INTERMITTENT FASTING

There are lots of approaches to fat loss, but none is as nearly as powerful as intermittent
fasting. If you want fast results, Intermittent fasting is your flying ticket!

It's the magic move that helps you to improve or gain back your interpersonal relationships
and self-esteem - Really powerful stuff!

Much more than weight loss, intermittent fasting is proven to also help with the following
amongst many other benefits:
● It lowers blood pressure and insulin levels - which improves mental clarity.
● It increases the human growth hormone - which helps us with lean muscle mass.
● It induces autophagy - which is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, to
regenerate newer, healthier cells.
● It improves cholesterol profile - You sure want to check that out!
● And we know that it can also reduce your risk for developing cancer and Alzheimer's
disease, which I like to call type 3 diabetes - Trust me, you want to protect your brain.

Quite a list huh?

So, what exactly is intermittent fasting and how does it work?

First, Intermittent fasting is not starvation. I tell people to fast and they think, they're not
going to eat for a long time. No!

The word intermittent means 'on-and-off'. So, Intermittent Fasting is basically, a cycle of
hours where you eat first then you don't eat (or vice versa).

What that means is that you have hours of the day when you eat all of your meals and
snacks (a.k.a your Feasting Window) and that's the only time you'll eat, then at the close of
that window, you begin your 'not-eating' hours (a.k.a your Fasting Window).

I like to put it this way: the Feasting window is potentially your Fat storing window, while the
Fasting window is technically your Fat burning window.

Now, here's why intermittent fasting works:

Remember, your body needs energy to function all day, and your body will typically get the
energy from the food you eat (calories/glucose).

Your body stores some of the glucose in the liver as glycogen, and some as fat in the fat
cells.

So when your body needs energy, the first thing it does is it goes into your liver and your
muscles and it takes the stored glycogen until it completely knocks out the inventory.
Now, your body is very smart, the moment you run out of glucose, your body recalibrates
itself and it goes for the fat cells. It then begins to break down the excess fat into fatty acids
and ketones, which it then converts to energy in a process called Ketosis.

No matter what you do, as long as there's an iota of glucose somewhere in your body, the fat
will always be kept safe in your fat cells. It will not convert.

So, you practically want to pause food for a while, to allow your body to burn through all the
sweet and delicious calories you had a few hours ago till it can start feeding on the stored
fat. This is exactly what fasting does to your body. It drives your body away from food energy
and focuses on melting the stored fat for energy.

THE 16:8 GOAL!

Although there are different methods of intermittent fasting you could explore, the typical
method I recommend to most of my clients is the 16:8 daily time frame. That means you're
going to eat for only 8 hours a day and fast for the remaining 16 hours.

Now, I know that may seem a little overwhelming at first, but at a second glance, it's actually
very simple. Guess what, if you slept for
about eight hours out of the 16 fasting hours, that means you have just four fasting hours
before and four fasting hours after your potential feasting window. So, if you wake up at say
6:00 am, Your feasting window will start at 10:00 am and end at 6:00 pm.

Also, remember that the average person can typically go for about six hours after a meal
before they start feeling hungry, so, technically you are covered till about midnight before
hunger sets in - thanks to ghrelin - which by the way is short-lived. Interestingly, that gives
your body a whopping ​six hours​ to burn fat for fuel!

Now, if for any reason you feel the 16:8 time frame is too aggressive to jump into, I
recommend you start with a 12:12 time frame. Then you can slowly increase by an hour or
so every day until you've reached that 16-hour mark. The point is you want to stay
committed to whatever time frame you choose to start your intermittent fasting with.

And lastly, keep yourself well hydrated at all times. You can also have plain/black coffee or
tea.

In addition to that, you want to ensure that you give it a solid 30 days
before you determine if it's the right strategy for you or not.
And if you have concerns or any chronic health conditions, please make sure you discuss it
with your healthcare provider - Really important!

So, we know that in your fasting window, you're not eating food, now let's talk about your
Feasting Window.
Although you are at liberty to eat whatever you want, please be mindful that there are foods
that are going to be more advantageous for you to consume over others especially if desire
a quick result. It’s not possible to binge on junk foods during the eating periods and expect to
lose weight and boost your health.

Here are my recommendation -

Eat as clean as possible.

You want to cut out processed foods and ingredients as much as possible. Such as foods
that have been processed by manufacturers with synthetic chemicals, preservatives and
other additives before they end up on the Shelf.

My rule of thumb is; if it has more than five or seven ingredients, it is most likely unclean. I
believe it's difficult to have like 15 clean ingredients in one food, it just doesn't work like that.
If it says light, low fat or fat-free, leave it in the grocery store. Because if they took the fat out,
they put carbs and chemicals in.

Also, I want you to limit sugar and alcohol intake. By that I mean, I want you to not consume
them because they can offset all the good that you're doing.

Eat less carb.

The truth is, at its root, obesity is a state of carbohydrate toxicity - so also is diabetes. So,
here's a shocker for you: We don't need carbs.
Seriously! Our minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates is zero.

Why?

A nutrient is essential if we must have it to function, and we can't make it from something
else. We have such a thing as essential amino acids, a.k.a proteins, we also have essential
fatty acids, but, nope, no essential carbs. We make glucose, plenty of it from
non-carbohydrate carbon substrates such as lactate, glycerol, and glucogenic amino acids -
it's called gluconeogenesis. So, we don't need them. Eat carbs as the minority of your intake,
not the majority.

Focus on real whole natural foods, real foods do not come in boxes. Eat more of healthy Fat.
Fat tastes great, it is incredibly satisfying and it is the only macronutrient that's going to keep
your glucose - blood sugar - and insulin levels low. Buy the best quality protein that your
budget permits - they help build healthy hormones and also really important for satiety.
And if you must go with carbs, by all means, go for unprocessed carbohydrates. Again, you
want to keep yourself well hydrated.