Things I've tried:
- cabbage soup diet
- 3 day diet (also known as the Military diet)
- potato diet (you heard me)
- pizza diet (not really, just seeing if you were awake)
- paleo diet
- high protein/low carb diet
- eat whatever the hell I feel like diet
- intermittent fasting
....and probably many more I can't recall at the moment
The one I'd like to talk about today is Intermittent Fasting or IF.
Intermittent Fasting is a term for a way of eating that cycles between fasting and feeding. Now, we all technically "fast" over night while we sleep. Think about it, if you eat your last snack at 8pm and don't eat again until 8am the next day, you have fasted for 12 hours. That's pretty common.
But, supporters of IF believe that extending that fasting period and shortening the window of feeding is very healthy and beneficial to the body.
Back about 4-5 years ago when I was really into weight lifting, "clean eating, and the like, I was certain that eating 4 to 6 small meals daily was KEY to staying lean. Most diet gurus around this time were all about eating small frequent meals because it supposedly keeps your metabolism running high and curbs cravings due to the fact that you are keeping yourself constantly sated. You know where this is going, right?
There are always two sides to the coin. And for all the people who believe many small meals throughout the day is necessary for maintaining a healthy weight, there are probably just as many people who believe the exact opposite. They claim that eating all day long actually PROMOTES hunger and you are more likely to eat MORE calories overall. This isn't always the case, however, because if you are eating low calorie foods, you aren't necessarily consuming more calories even though you are eating more frequently. Also, if you don't eat for more than 4 hours, you start to become ravenous and may end up over-eating at your next meal.
So...who to believe? What to do?
My mantra, as you will come to know, is that our bodies tolerate everything differently. Something that might work for me, may not work for Mary, or Sue or Joe. So testing it out for yourself is really the only way to go.
I tried fasting once. I mean, a pure 24 hour fast where I consumed nothing but water.
It. Was. HELL.
If I had to work outside the home, be pleasant to other living creatures or get out of my pajamas and move at all, it just wasn't going to be the diet plan for me because I was a hot mess during the fast.
So, moving to a less extreme version of fasting....intermittent fasting (IF). You can choose how long you want to fast, whether it be 14, 16, 18, 23 hours. The key being you only have a window of a few hours where you were allowed to eat and then you must fast. The benefit of this, obviously, is calorie restriction that feels doable. Providing you aren't eating like Michael Phelps during your feeding window. (just fyi, during training, the olympic swimmer eats 12,000 calories a day) The other benefit is giving your digestive system a break.
Fasting can improve blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and inflammation. It also has the potential to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. But I think that a regular healthy diet and exercise has also been shown to improve these things as well.
This way of eating seems out of the "norm" for most people and may be considered too restrictive or extreme, but it really does work very well for a lot of people. It was appealing to me at first because of the potential it has to lower overall daily calorie intake. But after reading more in depth, I found that when you get away from feeling the need to eat every couple hours, you really don't feel as hungry. I was literally afraid to go anywhere without a snack if I knew I'd be gone longer than an hour or two, for fear that I would get hangry. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it is defined as being bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.
LOL - yep, that's me alright!!
Anyway, while the 24 hour fasting was obviously not going to be a good fit for me, intermittent fasting definitely felt like it could easily be used in the average daily diet. I tried two different fasting windows: 16 hours and 18 hours
The 18 hour fast was a bit tough for me. I would eat dinner at 6pm and then couldn't eat again until noon the next day. The 16 hour fast, (eating last meal at 6pm and not eating until 10am the next day) was obviously better. I can keep myself occupied well enough in the morning hours for it not to be a bother. The hardest part would be not snacking at night (or drinking a glass of wine) when everyone else in the house is stuffing their face with candy. Also, if you workout in the morning, it isn't ideal. I sometimes teach morning classes and I could definitely NOT teach a high intensity cardio class while fasting.
It was definitely a neat experience. One I would like to give an honest try for a few weeks to a month at some point.
Read more about intermittent fasting at http://www.theiflife.com/intermittent-fasting-101-how-to-start-part-i/
Tell me what you think!
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