Staying healthy has never been easy and fasting is no exception to that rule. In the modern world we are constantly surrounded by encouragements to eat more food. Whether that be in the form of advertisements, concerned mothers or friends, the push to eat is always there. Companies want your money, mothers think you need to eat more often to stay healthy and almost all social gatherings have food. Fasting has been used as a tool to increase health since before the first dietitians emerged in ancient Greece. Fasting is a powerful tool that can rid your body of toxins and help your hormones get back to normal functions.

With so many benefits why is fasting not pushed hard by modern medicine? First of all let me say I am not a doctor or medical professional and my views are coming from outside that circle but I believe it has yet to be adopted because It's hard to control and it can be dangerous to some people. Therefore it would require third party oversight, as a safety control and to ensure that the patient is actually following the fasting schedule. Fasting requires strict discipline to actually work, if you eat even a small amount of food then your digestive system activates and the body prioritizes that over the functions done during fasting, making your attempted fast pointless. Let me add that If you are pregnant or breastfeeding then fasting is likely not for you at this stage in your life. Just because modern medicine can't effectively implement intermittent fasting to a large population doesn't mean that you can't implement it on yourself. If you do try you will see what I am talking about, it is definitely a challenge and I have seen many people who try it quit just a week after starting.

Many religions and cultures will do muli-day fasts, some even going past a week of fasting, undertaking a fast such as that requires deep knowledge of your body and a support group looking over you. Multi-day fasts have a large amount of benefits but they come at the cost of being potentially dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. This is where intermittent fasting comes in to save the day. When doing intermittent fasting you are still getting the same amount of daily caloric intake you are just off-setting meal times to allow your body to stay in the fasted state for a longer period of time. Now one thing to note, I am not saying intermittent fasting is better than multi-day fasting, longer fasts come with more benefits than shorter ones. What I am saying is that intermittent fasting is probably better suited for the population as a whole. An intermittent fast is easier to do, still gives you similar benefits, is less risky to people with medical conditions and people who are not willing to do a multi-day fast are more willing to do something like intermittent fasting. If you are not in an at risk group it would be a good personal challenge to try intermittent fasting for two weeks just to see if its something that can be beneficial to you. If you like it keep going if not at least you tried. I am not a doctor and I recommend that you speak to a doctor first.

Who Should Not Do Intermittent Fasting

If you are not sure whether or not you are in an at risk group it is best to just ask your doctor.

Why Should You Intermittent Fast?

One of the most prevalent reasons people do intermittent fasting is weight loss or weight management. Intermittent fasting can have a positive impact on your BMI. The average person only fasts from dinner to breakfast which is usually no more than eight to ten hours and that is not to mention the people who eat a late night snack, which can bring the fasted timeline down to six or seven hours. When you do intermittent fasting you stay in your fasted state for twelve or more hours. This prolonged time in the fasted state allows your blood glucose levels to drop and then your body starts using your stored fat as fuel. Also staying in the fasted state longer improves your insulin sensitivity, this is good because when your body is not properly regulating the insulin hormone you tend to gain weight easier. Intermittent fasting can also reduce blood sugar levels. All of these benefits add up to be a powerful tool against unwanted fat.

All systems need to do a reset every once in a while in order to operate efficiently, your body is no different. Your body needs food to function, food is the fuel that keeps your body going. The problem is that food is not pure. Even if the food was never processed, it still can have microscopic organisms, spores or viruses on it, all of which take a toll on your body. Sunlight is great for your physical and mental health but the sun is also a very powerful ball of radiation sending photons beaming at your skin, sometimes through the skin all together. Sicknesses can be transmitted through the air. Your body is exposed to adversaries every day and it needs to do maintenance work to repair the parts of your body that were damaged by these advisories. The problem is that most of the time your body doesn't have enough time to fix everything. When you're constantly going through the digestive cycle every few hours your body doesn't get the time to focus all of its energy on maintenance for a long enough time. This is where fasting comes in. Fasting will allow your body to stay in the maintenance and repair phase for a longer period of time, improving your cellular health, memory and longevity.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

It's actually a simple concept and I would wager that if you have read this far into this article you probably already understand the concept. At its core Intermittent fasting is simply not consuming anything with calories for a set period of time. If you do any online research you are bound to enter a forum where people will say that anything under sixteen hours of fasting per day is not considered intermittent fasting, this is just an opinion. Everyone is going to be at a different point in life and they are going to need a different fasting schedule. Generally speaking most experts agree that intermittent fasting starts at twelve hours of being in the fasted state. I would agree with the twelve hour minimum with some exceptions. I think of this as more of a marathon than a sprint. If you are someone who regularly eats a midnight snack then going straight to twelve hours of fasting may be too overwhelming. If you quit after only a week the results will be negligible. If that is you start with ten hours and move your way up to the standard twelve. The reason for the twelve minimum is because that is when most of the benefits actually start, for example you may not enter ketosis until twelve hours.

During your eating hours you eat your daily recommended calories and during your fasted hours you don't consume calories. You're essentially just changing your eating schedule, not your caloric intake. There are many intermittent fasting schedules to choose from, people will do a 12x12 or 16x8 (16 hours fasting and 8 hours eating) or 18x6 and some people even eat their entire days worth of food in just one meal per day. If I were to start with no prior fasting experience I would start with a 12x12, that being eat twelve hours and fast twelve hours. Then if you feel like you should increase your fasting time you can do so. Just know that most studies are done on the 12x12 style of intermittent fasting so if you deviate from that standard you are doing so with less data.

How to Start Intermittent Fasting?

Starting is simple, you just choose your desired fasting schedule and start eating only during your eating time frame. Once you exit your eating time frame you refrain from eating anymore food until you enter your eating window once again. Most people choose to fast during night hours because it is the natural time when humans don't eat. Also you don't get feelings of hunger when you're sleeping, which makes it much easier to follow your schedule. You can adapt it to your schedule as you wish, for example if you work the night shift then you might find it easier to fast during the day because that is when night shift workers sleep. Also you can choose to play with your eating hours based around friends and family. For example if you eat dinner with your family at seven every day then you can make that the end of your eating window. Whereas if your an early riser and you wake up at four a.m. you may not want to wait until seven a.m. to eat. In that case you can eat your last meal at five in the afternoon which would allow you to eat your breakfast at five in the morning. Just set your schedule and stick to it.

Simple concepts are sometimes hard to implement when hormones and emotions get involved. Even though it may seem simple to not eat for twelve hours you may find it very difficult once your body starts releasing the hormones related to hunger. You may even get emotional when you first start. This is normal, your body has become accustomed to receiving food whenever it releases these hormones and now it is not. If you want to continue on the journey you will have to find a way to deal with these feelings until your body gets used to its new eating schedule. The good thing about the body is that it is very adaptable and after a certain period of time you will find that sticking to your schedule will be very easy. The only problem is getting to that point. You can implement a few tactics that will help you in the beginning phase.

Conclusion

Intermittent fasting is an old concept believed to have health benefits that has emerged in modern society. It can be a powerful tool of change for your body composition and general health, but proceed with caution and make sure you don't have any medical conditions that could be affected by fasting. If you are able to and have an interest in intermittent fasting then why not give it a try.