Incredible Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Chances are, you're already intermittent fasting. For example, during sleep, this is at around 8 hours of straight intermittent fasting for most people (unless you're snacking a lot through the night). The idea of intermittent fasting is to prolong those hours in order to give your body time to digest, saving valuable energy in the process!

• The "No Meat Athlete" website says, "As a vegan Registered Dietitian, I’ve see many people in my practice get the benefits of a Whole Foods Plant Based (WFPB) diet combined with intermittent fasting. In fact, combining WFPB and IF is a highly anti-inflammatory way to eat, and may reduce your risk of disease even more than either approach can on its own" (Link).

• There are many good approaches to intermittent fasting, and there may not be a "one size fits all" way of fasting. Some people may choose to fast in the morning and others in the evening. Some people may choose to fast daily and others occasionally. However, I will say that eating up to 3 hours before bed is generally not recommended by most health practitioners. 

"The Daylight Diet"

• In the following video, Dr. Michael Greger emphasizes the importance of understanding circadian rhythms in our day. For this reason, he believes it's best to avoid eating before bed. Rather, he recommends eating "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper."

• Paul Nison wrote a book called "The Daylight Diet," which promotes avoiding meals before bed. Paul emphasizes, "One thing I learned a long time ago at the Hippocrates Health Institute from Brian Clement was,  it's very beneficial to give the body as much rest as possible when it comes to our diet. We have to get used to missing a meal. If you're used to eating three times a day, work up to doing a fast. Maybe cut down to twice a day. And then a week later cut down to once a day. And then after you get used to that maybe you can cut down to just doing a liquid [fast]" (LINK).
• The following video by vegan nutritionist Goji Man also recommends a "Daylight Diet" approach that avoids eating before bed, so that your body is not digesting food while you're sleeping. According to Goji Man, eating before bed often leads to morning exhaustion.

"Nothing Til 4"

• Markus Rothkranz says that intermittent fasting "helps everything from digestive issues to energy, depression and mental clarity. This is one of the keys to the fountain of youth! This is what Cara and I do... Put simply, you eat for 8 hours a day and eat absolutely nothing for 16. A typical time to eat is 12 noon to 8 pm or 11 am to 7 pm" (Link). In addition to intermittent fasting, Markus follows a high fat, whole foods vegan diet.

• Dr. John Fielder in the following video promotes a 2 meal plan as well, eating a fruit based lunch and a salad based dinner. 

• According to one large peer review study, there is "evidence that nightly fasting for more than 13 hours supports a lower risk of cancer recurrence" (Link).

• Some recent studies provide evidence that intermittent fasting can delay the onset of tumors in animals. While more research is needed for humans, it has been proven that intermittent fasting helps humans reduce inflammation and achieve optimal insulin levels. Both of these factors are linked with cancer in humans.

• Dr. Mercola says that intermittent fasting "helps suppress inflammation and fight free radical damage" (Link).

• Thomas DeLauer isn't a vegan or vegetarian, but he promotes intermittent fasting for vegans and vegetarians for its benefits. However, he emphasizes that vegans shouldn't usually intermittent fast more than 2-3 times per week, because veganism is already quite restrictive.

• Brenda the "Real Food Rebel" beat lyme disease and a terrible parasite infection using natural means. In her blog, she promotes intermittent fasting. "My diet is primarily Wahl’s Paleo. I still eat about 9 cups of vegetables each day. After 5 years of morning smoothies, I have switched to a big salad with some type of animal protein for breakfast. I have almost quit fruit altogether and only eat it occasionally. I just feel stronger and have better blood sugar balance without much fruit. This is my 5th year with intermittent fasting. My first meal is at 11 am and dinner is usually around 5 pm. I still have my morning black coffee and drink water the rest of the day" (Link).

• John Rose says, "Just by not eating breakfast, you're going to see tremendous benefits...How can we help people understand the benefits of just not eating breakfast so they can realize that what they're eating has so much effect on them?" In the same video, he says, "We are so far removed from the killing of the animal that we don't realize the cruel thing we do when we eat an animal" (LINK).

• Dr. Pompa uses fasting in his parasite cleanse. "After addressing food, the last aspect of a parasite healing diet involved intermittent fasting as well as prolonged water fasting. Intermittent fasting is the period you go without eating, from your last meal of the day before bed until your first bite the following morning. Start out with a 12 hour fasting window, and increase it to 16-18 hours of daily fasting. With time, you should include 24 hour fasts (ideally once a week), and incorporate longer block fasts (5+ days) at least once a year." (LINK)

• Dr. Axe says: "Another study in 2015 found that a longer duration of nighttime fasting was associated with a decrease in markers of inflammation" (Link). 

• Dr. Robert Cassar doesn't eat meat, and he practices intermittent fasting daily. He recommends avoiding all alcohol and processed foods. Most of his diet is raw foods, with some cooked beans, avocados, olive oil, free range eggs and many other organic vegetarian foods. Having successfully treated parasites in his clients, he tends to recommend higher fat foods over higher sugar foods.

• According To Dr. Eric Berg, Intermittent Fasting has several benefits.

"1. It can cause neurogenesis, which is the formation of new nerve cells by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factors.

2. Improvement of the hippocampus – the GPS of the body
3. Protects against plaque formation
4. Increase insulin responsiveness thus correcting insulin resistance.
5. Decrease blood pressure and cholesterol
6. Reversing depression" (LINK)