With the addition of healthy fats into our diets, we notice significantly diminished appetite, elimination of cravings and progressively longer intervals between meals. This occurs, not because of a sudden infusion of willpower and resolve, but rather, this occurs because we have successfully shifted our metabolism and have become proficient fat-burners. Our metabolic hybrid engine continually improves our ability to burn fat and utilize ketones for superb energy production. Nutritional ketosis leads us towards the promised land of endless energy, enhanced focus and a youthful metabolism that purrs along like a high-performance car engine.
As we tap into our bodies virtually bottomless fat-storage energy tank, hunger diminishes greatly and energy soars. Now that we are no longer perpetually craving carbohydrates and sugars, we are finally freed of the rollercoaster blood sugar levels and instead zooming along comfortably on the fast moving automatic sidewalk! With this shift in metabolism, energy and focus, we quite naturally and effortlessly extend the fasting interval between meals. When we do this, we begin tapping into the antiaging health benefits of INTERMITTENT FASTING.
Intermittent fasting may sound intimidating, but we all fast to some degree even now. Regardless of what time you have your breakfast, for example, upon eating we are “breaking the fast” at that time. For example, if we finish our last meal of the day at 8pm and eat breakfast at 8 am, we have just completed a 12-hour fast. When we fast, good things happen. Very good things in fact! In contrast, when we eat frequently throughout the day, our body has to work hard to digest, assimilate, and store the nutrients that we have consumed. In FEAST MODE, we are busy storing things, such as increasing our fat- storage. In contrast, during FAST MODE, our body actually cleans house, rebuilds and restores. There is a remarkable cellular-cleaning process called AUTOPHAGY, that acts like a cellular recycling system, cleaning up cellular debris, damaged cells and removing cellular waste. During an extended-fast, our cells become healthier and younger through autophagy. During a fast-induced autophagy, not only do our cells become healthier, but we stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis and ramp up fat-burning metabolism to even higher levels!
Have a goal of periodically extending your 12-hour fast to a 16-hour fast, ideally several times per week. For a 16-hour fast, you could eat your last meal of the day at 8 pm for example, and have your “BREAK-FAST” meal at noon. Of course, during your 16-hour fast stay well hydrated. Feel free to drink water, mineral water, unsweetened tea and coffee during your fast. If you get hungry during your fasting period, consume some healthy fats that not only squelch your hunger but also increase ketone production. Avocados, walnuts, macadamia nuts are quick snacks that help blunt appetite without disrupting the health benefits of fasting. My personal favorite approach is to add coconut oil and unsalted grass-fed butter to my coffee creating “fatty coffee”, aka, “bulletproof coffee”. Drinking fatty coffee conveniently adds fats to increase ketone production, dampen appetite and ramp up your energy production.
Intermittent fasting is a unique antiaging maneuver that decreases body fat while preserving and increasing lean muscle mass for optimal body composition.
