Should YOU Be Intermittent Fasting?
Hey there Healthy Friends!
You guys know I am all about bringing you evidence-based nutrition and debunking bogus myths about health and wellness! With hot topics and diet trends on the rise, I thought I’d give you the quick low-down on one of them today: INTERMITTENT FASTING!
Intermittent Fasting (IF) is meant to have an allotted time for eating, commonly anywhere between 8 and 12hrs, to essentially restrict your caloric intake for the day. It’s most commonly used for weight loss in the media - the less time you have to eat, the less you eat right? And although IF has been proven to show reduction in FAT STORES, it’s more than just about weight loss! When you eat withing this specific window of time, let's say for 8 hours from 11am - 7pm, you are allowing your body to "shut down for repairs" for 16 hours. During this time your body can rest, restore and repair itself naturally!
Furthermore, studies have shown that IF has been shown as the most effective way to boost autophagy. Autophagy is the the self-eating of cells to recycle into newer, healthier cells! This is not only extremely anti-aging (literally clearing out old, damaged cells and birthing new, baby cells) but it also can help remove toxic proteins from cells that lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease (Lindberg, 2018).
Other PROVEN BENEFITS of fasting include:
• Blood glucose management
• Blood pressure reduction
• Cholesterol level reduction
• Triglyceride level reduction
• Inflammation reduction
• IGF1 (cancer biomarker) reduction
• Improvement of mental clarity
• Fat loss
So, do you want to incorporate fasting in your life but not sure where to start??
I recommend you start with a mimicking-fasting diet....say what?!? Let me explain...
Dr. Valter Longo is professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology with a joint appointment in the department of Biological Sciences, as well as the director of the USC Longevity Institute – one of the most respected aging and gerontology research centers in the world. The biogerontologist and cell biologist created the ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet to help others achieve optimal health through slowing or halting the onset of serious age-related diseases such as diabetes, cancer, coronary disease, and Alzheimer’s.
This diet mimics the benefits of a true 5-day water fast, without having to give up eating! The kit includes 5 days of meals and snacks set out for you to get your body into a fasted state and start running on ketones (yep, burning FAT for FUEL). However, Dr. Longo notes that this diet is different from a ketogenic diet because it is not long term and after the 5 days you should resume normal eating habits. As you progress farther into the fast, caloric intake decreases to help boost autophagy (the turnover or new cells, out with the old and in with the new!)
Here's my video demonstration about what exactly you are getting from ProLon Fasting-Mimicking Diet!
I am passionate about fasting and the phenomenal results that it offers, in fact, I love it so much, that I traveled to USC in California last November to become certified in fasting by Dr. Longo himself!
*I do not advise the following to try intermittent fasting without first consulting their medical adviser:
People over the age of 70, children/adolescents, pregnant women, brittle diabetics, those with chronic heart or kidney/renal issues, low BMI, frail, recently hospitalized, or previous eating disorders (anorexia, bingeing, bulimia) (Thurlow, 2019).
References
English, W., Valter, L. (2018). Dr. Valter Longo interview on fasting + low-protein diets [Youtube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqqi0eyq9yc&t=450s
Lindberg, S. (2018). Autophagy: What you need to know [Blog Post]. Retrieved from, https://www.healthline.com/health/autophagy
Prolon (2019). [Web Page]. Retrieved from https://prolonfmd.com/valter-longo/
Thurlow, C. (2019). Intermittent fasting: transformational technique [Youtube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Dkt7zyImk
Torgan, C. (2015). Health effects of a diet that mimics fasting [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/health-effects-diet-mimics-fasting