Fasting for the Health of it!
In my professional experience, the most overlooked, underutilized, and least expensive biohack is FASTING!
Most biohacks are rather involved, meaning there are actions that need to be taken to gain the benefits, and often there is a cost associated with those actions. Fasting is the complete opposite and requires you to literally do nothing!
Therefore, fasting is typically the first change we make with our clients. Whether the clients are working with us to relieve pain or to gain a competitive edge, fasting can help move them towards their goals faster with little effort.
What is FASTING?
Fasting is the avoidance of calories for a set period of time. The intention of avoiding calories is to bring about beneficial changes in our biomarkers. Simply said, it helps our body heal much faster than usual. As you may or may not be aware, 95% of our clients come in to see us due to some form of pain that has either taken them out of the game or is limiting their ability to get the most out of their life. Either way, fasting is the foundation for their recovery while working with us because of the benefits that can occur rapidly.
When we eliminate calories for a period of time, we give the body a chance to heal and recover. This break in the consumption of calories brings about several metabolic changes on the cellular level that accelerate the body's natural ability to repair damaged and diseased cells. In addition, fasting also gives our body a chance to heal the inner workings of our metabolism, specifically our mitochondria. In emerging studies, it is being shown that the health of our cells, specifically the mitochondria, our cell's power plants, plays THE key role in our overall health.
99.9% of the clients we work with have some form of mitochondrial dysfunction. Because of this dysfunction, they have increased inflammation levels and are typically insulin resistant, two factors that greatly reduce the body's ability to heal and stay healthy.
What happens when we fast?
When we fast by avoiding calories for an extended period, 20hrs plus, what happens in our body is similar to what happens in our fridge if we don't go to the grocery once a week……Things get cleaned out! When we refrain from eating, our body seeks out damaged and older cells and destroys them! This is called apoptosis and autophagy. Now, as we go longer and longer into a fasted state, the degree to which our body performs apoptosis and autophagy increases, and more and more of our less than optimal tissues get destroyed! This recycling of damaged tissues gives the body the ability to form new healthy tissue in its place creating a healthier environment inside the body.
The other benefit of fasting comes from its impact on our body's metabolism, specifically our tissue's ability to process the sugar and carbohydrates we consume. As you look around at the people that pass us by in our daily activities, there is no question that there is an obesity pandemic of epic proportions. This pandemic of overweight and metabolic dysfunction in humans directly results from our body's inability to deal with the amount of sugar and carbohydrates we put in our mouths.
When we don't eat for an extended period, we give the body a chance to heal at the cellular level. You may have heard of being insulin sensitive or the unhealthy opposite insulin resistance. Most of us live in this state of insulin resistance, myself included, until a few years ago. In this state, our body loses the ability to process sugars. Instead of the body being able to process the sugar in a timely and proper fashion, our bodies start to store fat in all the tissues of our bodies. As we consume more carbohydrates, our cells lose their ability to hold the energy, and as a result, our body starts to push fat into our internal organs, like the liver, the heart, and the area around our organs. This excess of fat that builds up causes a cascade effect……more fat creates more inflammation and causes more fat. It is an endless slippery slope as our health plummets downward.
Types of fasting
There are a number of different styles of fasting out there today. As fasting has gained backing from the medical community as a way to best prevent almost all illnesses, other fasting protocols have been created. Here is a list of the most common forms of fasting:
Time-restricted eating window fast
In this form of fasting, you fast for several hours each day, and you consume your calories in a specific time window. The most common are 16/8 and 14/10 windows.
24 hour fast
In this fasting form, you go 24 hours with no food. Then you break your fast and eat normally for the next 24 hrs. At the end of that 24 hrs, you repeat the fast again. You will do this for a set period.
Dry Fast
This form of fasting has some potential risks involved. A dry fast is exactly what it says, a fast, typically no more than 24 hours with no food or liquids consumed.
48 hour fast
You restrain from consuming calories for 48 hours.
72 hour fast
You restrain from consuming calories for 72 hours.
Multiple Day Fast
You retrain from consuming calories for multiple days in a row.
I hope you have found this information beneficial on your journey to a healthier you. If you have questions or would like assistance implementing fasting into your daily life, feel free to reach out with questions.
Best,
Kevin