Fasting - Only Intermittently
Fasting is a disease-curing technique that has been around for at least as long as recorded history. Not eating gives our cells and digestive tract a break when they can heal and regenerate without the burden of oxidative stress from the breakdown of food products. Fasting also starves cancer cells that are ravenous for glucose and cannot survive long periods of time without fuel.
Despite the fact that fasting is an incredibly powerful tool, it can be difficult to wrap one's mind around. Why would anyone want to stop eating for any length of time? Food tastes good!!! Wherever we turn, there are reminders of food's appeal.
Enter Intermittent Fasting. (drum roll, please). This methodology is a great way to achieve the health benefits of fasting in a way that is much more tolerable for most people than a multi-day fast. How does it work?
The basic premise of Intermittent Fasting is to try to increase the number of hours a day that you don’t consume any calories. We try and achieve at least a thirteen-hour window of not eating most days of the week. For example, stop consuming all calories around 7 p.m. at night and do not consume anything until 8 a.m. the following day. This is a daily, thirteen-hour, intermittent fast.
All of the current research shows that by reaching at least the thirteen-hour window, we gain the cardiovascular and cancer-prevention benefits of fasting. As you gain tolerance for fasting, you can shorten the amount of time you eat in a day. Some people feel best when they narrow the window to five or six hours of caloric consumption. I personally enjoy an eight hour window.
For the last several years, I have been doing Intermittent Fasting so I can vouch for its health claims. My regimen is this: I usually stop eating around 6:30 p.m. and I don’t start again until 10:30 a.m. the following day. I allow myself one “cheat day” a week, usually when I have a Saturday or Sunday breakfast with the family. Here's what I have experienced:
l lost ten pounds when I started using Intermittent Fasting without making any other changes to my diet or lifestyle. My energy improved. I noticed a decrease in food cravings. All my laboratory work improved. I feel good knowing that I am improving my cardiovascular health every day as well as contributing an important part to my daily cancer-prevention routine (look for further articles and videos on this topic!) Last, but not least, there is nothing like fasting to retrain the brain to accept the idea that food just isn’t as important as we have always thought.
A word of caution: It is important that you do NOT begin Intermittent Fasting without consulting your naturopath if you have any of these conditions: you are diabetic; you experience blood-sugar crashes; you are a cachexic-cancer patient; you are in extreme adrenal fatigue; or you have had negative outcomes with previous fasts.
Intermittent Fasting isn’t right for everyone, but for some people it can be a game changer in both how they feel and in their disease-prevention-and-treatment program.
Good Luck and Good Health,
Dr. Chris Chlebowski