How Intermittent Fasting Helped Me Reset My Body
Body and metabolism “resets” are becoming a hot topic. You might have heard this terminology more and more lately. There are a variety of ways to “jump-start” your metabolism, but intermittent fasting is one of the most effective and safest. Here's how I used intermittent fasting to help reset my body and my metabolism.
What happens when we stay fed
Most of us are in a constant state of being fed. For a long time it was drilled into us that we needed to eat every 3-4 hours to “keep our metabolism up.” With the latest research, we now know this is not true.
While the body is in this “fed” state, it is working hard to digest, breakdown, and assimilate the nutrients. However, there aren’t substantial calories being burned. We are often told to eat small portions frequently, which actually puts our bodies under more stress with a never-ending cycle of sugar and grains.
As a result, our body is working hard with little to no outcome. And little to no rest. In other words, the body works nonstop with no time to repair or reset. Ultimately, bringing your healthy metabolism to a grinding halt.
What happens when we are NOT fed
When you don’t eat, your body has a chance to initialize the repairing processes (called autophagy), allowing natural cell death called apoptosis. In a “non-fed” state, the body will use its glycogen and fat stores as fuel in a process called ketosis. This is the point where metabolism becomes more consistent as the body gets enough time to rest, recover, and use the calories it has stored. The body starts to understand that just because there’s not a sugar spike does not mean it is starving. Fuel is still available. Fasting teaches your body to access this stored fuel.
Intermittent Fasting: a great strategy to reset your body
Intermittent fasting is considered to be a period of between 18 and 24 hours during which the body receives no solid food. There is no need to panic; you will eat every day. And you can still inject some clean calories. You will just go longer in between eating. For example, my noraml eating cycle is having dinner around 7 p.m., abstain from breakfast, and then eat lunch between noon and 2 pm. For a 24-hour fast, I would refrain from eating anything until dinner the next day.
Intermittent fasting affects both insulin and growth hormones. In the non-fed state, insulin levels decrease (because you’re not pumping your body full of carbs), allowing the body to access fat reserves as fuel. Meanwhile, growth hormone levels increase, allowing the body to build lean muscle tissue.
Basic guidelines for successful intermittent fasting:
Increase your fluid intake one to two days prior to fasting. This may include water, bone broth, as well as herbals teas.
Try to consume clean foods/raw foods, particularly fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and try to avoid flours, sugars, meats, dairy, or any processed foods.
Start by fasting a few hours a day, then gradually increasing the duration.
Ideally, you should fast during the morning as it helps the body rev up for another day by eliminating the waste collected while you slept.
Use your sleep time to extend your fasting time.
As you grow accustomed to intermittent fasting, you will begin to become less and less aware of it. You will soon be able to identify when your body needs a “reset” and an intermittent fast. Intermittent fasting has made a huge impact on my health; give it a try and enjoy a happier, healthier body!
If you are feeling called to take the next step, contact me to set up a clarity call. Together we will discuss your healing journey, and make an action plan to get you to your goal.
If one-on-one coaching isn’t your thing, but you are ready to make a change, I have a super easy & approachable 14 day course, that will help you create healthy habits, and rid your body of toxicity and inflammation in a safe and natural way. For the price of 1 meal at a restaurant you can start changing your life, step-by-step at your own pace over a 2 week period. Check out the 14 Days to Vibrant Health Course here.
Namaste,
- Dr. Lara
P.S.
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