To Fast or Not To Fast

Your body was created to go in cycles of feast and famine. Now, we have all feast and no famine, with the great abundance of food available to us.

Intermittent fasting  has become a way to help people lose weight, get healthier, train better, practice mindfulness or religion, or just have an excuse not to eat for [insert time period here]. You can do a full fast with only unsweetened liquids or partial fast with only juice and veggies. Typically, a daily fast involves eight hours of eating time (fitting in your breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and sixteen hours of fasting, a weekly fast is 24 hours of fasting once per week, and a 5:2 is a very limited calorie intake on two nonconsecutive days and consuming a normal the rest of the week.

For weight loss, all of these are going to work, simply because you're consuming fewer calories than you normally would. In addition, your insulin levels drop while your growth hormone levels go way up. Both of these trigger fat burning. Granted, this only works if you're not going crazy in the 8 hours, 6 days, or 5 days that you're out of the fasting period.

Your cells appreciate a periodic fast, too. It's an opportunity for them to clean out the old junk that was clogging them up. This decreases the risk of disease, inflammation, and helps keep those cells healthy for longer. There's some evidence that intermittent fasting reduces your risk of cancer, helps you grow new nerve cell, and benefits your heart!

Even though these benefits sound great, fasting isn't for everyone. For those with high toxicity levels, fasting can without the proper nutrients can limit the liver's detoxification ability. It can cause blood sugar drops, especially in women. Fasting also takes some getting used to. To start out, you'll probably be extremely hangry. If you have a demanding lifestyle and can't get some time off to begin your fast, it may not be for you.

The most important things for fasting?

• Drink lots and lots of water
• Eat well during your off time
• Get plenty of protein and exercise to avoid losing muscle in long fasts
• Don't fast if you're prone to low blood sugar
•  Watch the caffeine
• Do not overeat when you break the fast
• Keep to low levels of exercise and don't overexert 
• Pay attention to your body. If you start to feel sick, stop.