The benefits of intermittent fasting
The practice of intermittent fasting has long been in mainstream knowledge and one of the most common questions I get in my educational work is ‘does intermittent fasting really work?’…
My answer is, yes, it can be pretty miraculous actually in supporting healthy weight loss, improving blood sugar regulation, digestion, energy levels and brain health. However there are some caveats that I believe are important to highlight (see the end of this article).
First of all - what is intermittent fasting?
Put simply, it’s the practice of fasting over a period of time each day or every week. Some people will do alternate days of prolonged fasts, others will do a moderate daily practice where they only eat in certain windows of time - say from 12pm - 6pm.
Whichever way you decide to do it, it’s important you choose a framework that works for you, which doesn’t leave you feeling tired, hungry, jittery and over restrictive. You can even see incredible benefits by maintaining a minimum of 12 hours overnight fast (so, for example, you stop eating at 8pm and don’t eat again till 8am the next day).
Because I love the nerdy stuff, and also because I think it’s important to highlight the science/evidence behind why we engage in such practices, here are just some of the benefits of intermittent fasting:
Insulin levels drop and sensitivity to insulin increases. This helps to facilitate the use of stored fat as energy, and therefore helps weight loss. It also means more balanced blood sugar levels, which can translate to more stable energy, mood and improved cognitive function.
Fasting switches on a cellular process called ‘autophagy’, which literally means eliminating cellular debris and waste, and improving cell regeneration and repair. This helps to prevent accelerated ageing and can improve our defences against every day insults, such as free radical damage.
Fasting stimulates the growth of new brain cells and switches on neurotrophic factors, such as BDNF. This translates to better concentration, mood, and memory.
Fasting has been shown to have a positive impact on the gut microbiome by encouraging the growth of beneficial organisms, as well as having a positive impact on gut barrier health, therefore preventing ‘leaky gut’.
Lastly, we see a change in genetic expression. This is because fasting switches on genes that are related to preventing accelerated ‘senescence’, or in other words, cellular ageing. This helps to keep inflammation and oxidative stress at bay.
So you see, the benefits are indisputable. But is intermittent fasting for everyone? I don’t think so. At least not in certain situations.
For those that are burnt out, suffer with chronic fatigue and are prone to hypoglycaemia (dramatically low blood sugar), I would tread cautiously with intermittent fasting. This is because fasting will inevitably place ‘stress’ on the body, and whilst this stress is positive for most people and helps the body kickstart adaptive responses that lead to better health, for those who’s nervous systems and hormonal responses to stress are out of whack, it may be best to work on other things first.
Instead, we work on sending messages of ‘safety’ to the body first, through nutritional repletion, sleep regulation, stress management tools and phytotherapy, before other practices such as fasting.
