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Intermittent Fasting
By Keith | November 30, 2009
Intermittent fasting [IF] is a way of eating that groups all of your eating into a small window of the day followed by a long period [16-20 hours] of not eating [fasting]. Most carnivores we know eat like this. Carnivores fast until they kill and then they eat until full and then fast until the next kill…[you get the picture]…etc. When you think about the whole process of IF, it was probably the way Paleolithic man ate as well. Since cavemen were hunters for the most part, they probably ate once a day or maybe even once every other day, whatever they could find.
IF is supported by science, not to mention various religious and cultural practices. There are countless studies that show calorie restriction is good for you. Overeating is not! The theory is that this process produces just enough mild stress from calorie restriction to be good. This mild stress stimulates the production of proteins that protect the neurons against more severe stress. This mild stress reduces blood sugar, improves insulin sensitivity, reduces blood pressure, and increases HDL levels. It helps your body get to a healthy body weight and increases your life span.
We have gotten so used to the three square meals a day, we get anxious when there is no food. We plan on having food readily available at all times. While this seems like a good plan, our society has taken it to an all time level where sloth, overeating and obesity are overwhelming us.
If you have seen success with the challenge so far and have a good understanding of what to eat on the Paleolithic diet, then you should probably try the idea of timing your meals like this. Here’s how it works.
Let’s say you pick a day to start. You eat your normal Paleo diet all day, stop eating around 6 pm, then go to bed at your normal time. Wake up in the morning and fast until 12 noon. You eat your day’s worth of food in the next 4 hours and then start the cycle again. With this cycle you would have fasted for 18-20 hours depending on the time you have finished eating your meals. I would recommend that you time your foods around your work out. Fast up until your work out and then start your meal right or soon after, leading up to your next fast.
But be careful. Not all nutrition professionals see the merits of fasting. Some think of it as a recipe for disaster, setting up a person for binge eating and metabolic confusion. Make no mistake about it, you do get hungry, fatigued, and irritable in the short term. Fasting is not comfortable initially. However, over time the opposite effect is reality. You get a sharpened sense of awareness, you become more powerful, and with the reduction in cortisol and other hormone levels you actually become more steady.
Don’t go crazy with hunger. If you feel hungry, have a shorter fast for that day. It’s not about starving yourself. Listen to your body. You can intermittent fast intermittently. You’ll still get the benefits from doing it even once or twice a week. The important thing is to let your body go for some time without any caloric intake – that means no cream in coffee, no protein shakes, no juice…. nothing!
On a similar note, adding more cardio exercise to lose weight while fasting will have the opposite effect of what people think will happen. Because a lot of regular running, cycling, etc., stimulates your fight or flight response, raising Cortisol levels, which raises blood glucose, which stimulates an insulin response, which, of course, is the fat storage hormone. This is actually the opposite of IF. While our ancient ancestors might have had to run from a predator now and then, they probably didn’t do it several times a week for hours and hours. Your just not built for that. Modern hunter-gatherers are noted for the conservation of energy in their activities, with more walking than running, etc. Short powerful explosive exercises are more accurate.
If anyone has any further questions feel free to e-mail me at kab86ed@aol.com.
Topics: Articles, Cynergy Central | 5 Comments »
November 30th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I have been messing with IF for about a month. I do it at least once a week. I try to fast for at least 16hrs. For me the 10th hour or so is the hardest. I have done about 5 CCF WOD during the fast and for the most part have felt great during and after the workout. After I finish my fast I try to make sure I get plenty of fruit and fats. I have found recently that some people allow coffee during the fast. I now use green tea instead. I use it about half way through the fast or towards the end especially since I tend to workout towards the end of the fast. I’m going to continue to do the IF and now I’m actually shooting for twice a week. Just like the saying goes “embrace the suck” I know embrace the hunger. I recommend you try it at least twice, the first one sucks for sure. Good luck. Great post KB, good stuff like always
November 30th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Very informative, Keith, and right on point with my own readings on the subject matter.
I have also been messing around with IF a bit, although not religiously. For me, I would usually finish eating around 5 or 6 pm and abstain from any calorie intake until I was done working out the next morning (usually 9am class). That worked out to a fast of about 16-17 hours.
I agree with Dennis on just about every point he makes… the 10th hours does seem to get the roughest… I was drinking black coffee, but I may give some herbal teas a try. I also found that I needed to eat IMMEDIATELY after working out… like within 20 minutes. If I didn’t get some food in right away, I felt really run down.
IF is definitely worth trying out if you already have a solid and consistent diet plan in effect. I found that my WODs were pretty solid and I didn’t feel crappy working out like one might expect.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I forgot about the cleansing part of IF. When you fast for a certain period of time your body actually is more powerful with cleansing itself of harmful toxins. When you eat constantly your body never gets a chance to, or minimally is able to cleans itself. You then get a build up of these toxins that become harmful and cause certain illnesses over time.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Chip, you are right after my WOD I was close to being 15-17hrs into my fast so I needed somthing badly. I found a teaspoon of almond butter and a mix of nuts, dried cranberries and apricots did the trick. The dried fruit helped with my insulin spike and the almond butter replaced my fats. That usually held me until I got home and had a real balanced meal.
Oh by the way Chipper, amazing job last month on the WOD’s. They were all great and I think I felt most of them days after!
November 30th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Soreness is never the goal but sometimes a side-effect. Glad you enjoyed it!