Fasting has become a fairly widespread trend in the health and wellness world.
It comes in many different forms, but put simply, it’s restricting your calories.
Some fasts restrict certain macros (protein, carbs, or fats) and others restrict calories altogether.
There are fasts that last 12 hours and fasts that last a few days to a week.
The most common form of fasting is intermittent fasting.
Usually, intermittent fasting is an eight- to ten-hour eating window during the day, with a 14- to 16-hour fast in the evening.
If you’re weary about intermittent fasting, keep in mind, you already do it.
We intermittent fast every night when we go to sleep!
Extending your fast to a 14- to 16-hour fast may be a helpful way to optimize your health and wellness.
Let’s discuss a few ways that intermittent fasting affects your bodily functions.
Digestion And Gut Health
Our bodies are constantly working to keep us healthy. One way it does that is through our gut and intestines.
On average, our gut contains 100 trillion bacteria!
These bacteria are responsible for breaking down our food so that is available for digestion.
Intermittent fasting can be a great way to give your digestive track a much-needed break and, in effect, allow it to reset itself.
Fasting has also been proven to lower postprandial endotoxemia. Postprandial endotoxemia occurs after a large meal when your gut lining becomes inflamed.
It’s thought that meals in high fat and high-calorie density are the biggest cause.
While there’s still much to be learned on the topic, the inflammation is thought to be a precursor for many common diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Metabolism And Weight Loss
Fasting can potentially help you lose weight. One way it does this is by restricting your calories.
By having a shorter time frame of eating during the day, you’re less likely to snack and overeat, simply because there’s only so much a person can consume in a small amount of time.
Another way that fasting can help you lose weight is its effect on your insulin levels.
As you may know, insulin’s main function is to remove sugar from the bloodstream.
However, when insulin does this, it also blocks fat cells from releasing fat.
This means that when your insulin levels are up, your body is unable to burn fat.
Since your body releases insulin every time you eat, that stops your body’s ability to burn fat for a few hours after eating.
If you’re snacking all day long, your body is going to have a much harder time burning fat.
A study on Science Daily found that intermittent fasting can trigger a certain type of white blood cells called anti-inflammatory macrophages.
These cells then generate body heat which, in effect, stimulates fat burn.
To recap, while fasting you’re lowering your calorie consumption and burning fat at a higher rate, which can result in weight loss or weight maintenance.
Cognitive Performance
What and when we eat directly effects how our body is fueled.
This may have you wondering if fasting can benefit your brain.
In an ongoing study by the National Institute on Aging, people who are at risk of cognitive impairment are randomly assigned to an intermittent fasting diet or a control diet.
At the moment, the study remains inconclusive but the main focus of this is to determine whether fasting may have effects on learning and memory.
On the other hand, in a study by Joel K Elmquist of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, scientists discovered that fasting combined with exercise stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
BDNF plays a huge part in how our brains learn and memorize information.
They also found that fasting prompted a process called autophagy.
During autophagy, the brain stops cell growth and instead focuses on getting rid of damaged molecules and mitochondria.
This is somewhat similar to the theory that when you work out regularly, you need rest days.
Fasting is like a rest and repair day for your brain.
Conclusion
In conclusion, fasting may have a positive impact on your bodily functions such as strengthening and repairing your gut health, boosting your metabolism, and improving cognitive performance.
There are a variety of different ways to fast, but the most common way is to intermittent fast by restricting calorie consumption to only eight to ten hours each day.
When done safely, fasting can help optimize your full body health and brain performance.
Always check with your personal care physician before making dramatic diet changes if you are on any medications, you have serious illness, or if you are or are planning to become pregnant.