Let’s Talk About Fasting.

I suspect that most of you reading this have heard of and maybe even tried intentional intermittent fasting. This may have looked like fitting in all your meals into an intentionally smaller window or skipping a day (or more) of eating for health benefits.  The reason I want to talk about this today is because it is important to learn about how fasting affects the body and if it is right FOR YOU. Spoiler- it’s not going to be right for everyone in every season.

Lots of Pros:

• Great evidence-based research that shows many benefits, especially for men.

• Cellular health, longevity/healthy aging (autophagy).

• Improves insulin sensitivity (great for prevention/therapeutic for prediabetes/Type 2 Diabetes).

• Rests GI tract from having to digest for most hours of the day.

• Get in tune with how hunger vs satiety feels. Especially if you struggle with cravings, overeating, and mindfulness around food.

• Fasting as a spiritual practice that can help reduce distractions and foster a deeper connection with self/higher power.

• Beneficial for neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, and general brain health.

• Hormetic stressor: low-grade stress that boosts physiological and mental resilience.

Cons to consider:

• Can be a major setback for hormone and metabolism balance if they aren’t in a stable, happy place (more on this below).

• Can be a trigger if you struggle with disordered eating tendencies.  

• Can lead to or worsen undereating due to a smaller eating window. (Vicious cycle with hormones/metabolism).

Summary: there are many evidence-based benefits to intermittent fasting. However, if you are struggling with imbalanced hormones/impaired metabolism, long fasts should be avoided, for now.

How do you know if your hormones/metabolism are struggling?

• Irregular/missing periods

• PMS and painful periods

• Fatigue and brain fog

• Poor sleep

• Constipation, bloating, and slow digestion

• Irritability/mood swings

• Anxiety/depression

• Weight loss resistance

• Cold hands and feet

• Dry skin, brittle hair, and nails

• Underactive thyroid

Given all these pros, cons, and keeping hormone health in mind, here’s a quick guide to determine how to approach fasting:

-       Fasting up to 12hrs a day (between dinner and breakfast the next day), is still beneficial for most people and will generally not over-stress the body. This window will still give you benefits like promoting insulin sensitivity and resting the GI tract.

-       If your hormones are balanced (and you don’t check off many/any of the boxes above), then short-term therapeutic fasts from 14-16 hrs can be used for increased longevity/cell, digestion, metabolism, and brain health benefits.

-       If you found yourself checking boxes from the hormone/metabolism checklist above, your body doesn’t need any additional stressors right now. Avoid fasting for longer than 12hrs. Additionally, make sure you are eating enough balanced meals every 3-4 hours. This means eating breakfast, eating snacks, even an after-dinner snack if needed!

I hope you found this blog helpful! If you want to dig deeper into your symptoms and how to use food and lifestyle for healing and prevention, I’m your gal!