The Incredible Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

I’ve written a few posts on this and I thought it was worth revisiting as I’ve recently been reminded about how powerful intermittent fasting is for sufferers of type-2 diabetes and anyone with insulin resistance, inflammation and treating cancer. That list is by no means exhaustive. Not only is it really effective for burning fat and building muscle (and therefore increasing testosterone), but your body goes through a number of amazing changes too. It’s actually how Hugh Jackman got into shape as Wolverine. If it’s good enough for Wolverine, it’s good enough for me.

I’ve recently written my second book called The Vitality Secret which I’m launching at the end of this month. It is all about combatting inflammation, the hidden health condition behind many common illnesses including asthma, eczema, psoriasis, IBS and Crohn’s Disease. It’s also behind much more serious illnesses that you can develop down the road including cancer, metabolic syndrome, heart disease and many neurodegenerative (brain decline) diseases. The research led me to some significant findings.

Did you know that type-2 diabetes can be cured simply by removing sugar and high glycemic carbohydrates form your diet, and increasing fat and (non starchy) vegetable intake? Unfortunately, that is not what is recommended by the American Diabetes Association that recommends to consume “health whole grains” which actually often trigger a sharper blood sugar response than table sugar. When you remove what causes insulin resistance in the first place (sugar and high GI carbs) and increase healthy fat intake (which does not trigger sharp blood sugar spikes) it’s possible to reverse type-2 diabetes. This is made even more effective when combined with intermittent fasting, which has been proven to an excellent method to normalise insulin sensitivity, exactly what our modern diet does not do. We’re used to consuming high GI carbs throughout the day which turn into sugar and leads to insulin resistance and inflammation. When this happens, testosterone levels drop off too and all of our hormones are thrown out of whack.

The science behind this is fairly new (since 2005) – and solid. In short, our energy supply comes from either glucose (from carbohydrates) or ketone bodies derived from stored fat. Insulin is your fat storing hormone and for as long as you trigger high levels of insulin, your body will not switch to fat burning mode. It takes about 8 hours after a meal for your body to switch to fat burning mode. This means if you continue the fast (instead of breaking it with breakfast) your body continues to be in fat burning mode. This also stimulate more growth hormone (GH), your ‘fountain of youth’ hormone (as it’s an anti-ageing hormone), which is secreted during a fasted state and most when you’re in REM sleep. GH prevents muscle loss and helps your cells and muscles repair.

The research is also related back to ancestral times when our ancestors would not be consuming 3 large meals throughout the day, or even 6 small ones (there is no science behind that working by the way). We actually enter “starvation mode” after about 3 days, not within a few hours. The old theory was that starvation mode meant your body would store fat as your body would not know when the next meal was coming, and therefore you should eat 6 small meals in a day. Science has actually proven that one large meal of, say, 2000 calories in a day will not change your metabolism.  Our ancestors would go for days without food and then feast on a large meal. They’d also not be consuming tons of grains throughout the day and lots of starchy vegetables like potatoes. An incredible part of intermittent fasting is that it can increase growth hormone in men by up to 2,000% and women, 1,300%.

Here are some benefits of intermittent:

1. Normalise insulin sensitivity
2. Boost mitochondrial energy performance (cellular energy)
3. Lower inflammation
4. Lower fat & triglyceride levels
5. Reduce food cravings
6. Increase anti-ageing
7. Increase Human Growth Hormone
8. Reduce oxidative stress
9. Increase brain function
10. Lower blood pressure

Here is what Dr Mercola has to say about Intermittent Fasting:

The best method is to reduce your eating window to 8 hours. This means after your evening meal, say you finish eating at 8pm, you don’t eat again until midday the next day. And then you don’t have to think about what you eat (within reason). This does not mean pigging out on everything imaginable during that time! It can take 1-2 weeks to adapt, and then your body gets used to it and you feel like a superhuman.