This week we are going to be talking about fasting!

Fasting has been a part of our spiritual and physical awareness for thousands of years, but one could argue that the need for fasting has never been so great as it is today! Even if your diet is excellent, the food, water, and air you consume is contaminated with chemicals and endocrine disruptors that speed up your body’s rate of injury and disrepair. I know, but it’s true we live in a toxic soup…The toxicity we have produced and what we continue to consume is really why we are seeing such a decline in health.

Fasting allows you to recoup a deeper reservoir of coping mechanisms at the cellular level to inspire detoxification, recovery of the metabolic system, and to repair pathways that are intrinsic to your physical and emotional wellbeing.

In particular we will be talking about something called intermittent fasting. Why intermittent? Well because this effects the brain and nervous system the most!  Let me explain what intermittent means.  It means fasting for subsequent hours such as stopping eating at 8PM and not eating anything again till 12PM.  This is a 16 hour fast.  You then eating in the 8 hour window. When we allow our body to take a break from digesting food for these intermittent times, it allows our body to go through a process of autophagy.  Autophagy is a process we go through naturally in our body that old cells die and are recycled, like our body cleaning house.  When this system is disrupted, it has been shown to create neurodegeneration. Short term fasting has been shown in research to dramatically upregulate neuronal autophagy.  In another mouse study, intermittent fasting was shown to improve cognitive function, brain structure, and neuroplasticity, which is fancy-speak for the brain’s ability to reorganize and rebuild itself.

Fasting has also been shown to help weight loss, reduce inflammation and benefit cancer patients to name a few…

Fasting is defined as consuming only plain water, or black coffee, or unsweetened tea.
Intermittent fasting works best when combined with a low carb-high fat diet of real, whole foods. For some that may have difficulty digesting fats, we need to look into their enzymes and energy pathways to make sure they can break down cholesterol effectively, or else they will get gallbladder pain/stagnation or what they call the “keto flu”. We will need to supplement as needed to make sure increasing good fats is something they can handle. That’s why working with a health professional can be really helpful to know what is personalized for you and what is safe.

The fasting timeline is one that will gradually develop.  At first you may not be able to last past 9AM if you are accustomed to eating breakfast.  This is where having tea/coffee with a good fat source like my MCT oil come in handy!  (link on my website). But, don’t beat yourself up.  If you only made it to 9AM, that is fine!  You will gradually be able to last longer and longer the more your body gets used to fasting and the more good fats you incorporate into your diet for fuel source.

The reason I mainly talk about intermittent fasting, is because this is generally what I find the most compliance with individuals.  Patients are more cooperative when they have a set schedule and about an 8 hour window to per day to consume their good quality whole foods.  Having someone fast for an entire day can be another feat.

At no point are you starving during a fast. You are mobilizing the average reservoir of 30,000 to 100,000 excess calories that are stored in the fat in your liver, abdominal fat, and peripheral fat – typically in that order. Even if your body is at the lowest end of the normal curve of ideal body weight, the body still holds 15-25% of its weight in central and peripheral fat storage.

On the other side of the fast is a healthier you. During the fast you have the opportunity to experience rest and reset for your immune system, mind, and spirit. This is not always comfortable on your initial attempts. Your gut-brain axis has never rested like this, invasive thoughts, cravings, self-doubt, emotional lability are all common in those first fasts.

The more often you fast there will be less trepidation, and it will be easier to sustain wellness and recognize milestones for each subsequent fast.

 

Intermittent fasting works the best when you can schedule around the same time every day, so usually week days are better.  You might try with 3 days a week doing a 16 hour fast (or working up to it).  You may stay at this, or switch to doing it everyday like me.

I do however suggest that some individuals do an actual water fast every now and then.  Why?  Well your small intestine for instance regenerates itself in three days.  Often times if there is a lot of inflammation, then fasting can really help this person’s ability to get rid of dead old tissue and regenerate new.

We also know that spiritually: fasting improves our mental clarity.  When you control your mind over food, you control your flesh so to speak. Fasting allows us to develop silent moments  to hear from our intrinsic intelligence. Researchers have linked fasting to an increased level of vigilance and mood improvement, sometimes euphoria.  Fasting mice have found to produce as much as 5 times the amount of endogenous opiates in just 24 to 48 hours of fasting!  Intermittent fasting also causes an increase in a molecule known as BDNF (brain-derivated neurotrophic factor) which plays a role in important aspects of brain function relating to mood and cognitive function such as regulating serotonin metabolism, improving synaptic plasticity, and increasing the brain’s ability to resist aging.

Another thought is that since fasting puts the body into a state of ketosis — in which the body is burning molecules known as ketone bodies rather than glucose — the ketone bodies themselves may play a role in improving mental clarity and mood, decreasing pain, and promoting neuronal protection against hypoglycemia and different types of brain damage.

After you are finished with your fast, it is best to break your fast (breakfast ;))  with a good source of fat or whole food.  If you break it straight with a carbohydrate you may not see as great of a benefit than if you continue with ketosis while consuming more good fats.  This doesn’t mean eating a bunch of dairy.. I’m really not on board with the amount of dairy most “keto” people consume.  There are other great sources of good fats like organic nuts, kefir, eggs, Coconut oil, grass fed meats and others.

Please note: If you are new to fasting, have pre existing medical conditions or are on medications, you should consult your personal healthcare provider before you begin multi-day fasting. IT is not recommended for children, for some people with diabetes or other issues with blood sugar, or for pregnant women.

Unlike long chain triglycerides, which must first bond with bile and cholesterol prior to being utilized as an energy source by the body, the medium chain triglycerides found in coconut oil can be metabolized directly by the liver into the very highest quality units of cellular energy available, called alpha-keto acids.

The byproduct of this process results in the formation of another compound, called a 1-monoglyceride. Depending on the specific medium chain triglyceride being metabolized, the resulting 1-monoglyceride will exert a varying degree of antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic, or antibacterial influence in the body.

Although it is well suited for cellular energy applications, the fatty acid profile of coconut oil leaves some “room for improvement” in regard to the 1-monoglyceride byproducts that it creates.

To address this need, Dr Hamel’s MCT Super Blend was developed. With over 4 times as much capric acid, and over 3 times as much caprylic and caproic acid as would be found in virgin coconut oil, Dr. Hamel’s Super Blend is vastly superior in regard to antifungal and antiviral applications. With almost 20% lauric acid, there will be ample quantities of monolaurin to exert its antibacterial influence.

Although this oil is not indicated for use as a cooking oil, it does happen to be perfect for adding to hot foods or beverages, or into cold foods as well, such as smoothies or salad dressings. It can be taken with food, or on an empty stomach, and though a person cannot eat too many medium chain triglycerides, a person can
eat too many too quickly. This will cause a sensation of transient nausea, or perhaps even diarrhea. If this should occur, reduce the amount being taken at one time and spread the target dose out over the course of the day. A nice starting point might be three Tablespoons a day (one Tbsp applied to each meal).

Get yours here: 

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