One lifestyle factor that seems to be driving obesity and chronic diseases is the fact that we just eat too frequently.
Many people eat all day long- grazing which causes your body to adapt to burning sugar as its primary fuel. This then down regulates enzymes that utilize and burn stored fat.
Research has shown that many biological repair processes take place when there’s an absence of food. When you go without food for a period of time metabolic changes stimulate a natural cleansing process in which your body detoxifies and rids itself of damaged cells. When constantly in feast mode your body forgoes many of theses benefits.
There are several intermittent fasting programs to choose from including:
5-day Fast
On Day 1 you eat about 1000 to 1100 calories followed by 725 calories on the remaining 4 days. This can be difficult especially as you approach day 4 to 5. Your diet during these days is primarily plant, based low in carbohydrates and protein and high in healthy fat.
5:2 Fast
On this plan you cut your food down to ¼ of your normal daily calories on the two fasting days of your choice (600 for men and 500 for women) along with lots of water and tea. On the other 5 days of the week you eat normally.
Alternate Day Fasting
One day off, one day on. On fasting days you restrict your eating to one meal of about 500 calories. On non-fasting days you eat normally.
When you include sleeping time your fast can end up as long as 32-36 hours according to the author of “The Every Other Day Diet”. K. Varady, PhD says you can lose up to 2 lbs per week. Another benefit to alternate day fasting is that your body tends to adapt to the regularity of the program. In studies about 90% of participants were able to stick with the alternate day fast.
Peak Fasting
With this diet you restrict eating to a 6-8 hour window. Typically you eat either dinner or breakfast not both. Here you avoid eating for 13-18 hours. This strategy is more aggressive and as a result people see results sooner. In order to make this schedule work you need to skip either breakfast or diner. If you chose to eat dinner its important to avoid eating for a least three hours before going to bed.
Since you will be eating less, you will want to make sure you’re getting high quality nutrients from your food. Healthy fats are especially important as intermittent fasting pushes your body to switch over into fat burning mode.
Intermittent fasting helps reset your body to burn fat for fuel thereby optimizing insulin sensitivity. Fasting not unlike replacing deficient hormones also has a number of health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, reduced cancer risk, gene repair, increased longevity and dementia prevention.
If you would like more information on weight loss, supplements and Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement call the office at 704-727-5360 to make your appointment. Dr. Russo is Fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine by Dr. Andrew Weil.