Fasting is being used in many cultures and it is perfectly normal to fast. You can either use the Intermittent fasting, which is usually used to lose some weight or you could try to go with the prolonged fasting which is a bit riskier and requires a consultation with a health professional. We are going to talk about the intermittent fasting.
For those who don’t know, fasting is the willing abstinence or reduction from some (or even all) food, drink, or both. They can be absolute and water fasts. Absolute fasting is when you restrict yourself from drinking and eating everything. Water fasting allows you to drink water, black coffee, and tea. There are other kinds of fasts which may be partially restrictive, making you avoid only certain foods or substances.
Well even though fasting has always been a very important part of almost of religions, it also gained a huge popularity as a dietary option. However, do you know what actually happens to you while you fast?!
1. Sugar Breaks Down
During the first few hours of fasting, your body breaks down glycogen and storing sugar for the body’s energy needs. Approximately 25 percent of these sugars go directly to the brain to keep it functioning while the rest of the body uses the remaining 75 percent of consumed sugars.
2. Ketosis
According to “perfectketo”, ketosis is actually a process in which your body uses fat instead of carbohydrates for energy. This is a process of fat breakdown. It starts 5-6 hours into the fasting and it depends on how much sugar you have in your blood. That is when your true fasting starts. To enter and stay in that state, you can eat fat, but you should definitely avoid carbs.
3. Clean Yourself From Cholesterol and Uric Acid
This process will make your body release cholesterol and uric acid into the bloodstream. This is the process called detoxication. And it is normal to experience headaches, dizziness, fatigue, muscle pain, joint aches, etc. It will come and pass. It is a way for your body to reset itself to the “factory settings”.
4. Detoxing the Emotions
Once you’ve fasted for about six hours, you may start experiencing more than just hunger. You may also become emotional and feel angry, sad, or frustrated. When these emotions occur, your reaction to the emotions is to understand that these feelings are reasonable at this phase of your fast. You’ll need to find a way to distract yourself and take your mind off your hunger. Try to find a method of distraction that doesn’t require lots of physical effort, however.
5. Your Digestive System Will Take Some Time Off
You will eat less and the digestive system will take some rest. However, it will not stop or anything like that.
6. Two Ways to Fast
The Intermittent Fasting
This type of fasting is usually used for weight regulation. It basically means that you can only eat at a certain time during the day and avoid eating in between. This means calorie counting and NO SNACKS! The most popular is to eat during 8 hours of the day and fasting during 16h. For example, you can fast from 8 pm to 12 at noon (16 hours of fasting) and you can eat during the next 8 hours. You can do that as often as you like.
Prolonged Fasting
This is fasting during which you only drink water or some natural juice. You will need to consult your doctor for this one. You don’t know if your body can handle such kind of fasting.
What are the Benefits of Fasting?
The benefits of fasting for your life and health include:
• Weight loss.
• Normalizing insulin sensitivity. If your insulin sensitivity is normalized, you might prevent type 2 diabetes.
• Normalizing ghrelin levels, which keep you from feeling hungry.
• Reducing triglyceride levels. Lower triglyceride levels decrease heart attack risks.
• Possibly slowing down aging.
• Fasting may clear your skin. Perhaps normalizing your digestion.
The health possibilities of intermittent and prolonged fasting are exciting enough to consider more deeply. Consult with your healthcare provider, and if you decide to try an intermittent fast, let us know in the comments! Show this article to an intermittent faster you know to see what they think.
Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!
References: 24hviralphotos.com, apost.com
