If you follow the latest health news, you’ve probably heard of “Intermittent Fasting” (IMF). At first, I’ll admit, I was very skeptical and I dismissed it for many months. However, I recently attended a nutrition seminar and learned about the many benefits of this eating pattern. Then I took an online class and again was introduced to the wide-ranging benefits of IMF.
There are several ways to approach Intermittent Fasting, but in my opinion the simplest to implement is fasting for 10-14 hours each day. Since you’re [hopefully] sleeping through 8 or 9 of those hours, it’s not too much of a schedule change.
Now you may think, “how can this possibly make any difference?” Well, the theory behind this eating pattern is that our body needs an extended period of fasting during which it can repair itself on the cellular level. These repairs can aid in everything from healing cuts and scrapes on the skin, all the way to cleaning out brain cells and liver cells, a process called autophagy. Increased autophagy has been linked to decreased rates of cancer and many chronic health conditions.
When we snack up until the time we go to bed (9, 10, or 11:00 at night), the body does not have sufficient time to perform all of its detoxification functions during the short period of sleep. Additionally, the theory is that if you have fewer hours to eat, you will probably consume less food.
Fasting also helps to re-set our metabolism, making it more efficient during the eating period. Instead of storing excess glucose as glycogen (fat), the body burns the stored glycogen and is ready to metabolize and burn fresh glucose after the fast!
Check out this fun video to learn more about Intermittent Fasting through the eyes of two people who tried it!
