These days everyone is on some diet or another – paleo, ketogenic, low calorie, baby food diet, cabbage soup diet, or even unknowingly the SAD diet (Standard American Diet) . Not to be left out, I decided to join some of the crowd and give intermittent fasting a try. I talked with someone who was eating from 11 am to 7 pm and I thought “that could fit my lifestyle”. Also, I’ve been reading enough to feel this is a legitimate diet.
The alternative was to count calories and 1200 calories doesn’t let you eat much. I tend to favor healthy foods like the Mediterranean diet anyway, and use some paleo foods as well, but didn’t want to restrict myself that much. I’m too much of a fan of vegetables and fruit to do the all meat, all day diet my friend was doing, so intermittent fasting was worth a try.
My motivation? To lose a couple of inches off of my waist. However, I knew there were other benefits and sources indicate that intermittent fasting has been found to increase muscle mass, increase longevity, boost metabolism, reduce blood pressure, and help prevent heart conditions, some cancers, memory loss and Type 2 diabetes. I also find it helpful to try what my clients may be asking about so why not be a guinea pig for nutrition!?
From conferences I’ve attended, I knew that fasting lets the cells cleanse themselves – a process called autophagy. I also knew that the digestive tract needs a rest, something called the migrating motor complex which seems to provide a “housekeeping” role between meals by sweeping residual undigested material through the digestive tract. Clean is good!
What was my experience for Day One? I noticed I felt lighter, my stomach and abdomen felt happy. I made it through Bible study and zumba without really missing food, though I had a twinge of a headache about the time I was getting ready to eat. All in all, not that hard.
Day Two: I got on the scale and had gained 2.5 pounds. Wait a minute, that is NOT the result I was looking for, but I plan to give this a week and see what happens then. Stay tuned.