What is fasting?
Fasting is where we choose not to eat for specific time frames. In fact fasting is a practice that is preformed by many cultures and religions around the world for millenniums.
During the Stoneage and forward to the Great War and the War, people would break bread/dine between dawn till dusk, for example today7th January 2024, Sunrise 08:13 and Sunset 16:04 which is 7hours 51minutes of daylight.
In todays world the ancient practice has and is manipulated to support trends among the health-seekers and dieters, and avocates claim its benefits i.e.:- improved health, long term weight loss and even anti-aging effects.
What does the term 16:8 translate into; 16 hours of fasting i.e. not consuming any food or drink, apart from water, for that interval of time each day, and eating within the 8 hour interval of that day.
16:8 is just one term used to describe the period of fasting alternatively known as 16:8 intermittent fasting. You can practice 16:8/16:8 Intermittent fasting as regularly as fits your lifestyle i.e. once, twice a week or daily. Intermittent fasting is personal to each individual and how you feel each day, to whether you practice it or not.
Intermittent fasting can be flexible, by doing whats known as dirty fasting, which is where you can eat/drink uptp 100kCal in the time frame of practicing fasting.
16:8 does offer health benefits research studies reveal, and if you wish to read the independant studies please check out https://health-study.zoe.com/intermittent-fasting The Big IF Study which was based on daily reports from over 37,500 participants; The learning results reveal;
Positive impacts
Energy 22% increase
Mood 11% increase
Hunger 6% reduction
Bloating 11% reduction
Snacking 1% less
No Impact to weight change or sympton burden
Negative Impact None reported
With out realising we all practice fasting, as none of us eat when we are sleeping however our fasting windows are all different, unless you have studied intermittent fasting you would probably not recognise that you were actually fasting.
How does fasting for 16 hours a day support our health and well-being;
If we constantly eat throughout our waking hours we are constantly topping up our livers source of glycogen, a stored form of glucose energy, gained from carborhydrates. When we stop consuming food the body depletes its glycogen quite quickly. 'Our glycogen stores can take about 10 hours to be used up if we fast' - more quickly if we are active with in the fasting period i.e. workout, Zumba... Once our glycogen stores are used up, our bodies start searching for alternative sources of energy. Its at this point, the body starts to break down stored fats into substances called Ketones to get the job done. This metabolic switch does so much more than meets the bodies energy needs, the switch from using glucose to ketones is a triggering point - it shifts your metabolism from focusing on storage and growth to being all about repair and replace.
In what way can you actively begin observing intermittent fasting. Establish your current fasting window. Then ask yourselfwhy do you eat at these times i.e. routine, hunger, social... Determine what your eating window should be; fitting it into your life/schedule i.e.
9am - 5pm
10am - 6pm
11am - 7pm
12pm - 8pm
1pm - 9pm
You might consider 16:8 to much to start with as a fasting window and prefer to start with 10:14. i.e.
8am - 6pm
9am - 7pm
10am - 8pm
11am - 9pm
and by degrees work your way up to 16:8 if this is something you desire to practice.
Resources:
Book:- The complete guide to Fasting: Heal your body through intermittent, alternate day, and extended fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore