types of intermittent
fasting to see which works best for the goals that you have and the routine.
During the first week or two of intermittent fasting,
people have stated that they feel a little bit more exhausted, lightheaded,
and feel shaky due to diminished blood sugars on fasting days.
Others experience poor concentration, irritability, mood swings, and even feel dizzy.
In particular, people who work long shifts or work with heavy machinery,
pregnant women, breastfeeding woman, children,
and teens should take care when fasting to stay hydrated, get lots of rest, and be alert.
You should not try this if you are malnourished or underweight.
But with all diet changes make sure you discuss it with a nutritionist or your own doctor.
Do I believe as a doctor in fasting?
Yes, I personally do intermittent fasting on a
daily basis and I also engage in what’s called the five-two diet.
On two non-consecutive days during the week,
where I don't eat any food and limit myself to just water and black coffee.
And typically, I work on these days without any difficulty.
I have also done prolonged fasts three to five days.
This program limits my caloric intake.
But my energy levels are pretty much sustained and
I’m even able to work out by lifting weights on those days.
Alright, that’s been your five minutes on intermittent fasting with me, Doctor Wagner.
I hope I’ve cleared up some questions that you may have had on the topic and helped you get a
better understanding of how to get started with your journey on intermittent fasting.
Make sure you leave me a comment on what
medical topics you’d like me to talk about in my future videos.
Or let me know if you've tried intermittent fasting.
And let me know if you've had great success with it.
I'd love to hear about it.
Thank you everyone for watching.
Stay healthy my friends.