When applied properly, intermittent fasting is not only great for your metabolism, it’s also a great way to break bad habits and cut cravings for trigger foods, too.
PHYSICALLY
Physically, it helps drain your muscles and liver of glycogen by forcing your body to use up stored calories and energy. It also lowers insulin and increases growth hormone release.
In some ways, intermittent fasting actually mimics high-intensity exercise.
Hormones activated by intermittent fasting help you burn more fat and preserve muscle (if you don’t overdo it).
MENTALLY
Mentally, it can break bad emotional habits or negative neuro-associations you may have with food and provide you with more energy and focus.
As always, with any great tactic, more is NOT better.
If you abuse this strategy your body may start shedding lean muscle to slow down the metabolism and the result is no weight loss at all. Essentially, your body thinks you are starving yourself, so it will have to use amino acids from precious muscle tissue to survive.
Research shows this only happens if you overdo it.
Studies show that for men the 16/8 protocol (16 hrs. of fasting, eat within 8-hr. window) protocol, and for women the 12-14/10 (12-to-14 hrs. of fasting, eat within 10-hr. window) works best.
For example, here's what I do:
I finish eating my last meal by 8:00 PM. I do not eat any food until 11:00 or 12:00 Noon the following day. I drink tea, decaf coffee (with some Nutpods “cream” and stevia).
For my first meal, I usually have either a nutritional protein smoothie with supplements, or eggs and veggies. I have a protein shake or nutrition bar for a snack, and dinner is usually protein and veggies in a big salad. I drink lots of water, often with Bragg's apple cider vinegar and spices during the day.
Bottom Line: Eating Breakfast Does NOT Aid Weight Loss Efforts
In fact, by SKIPPING breakfast altogether (with intermittent fasting) and eating your calories later in the day, say between 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, or 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, has been shown to increase anti-aging Growth Hormone while boosting your immune system and regulating your hunger hormone (Ghrelin).
It also normalizes insulin sensitivity, balances leptin levels (i.e. your #1 fat burning hormone), and even reduces oxidative stress by decreasing free radicals, helping you LOOK younger.
Mounting evidence also confirms that when you skip breakfast and use some form of intermittent fasting, your body becomes adapted to burning FAT (instead of sugar) as its primary fuel, which can make you LEANER, while dramatically reducing your risk of chronic disease.
Here are just some of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting:
- CONTROLS insulin
- Naturally increases Growth Hormone WITHOUT exercise
- Cellular repair
- Increases metabolic rate
- Increases fat burning
- Lowers risk of diabetes and insulin resistance
- Reduces inflammation
- Prevents disease and reduces cancer risks
- Improves heart health
- Increases brain health and fights against Alzheimer’s
- Live Longer
For Many, Hunger is GONE with 12-16 hours of intermittent fasting.
In other words, over time, fasting becomes a habit, and skipping breakfast feels natural.
Combined with the Boundary Scriptures to RENEW THE MIND, intermittent fasting has helped CRAVINGS for sweets and other high-carb foods to virtually disappear! YEAAAA!
My *favorite* Boundary Scripture to speak aloud when I feel tempted to break a boundary I've set (such as no sugar or gluten, or keeping to my Intermittent Fasting window) is:
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12). There is POWER in speaking the Word of God. It will transform your life as you renew your mind on God's Word (Romans 12:2).
See my blog post “7 Fast Ways to Lose Excess Weight & Honor God” for more tips.
EXERCISE BEFORE YOUR FIRST MEAL TO BURN MORE FAT!
If you will exercise (MOVE your body) at least 60-90 minutes BEFORE your first meal of the day, you will BURN MORE FAT.
NICE!
I like saying “move your body” because there is a certain stigma for many about the word “exercise.”
Intermittent Fasting is being Linked to LONGEVITY
A group of scientists from the NIA (the National Institute on Aging), the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that increasing the time between meals improved the overall health of mice and lengthened their lives compared to mice that ate more frequently.
Surprisingly, the health benefits were seen regardless of how many calories the mice consumed, or what they ate.
“This study showed that mice who ate one meal per day, and thus had the longest fasting period, seemed to have a longer lifespan and better outcomes for common age-related liver disease and metabolic disorders,” said NIA Director Richard Hodes, M.D.
“Prolonged, daily fasting times could help improve health and survival for humans,” said the study’s lead author, Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D.
Very exciting to realize that a practice as simple as Intermittent Fasting can not only help you drop excess weight, have more energy, lose cravings for unhealthful food AND PROLONG YOUR LIFE!
If you haven't tried Intermittent Fasting, go ahead and try this simple practice. Exercise before your first meal to burn more fat. Add the Boundary Scriptures to help keep you on track–RENEW YOUR MIND–and praise the Lord!
P.S. Discover more powerful tips that will show you how to Renew the Mind + Retrain the Brain to get super weight loss and anti-aging results even quicker! Enjoy my FREE Master Class REPLAY while it’s still available HERE at www.BeTransformed.today.
