Periodic Fasting

What does it mean?

Well, it means you have a longer break of eating. Anything from 12 hours to several weeks.

Even 10 hours of fasting every 24 hours is positive. At fast, the body rests, recovers, repairs bad cells and runs a small detox. Or a large detox, depending on how long the fasting is.

When we don't eat, magic is created in the body. The body gets time to break down and eliminate damaged and bad cells and build up new healthy ones.

Advantages of fasting:
- improved mental acuity and concentration
- lower levels of insulin in the blood - increased energy
- increased fat loss, you will more easily go into ketosis (which means that the body is driven by fat instead of carbohydrates)
- weight loss and reduction of body fat
- slowed down ageing
- cell purification by autophagy
- reduced inflammation
- increased chance of avoiding disease
- increases your awareness of the difference between hunger and craving
- chance of lower blood pressure

Common problems... In some cases, constipation, headache (take a little extra salt), dizziness, heartburn or cramping are experienced.

What is autophagy? The word comes from Greek,  auto (self) and phagein (to eat). The meaning of the word is simply to eat yourself. It's the body's way of getting rid of bad and broken cells.

In 2016 Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discoveries of the mechanisms behind autophagy.

Periodic fasting is easy and free, you don't have to shop and cook, it suits most people.

You should not fast if you: - have problems with low weight - are pregnant or breastfeeding - have, or have had, eating disorders - are under 18 years of age.

You can fast, but should probably check with your doctor if you: - have diabetes or are taking prescription medication - if you have been severely stressed or exhausted (because fasting in itself is stress for the body)

PERIODIC FASTING IN PRACTICE

HOW TO DO IT

 

What can you eat and drink during fasting?

The basic rule is that you should not eat or drink any calories.

Drink water, tea and some coffee (not too much)

 

You can fast longer or shorter periods.

Longer less frequent and shorter periods more often.

 

Daily.12:12 — The simplest form of fasting.

But it's still said to be positive for your health. You simply do not eat for 12 hours every day. This means that if you have dinner at 6 pm, you can have breakfast at 6 am the following day. Not that hard, is it?

 

16:8 – This is what I practice.

It means daily fasting for 16 hours. It is the simplest and probably most common variant. For example, you can skip breakfast.

In practice you do not eat between, for example, dinner at 20 o'clock, and lunch the next day at 12 o'clock. Skipping breakfast is a good fit because your body is already fasting when you wake up in the morning. (If you haven't been up for a night sandwich...)

 

20:4 – It is sometimes called the "Warrior diet"

you eat all the food within 4 hours of the day. Benny in the band  ABBA

used to practice this diet.

 

24-hour fasting

That means fasting from dinner to dinner (or lunch for lunch).

You can fast almost forever. If fasting for more than 48 hours, it can be smart to take a multivitamin to reduce the risk of nutritional deficiencies. Salt and proper water is important too. The world record in fasting is 382 days!

Maybe you think it goes against all common sense. But our ancestors probably didn't have the supply of food that we are used to AND THEY were OK.

Today we are bad at feeling the difference between hunger, cravings and "now is the time for food".

 

The American professor Dale Bredesen has managed to improve memory in Alzheimer's patients through fasting.

There are even strong signs that five days of fasting or fasting diet (very little calories during the day), can counteract the onset of cancer. Fasting weakens the cancer cells and boosts the immune system and the cancer cells need glucose. During fasting, the supply of glucose is strangled, which the cancer cells do not like. The body's own defence against cancer get better chances in the hunt for cells that behave abnormally.

Try it out