Is fasting right for you?

Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that prescribes when food should be eaten, not which ones. Put simply, it means skipping a meal once in a while.
We all go for periods in every day in which we don’t eat—we call it sleeping—and the first meal after the long sleep breaks the fast.
But IF is a conscious decision to avoid eating for certain periods of time, ranging anywhere from 12 to 36 hours.
People have been skipping meals for as long as we’ve been people, but science started to study the act of skipping meals in the 1930s, when it was noticed that skipping meals led to longer, healthier lives in mice. Studies have since shown that lowering our calorie consumption by 30 to 40 percent can significantly extend one’s life expectancy. Limiting food intake may reduce the risk of many common diseases, and fasting may also increase the body’s insulin response, regulating blood sugar and helping to control hunger and cravings.

Want to give it a try? Here’s how to start, the basics, and how to move up:

• Start easy. For women, the basic prescription is to feed for 10 hours a day, and fast for the remaining 14. Ensure you get protein at every meal and eat whole foods, not processed ones.
• Make sure the meals you eat are in the right portions for you.
• Once you’ve mastered the basics and are starting to feel health benefits, start to fast once or twice a week for 24 hours. If you can’t go for 24 hours, go as long as you can and work up to a 24-hour period. One can experience hunger, nausea and cravings, and the temptation to give into them can be strong. This is not the time to cave into cravings for cake and ice cream.
• Drink plenty of water, staying hydrated is critical during periods of low-calorie consumption.
• Think of it as taking a break from eating; don’t think about it, think about other things.
• Don’t give up mid-fast and eat junk food. That’s worse than not fasting.
• Do continue to work out. Exercising will help you get better results, especially if it involves weight-bearing or body-weight exercises.
• Find what works best for you: when do you get hungry, how often do you work out, and can you work this in to your lifestyle, not just once or twice, but for the long haul?
We’d love to hear of your experiences, successes and frustrations with fasting. Intermittent fasting just might be the antidote to the effects of an ever-present food supply.