Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting

My interest in intermittent fasting came around about two years ago when I listened to a podcast featuring Brad Pilon. His explanation behind the mechanics of fasting and the benefits sounded interesting.

At first I really wasn’t convinced as I had been brought up on (and had been taught during University) all about the importance of small, regular meals to sustain muscle mass and the requirement for a constant maintenance of blood sugar to prevent hunger and energy dips.

Like many others, my mindset was a product of the aggressive marketing used by supplement companies.

The intermittent fasting protocol seemed to go against everything I had been taught and what was ‘understood’ in nutrition circles. Still, I am always keen to keep an open mind so read more about it.

The science behind it made sense – the food we eat has a massive effect on blood chemistry and our ability to burn fat. It controls our mood, our performance and our wellbeing. Intermittent fasting allows us to ‘reset’ the blood hormones and increases the rate at which fat is liberated from our cells, meaning we use it as a primary fuel source (remember your body uses sugar as it’s primary fuel, so fat is often untouched).

This all sounded too good to be true, so I had to explore the topic further. There was a wealth of information out there on the web and I happened upon a great eBook by a nutritionist I have a lot of respect for, John Berardi (www.precisionnutrition.com). Here is an edited excerpt of the benefits of intermittent fasting from his eBook…

REDUCED

• Blood lipids (including decreased triglycerides and LDL cholesterol)
• Blood pressure
• Markers of inflammation
• Oxidative stress (using markers of protein, lipid, and DNA damage)
• Risk of cancer

 INCREASED

• Cellular turnover and repair
• Fat burning (increase in fatty acid oxidation later in the fast)
• Growth hormone release later in the fast
• Metabolic rate later in the fast

 IMPROVED

• Appetite control
• Blood sugar control (by lowering blood glucose and increasing insulin sensitivity)
• Cardiovascular function
• Effectiveness of chemotherapy (by allowing for higher doses more frequently)

Comprehensive list of benefits that have been both scientifically and anecdotally studied. There are more studies in progress as we speak, and lots of fitness fans are using the method to improve their health. As a movement, it certainly seems to be growing.

So why don’t we lose muscle whilst not eating?

We have enough fuel in reserve to keep us going for a long time (days/weeks) so a few hours without food will have no negative effect on our health. We don’t lose muscle mass as it is not a primary fuel source – muscle is the contractile element of our bodies. We rely on muscle for movement, not for fuel. Admittedly muscle is a store of glycogen, but it is not a PRIMARY store – we access muscle glycogen when other sources run out.

The body uses a combination of stored fat and glycogen to meet our energy demands. The ratio of these is determined by the intensity of the activity we are undertaking. You can even train in a fasted/semi fasted state (semi fasted meaning a small meal high in protein and fat and very low in carbs). I was so skeptical at first, but really you don’t need to eat before you train as I found out personally!

I have had people also ask “why do people in hospital lose muscle then?” Simple. You lose muscle when you don’t use it – I doubt many people in hospital are training hard. They aren’t losing their muscle mass because of lack of food – hospitals don’t starve people! Muscle is metabolically expensive, so the body catabolises muscle that isn’t being used, and when you are sedentary you aren’t using the muscle – effectively the lack of activity has given the green light to the body to break down this muscle tissue.

As with anything in health, you have to treat yourself as an individual and find out what works for you. Experiment with the protocol and explore the effects. What works for one wont work for all, so do as I did and experiment.

After reading lots about intermittent fasting I gave it a go. I have a huge appetite so was concerned about not eating. My plan was simple – I would do an 18 hour fast and see how I felt. I would eat my evening meal around 7pm then not eat again until lunch time the following day (1pm). This was an easy way to do it as it meant for 8 hours or so of my fast I would be asleep so not tempted to eat!

The results were interesting! At no point did I feel hungry, I didn’t suffer dips in concentration or energy and I even performed a light gym session just before lunch (allowing me to refuel with my meal). Hoping this wasn’t a fluke, I repeated it again a few days later, and kept the self-experiment up for a month.

Over the month I lost 4kg and 4.5% body fat.

My business is a Personal Training and Corporate Fitness company. I also run a weight loss group using a diet plan I invented called the Handy Plan. I stared to teach intermittent fasting as part of my weight loss groups and Personal Training and it has gone down really well! My results have improved and the clients have been delighted with their progress. I explain how people can integrate it into their lives, the resistance against it is minimal.

The worries people have is that they worry they are starving themselves. I get around this by explaining that the fast is a MANAGED period without food – not simply avoiding food until you cant take it any more. I also explain the benefits and let them know they can drink all the water they want during the fast. It is not nil-by-mouth!

There are lots of ways you can fast – it depends on what suits your schedule. Some people fast for 24 hours, once per week. Others only eat during an 8-hour window every day. As I said earlier, experiment on yourself and find out what works for you.

I do one fast per week of 18 hours. If I have a particularly indulgent day or night where I eat more than usual I will repair the damage by fasting the following day. All I can say is my first-hand experience and that of my clients has been positive and there have been no negatives reported so far and I have been using it and teaching it for 1 year!

I have outlined the ideas here, but there is a lot more about the topic. Read more by Brad Pilon (his book is Eat Stop Eat), Martin Berkhan (www.leangains.com) and John Berardi (www.precisionnutrition.com).

If this article has piqued your interest in intermittent fasting, read my follow-on article, outlining practical tips on how to successfully introduce intermittent fasting into your life!

Intermittent Fasting Tips