Fasting for Health

Edit: I wrote this post before starting my nutrition course through the Nutritional Therapy Association. Knowing what I know now, I would never do a prolonged fast after a trip to Italy because you need to be fat adapted before fasting..even just intermittent fasting. I honestly think it was foolish of me to do the fast because I could have gotten longer-lasting results from eating real food and working out. But I’m human and I’m still learning, too!

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Hello beautiful people. Today we are going to talk about fasting. I debated writing this post, but then remembered that I always want to be real with you guys regarding my own health journey and the things I learn along the way. Because I believe fasting is so good for the body and mind, I feel the need to speak my truth about it.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Fasting is not for everyone. Especially those who have struggled with eating disorders in the past, those who are on certain medications, or those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. I am not saying that you should fast, I am just sharing my own research regarding fasting and talking about my experiences. I am not responsible for your health.

Ok ok..let’s dive into it. Fasting is when you willingly abstain from food for a given period of time.

First off, I would like to say that I would never EVER do something to hurt my body–ok, well, with the exception of drinking alcohol (lol whoops.) Even when I was desperate to lose weight and fix my relationship with food, I never tried to fast because society told me that starving yourself is bad for your health; “your body will eat your muscle for fuel” & “you’ll go into starvation mode” and finally “your metabolism will slow down” they said.

Self harm makes me cringe. Even though I’m not at my comfortable weight, I still love my body and want to do right by it. Skipping meals and potentially losing muscle never seemed like a viable option. Until I discovered that skipping meals isn’t bad for you. Actually, It could potentially improve your health.

Recent studies are finding that fasting is an amazing way to detox your gut and liver, reduce inflammation, lose body fat while gaining muscle and even prevent and reverse diseases such as type 2 diabetes!

When you fast, your body gets a break from constantly digesting food and has a chance to focus on other things. It’s like when you are so busy with work and life that you don’t have time to clean your house. But then you quit your job and suddenly you have all this spare time to get rid of clutter and organize everything! If you fast for long enough, your body will go through a metabolic process called autophagy: when old, weak cells are killed off and fresh new cells are formed. Dat new new.

Our ancestors used to fast all the time. Before farming and refrigeration, hunters had no guarantee of finding food. Feasting and fasting was a natural part of life. Nowadays, we have grown accustomed to eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between. We eat a lot! It makes sense to me that eating less frequently throughout the day (otherwise known as intermittent fasting) would help with anti-aging, weight loss and disease prevention.

I’ve decided to do a 2-3 day bone broth fast. This won’t be my first fast–I did a 4 day fast about a year and half ago and I’ve dabbled with intermittent fasting. But this is the first time that I feel educated coming out of the fast, which is the most important part in my opinion. It doesn’t make sense to fast and then binge out after the fast. It’s important to practice mindful, healthy eating for lasting mental and physical results. I’m choosing to do a prolonged fast but you can also get the benefits of fasting by doing intermittent fasting. In the resources section at the end, I link an article with more info on different ways to do IF.

With anything in life, I believe knowing your why is so important. I’m fasting to elevate my health and my relationship with food. Also to reduce inflammation in my body post Italy trip. I will probably lose a lot of weight during the fast, but most of it will be water weight. I expect to lose about 2 pounds of fat while fasting for 3 days. Please note, you could also reduce inflammation and lose weight easily by following an anti-inflammatory diet (see resources below).

I personally don’t believe that our bodies burn muscle while doing short fasts. Most people report gaining muscle while fasting as long as they continue to do strength training (use it or you’ll lose it). Makes sense to me. Our bodies store fat to provide energy during periods of famine, so I think they’re smart enough to use that stored fat instead of burning muscle first. I plan on continuing my Pure Barre & [solidcore] workouts as usual. I’ll be incorporating bone broth into my fast to help with nausea, muscle recovery and sleep. Bone broth contains many minerals and 10 g of protein per serving so I won’t feel like I am denying my body proper nutrition!

Have you ever tried fasting or intermittent fasting? Let me know in the comments!

Carla

Fasting Resources

If fasting is not right for you but you still want to reduce inflammation in your body and lose weight, try these anti-inflammatory diets:

Tone it up 5 day detox
Dr. Frank Lipman Be Well Cleanse

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