I recently started fasting and so far it is a positive experience:
-- First, like most married men, my wife got me involve with it. I must admit that as men we often complain about being involved in the latests health movement our wives get us involved in, but we know they are trying to keep us around longer, so we smile and participate.
Second, unlike anything I had tried before; like vegetarian diets, paleo diets, keto diets, potato diets, this was different. I could eat anything I wanted, and as much as I wanted, except for certain times of the day. Now that was very different.
Third, there were times of a 24 hour day I couldn't eat, but conveniently the largest chunk of time I was sleeping! COOL!
Fourth, the next largest chunk of time was after dinner. Okay, I just ate and now I don't eat until bedtime. Well that was pretty easy, after all ...I just ate!!!
Fifth, I needed to wait until noon for my first meal. I thought this was going to be hard. But quite honestly in my usual busy life I frequently skip breakfast and eat lunch early. I don't know why, it just happens that the first hours of the work day are full of... you know work. So this part turned out to be surprisingly easy. And it was accompanied by a level of alertness that surprised me. Somehow my body has been trained to focus on work intensely in the morning, and not being distracted or sluggish from breakfast or crashing from a sugar high of a donut and coffee made me pretty level emotionally. Surprised I was...
Sixth, I was expecting to feel miserable, deprived, missing my favorite food. but there was none of that, because there was none of that... I just changed when I ate...
Seven, You know how when you start something and it is going really welll and you are waiting for the thing which ruins it all or makes undoable?? The catch...you know like getting married and having all the sex you want, there is a catch...
But lo and behold there was no catch. I truly eat anything I want and as much as I want, but not while I am sleeping and not for a few hours before I sleep and for a few hours after I wake up.
is this harder then it sounds??
So I told my friend what I was doing, and he said, Oh Man! Fasting! I can't do that! You must be hungry all the time. And I said, well actually no.
I then explained that I fast for 7-8 hours a day, while I sleep. He laughed and said, that's not fasting! But I replied technically anytime you are not eating, your fasting.
So then he said, well that's not enough time for your body to know your fasting. And I said you're right.
He then looked bewildered and asked so what's the good in that...??
To which I replied I also don't eat breakfast when I first get up, I just drink water and tea and go to work.
He then said really? I said yeah, it's really not that hard to do. I leave the house all the time without a sit-down breakfast and just drink water and tea and coffee all morning because I am busy at work, and then I eat lunch.
My friend said , aren't you starving by then.
I said actually no.It seems that many of us don't have a real sit-down meal until lunch, and we are all fine.
I just take special care to drink stuff that has zero calories like black coffeee or unsweetened tea or water. It seems quite natural for the busy working person to just drink stuff from a cup and wait until lunch to have a sit-down meal.
Oh exclaimed my friend, Then what do you eat? A salad? He said with a mocking tone.
No actually I eat whatever I want, pizza, hamburgers, fish, and also a nice dessert like a cookie or some ice cream. Now my friend was both appalled and very interested.
So you count that time your sipping black coffee and not eating as fasting?
Yes I replied. I fast another 3-4 four hours, sometimes longer if I am really busy on the job and then I eat a nice big lunch of what ever I want. Then nI eat dinner between 5-6 pm and don't eat anymore in the evening so I am fasting for 2-3 hours before bedtime, then I go to sleep and fast another 8 hour. So with these tricks I can get in 12-16 hours of fasting a day and that is enough to trigger all the health benefits
That's crazy he Sid. So what good has it done you?
Well I said there are many health benefits to fasting.
Health Benefits of fasting
Weight Loss
I told him my wife lost about 12 pounds of the most stubborn fat she could never lose and she feels great. She finally got rid of the rolls on her back and while she still has a tummy, she looks great and feels great.
Lower Blood Pressure
I don't have high blood pressure, and neither does my wife, but apparently it lowers blood pressure.
Lowers cholesterol
Apparently it lowered my wife's cholesterol, better then the dieting she was doing.
Cellular Regeneration
Apparently humans are not made to just get old and breakdown. We have reparative mechanisms where we retool our cellular machinery to take out the trash. Old proteins and other cellular trash are fed into machines which break them down and recycle the components into new parts.
Through a Process called Autophagy we can improve our immune system, clean protienacious debris from our brains and improve nerve connections making us think and feel smarter.
Apparently there is a scientific way to measure your age and aging process and this intermittent fasting triggers these reparative processes.
Intermittent Fasting is not misery
When I think of fasting I think of some skinny guy in a loincloth who looks like he is starving and also looks like he is hungry and miserable.
So believe me I was not to excited to find out my wife was fasting. But then as she explained it to me, intermittent fasting doesn't really focus on deprivation of pleasure like your favorite foods, it just focuses on delays.
You still eat the food you want, but you delay your meals to allow long periods of time when your busy sleeping and working to think about food, something most modern people are very familiar with; skipping breakfast and having late lunches.
So Intermittent fasting is not about deprivation because you eat what you want and you eat as much as you want, but you just don't do it certain times of the day: while your sleeping and in the morning right after waking up and in the few hours before bed after you ate dinner.
It's really not deprivation at all, it's timing, delay, not deprive.
Intermittent Fasting is not complicated
Another surprise to me was that this isn't really complicated.
Intermittent fasting is relatively easy to do.
And there are very few rules.
Rules
Don't eat breakfast. You get up and drink water and then make some tea or coffee, no milk and no sugar and head off to work with no breakfast. This proved to be very easy, because I am thinking about work, not about food or fasting.
While fasting you drink liquids which contain no calories; like water, unsweetened tea or unsweetened coffee.
Do eat a nice big lunch.I eat a lot when I break my fast; two eggs, a protein shake, fruit, nuts, vegetables. Sometimes I eat sausage and eggs, other times I eat a hamburger and French fries. It depends on my appetite. There are no off limit foods.
Do eat a nice dinner, but usually between 4pm and 6pm.
Don't eat after dinner. This turned about to be very easy, because I just ate, so I am not hungry. So after you eat whatever you want between 4p and 6pm, and as much food as you want for dinner, you don't eat any more before you go to bed. This is no problem because dinner is the last meal of my day, and I eat until I am full and then I get ready for bed, shower, brush my teeth, prepare for work and unwind with a book or some music.
Don't eat while you are sleeping. Pretty easy, unless you suffer from sleep eating.
So to recap intermittent fasting:
Skip breakfast
Drink only water, unsweetened tea or unsweetened coffee until 12 noon
Eat a hearty lunch of anything you want and as much as you want.
Eat a hearty dinner, probably smaller then lunch between 4p-6p.
Don't eat after dinner. You're full, so don't be a piggy.
Don't eat while you're sleeping. Don't wake up to eat, just sleep.
Tomorrow do the same thing.
Results
Now your eating for 6-8 hours of the day and fasting 16-18 hours of the day and you don't feel deprived of anything, your just eating whatever you want on a strict schedule.
And this is enough to give you all the benefits of fasting, by fasting intermittently.
