Fasting - Tips, Benefits + How I Do it Safely
Intermittent fasting… You’ve probably seen how it’s gained a lot of attention in recent years and seen it promoted as being this magical lifestyle change that is good for everyone. Whats left out of the conversation however, is that we are all unique with different needs, and that not all types of fasting are good for everyone. This is especially true for females. So here I dive into what to be aware of with fasting, how I safely fast as a women, the benefits, and my top tips for fasting.
Let’s unravel this..
Fasting - What you Need to Know
Fasting can be so healing and beneficial, but it’s not right for everyone, at every time in their life, especially in the way that it is promoted in mainstream media. There are several popular ways to fast, such as fasting for 18 hours and eating within a 6 hour window, or completely fasting every other day.
But here is the thing - for women that are in their reproductive years, which is puberty until menopause, these long fasts have the opposite effect of what we see touted by the media. It actually destabilizes blood sugar, makes us less sensitive to insulin, increases brain fog, negatively effects mood and shrinks ovaries. Alisa Vitti, author of the new book IN THE FLO has thankfully brought this issue to light.
How has this been overlooked? Well, what typically doesn’t make it into the news is the participants in a case study that was conducted to determine the health benefits. Women in their reproductive years are very under represented in clinical studies, primarily because we have an infradian rhythm, which is an internal clock similar to the circadian rhythm but is all about our female hormones. We change through each month with our cycle and this makes it a little more time consuming (but certainly not impossible) to collect data. Basically, women who still have a menstrual cycle are left out of studies because it’s more convenient.
With intermittent fasting, most of the studies were done on men and post menopausal women, which traditional fasting can be very healing for. Studies that did include woman saw varying, and mostly unfavorable results.
How Fasting 16-18hrs Damaged my Body
Several years ago when I did traditional 16 to 19 hour fasts, it messed my body up. I had brain fog, poor mood, blood sugar issues, weight gain and hormone imbalances. I also saw my hunger cues completely go out the window, which meant not only did I not know when I was hungry, leading to unhealthy blood sugar crashes, but I didn’t know when I was full so when I started eating, I had no idea when to stop. It was really problematic and took over a year to rebalance once I stopped fasting.
Apart from the physical damage, it was also psychologically damaging because it created a very unhealthy relationship with food. I found myself constantly thinking about food, ignoring my body in order to adhere to the fasting rules, and essentially eating in a disordered way. Note that this can happen with any sort of dietary changes, so something to be conscious of.
How I Fast Safely
I fast for 12 hours, between dinner and breakfast, which is commonly referred to as circadian fasting. This type of fasting gives my body the benefits of fasting, without the negative consequences of longer fasts. I can fast for up to 14 hours and still feel okay, but I’m always checking in with my body to make sure my blood sugar isn’t crashing from going too long without eating.
What this looks like for me is having dinner around 7:30PM and breaking my fast around 7:30AM. I like to break my fast with a blood sugar balancing latte that has some healthy fats, fiber and collagen because I’m not big on early breakfasts. Then my first meal of the day is usually around 10:00AM, which I’ve found to work really well for my body.
Benefits of Fasting
When we eat food, our body is focused on digestion for about 6-8 hours which takes up a lot of it’s energy. After that period of time the body can really focus on detoxification and all of the other very important processes that happen in our body. This fasted state is also when we are most efficient at burning fat.
Fasting can support brain function, lower inflammation, stabilize blood sugar, aid in detoxification, heal the gut, support cellular health, promote better sleep, increase energy and reduce fatigue. Just 12 hours of fasting can give our body these healing benefits.
Tips for Fasting
Build Up to Fasting - If you’re new to fasting, start slow. Often we want to jump into diet and lifestyle changes with both feet and be this A+ student. Leaving us to white knuckle it to the 12 hour mark, which stresses out our body. So just like you would build up to doing a 10 mile run, you want to build up to fasting. I recommend shifting 1 hour at a time, working up the fasting hours. But the bottom line is, if your body is truly asking for food, eat. Don’t force a fast.
