What is Intermittent Fasting and Why Is It Important?
To understand why intermittent fasting is important, let’s start with Insulin. Most people have heard of Insulin in relation to Diabetes. What exactly is insulin and why is it important?
Insulin is a hormone that controls the body’s blood sugar and metabolism. After you eat, your intestines breakdown carbohydrates from food into sugar or glucose. That glucose goes into the blood and signals the pancreas to release insulin.
The body makes insulin in a feedback loop according to your blood sugar levels. The more glucose, the more insulin is released. Insulin helps to move glucose into the cells, which use the glucose for energy. Any extra glucose is stored in the liver (eventually creating fatty liver if supply is greater than demand), muscles and fat (part of the root of high triglycerides).
To complete the picture, another hormone, Glucagon, stimulates the liver to break down stored sugars, known as glycogen, to be released it into the bloodstream when blood glucose levels drop. In this way glucagon and insulin alternate throughout the day to give the cells a steady supply of energy.
For a variety of reasons such as diet, insufficient exercise and/or the changing hormones due to aging, we can become either Insulin resistant or Insulin deficient. This leads to high blood sugars which slowly causes damage to blood vessels, heart, kidneys, nerves and eyes. And because the body can’t use the glucose properly, it can also lead to fatigue.
This is where intermittent fasting comes in as simple and important tool.
WHAT IS INTERMITTENT FASTING?
Intermittent fasting refers to a meal modification whereby there is a chosen time period during the day where one takes in food or an “eating window”. Necessarily, there is also a period of time when no food or no calories are consumed.
Both periods are important.
The period of intake is important because we want to feed our bodies in a supportive, nourishing, sustaining way. This means all of the ideals of organic food, foods that don’t cause fluctuations in blood sugar, grass-fed organically fed animal products, and mindful eating.
Briefly, its best to sit and eat in a non-stressful environment and to pay attention to how the foods you consume affect your energy level, mood, stamina, body and brain symptoms over the next hours. If you feel tired a brief time after eating, consider which or how many carbohydrates or proteins you are eating; it might be causing insulin spikes and subsequent dips. There is no formula for what works - it is very individually based. The ideal is for you to become curious and observe what works and doesn’t work for your body.
You may consider checking your blood sugars with a blood sugar monitor. They are not expensive or difficult to use. You can purchase one at any drug store. You can also ask your doctor to test your fasting and post-prandial insulin levels. You can also have your uric acid level tested which is an indirect indicator of your insulin levels.
If you decide to test you blood sugar levels, the ideal is to test upon waking and 2 hours after eating a meal. In a non-diabetic person, the fasting (before eating in the morning) blood glucose level should be between 80-100 mg/dL (optimally under 90 mg/dL). Two hours after a meal, blood glucose levels that drop to near fasting levels, under 120 mg/dL, is considered healthy. Jot down notes about what you ate the evening or day before testing if you wake up with high blood sugar or have a high 2-hour post-prandial (after meal) blood sugar result.
The “eating-restriction window” is the star of the whole endeavor. It is during this window that we gain the benefits. The health gains are from increasing insulin sensitivity, decreasing blood glucose levels, decreasing inflammation, losing weight, improving metabolism, and decreasing blood pressure.
Studies show that the optimal timing is an “early eating restriction” in what we call 16:8 - A 16-hour fast followed by an eight-hour eating window.(1.) The studies showed that the eating window needs to be in the early part of the day, e.g. 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, to gain all of the benefits mentioned above.(2.)
With digestion complete well before bed, this allows the body to put all of its energy into clearing toxins and damaged cells and repairing tissues and organs while we sleep. This lowers the risk of things like cancer and heart disease and enhances brain function.
If you are new to this concept or you feel nervous about fasting, talk to your doctor about it or find a good holisitic nutritionist to support you. You don’t have to start out with a 16-hour fasting window. You might start with a 12-hour window and gradually add an hour over time, that is, an additional hour per week until you reach an eating window that works for you.
Intermittent fasting is definitely easier if you can get your family to join you. The ideal would be eating your final meal of the day earlier than most people sit down for dinner. Weigh out your health goals (no pun intended) and decide what is most important for you. You can always have a good cup of tea while your beloveds eat. Your body will thank you!
Acceptable liquids during the intermittent fasting period:
Filtered or spring water
Fresh lemon juice in water
Apple cider vinegar in water
Organic, mold-free black coffee
Green and herbal tea
Electrolytes (if no added sugar)
NOTE: Adding stevia or monkfruit to any of the above will not affect insulin levels.
Yours in good health,
Ajana Miki, ND, LAc
1. Cell Metabolism, Volume 14, Issue 10, P1486-1498.E7, October 4, 2022. "Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity.”
2. Cell Metabolism, Volume 34, Issue 10, P1442-1456.E7, October 4, 2022. “Feasibility of time-restricted eating and impacts on cardiometabolic health in 24-hour shift workers: The healthy heroes randomized control trial."