Fasting

Rarely do most people in the Western world go for more than a few hours without eating. Continuous eating or snacking can lead to weight gain and more importantly, it can also undermine our metabolic health.

The practice of fasting or restricted eating (abstaining from food intake for a period of time) is becoming very popular. It is not a fad diet, it is an ancient practice woven into human DNA. Until the advent of the modern food industry our hunter-gatherer ancestors routinely went through periods where food was unavailable, forcing them to fast. This challenge shaped the evolution of our genetic code and physiology. Today, scientific research reveals the profound health benefits of engaging in intermittent periods of fasting.

The food we eat in abundance in the western countries – high in glucose, fats, and proteins - keeps us in a hyper-fed state, activating the mTOR pathway that promotes growth and fat storage and inhibiting the AMPK pathway that supports fat-burning and healthy blood sugar levels.

If we want to rebalance our metabolic efficiency, our bodies need to activate AMPK and turn off mTOR. By taking regular breaks from the ingestion of food, we shift our bodies out of the mTOR (fed) state and into the AMPK (fasted) state.

By fasting, we help our body to:

Decrease blood sugar levels

improve insulin sensitivity

Boost mitochondrial energy production

Decrease body weight

Fasting also supports the immune system to balance a healthy inflammatory response to better fend off and destroy invasive microbes. Fasting activates autophagy which is our body’s “housekeeping” process, which breaks down and recycles dysfunctional cellular components.

And as the appetite comes with eating, the opposite is true too. In fact, regularly fasting may improve appetite control, making it easier to tune in to your hunger and satiety cues. This means that although it may feel difficult initially, it will become easier the more you practice!

Pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, the elderly, anyone with a chronic disease or an eating disorder SHOULD NOT do any fasting. Before you go on fasting, ask your health practitioner if it's a good choice for you.

SOURCE: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783752/