Intermittent fasting is skipping meals occasionally and allowing your body to go without food for an extended period of time. In our experience, it is best to fast intermittently throughout the day skipping lunches and dinners, as opposed to breakfast. The reason we say to enjoy your breakfast and skip other meals is because breakfast has an important role. It is called break-fast for a reason, meaning that you are breaking your fast from your sleep. When we sleep our body slows down, including our metabolism. It is the longest period that your body will naturally go without food. If you eat your meals too late at night, then your body never properly switches off. This can mean that your metabolism is still working and therefore other body functions will be working too, such as your kidneys. Ever wondered why you get up to pee frequently? If you are eating meals too late at night, then this could be a reason. If you stick to eating no later than 6 p.m., and you make that your last meal, then your next meal is breakfast. You might not be eating until 7 a.m., which means you are naturally fasting for 13 hours. If you skip breakfast and then don’t eat until lunchtime, you could potentially put your body into starvation mode, and as a result, your body will store more energy as fat. Skipping lunch, however, means that you probably won’t eat until 6 pm again, so therefore you’ve fasted for another 10 hours.
Let’s look at how your intermittent fasting could be.
Fasting Day
Breakfast – 7am
Skip snacks and lunch.
Dinner – 6pm
Bed – 10pm
Total fast hours 17 hours
Or
Fasting Day
Breakfast – 7am
Snack – 10am
Lunch – 12noon
Snack – 3pm
Skip dinner
Total fast hours 16 hours
Normal
Breakfast – 7am
Snack – 10am
Lunch 12noon
Snack 3pm
Dinner – 6pm
Bed – 10pm
Repeat a fast the next day (have an intermittent fasting day three times a week).
Here are the reasons why intermittent fasting is good for you.
- It can improve your metabolism. Studies have shown that people who regularly fast throughout the week can see a boost in their metabolism up to a 14% increase. [1] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-metabolism#metabolism-boost Your metabolism is how quickly your body converts your food to energy. The quicker the conversion means that your body is more likely to burn off fat cells once it has used up all the food energy.
- Weight loss. As your metabolism is faster, your body will switch to burning fat cells for energy required, therefore as you lose your fat cells through energy conversion, you will become slimmer and weigh less. You will also be consuming less energy from food on the fasting days, so naturally your input is lower than your output.
- Gives your immune system a boost. Restricting your diet can give your immune system a boost because science has shown that reduced calories can increase autophagy, which is cell recycling. The recycling of cells can therefore reduce inflammation in your body and have a direct positive response to the function of your immune system. [3] https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/intermittent-fasting-immune-system
- Helps to slow down ageing. Intermittent fasting has been shown in studies to increase certain antioxidants. Antioxidants are important for decreasing toxins in your body that can cause ageing. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4254402/]
- Encourage better eating habits. After fasting, you are more likely to choose healthier foods to eat. You will have to cut back on sugar, so naturally your body will demand other nutrients and vitamins. If you do find that you are craving sugar after fasting, then make sure you are organised with what you will eat after fasting. Prepare your meal in advance using a slow cooker, or have salads, vegetables and cooked meat readily prepared.
It’s a great time to consider intermittent fasting. The science is there to show that it can be beneficial to your health, so it’s worth giving it a try. If you want to do a longer fast, then consider our bone broth 3-day fast.