Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) or 'intermittent fasting'
Intermittent fasting (IF) or 'intermittent fasting'
Intermittent Fasting does not prescribe what you eat but when and how long you do and don't eat. Of all the options we can do to improve our extend lifespan, is periodic fasting one of the most effective. Vasten means to say you can't eat calories. If you fasts and stops eating then a superpower free. When there is enough food, our body stores the extra energy in the form of fat, under the house and around the internal organs.
When food is scarce, that fat is sent to the liver where it is converted into ketone, a alternative energy source. These ketones provide the energy in case of emergency. Not only for our bodies, but also for our brains. You can fast in many ways, therefore there are countless protocols. They all have one thing in common. They reduce the number of calories we eat.
In a world where so many people eat too much, this is essential for how we can live longer and healthier lives.
Do you experience the following feelings when you are hungry?
If so, chances are you are insulin resistant.
Intermittent fasting is one solution to tackle this!
Walk the path of an healthy body and brain.
In clinical Psychoneuroimmunology, we always ask ourselves the question; how did humans solve their problems in evolution? It is said that we have been genetically the same creatures for about 250,000 years out of which we have lived and survived as hunter gatherers for 240,000 years. There are still such tribes living in Africa among others, do you think these people choose not to eat for a certain time? Or would there be some other reason why we in the 21st century choose to do intermittent fasting for all sorts of reasons?
Humans, like every other animal on this globe, have survived based on necessities such as; hunger but also thirst, cold, threat and other short-term stressors. Also called primal stressors, because our genes have developed programmes to deal with them. So, the hunter gatherers go looking for food when they are hungry, we call that sober movement. A new era but still the same genes,
could that possibly be a cause of all chronic diseases?
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
The most well-known method of intermittent fasting is 16/8. In which you 16h not eating and 8h eating. It is a very good way to start fasting because it gives you a clear distinction between eating and fasting.
You make this decision consciously which makes you make a commitment, leading to good results. The pity is that a lot of people repeat this ad nauseam, the same pattern every day; fast until 12pm and eat until 8pm and fast again.
Is this bad? Not at all, it is obviously better than not fasting but it 'unexpected' is lost making life very predictable again, which makes us sick.
Ideally, you should make pure chaos of your eating schedule. Alternate daily between a 12am and 2am foodwindow. Already more advanced? Then go on a 24h fast and enjoy the clarity in your head and lightness in your body.
With the intermittent fasting example schedule below, you can build up slowly and make sure your body adapts. If you go too fast, you may experience headaches, feeling dizzy/sluggish, shaky legs or other symptoms. Ideally, you should start moving intensively for a few minutes when you experience this. You feel this through an "energy deficit" that you can solve by moving.
We know from science that 18h of fasting and a 6h foodwindow contains the most positive effect, namely the production of pre-prandial insulin. Freely translated, this means the insulin released BEFORE you eat. You may experience this if you mouth watering. In this state, your body is completely ready to absorb food and then digest it as best it can.
Week 1
3 days
14h of fasting per day
Week 2
5 days
14h of fasting per day
Week 3
2 days
16h fasting per day, the next 2 days 14h fasting + start exercising 1-2 times sober (e.g. walking, gentle jogging, yoga,...)
Week 4
4 days
18h fasting and 2x sober exercise
What foods do you break intermittent fasting with? It's a question I often get.
Avoid refined foods
Avoid processed foods such as bread, pasta, salads, vegetable oils, sugar, lactose and prepared meals as much as possible.
Choose food without an ingredient label
(= fresh fruit and vegetables) supplemented should include poultry, meat, fish, seafood, eggs, nuts, kernels and seeds.
Divide your plate as follows
1/3rd Carbohydrates
complex carbohydrates such as pumpkin, beetroot, parsnips, celeriac, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and fruit.
1/3rd Protein
as indicated above best from poultry, meat, eggs, nuts like almonds, cashew, pistachio, chia seeds(as pudding) pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
1/3rd Fats
Use real grass-fed butter, olive, coconut and avocado oil, olives, avocados, hemp and flax seeds, oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, oysters and other seafood. Dark chocolate is also part of this!
Autophagy
One of the reasons why intermittent fasting is so lauded is the principle of 'autophagy'. Autophagy literally means 'eating oneself' in Greek. The concept was discovered by chance in the early 1950s by a Belgian, the Belgian scientist Christian de Duve. He discovered that our bodies work in a very clever way recycles its own cellular waste into building blocks for new proteins and cells.
The process works as follows: cellular waste is shed and surrounded by an insulating membrane, which in turn fuses with enzymes that break down the waste into small pieces. These, in turn, are transformed into new building materials. It is as if our body has its own recycling process. Intermittent fasting helps your body activate that process of 'autophagy' and repair damaged cells in your DNA. According to scientists, autophagy is said to be the ultimate way to combat ageing and keep your body healthy for as long as possible.
In the beginning of this text, we already talked about the production of ketones. In addition, other things happen.
In different types of food there is glucose, the fuel that the trillions healthy cells inside the body feeds. But that glucose also feeds something else... Old, damaged cells that have long since ceased to be useful. These cells leave behind a toxic muck and infect the healthy cells which accelerates the ageing process. This includes hair loss, wrinkles to the development of osteoarthritis, cancer and dementia. Scientists know that when we fast and stop glucose supply, those damaged cells run out of energy making them less powerful.
Three to four days is enough time to change how your body reacts to the absence of nutrients as a reboot of your system.
Long-term gain for shorter-term pain!
Biochemical changes
When we don't eat for 3 to 4 days, remarkable biochemical changes take place that have many long-term benefits.
the old, damaged cells discussed above are no longer the only thing happening to them. After 3 days of fasting, even the healthy cells get tough. Without food, it is just those cells that repair the damage, clear the debris and nip problems in the bud.
Science has only just discovered the long-term benefits of fasting. However, if we look at culture and religion, fasting is a very old wisdom.
The science
Plum tree L, Muskiet FAJ. Intermittent living; the use of ancient challenges as a vaccine against the deleterious effects of modern life - A hypothesis. Med Hypotheses. 2018 Nov;120:28-42.
Plumtree, L. (2017). The multiple faces of the human immune system: Modern life causes low-grade inflammation and thereby provokes conflict between the selfish immune system and the selfish brain. University of Groningen.
Ruiz-Núñez B, Pruimboom L, Dijck-Brouwer DA, Muskiet FA. Lifestyle and nutritional imbalances associated with Western diseases: causes and consequences of chronic systemic low-grade inflammation in an evolutionary context. J Nutr Biochem. 2013 Jul;24(7):1183-201. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2013.02.009. Epub 2013 May 6.PMID: 23657158 Review.
de Punder K, Pruimboom L. The dietary intake of wheat and other cereal grains and their role in inflammation. Nutrients. 2013 Mar 12;5(3):771-87. doi: 10.3390/nu5030771.PMID: 23482055. Review.