Intermittent fasting is often used as a diet to “change” your body through weight loss or fat loss. But really, it’s a dietary eating pattern that should be used as a therapeutic tool to improve your health.
Though I don’t recommend it for everybody (it can be dangerous for some people!), there are many reasons why this could be healthy and beneficial to you if done right and under appropriate supervision.
So let’s talk about some of the health benefits you could receive from intermittent fasting.
INFLAMMATION
Controlling and lowering inflammation should always be a primary goal in your healthcare routine, because inflammation is at the root of so many symptoms, disorders and diseases.
Intermittent fasting can help to lower inflammation through autophagy (the process of removing dead or damaged cells), ketones, and insulin sensitivity (see below).
By lowering inflammation, you can improve your gut health, digestion, brain health, and energy, while preventing Cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
INSULIN SENSITIVITY
By taking a break from food, you help your body control your insulin levels by using up your body’s sugar stores, causing your insulin levels to drop and your body to become sensitive to insulin again.
Insulin sensitivity is very important for balancing hormones, weight loss, and even sleep.
The practice of intermittent fasting can help you to easily get your insulin under control and see improvements in mood, menopausal symptoms, weight, and a better and more solid sleep.
HEALING THE GUT
You know how much I stress the importance of a healthy gut, and intermittent fasting can do a phenomenal job of helping the process along.
It turns out that by fasting for short-periods of time, you can shift your gut microbiota helping to balance your gut bacteria, reduce bacterial and fungal overgrowths (like SIBO and candida), and leaky gut.
This is not only preventative, but is an effective therapeutic diet for most people who suffer from digestive issues or poor gut health.
SLEEP HYGIENE
It’s weird, but true – intermittent fasting can improve your sleep! Specifically time restricted eating (TRE) where you keep your window of eating to daylight hours, and fast when it’s dark.
While what you eat can impact your sleep just as much as when you eat, this sleep study did show that intermittent fasting decreased sleep arousals and promoted better quality of sleep.
A good sleep is beneficial for gut health, improved brain function and energy levels, reduced inflammation, healthy weight, and more balanced hormones.
WEIGHT LOSS
While I wouldn’t use intermittent fasting specifically for weight loss with my clients (it’s not a diet but more of an eating pattern), it can have added benefits of weight loss.
But, here’s what I need to stress: intermittent fasting is no better than caloric restriction for weight loss if you’re using it as a quick-fix diet.
However, if you have weight loss resistance – intermittent fasting can be extremely beneficial for weight loss due to it’s ability to improve sleep, insulin sensitivity, and reduce inflammation.
ADRENAL FATIGUE
Here’s a controversial one (but I stand by it).
If done right, intermittent fasting can be an amazing tool for healing your adrenals and improving your energy. It can also wreak havoc on your hormones (specifically for us ladies).
Practicing alongside your healthcare practitioner (e.g. your nutritionist!) with close monitoring, you can use intermittent fasting to nourish your adrenals, reduce cortisol, improve insulin, and see a decrease in menopausal symptoms.
Most importantly, you need to understand that this is not a diet but an eating pattern and can be dangerous for you, especially if you have a metabolic disorder (like diabetes or metabolic x). You should never do intermittent fasting without consulting your healthcare practitioner first.
