Hey, it's Thomas DeLauer with Antler Farms, and you've probably seen a lot of people talking
about intermittent fasting.
If you've been looking around the internet, you've probably seen me talking about intermittent
fasting quite a bit.
So, in this video, what I want to do is give the overall basics of intermittent fasting.
But, I also want to outline how important it is to strategically lay out exactly what
you're going to eat after you break a fast, because that, quite honestly, is even more
important than the period of time in which you are fasting.
First and foremost, what is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is where you purposely have a period of time where you abstain from
eating.
You don't eat, and then you have a smaller window of time that you do eat.
This is known as your fasting window, and your eating window.
Now, ordinarily, we see a lot of 16 hour fasts, and 8 hour eating windows.
But, you can push it however you'd like to.
You can do more of an 18 hour versus 6 hour, you could do a 20 hour fast, and a 4 hour
eating window.
The choice is yours, but the most common is a 16 hour fast, and an 8 hour eating window.
The general premise of intermittent fasting is two things.
One, you're reducing your calories, by simply reducing the amount of time you're eating
to a smaller window of time, we can't negate the effect of just reducing calories.
Simply put, you can't be consuming too much food in a smaller period of time.
Even if you try, it's significantly harder, because of something known as stomach distensibility.
That means your stomach actually shrinks during a fasting period, so when it does come time
to eat, you simply don't have as much of a desire to actually eat so much.
It's pretty amazing.
We have a multitude of things that are happening when you're fasting, though.
The other thing that we have to look at, is the hormonal response.
You see, even the Journal of Endocrinology had actually found that there is an increase
in testosterone, and an increase in luteinizing hormone, for those that fast.
What does that mean?
That means that you actually have a boost in the hormones that trigger more testosterone
production.
So therefore, we have reduced calories that come along with intermittent fasting, but
we also have a hormonal response that allows us to get a lot more of a positive effect
from those reduced calories.
So that means, the small amount of calories that you are taking in, are allocated towards
proper functions of the body.
We're talking about things like building muscle and burning fat.
So, when you talk about intermittent fasting, some of the things that come to mind are,
"Well, what can I eat and what can't I eat?"
So I figure, in this Basics of Intermittent Fasting video, I'd lay that out.
When you are in a fasting period, you really should not be consuming anything that has
calories.
If it has a calorie, it's going to elicit a metabolic response, which means it's going
to technically break your fast.
So things like water are okay.
Things like black coffee are okay.
Things like green tea, things like black tea, iced tea, all that, those are okay, because
they don't elicit a metabolic response.
There are no calories in them.
In addition to that, you can add some sweeteners.
You can do things like Stevia.
You can do things like monk fruit.
Any zero calorie sweeteners technically will not break a fast.
Okay, so let's talk about when it comes time to actually break your fast.
You've been fasting for 16 or 18 hours, and now it's time to eat.
What do you do?
Well, the simplest thing is, you want to make sure that you're eating foods that are easy
to digest.
You see, once you've been fasting, you actually break down a little bit of what of what is
known as your mucosal layer.
This mucosal layer of your gut lining is what protects your gut from harsh foods.
So, you don't want to be eating super spicy things.
You don't want to be eating very high fiber foods, things that have a lot of roughage,
and are hard to break down.
You want to eat things that are easy to break down in your body.
Okay?
Things like a nice easy protein whey isolate, like Antler Farms has, or a pea protein, or
something that's a little bit easier to break down.
Even a collagen protein is easy on the body.
Quite honestly, when you do break a fast, it's a great time to be getting some collagen
in, because it helps replace that gut mucosal layer.
Therefore, it makes it so your gut can get back to normal function sooner rather than
later.
Then, what's really important, is that you don't go overboard on the carbs.
Okay?
A lot of people, when they break a fast, then tend to go totally crazy on carbs, because
it's what they crave.
Their blood sugar had dropped, and now they feel like they need to spike it with a bunch
of sugar, or a bunch of carbs.
I want you to take very, very strong precautions, and not do this.
So, one of the best things that you can do, is have a small amount of carbs, and a little
bit of fat, just to satiate you, so that you don't end up rebounding, and going crazy on
the carbs.
How often should you fast?
Generally, I recommend fasting two to three days per week to start.
A lot of people think that intermittent fasting needs to be this thing that you do every single
day, but that's not the truth.
You don't have to do that.
In fact, I recommend building up to that, because if you start out just doing that every
single day, you don't have a whole lot to work towards.
If you were to fast every single day, there's not much more that you can add to the equation
to get a better effect.
That leads me to the next point.
Who is intermittent fasting for?
This is a big question.
The fact is, I think everyone can benefit from intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting, of course, is tremendous for fat loss, because of the reduced calorie
intake.
But, it's also tremendous for life span extension, and for longevity, simply because what it
does to your mitochondrial matrix, and what it does to how cells actually function in
your body.
It allows them to work longer, and ultimately survive more.
Then, it's also really good for mental clarity.
The production of ketone bodies, and the utilization of fats in your body as a fuel source, are
very very good fuel for the brain.
So, you end up getting a very clear, very very clean way of thinking.
So, it's great for boosting that cognitive function.
Then of course, it's also good to boost sexual health.
It's so good on estrogen levels, it's so good on testosterone levels, and it can actually
help rebound someone that is having issues with their sex drive, or with their libido.
Now of course, there are a multitude of other reasons.
Talking about cleansing, talking about detoxing, the list goes on and on.
Heck, even people that are trying to build muscle can benefit from intermittent fasting,
simply because of what it does to your insulin sensitivity.
It makes it so that when you do eat, your body absorbs more of what you're eating, in
a positive way, meaning you can utilize that whey protein better.
You can utilize that collagen better, and you can utilize whatever food you're eating
for the betterment of your actual body.
So this has been Fasting 101, just a general breakdown of what intermittent fasting is.
The very basics of it, and what you can do when it comes time to breaking your fast.
If you want to see more videos like this, just let the folks at Antler Farms know, so
we can create more content to help you understand how you can get the best out of what you're
already taking in the way of supplementation, and get the best out of what you're eating,
in the way of good, wholesome food.
So, keep it locked in here with Antler Farms, and we'll see you soon.