Eat Enough - Fasting is not an opportunity to skip a meal in a socially acceptable way. You should still be getting your normal amount of calories and nutrients, just in a smaller window of time. It may be tempting to skip meals for weight loss, but it will not lead to long term weight loss and can damage metabolism. There are better, more sustainable ways to loose weight - if you are looking for guidance on this, working with a nutritionist like myself can be deeply beneficial.
Balance your Meals - When you’re eating a nourishing, well balanced diet fasting for 12 hours can feel really easy. If you’re eating refined carbs, processed foods, and not enough healthy fats and protein then it can really feel like a struggle because not only is your body going to be undernourished, blood sugar will be all over the place. So at every meal, aim to include protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vegetables (or sometimes fruit) with a heavy focus on plants.
Late Night Snacking - If you are finding that you’re really hungry in the evening, after you’ve had your dinner and must have a snack, choose a fat as your snack. Not only is it satiating, but it allows some of the fasting processes in the body to continue so your body will still benefit. Fat doesn’t turn off autophagy like protein and carbs do. Autophagy is our body’s way of clearing out damaged cells in order to regenerate new young, health cells which is so important to health and preventing diseases. Good fat based snacks would be a spoon of nut butter, coconut butter, or a handful of nuts. So it’s not like you need to throw in the towel and have a pizza, but rather fast with healthy fat. Also note, even healthy carb based snacks, like blueberries, will take you out of fasting completely.
Allow Flexibility - If you want to make fasting a part of your lifestyle, know it’s okay to be flexible and give yourself a day of the week where you let go of fasting rules. This allows a sociable evening with friends and family, and having meaningful social connections are just as important to our health as what and when we eat. Other benefits of taking a day off is that it helps your body stay metabolically flexible, and it can leave us motivated to do circadian fasting the rest of the week because you’ve had a break and feel less restricted.
Extending your Fast, Safely - If it feels good in your body, it’s okay if one or maybe two days a week you extending your fast to 14 hours, but I’d only recommend doing this if you’ve worked up to 12 hours and can go longer with ease, not force. You should also have a good relationship with your body where are are in tune with listening to what it really needs. Everyone is different, but I personally follow 12 hour fasts, occasionally extending it to 14 (max) if it feels good. I never consciously make an effort to extend a fast, if I am hungry, I listen to my body and eat. If you’re watching the clock, waiting to eat, you probably need to eat already. We’ve been trained to ignore our bodies, but this isn’t healthy. When it’s “speaking” it’s for a reason, so listen up.
Assess Your Current Health Status - Fasting has so many wonderful benefits, but know there are times when it may not be helpful. Fasting is a stressor on the body, and if you’re struggling through stress related health issues, such as burnout, chronic fatigue syndrome or hypothyroidism (to name a few) fasting can add more stress and really exacerbate some health issues. For this reason, I did not fast during my recovery and made a conscious effort to eat a full meal within 1 hour of waking. So this is just to say, be in tune with your body and what it needs at this time - this trumps everything else, always.
Be Aware of Your Relationship with Food - If you are someone with any sort of disordered behavior around food, fasting may not be good for you right now. It should not be used as a way to control food, or manipulate weight. Even healthy good intensions can become a little murky, so make sure to check in with your mental health around fasting. If it’s causing anxiety or stress, it’s doing more harm than good.
Are you looking to improve your health and balance weight? Do you find you go through periods of being “really healthy” and then give up because it’s too hard to maintain?
It doesn’t need to be this way. You can reach your body’s natural, healthy weight and feel really in your body without dieting, restricting or any deprivation. In fact, these tend to tank metabolism and are counterproductive in the long run. If you’re ready to reach your health goals in a sustainable, enjoyable way that actually works, it might be time to work with a nutritionist.
As always, this is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to any one person in particular.