Fasting is not starving....!
Fasting is the first principle of medicine:
fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself.
Put simply, you eat for 8 hours a day and eat absolutely nothing for 16. A typical time to eat is 12 noon to 8 pm or 11 am to 7 pm. Here are some of the benefits of living this way:
-improves insulin levels and sensitivity
-helps body burn fat more efficiently as fuel
-increases mental clarity
-improves overall energy levels
-lessens inflammation
-reduces blood pressure
-reduces LDL and total cholesterol levels
-helps prevent and even reverse type 2 diabetes
-improves pancreatic function
-increases mitochondrial energy efficiency which retards aging and disease
-increases ability to resist stress, disease and aging
-increased testosterone
-increased muscle mass
-increased definition
-fasting revitalizes sex and endocrine glands, normalizes proper hormone production
-increases human growth hormone, which helps muscle growth and reversing the aging process
-1300% boost in HGH in Women
-2000% boost in HGH in Men
-even the quality of sleep and type of dreams is improved
Believe it or not- IF decreases food cravings!
Your body turns food into glucose (a type sugar). Your energy comes from basically sugar or fat. Fat is always a backup emergency savings account that it doesn’t want to touch unless it has to. It will always use sugar first. SO- even if you stop eating and only drink orange juice, you will not lose weight because you’re giving your body lots of sugar to run on. The ONLY time your body will start using stored fat for energy is when there is no more sugar in your system. This includes glycogen stores in the liver and muscle fibers.
The first place your body gets energy is from the food you eat, which lasts about 4-5 hours. You will NEVER burn fat as long as you have food and sugar left in your body. Most people eat every 3 hours, so they never use fat for energy. Only after the glycogen runs out will your body even consider burning fat as a source of energy. That is it’s last resort. It will do everything it can to hold on to that fat because that’s it’s emergency energy source for hard times. It will send you really strong hunger pains to try and make you eat something so it doesn't have to touch the fat. This is where most people cave in and eat.
So again- you will not lose weight even if you run on a treadmill for two hours and work out really hard…IF you eat every few hours. Even if you eat fat-free healthy food. Even if you just eat fruit. As long as your body gets energy from ANYTHING, it will not touch the fat.
This is why intermittent fasting works. You get the best of both worlds- you eat for 8 hours a day so you are not starving yourself …and you don’t eat anything for 16 hours, so your food and glycogen is used up and your body is forced to use fat for energy. Once your body starts using fat for energy, you will actually feel great and have lots of energy, in fact even MORE energy than when you are running on food or glycogen, because fat is the most efficient energy source. You’ll wonder where all the energy is coming from and why you feel so good, despite not having eaten anything for 14 hours! Sure you’re body will be automatically sending you hunger signals but notice how much energy you have after 12-14 hours of not eating.
By the way- if you eat every 2-3 hours, you create a lot of insulin which is the enemy of HGH- human growth hormone whish is what keeps you young. Studies at Cornell University show that when a person fasts for 24 hours, the body doesn’t lose any protein, only fat. Bodybuilders who fast one day a week actually gain more muscle mass faster because the body is cleaner and more efficient.
Fasting is not starving. It is a key to living.
