Good morning all
I hope that many of you are still doing their best to stick with most of the guidelines . Remember doing your best is your personal aim. If you find you have wandered away from the guidelines, just get yourself back on track, listen to one of the presentations, scroll through the FB post, reach out to one of us
Has anyone been including periods of fasting on their cleanse & reboot?
Within the Ebook and on my short videos, the topic of some periods without food is suggested which is “time – restricted” eating or fasting. The various terms mean the same.
I know that some of you enjoy intermittent fasting whilst others don’t and it is definitely easier for some than for others, depending upon your own personal “starting point”. For some it may require building up gradually, whilst for others it´s not such a great idea. This can depend upon activity levels, ability to manage blood sugar levels and “metabolic flexibility” (switching from using glucose to fats as energy) and habit!
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used fasting as one of his primary healing tools. He recommended that those with illness eat one meal a day. Current science is proving that fasting can turn on many healing switches in our cells that have multitudes of benefits.
I know fasting may seem daunting to some, but most should manage the break from dinner until “break-fast” the next day, which is usually 12 hours. Trying to push this to 14 or even 16/17 hours is better for most. At 17 hours the liver will be renewing it´s cells. NOTE: If you have blood sugar issues or if you are a competing ATHLETE do not extend your fast beyond a 12 hour period. However, even athletes need to be good at switching between glucose and fat for energy – read on.
Also if you have hormonal conditions such as bad PMS, Endometriosis and fibroids, you must avoid extensive fasting on the week before your bleed. The days leading up to ovulation and ovulation are good for fasting, but once you just pass ovulation you may experience a dip in energy and mental clarity. Your body needs to build progesterone in the week before you bleed and in this time extra stress will affect progesterone production. Progesterone needs glucose and insulin which are lower when we fast. Stay to 12-13 hours of no food, but do not try to push it more.
So what happens whilst you fast?
We have 2 fuel systems that the cells of the body get their energy from: sugar and fat. The first system, called the sugar-burner energy system, gets activated when you eat. Eating food raises your blood sugar. Your cells sense this influx and uses this fuel (called glucose) for thousands of bodily functions. When we don´t eat our blood sugar levels drop. With a slow decline of blood glucose the cells switch over to the second energy system, called the ketogenic energy system, of fat-burner.
A little like a hybrid car switching from petrol to electric. With the switch from glucose to ketogenic in our body is when the benefits begin. Everyone makes this switch differently, but it takes at least 8 hours after the last meal for the body to make such a shift.
Most research in this area has shown that when you condense your eating window you will:
Reduce Body Fat percentage
Reduce visceral Fat
Reduce Waist Circumference
Lower Blood Pressure
Decrease LDL Cholesterol
Decrease blood sugar elevations (haemoglobin A1c)
Ketones are the preferred source of fuel for your energy houses, called mitochondria. Ketones also trigger the release of the calming neurotransmitter called GABA which has anti-anxiety effects.
In fact your body cells make themselves stronger without glucose coming in. It´s otherwise known as autophagy (self-eating). Autophagy increases the body´s resilience in 3 ways: DETOX, REPAIR and REMOVAL of DISEASED CELLS.
Overtime our cells accumulate a variety of damaged organelles, proteins, harmful virus/moulds etc causing the cells to become dysfunctional. With fasting and autophagy the brilliant cells detoxify the bad and malfunctioning parts and revitalise them or removes the bad parts completely – called APOPTOSIS.
In a nut-shell, you’re enhancing your body’s ability to use fat as an energy source, and being more metabolically flexible allows you to shift back to burning fat faster after a meal.
NOTE: Autophagy can not clean up synthetic man-made chemicals such as plastics and other “forever chemicals”. You need to avoid these.
Some have chosen to end their cleanse with a 24 hour fast before now. I´ll write more on this in another post for those who are interested in why this is beneficial.
If you´ve not tried the intermittent fasting yet, here are a few tips:
Getting started:
1) Begin by eating an early dinner and just avoiding food for a few hours before going to bed (earlier), then push the first meal of your day back by an hour or two.
2) Plan a ”post-fast” meal. Include lean meat or fish, a vegetable, and maybe a fruit (but don’t load up on grains and starches). Avoid over-eating; strive to eat as though you hadn’t fasted.
3) Schedule your fast for a busy day. Then you’ll benefit from not having to stop to find and eat food, and you’ll be distracted enough by your activities that you’ll be less likely to notice habitual urges to eat.
4) Use your break from food as an opportunity to enjoy pleasurable, low-key activities you might normally not make time for. A day without food can be a good time to settle the mind as well as the body.
How to handle cravings:
If you find yourself starting to crave food, go for a short walk; see if you’re still hungry afterwards before eating.
Stay hydrated. Sip water or unsweetened herbal or green tea to minimise “empty stomach” sensations and support detoxification.
Distract yourself from “habit eating” by calling a friend or reading.
Avoid watching TV if it triggers you to eat.
Still hungry? Go ahead and eat your preplanned, post-fast meal. Initially, don’t get too attached to fasting for a precise number of hours.
I hope this helps and let me know how you get on with your fasting
