Fasting

 

Fasting is kind of a hot topic now. With known benefits like increased growth hormone to weight loss, it’s no wonder people want to know more about it.

So what is fasting?

Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.

Ok, why would we want to do this? According to Dr. Pelz, a well respect chiropractor, there are many benefits that come from fasting. We can see increased growth hormone, fat lose, energy boosts, and improved memory! Outstanding!

Dr. Pelz talks about 4 different types of fasting and with each, are different outcomes.

4 types of fasting:

1. Intermittent fasting -usually 12-15 hours (dinner to breakfast-ish)
2. Dinner to dinner – fast dinner Sunday and then don’t eat until dinner Monday
3. Fast mimicking- really restrict calories
4. 4-5 day water fast-nothing but water!

Benefits of the different types of fasting

IMF– Improves GH (growth hormone) helps burn fat, slows the aging process, gives energy, and builds muscle. It makes people less insulin resistant, and improves neuron growth! Women tend to be more sensitive to IMF, so there is some thing called Cresendo Fasting.

Women can see the same benefits, it’s just less of a shock to the system.

Rules of Crescendo Fasting:

1. Fast on 2–3 nonconsecutive days per week (e.g. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday)
2. On fasting days, do yoga or light cardio.
3. Ideally, fast for 12–16 hours.
4. Eat normally on your strength training/HIIT workouts intense exercise days.
5. Drink plenty of water. (Tea and coffee are okay, too, as long as there is no added milk or sweetener)

D2D-This fast will help cells repair to help keep you insulin sensitive or kick you out of being insulin resistant. We want to be insulin sensitive, meaning you only need a small amount of insulin to keep blood glucose within a healthy range.

Fast mimicking– Great for cancer prevention. You get a surge of stem cells, and stem cells go to any part of your body and repair damage. The traditional fasting mimicking diet is composed of 34 percent carbohydrates, 10 percent protein and 56 percent fat for the first day, followed by 47 percent carbohydrates, 9 percent protein and 44 percent fat for the last four days.

Water fasting or Block fasting– fasting just with water, and only water for 2-7 days. Some thing awesome happens in our body when we water fast, it’s called autophagy. The term autophagy means “self-eating,” and refers to the processes by which your body cleans out various debris, including toxins, and recycles damaged cell components. It’s a cells way of getting rid of the bad guys, or at least those that are no longer healthy. Water fasting can help slow the aging process, detoxes the body, increases GH, normalizes grelin, (the hormone that makes you hungry) improves your immune system, and decreases inflammation!

I hope this little summary on fasting helps you realize how helpful it can be! It isn’t super easy though. I’ve personally been experimenting with IMF. I do a group workout 3 days a week, so on those days, it’s more natural to do IMF. I stop eating after dinner, around 7pm. I try and hold off eating breakfast until around 9-9:30am. So that’s about 14 hours of fasting. By doing that I know I’m helping shed the visceral fat and improving muscle and growth hormone. HOORAY!

Pro-Tips:

1. Start slow
2. Try IMF first and go 12 hours than extend it an hour each time you decide to do it
3. It’s not for every one, so don’t feel bad.
4. Don’t have a SUPER heavy workout on fasting days