Intermitting Fasting: Phase 1 - The introduction
Humans have been fasting since the beginning of time and yet, fasting is one of the new fads in a long line of fads. This month we’ll spend time learning a bit more about fasting, what it is, what the benefits are, how to do it, some hacks that allow you to fast and not feel hungry. For those of you who are interested in trying intermittent fasting, I’ll also give you the protocol to follow that will ease you into intermittent fasting and help you learn which type of intermittent fasting protocol works best for you.
So what is intermittent fasting?
In the most simple terms, intermittent fasting is just creating windows of time where you eat and don’t eat.
Some people think that intermittent fasting is a diet, which is false because you can consume the proper amount of your daily calories while fasting, just in a more narrow window of time.
The basics of how it works:
7 PM Finish dinner then consume nothing else before bed.
7-9 AM Wake up skip breakfast and go for a walk or get workout instead
11 AM: Have Brunch or Lunch and you’ve completed your first 16:8 intermittent fast! (Chances are that there are many weekends that you’ve done this without even realizing it(
Now you might be thinking to yourself, “But wait, I thought it was bad to skip breakfast”. The only reason skipping breakfast can be bad is if you use skipping breakfast as an excuse to go crazy for the rest of your day. There is nothing wrong with eating breakfast, and if you love breakfast you can reverse your fast to eat earlier in the day and leave dinner alone. For me, it works best to fast in the morning so I can sit down and enjoy a meal together with my family as it is the only meal we consistently eat together. Regardless of your preference, my hope over this month is to help you learn some of the benefits of longer periods of rest between meals as well as some strategies to successfully incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle.
Phase 1: The 12-hour fasting period (feel free to shift the times around to suit your needs, but try to stop eating AT LEAST 2 hours before bed). This protocol can be followed all week long and really just starts to get you out of the terrible habit of post dinner snacking. If you don’t snack before bed, this should be very easy for you!
7 PM Finish dinner then consume nothing else before bed.
7 AM Wake up and have breakfast after a 12 hour fast. (Easy PeasY)
Next week we’ll dive into the benefits of intermittent fasting as well as how to enter phase 2.
