Posted on 07/24/2016 3:11:08 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
Is it a good thing to ‘starve’ yourself each day, or a few days of the week? Well, a tonne of evidence indicates that timed periods of fasting are a good thing.
Fasting has become increasingly popular over the years, especially among the health community. Whilst most health practitioners are afraid to recommend eating less due to the stigma involved, it still doesn’t alleviate the incredible benefits of fasting when used sensibly.
In this article, we’ll explore 10 benefits of fasting that will surprise you, and how you can incorporate them into your own life.
1. Fasting Helps Weight Loss
Fasting can be a safe way to lose weight as many studies have shown that intermittent fasting – fasting that is controlled within a set number of hours – allows the body to burn through fat cells more effectively than just regular dieting.
Intermittent fasting allows the body to use fat as it’s primary source of energy instead of sugar. Many athletes now use fasting as means to hitting low body fat percentages for competitions.
2. Fasting Improves Insulin Sensitivity
Fasting has shown to have a positive effect on insulin sensitivity, allowing you to tolerate carbohydrates (sugar) better than if you didn’t fast. A study showed that after periods of fasting, insulin becomes more effective in telling cells to take up glucose from blood.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifehack.org ...
At this time of the year I really struggle to eat and in a special way, towards the evening/nighttime because of the heat/humility even with the ac’s are on. I have to force myself to eat.
Doesn't mean what you say is wrong, but it might be a myth.
Try it and see what works for you.
When I don't eat at night, I wake up with more energy and a very clear head.
But that might just be me.
I will let all the freepers in on a secret about Opie. I have, in the past, (and can again if I don’t keep an eye on it) suffered from severe depression bringing me to the verge of suicide. When I am in that state of mind I will fast for 5 days minimum. No food at all. Only water. I tell you. It works better than anything.
Opie’s theory...
I believe... We are so comfortable in our American lives that we no longer know how to physically react to emotional disorders. When we fast, we shock the body in to thinking “Oh my God, I’m starving.” and 100% of all bodily functions smack the brain in to a shift to survival. All the emotions and damaging thinking disappears.
Maybe I’m just nuts, but it works and has worked more than any other treatment I have sought.
A week of no food yes. 24 hours no.
It may be the milk that’s helping you go to sleep, not the cereal.
I am also a biker (and row in the winter--see homepage).
Most folks eat WAY TOO MUCH...otherwise they would not be obese.
Exercise is wonderful, but I have known many fit folks who are fat.
Diet is a major part of getting healthy, I think.
Great post.
I have a tendency to get depressed and fitness and fasting do indeed seem to work...though I never made the connection with fasting until you mentioned it.
A plate of fast food fries and the hamburger bun on your sandwich probably contained enough sugar for a cup of over-sweetened coffee. Elevated blood sugar followed by crash. McDonald’s fish sandwiches give me the blood sugar shakes a couple hours after eating one every time (but they taste so ****in’ good!). Corn syrup and sugar are the crack cocaine that hooks their little customers and they make their profits on fries and drinks.
[[Skipping a meal is one thing, but fasting generally has a negative impact on your metabolism, especially as you grow older. More often leads to yo-yo weight loss and gain.
Eat smart and feed your metabolism.]]
Skipping meals , especially breakfast on a regular basis is bad. It slows down your metabolism .
Fasting a few days a month a day at a time on the other hand is not bad for you nor will it cause yoyo weight gain .
It actually helps clear your system up to spend a day drinking nothing but water especially with todays high sugar diets . If you can go a day with out sugar entering into your system you will find that you wont crave a lot of junk type foods .
I am thin , don’t skip meals and fast one day a week .
I don’t crave junk food nor high processed foods like most people do. I love the taste of good chocolate but don’t crave it or any other deserts , pastas , pizzas , breads etc .
Sugar and foods that turn to sugars feed yeast in your gut that causes cravings , the more the yeast overload the more you crave foods that feed the yeast . Fasting and drinking nothing but water helps break this .
Read the article.
I’ve always been underweight because I have hyperthyroidism. No other incentives for me to fast. My colon and I get along well, general health good. ;-) Even with my fun thyroid, at age 77, metabolism has slowed down. Women have it even harder as they age.
I’ll read the article, but based on observing my family, I am an advocate of simply maintaining a decent diet on a daily basis and being reasonably physically active.
A lower metabolism would work against that.
That said, if an animal were a farmer and just had to wait for a bumper crop, the outcome might be different.
However, humans are animals and our metabolisms don't have the intellect to plan for a bumper crop at some later time.
We gain strength (adrenaline) when desperate.
Just a wacky theory, of course.
#5 ....... duh.
11. You save millions on your grocery bill.
If Hillary gets in we will all be fasting....
For every meal, for the foreseeable future...
Coincidentally, a few days ago I finished a 48 hour, water only fast. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I had planned for a 30 hour fast, but went for 48. I had never done anything like it before, and once I had made up my mind to do it, it was not as bad as expected it to be. Fasting clearly has many benefits, and it seems that periods of fasting were probably the status quo for humans for thousands of years.
Like hell. I can outrun that Fat A anytime. They ring the dinner bell at the White House all she is going to eat is my dust.
I’m not overweight at all but I have to take a medication that makes me crave food I have never been able to resist once I take the meds but I only eat low carb so it doesn’t seem to harm me I usually have a cheat every two weeks or so.
Also your stomach RESETS with fast. Like Hillary’s Big Red Reset button. Regular eating, your stomach gets used to stuffing it with junk food.
Blood pressure drops to ideal after a 2 day water fast. Try it.
Then the stomach resets.
Your body cannot store fat without carbs/sugar feeding your glycogen. it’s all about insulin response.
Never eat after sundown...the gabooboo man will get you.
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