A Health Plan with the Bonus of Weight Loss

The thing I love most about Intermittent Fasting is the health and healing benefits. I am happy with the 30 pounds of weight I have lost, however, my goal was to become healthier on the inside. IF heals your body from the inside out with a side effect of weight loss.

This week I'll reference the following chapters from Gin Stephens books:

Fast Feast Repeat:

• Chapter 1 (second half) - Human Growth Hormone and Building Muscles
• Chapter 2- Autophagy and Health Benefits

Information on Fasting

What is Autophagy? It is a cellular mechanism that helps our cells survive. I love this word. In 2016 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on Autophagy. He found that Autophagy is a process where cells tranform by-products, waste materials, useless and unwanted products into new materials of better quality and value. The cell uses autophagy to recycle damaged or unwanted cell parts to use for energy or building blocks for new growth. Think about that for a minute, many health issues are due to defective parts of cells creating problems. When you are fasting you are allowing your cells to clean out the garbage which leads to many health benefits and prevents inflammation and disease. 

Many of you know me as an educator who loves to up-cycle things during STEAM activities. I teach students and teachers how to be makers and our cells are makers of their own.

Here are some researched health benefits from Intermittent Fasting:

• Combats Hyperinsulinemia (too much insulin)
• Reverse and/or prevent metabolic syndrome (see previous blog post)
• Reverse type 2 diabetes
• Anti-inflammatory (inflammation can lead to cancer and heart disease)
• Relieve and/or reduce Auto-immune diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis
• Cardio-vascular benefits
• Brain health - fewer signs of depression, improved memory, increased production of neurons, enhanced ability to ward off Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases
• Decreases visceral fat (the dangerous fat around organs)
• Adjusts our hunger and satiety hormones
• Resets the gut microbiome
• Anti-tumor - has positive effects during cancer treatment, reduced rate at which cells increase, positive and low-intensity stress to the body, increased anti-oxidant activity

Fasting also preserves and increases muscle mass. It is linked to a higher metabolic rate (as I shared in the previous blog post). IF leads to a natural increase in our levels of Human Growth Hormone(HGH). With higher levels of HGH we are more likely to gain muscle just by actively living our lives. the increased HGH not only increases muscle but it improves bone density and leads to faster healing of wounds and injuries.

Gin uses the analogy of babies growing and building muscle without "weight lifting" or "working out" so it is possible for our bodies to produce muscle just by doing our daily routine when HGH is released during fasting.

Fasting Protocols and Tips

Don't let your brain get in the way. You will discover how boredom creates mindless eating. If you can conquer your brain, the fasting will be easier. Think about the healing that is going on inside your body and not only about weight loss.

Interesting Observations  - Things I notice when I am fasting and/or Non-Scale victories

Last week I broke my fast with coffee and sweetner and hot chocolate (homemade mocha) and smoothie and then took Jada on a walk and I felt shakey on the walk due to an insulin release. I should have just walked before breaking my fast. On the weekends we do lots of work around our property and I do most of it in the fasted state. I love physical exercise and labor in the fasted state. It's amazing how much energy fat provided your body in the fasted state.