Brief fasting ….. check out the BENEFITS!

​One of the common questions asked during a consultation is why eating carbohydrates is not recommended before going to bed. Carbohydrates promote the hormone insulin, necessary to shuttle glucose to the cells. This in itself inhibits fat loss as the body gets to work to metabolize the glucose as a result of the carbohydrates that we ingest. If you eat prior to bed it is a recipe for disaster however at the same time whilst the common suggestion is to eat protein which is slower to digest it is actually the hour’s in-between the meals that may promote your fat loss , lessen your propensity for disease progression and has anti-aging benefits as well !

I am not quite sure if you have heard the term intermittent fasting. Basically this is limiting food supply everyday so the digestive organs have a chance to rest. When you are in “feast mode”, your body forgoes the natural repair and rejuvenation cycle. It is too busy breaking down and eliminating the foods that you have eaten. The body’s organs are continually being overworked due to the overload of unnecessary foods ingested.  When we eat carbohydrate, the pancreas releases insulin, the liver also assists the necessary metabolism of carbohydrates and the more carbohydrates that we eat the less sensitive we become to insulin. Voila, those unnecessary calories eaten before bedtime is a sure thing for fat accumulation. The longer that you stay away from the dinner table and breakfast will be better for your organs and your fat metabolism.
Intermittent fasting promotes weight loss and unnecessary eating. The benefits are an increase in strength, a reduction of body fat and a maintenance of good health whilst spending less time eating every day. For most of eat because we like the taste and not necessarily for the nutrient content unless you are an athlete or require certain amount of calories to promote muscle growth like body builders. The combination of intermittent fasting with a healthy diet of real whole foods and proteins, weight training, walking and eight hours of sleep will keep you young alert and much healthier. It is another tool that’s all.

The health benefits are enormous for your body and here are a few reasons why.

• Impact on insulin & Leptin sensitivity. Insulin resistance is a prime driver of chronic disease like Diabetes II, heart disease and cancer. Intermittent fasting helps resets the body to utilize fat as its primary fuel source
• Boosts mitochondrial energy efficiency- The mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of the cells. If these are not working funnily enough the body becomes sluggish. This type of fasting promotes efficiency.
• Ghrelin levels become stabilized. – Ghrelin, commonly known as the hunger hormone (you know the funny sound that the tummy makes when you get hungry) becomes normalized.
• Human Growth Hormone increased production- This type of eating has increased GH by 1300% in women and 2000% in men. HGH is known for its anti-aging properties, fat burning properties which explains why this way of eating is effective for fat loss.
• Lowers Triglyceride levels
• Improves disease biomarkers
• Reduces oxidative stress- Intermittent fasting decreases the accumulation of oxidative radicals in the cell in turn preventing oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids and nucleic acids associated with aging and disease.
• mTOR pathway inhibitor- associated with aging and disease promotion particularly of cancer initiation called the   mTOR signaling pathway. If we can inhibit this pathway we can minimize the aging process and cancer initiation.

 
Intermittent fasting has been beneficial for the body according to science and a lot of athletes. You could utilise this type of eating as an experiment. It’s not that difficult to implement as if you typically eat dinner by 8 PM and breakfast at 8 AM the next day, you’re fasting for 12 hours and feeding for 12 hours.  The best decision is to try, readjust the plan to make it work for you. All science is based on experimentation and in my experience there is no one size fits all methodology when it comes to eating and weight loss that is why fad diets whilst proven successful for a minimal time, may not be the answer to everyone’s weight issue. The only way to make progress and change your life is to make new choices, take action, and make adjustments based on the results.
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References
http://www.precisionnutrition.com
jamesclear.com/good-bad-intermittent-fasting
articles.mercola.com/sites/articles

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