I believe it is; in support of my argument, I have been practicing fasting and low-carb & keto diets for a year to lose over 20 pounds. Note that for the past 40 years, my yoyo diets generally lasted less than 6 months. So, in the past, I would have given up by now. The diet and fasting lifestyle is different; it is sustainable. The more I practice this lifestyle, the more I know, “I will never go back.”
AM or PM?
About 80% find that fasting overnight and in the morning is easier than fasting at dinner time. For the other 20%, the morning people find that fasting in the evening and eating a big breakfast is better suited to their lifestyle. Whichever way you choose, the outcome is the same – weight loss, improved health, and less brain fog.
We should all take a clue from the wild kingdom. Have you ever seen a fat lion, zebra, or gazelle on the National Geographic channel? Food is abundant on the African plains, but they only eat what they need and chill for the rest of the day. The same is true for all the other free-roaming animals. They all seem to know just how much to eat, and then they stop eating.
Our bodies know when to stop eating, but we have trained them to ignore these signals and keep eating. So much so that we may no longer know when to stop. The good news is that you can relearn this, it will take time and effort, but you can do it!
There are other remarkable health benefits from limiting food from time to time. We will cover more of these in future posts.
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Review – Timing your eating window is critical to successful fasting and weight loss.
– AM or PM fasting works equally well; choose one and try it.
– 12 to 18-hour interruptions in eating (fasting) is a healthy thing to do.
– Fasting in humans and other animals is a survival tool we all have.
Food for Thought – Bone broth. Using commercial bone broth in cubes or powders is fine if you have no other alternatives. Remember that these concoctions have huge amounts of salt and other chemical preservatives that are not as healthy as homemade. If you have an Instapot, crockpot, or pan for the stove, then you have the tools to make tasty, nourishing broth. Once you have tried it, I seriously doubt that you will ever go back. Note: Yes, I keep some commercial broth in my cupboard for emergency use but rarely use it.
Trouble Shooting – If you have been intermittent fasting for several weeks and still have excessive hunger, then it is time to evaluate. Fasting should be clean or pure; if you use diet soda or artificially flavored water to get through your fast, you sabotage your efforts. The chemical sweeteners in diet drinks can trigger insulin releases and stimulate ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Put that stuff in the garbage and go to black coffee, tea with no cream or sugar, unflavored club soda, or good old water.
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