Intermittent Fasting - Fad or Life Saver?

I think it’s safe to say most of us have heard the words intermittent fasting. It’s certainly a popular trend, but is it just that – a popular trend that will fade into oblivion, like so many other fads and diets? Or is it truly something you should research and adopt for life? Let’s consider some facts.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting may be a popular trend, but it is nothing new. It’s as old as time itself. Our ancestors didn’t snack every two hours. They ate when food was available and fasted the rest of the time.

Let’s start by defining what intermittent fasting is and what it is not. Intermittent fasting, or IF, is not a diet because it’s not what you eat but rather when you eat that matters. You can follow your favorite eating method while doing IF; it’s entirely up to you.

The main idea behind IF is essentially time-restricted eating. Why? Because when we take a break from eating, our body can take a break from constant digestion. If our body’s energy is not being used to digest food, it can be directed to heal diseases, dissolve scars, lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels, restore balance, and get rid of excess fat, glucose, etc. The results are sometimes amazing. Intermittent Fasting does indeed boast an impressive array of benefits with clinically proven results.

So, what are some of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting? There are many, so let’s list just a few of the big ones:

• Weight loss - Many people come to IF for weight loss and stay for the health benefits. This was certainly true for me. Studies show that IF is very effective for weight loss, but you do have to be mindful of what or how much you consume in your fasting window.
  
• Autophagy - Fasting stimulates autophagy, a process by which the cells clear out all our old, junky proteins and cellular parts. Through this renewal process, autophagy plays a large role in preventing genotoxic stress, tumor suppression, pathogen elimination, regulation of immunity and inflammation, maternal DNA inheritance, metabolism, and cellular survival. At the same time, fasting also stimulates growth hormone, which tells our body to start producing some new snazzy parts for the body. We are giving our bodies the complete renovation. Autophagy is why IF is sometimes referred to as the Fountain of Youth.
  
• Memory - An excellent and comprehensive article, Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, goes into great detail and covers many aspects of the mechanisms and benefits of IF, including its effect on memory, heart health, cancer and inflammation in general. Memory is one of the significant benefits IF provides; it has been shown to improve brain health and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in later years. For me personally, IF has cleared the brain fog. I suffered from not being able to remember words and people’s names for years. No help came from Western doctors or functional medicine practitioners, but with the IF lifestyle, my brain fog is but a memory.
  
• Heart health. Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve many parameters of cardiovascular health, including blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin. (The Complete Guide to Fasting: How to Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day , and Extended Fasting by Jason Fung, MD, with Jimmy Moore, pp.157-163)
  
• Cancer and a host of autoimmune diseases - Ongoing studies are looking at the effect of intermittent fasting on patients with cancer. It shows great promise in impairing energy metabolism in cancer cells, and numerous animal studies have shown it inhibits tumor growth. Listen to Gin Stephen’s podcast Intermittent Fasting Stories. You will learn of hundreds of stories of people recovering from many conditions and diseases that they were told were “progressive and irreversible” by simply not eating for a period of time.
  
• Inflammation. Disease – dis-ease – is at its core a systemic inflammation. IF is incredible at reducing all inflammation. Clinical studies have found that all types of fasting are very effective at reducing specific blood markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, which might impact many chronic diseases, such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Mark P. Mattson, PhD covers the topic of inflammation in his aforementioned article Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease in quite a bit of detail.
  

My experience:

I have been living the intermittent fasting lifestyle for about four years and have experienced incredible health benefits. At the very beginning of my journey, I went for a dental cleaning and was told I had periodontal disease, and things didn’t look great for me. I had just started IF, so I decided to see what happened with time. In 6 months, I returned and was told that things looked much better on my dental front. When I returned another six months later, the dental hygienist was genuinely shocked, as she proclaimed that my mouth was completely healthy with no trace of the inflamed and receding gums, sensitivity, and state of the disease she had witnessed before. 

Another personal example I will share is my vision. Two years in a row, my prescription went down (over a diopter), and given that I was in my early 40s at the time, my eye doctor proclaimed I was officially too young for the nearsightedness reduction. The only thing I changed in both instances was to adopt an IF lifestyle.

My biggest reason for staying with IF for the rest of my life is that it genuinely brings a balance to my life. It feels great not to be burdened by lunch boxes and containers when I head out for the day. I grab my black coffee, and off I go. It feels fantastic to go through my day and have the mental energy to work without the “food coma.” I truly enjoy the flexibility. Do you know how I know I will IF for life? Because when I go on a cruise for a family vacation, I eat all the foods and drink my favorite drinks, but when I get off that ship, guess what? I cannot wait not to be weighed down by a full vacation stomach and to feel light again – I cannot wait to fast! When have you ever been able to say that about any diet? I know I have not. It feels organic, natural and right to restrict my eating to a small window.

How to fast:

So how does one fast? It’s simple and very flexible. Drink only black coffee, black or green tea, and water. No creamers, sugar, or anything that resembles food may be consumed. It all has to do with insulin. I recommend checking out the books I list below to understand the details, You can start by doing 16:8, meaning you fast for 16 hours daily and eat during an 8-hour window. I think that is too short of a fasting window to effect meaningful change, so if you choose to start here, get used to that window and then start stretching it. Get to 18:6, then 20:4, and so on. Find your sweet spot, and make that your routine. I enjoy fasting 20-22 hours daily and throwing an occasional 42-hour fast into my week, but your window may differ. I encourage you to research the topic further, read the books, listen to the podcast I recommend below, and find what works for you. This article is meant to give you a peek into the world of IF and hopefully inspire you to dig further and give it a go.

Books/Podcast Recommendations:

• Jason Fung’s “Obesity Code”- written by a nephrologist- is a phenomenal book that explains the role of hormones, specifically insulin, in great detail. After reading this book, you will understand the many roles of insulin in our bodies, why a clean fast is essential, and how fasting – daily or extended- will help you reverse insulin resistance and heal your body. Must-read. 
• Gin Stephens’ “Fast.Feast.Repeat” and podcast Intermittent Fasting Stories. Gin wrote several books, but this one is my favorite, as it shares her personal story and contains a lot of research. The podcast now has over 360 episodes and contains stories of people from all over the world. These stories will inspire you to fast.
• Jason Fung with Jimmy Moore’s “The Complete Guide to Fasting” – another well-written book full of evidence of IF correcting our mistakes.