While the following information is, I think, still important to know, make sure to check out my more-recent blog (posted on 8/10/19) that includes updated science on how there may be risks inherent to fasting. You can find it here.
When talking about fasting, let’s get two things out of the way. First, fasting is not “starvation.” Starvation is the involuntary lack of access to food. Fasting (in this case, “intermittent fasting”) is the voluntary restriction of food based on a certain schedule of eating (e.g. eating during an 8 hour window and then not eating for a 16 hour window, like over the time when you are sleeping, to let your body rest). It is NOT about weight loss (which I will get into more later). Second, fasting is not for everyone and you should always consult your health care practitioner before integrating such a life change due to any pre-existing medical conditions you have.
Why the disclaimer? Because I lived it! When I first started on my keto journey, I struggled with severe reactive hypoglycemia (read more about my personal story here). I couldn’t even go three hours without eating a full meal or else I would get very ill. So, I could not have fasted safely at that time. But, intermittent fasting is not about pushing your body to an uncomfortable level. (The central rule to intermittent fasting is: if you don’t feel well, eat!) It is about re-training your body’s response to blood sugar and insulin and encouraging cellular repair. Let me explain…
My whole life I have been an athlete. When you are an athlete, being good at what you do is all about muscle memory. You have to train your muscles to react and be strengthened in a certain way so that it becomes second nature. Our body’s response to blood sugar/insulin is the same.
I fast not because I am trying to lose weight (I love my body the way it is, no matter the size, thank you very much!) but because I recognize that I need to practice helping my body go for periods of time without food in order to continue to repair the severe reactive hypoglycemia I have lived with for decades. If I eat every two hours, as I was recommended to by my doctor when my tests first came back confirming that I was hypoglycemic, I will be hungry every two hours. And, sure enough, soon after I started following this advice, I was hungry and shaky even after less than two hours, which meant I then needed to eat even more often after that. Your body builds a tolerance to your insulin response (something called Insulin Resistance). So, given that your body releases glucose and, therefore, insulin, every time you eat, the more often you eat, the more dependent your body becomes on you eating often.
That’s what we call a vicious cycle! And, how do you break that cycle and help your body repair and once again become sensitive to blood sugar and insulin? By letting your body rest via not eating for a period of time (A.K.A. Intermittent fasting).
There are people who do intermittent fast who aren’t low-carbohydrate/ketogenic (although, frankly, I have no idea how that do it!). However, because the central concept of keto is that your body switches it’s fuel from glucose – which is dependent on food intake – to fat, keto makes intermittent fasting easy because your body is literally able to fuel itself. This means that your body really doesn’t need food all of the time. With keto, there is no more intense blood sugar crashes that cause you to feel that you have something to eat RIGHT NOW OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!
This ability to not have to be at the mercy of sudden, intense blood sugar crashes is what causes me to continue to be dedicated to incorporating intermittent fasting into my lifestyle. No more anxiety about if I will be able to travel somewhere but then have a sudden blood sugar crash that causes me to feel severely ill, even after I had just eaten. And, this complete elimination of severe reactive hypoglycemia happened for me only one month after starting keto! Imagine that – severe hypoglycemia my whole life and, just with a simple nutritional change, my life completely changed in a month! Are you now starting to see why I am so passionate about the low-carbohydrate/ketogenic way of eating?
To date, my longest fast has been 72.3 hours. And, the longest recorded fast lasted 382 days!
There are also a whole host of benefits to fasting, such as improved mental clarity, lower insulin and blood sugar levels, increased cellular cleansing (via biological processes called autophagy and apoptosis if you want to get technical). A wonderful central resource on this is a book appropriately titled “The Complete Guide to Fasting,” by the leading expert on the topic of intermittent fasting (and my personal hero, Dr. Jason Fung). For even more information, you can visit the Diet Doctor website, a central source of research and tips on how to life a successful low-carbohydrate/ketogenic lifestyle.
But, that’s not all, stay tuned for other blogs on the topic – including an exploration of myths and facts about such practices, how to handle the emotional component of fasting, how to talk to others about fasting, and tips on how to integrate such an approach to blood sugar re-programming and biological cleansing into your wellness lifestyle. Above all else, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or even schedule a coaching session with me to learn more about the science behind this powerful approach and how to safely explore it as an option in your own life.
