Is Intermittent Fasting Right For You?
Reduce cravings, increase energy levels, sleep better, improve gut health, regulate hormones, support cognitive health, lose weight, and more by optimizing the timing of your meals!
It’s not just what you eat, when you eat can also have an impact on your digestion and overall health. Optimizing the timing of your meals doesn’t mean having static or rigid meal periods, but can help empower you to eat more nutrient-dense meals so you can fell satisfied, energized, and ready to take on the day.
NIGHTLY FAST
Intermittent fasting can sound daunting, but it starts with just leaving a twelve-hour window between dinner and breakfast the next day. If you sleep, you fast. That’s actually where the word breakfast comes from; you’re literally breaking your fast. Many of us intermittent fast those twelve hours intuitively, but being more consistent with it and, potentially, stretching that window will give you more significant benefits.
I love intermittent fasting because you can decide on a schedule that works for you, and it doesn’t have to be static. If you have a late dinner one night, just have a later breakfast the next day. If you want to take it further, you can increase your fast to fourteen, sixteen, or even eighteen hours, but don’t force it. Here is a snapshot of the benefits:
1. Become More Aware of Hunger Cues: Fasting reduces feelings of hunger associated with low blood sugar. Compared with dieting, which studies show increases hunger and cravings, fasting can help you get in touch with your hunger cues, have more willpower, and become more satisfied with your meals so you don’t overeat.
2. Cellular Maintenance: During a fed state (i.e. when you’re not fasting), your body expends over half of its energy digesting food. That’s a lot of work! When you’re fasting, your body can allocate those resources to other functions. This is important for reducing oxidative stress, eliminating toxins, keeping your immune system healthy, and improving biomarkers for disease.
3. Regulate Hormones: Fasting can increase insulin sensitivity, which regulates hunger and fat storage, and also increases the amount of HGH (human growth hormone) that you produce. HGH helps build muscles, burn fat, increase bone density, improve your sleep, elevate your mood and reduce signs of aging (yes, please!).
4. Weight Loss: Intermittent Fasting has been shown as an effective weight-loss tool, without the need for dieting. Also, when you crave fewer sweets, are more in tune with your hunger cues, and have healthy hormone levels, you will naturally lose weight (if that’s your goal) without any tedious calorie restriction/counting.
5. Brain Function: Fasting has been shown to improve and preserve learning and memory function.
6. Improve Sleep: Our metabolism thrives on a pattern of daytime eating and physical activity and nighttime rest. Eating late at night can increase the risk for obesity and diabetes, and disrupt our circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall and stay asleep.
SPACING OF MEALS DURING THE DAY
In addition to intermittent fasting, pay attention to the timing of your meals during the day. Ideally, meals are spaced three to five hours apart. This allows your migrating motor complex (or MMC) to activate. The MMC is like a broom sweeping undigested food through your gastrointestinal tract and is important for proper digestion. If you’re hungry less than three hours after a meal, please eat, but ask yourself why so you can make adjustments moving forward. Did you not have enough protein, fiber, or fat in your last meal, or did you have too much sugar or a meal high in carbohydrates that may have spiked your blood sugar and caused a craving? And perhaps you aren’t hungry, but thirsty, bored, stressed, or procrastinating on something instead. When you go longer than five hours without eating, you run the risk of getting too hungry and overeating or choosing unproductive food out of convenience.
When you’re eating balanced meals with adequate protein, fiber, and fat, (read more about blood sugar balancing) it should be easy and feel natural to space your meals out in a way that is supportive of your body and health goals. With this approach, you will feel less “snacky,” have fewer cravings, more energy, and should feel more satisfied from your meals.
SCHEDULING
Let’s say you have breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 12:30, an afternoon snack at 4:00, and dinner at 7:30. That’s a good twelve to thirteen-hour fast! If you feel good with a longer fast, you might not need a snack at all. Maybe breakfast is at 9:30, lunch at 2:00, and dinner at 6:30. Play around with different eating times, and see how you feel. If you’re just starting out, try for twelve hours and go from there. You might find that it gets easier the longer you do it, but there will always be days here and there where it just doesn’t work out that way, and that’s ok! Try for 80-90% of the time, and don’t stress about the rest.
WHAT CAN YOU HAVE WHILE YOU’RE FASTING?
Feel free to have any liquids without calories (or with minimal calories - under 50). This includes water, tea, broth, or coffee (a little splash of milk shouldn’t make a difference).
WHO SHOULDN’T FAST
A twelve-hour nightly fast is relevant for most people, but if you are pregnant, nursing, have a history of eating disorders, or a medical condition that fasting isn’t supportive of, please consult with a doctor or certified healthcare provider to see if intermittent fasting is right for you.
If you want to learn more about how to optimize the timing of your meals, and other nutrition topics, check out my online course, Nutrition for Food Freedom.