WHAT IS FASTING
Fasting basically means NOT EATING FOOD
We do it daily, but we don’t always prolong it long enough like our predecessors did.
Today’s society has been immersed in an extreme consumption of food unnecessarily, which has caused us to eat out of habit and following a socially stipulated schedule, instead of following our biological clock.
This has generated in many people a defective relationship with food, causing cravings, binge eating and intake of products that are harmful to our health, as well as countless problems in our digestive system.
BENEFITS OF INTERMITTENT FASTING
- Regulates blood sugar and insulin levels.
- Promotes the oxidation of fatty acids.
- Helps achieve better metabolic flexibility.
- It gives us energy, because the body is resting from the activity of digesting.
- It connects us with our sensations of real hunger since it regulates Leptin and Ghrelin; hormones responsible for signals of hunger and satiety.
- Restructures the Intestinal Microbiota.
- Promotes the production of ketone bodies.
- Increases the production of growth hormone.
- It has an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect.
TYPES OF FASTING
There are countless types of fasting, and none is better than another. My recommendation is that you choose the one that best suits your lifestyle and appetite. I am going to talk about the best known.
1. 12-hour fast
The easiest way to fast for 12 hours is to include your sleep time in your fasting window. For example, take the last meal at 8:00 p.m. and the first at 8:00 a.m. Not eating breakfast as soon as we wake up will improve our circadian regulation and bringing dinner forward is a good strategy to rest better, although I always recommend adapting our fasts to our sensations of hunger, our work schedules and lifestyle.
2. 16-hour fast
In this case, we would delay breakfast until 12:00 a.m. and we would obtain benefits related to the state called Autophagy. This promotes our body to enter a state of Ketosis and use fat as the main energy source, in addition to reducing inflammation and regulating our hormonal system.
MY RECOMMENDATION AS A NUTRITIONIST
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Fasting is one more tool that should always be used under the supervision of a specialist.
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It should not be done in order to lose weight, since what we eat in the time window in which we eat is as important or more important than fasting itself.
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Controlling the exact hours makes no sense. The idea of using this method should be to connect with our sensations of real hunger and stop consuming food compulsively and unnecessarily.
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Its purpose is to deflate the digestive system, giving it a break and thus promoting the restructuring of the intestinal microbiota. It is a very effective technique in people with intestinal problems such as SIBO or Hormonal problems such as Insulin Resistance.
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The use of fasting and the number of hours to fast will depend on the specific needs of each individual and the purpose for which it is used. Therefore, it is important that it is monitored at the beginning.
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It is not recommended for people with eating behavior disorders (ED)
BREAKING FASTING
The best way to break our fast will be to eat soft foods with a high nutritional density, which do not force our digestive system too much since it has spent a lot of time resting and may be sensitive.
My recommendation is to drink a glass of water with apple cider vinegar accompanied by TURMERIC Y DIGEZYME; two supplements that deflate our body and provide digestive enzymes which prepare our stomach for intake.
Later, some broth or cold soup would be advisable since it is easily digestible and I would always choose clean, organic foods that provide us with many nutrients such as vegetables and lean proteins such as fish and white meat.
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