Intermittent Fasting...What, When, Why, etc.

   “What do you have for breakfast?” “I don’t eat breakfast.” “What do you mean you don’t eat breakfast?” It’s the most important meal of the day!”

   Or is it really? That’s right, I no longer eat breakfast, and I haven’t done so for a while. And this blog post is going to explain why I have given up “the most important meal of the day”. For the last year or so I no longer eat breakfast as a way of giving my digestive system a rest. I have adopted into my eating schedule something known as intermittent fasting. Wikipedia defines intermittent fasting (IF) as a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water only) and non-fasting.

   I know it might sound minor, but the actual act of eating, in and of itself, is stressful to your body. You don’t realize it, but trust me it is. So when you are eating, your body has to digest everything you are putting in your mouth. This causes stress and inflammation to your system (bloating, digestion issues, heartburn, etc.).

   Right now you must be thinking about how slow your metabolism will be if you fast and only eat a few times a day. Believe me I was at the front of the line asking that same question a year ago. The truth is none of what you have read or heard about eating 5 or 6 times a day is actually true.  As my buddy Jason Ferruggia points out, your glycogen stores will not be depleted, your metabolism will not slow down. I agree with Jason when he says that the mantra of eating 5-6 times a day was probably money-driven in some way. Protein shake companies or protein bar companies said that you need to eat 3 meals and three snacks. And what better way to get your 3 snacks than with a shake or bar filled with sugar, HFCS, preservatives, etc. (note the sarcasm).  And in terms of weight loss there was a study recently published in the British Journal of Nutrition with the title, “Increased meal frequency does not promote greater weight loss in subjects who were prescribed an 8 week equi-energetic energy-restricted diet”. You can read about that study by clicking right here.

   For the last year or so I have noticed a big difference in my sleeping, I am less stressed out about making sure I don’t miss a meal, I have a lot more time on my hands because I don’t have to sit down to a meal on the way out the door in the morning. I am no longer “eating on the run”, which is a very unhealthy way to eat as we all know by now.

   So basically, my eating day is as follows: last meal of the day is usually at around 9:00 pm, after my training is done. Then I eat nothing until the next day when my first meal is anywhere between 12:00-1:00. So my fasting lasts for about 15-16 hours, sometimes I go as long as 17 hours though depending on what I am involved in. I “undereat” for about the first 5 hours between 12:00 and 5:00. I then “overeat” for the next four hours between 5:00 and 9:00. This has something to do with your body being in a parasympathetic mode. I will go into that more with my next blog, but for now just try and focus on implementing some intermittent fasts into your week. The goal is to be intermittent fasting seven days a week.  I will be honest though, sometimes I break the rule. Every once in a while I will have breakfast on Sunday morning with my family. Is it the end of the world when this happens? Of course not. I choose to do it because I enjoy it. And then I go right back to my regular way of eating.

   That’s the last thing I want to leave you with. This is not a “diet” or a weight loss “gimmick”. Will you lose weight this way? Probably. Will you be eating less calories overall? Probably. So those are all great benefits to this. But what you will be doing, more than anything else, is giving your digestive system a much needed break for 15-16 hours. So go ahead and start your intermittent fasting. And let me know how it goes. And as always, I welcome your questions or comments.