hey guys this is Heather! I had a question from Holly in the members group
about intermittent fasting, and I thought it would be a good topic to discuss
together! So her question was basically what it is, whether it's safe, and whether
it works. So first of all, what it is... Intermittent fasting means that you
intermittently - so at various times fast - so not eat or just have water
And people can take it in different directions.
So one direction might be to eat normal meals one day, and then have a fasting
day the next day. Another approach is to not eat from a certain period in the
evening until the following morning, so that you're basically fasting overnight.
The time period might be slightly different, so some people take
it a little stricter and they will only eat their meals within eight hours of
the day and then they'll be fasting from the late afternoon until the morning.
and other people might do 12 hours, so space your meals between 12 hours of the
day and fast overnight. Now obviously, a lot of this depends on your schedule, on
your work - what you actually do. I know a lot of people who work really
long shifts and are very active, so they can't really restrict their meals to too
short a time span. As to whether it's safe - it definitely can be! There's
nothing inherently wrong. I probably wouldn't go with the full day of fasting
unless you are supervised by a doctor or someone trained to do that, because there
can be complications of not eating for an entire day. Personally, I know I've
done a day where I fasted for the whole day and I wound up by the end of the day
I had just no energy left. I went to a concert with a friend and I was just
squatting down on the ground, I couldn't even stand up. So I had an apple
and all was good. So I haven't done that again because a) that wasn't fun and b) I eat
healthfully all the time, and I don't feel a need to do a full day of fasting.
And I think maybe my body just doesn't have enough stored up to last an
entire day, I don't know... I just didn't like it! So that can be
when complications might come up. Also if you're pregnant, obviously you don't want
to be fasting. If you have a history of eating disorders, that's probably not the
kind of thing that you want to do in restricting yourself too much.
But when it comes to the daily scheduling of your meals, that can have a huge impact!
so what the research does show so far is that it can have a very big effect on
weight loss and on blood sugar balance, particularly if you space your meals
from the early part of the day because what happens is if you have too late a
dinner or you snack at night your body doesn't really digest that before you go
to sleep and then while you're sleeping, your body doesn't have a chance
to cleanse and reset for the following day. So one of the things that I very
often recommend to clients, particularly when they have blood sugar balance
issues, is to not eat after 8:00 p.m. which is probably a safe rule in terms
of having dinner I don't know too many people who have dinner after 8 p.m.
although maybe you do... but it is better for digestion to eat a little
earlier and then give your body time to digest before you go to bed. It can take
up to four hours to digest a meal so 8:00 p.m. is usually a good cutoff and
then not snacking through the evening. It can help you sleep better, and it can
also help with your digestion your cleansing overnight. The same concept as
intermittent fasting is kind of the simplest version that I would think of
as a cleanse, is letting our bodies feel hungry between meals - allows them to
fully process the meal that we had, get a little bit of cleansing in, and reset
before our next meal. So while I am definitely a proponent of snacking,
particularly in the afternoon - lunch and dinner can sometimes be pretty far apart,
and having a snack in the afternoon can help us not get over hungry so that we
wind up eating too much at dinner. So while I am definitely in favor of having
a snack when you need it, I'm also very conscious of and suggest
to members and clients - if you don't feel hungry between a meal,
it can be beneficial for you not to have a snack. So you have to kind of learn
that balance for yourself. And it can change day to day - so some days I will
have a snack because I need one. Some days
I won't. Some days I'll have a snack because I feel like eating something, and
I'm aware of that, so I have a little bit of a lighter dinner. So I really think
it's all about managing your own individual needs, also your hunger levels
and your schedule. Like I said, if you have a very demanding job, if you work
long hours, then having an intermittent fasting schedule that interferes with
that is probably not going to work for you! And I don't think it's necessary to
fast for any specific period of time, I think just figure out what suits you and
then try to stick with it. I think the main thing is just to think about
avoiding late-night snacks - particularly sugary ones - because they can interfere
with our body's processes. For anyone who's trying to lose weight or balance
blood sugar, that can be one of the most important changes that you make.
If you want to try a whole foods vegan cleansing diet plan - that you could do as
intermittent fasting - there's info at the link down below. Meal plan members have
access in the members site. So I hope that answers the question, please let me
know down below if you have any other comments or questions.
Thank you so much for watching! Have a wonderful healthy day and we'll talk soon!
xo h