5 Powerful Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Fasting is one of the most powerful, inexpensive, ancient healing tools in our world today. Used throughout history, fasting increases longevity and empowers the body to heal from various ailments and restore balance. There are many different forms of fasting, including 12-36 hour fasts, alternate-day fasting, as well as extended fasting. You can also do water-only fasts, bone broth fasts, fat fasts, etc. The most well-known method is Intermittent Fasting, specifically the 16:8 method, where you fast for 16 hours and have an 8-hour eating window.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
In basic terms, intermittent fasting (IF) involves voluntarily going periods of time without eating in-between regularly scheduled meals. It can seem daunting at first, but in reality, we all intermittent-fast everyday while we’re sleeping, so we’re really just extending that time. Starting with a 12-hour simple fast is a great way to ease in and still benefit from IF.
Now onto the benefits!
Fasting Lowers Inflammation
Inflammation is a common denominator in all health issues and fasting can be a great way to decrease it because it’s naturally anti-inflammatory! Intermittent fasting allows the body to cleanse, recover and build and protects us against oxidative stress.
Fasting Helps Improve Digestion & Heal the Gut
Everytime we put something in our mouth, we’re making our digestive system work. Your stomach is preparing acid, your pancreas is pumping out enzymes, your small intestine is processing the meal you just ingested and your large intestine is eliminating waste. When we fast, we are giving the gut a much-needed break, which aids the healing of leaky gut and can be a great addition to a gut-healing diet and supplement protocol.
Fasting Aids Weight Loss & Lowers Blood Sugar & Insulin
Your ability to lose weight has a lot to do with the hormone insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone released by the pancreas that tells your cells to either use blood sugar for energy or store sugar and fat. When insulin is high it signals your body to stop burning fat!
High carb/high sugar foods cause the greatest spike in insulin because they significantly raise blood sugar levels. Insulin is released to a lesser degree when we consume protein (which your body can use to create more blood sugar) and even less with fat. Fasting decreases insulin as we’re not taking in food at all for a period of time. It can have an incredible effect on lowering insulin levels, healing insulin resistance and making your body a fat-burning machine!
Fasting Super-Charges the Immune System
Intermittent fasting enhances the elimination of toxins and waste. Fasting and IF also starves pathogens like parasites and viruses and can decrease bacterial and fungal overgrowth like SIBO and candida, because it takes away their fuel. Additionally, if you have a leaky gut, not ingesting potentially allergenic foods, sugar and harmful chemicals helps to reduce strain on the immune system.
Fasting Supports Detoxification
Fasting is an incredible therapy that has been used in ancient and natural medicine for supporting the body’s innate detoxification processes. It activates a process called “autophagy”, which is essentially the body’s self-cleaning mechanism. When we go periods of time without eating or drinking anything other than water, the body is able to eliminate damaged cells, cellular debris and other waste products. When we intermittently fast, it’s like doing a daily reset!
Best of all fasting is easy, completely free and can be done anywhere, anytime, by almost anyone! Just be sure to consult your practitioner before jumping in or feel free to reach out for support!
Asher Kleiber
Registered Holistic Nutritionist™
Sources:
The Complete Guide to Intermittent Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung
Digestive Enzymes: I recommend digestive enzymes during travel to aid digestion and help prevent symptoms like bloating, gas and digestive pain. We can’t always control exactly what’s in our food while travelling, so it’s a great idea to have some additional support…