What Happens When You Fast? The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

A recent study by the National Institute of Aging published in the New England Journal of Medicine points to a range of health benefits related to intermittent fasting.

Weight loss is one of those benefits but there’s more to it than simply losing weight.

Let’s take a look at what intermittent fasting is and what happens when you fast.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating that includes a certain number of hours or days during which you eat little or no food. IF schedules are usually written with two numbers, the first indicating the number of hours you fast and the second the number of hours you can eat.

Some of the most common IF patterns are 16:8 (16 hours of fasting with an 8-hour eating window), 18:6, and 20:4. Another popular pattern is the circadian rhythm fast, or 13:11. This pattern emulates your body’s internal clock by fasting roughly from sunset to morning.

Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy?

You should always consult with a healthcare professional before starting a new diet or exercise plan but the science behind fasting shows that intermittent fasting is a healthy way of eating.

The idea behind IF is that your body’s insulin levels drop when you’re not eating food. When those levels go down enough, for a long enough time, your body will start to burn fat to create energy.

A Harvard research study indicates this can help slow the aging process and lead to lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels.

How to Start Intermittent Fasting

The easiest way to start an intermittent fasting routine is to pick an eating pattern that’s not too much of a change from your normal lifestyle. If you typically eat 3 meals a day in the morning, mid-day, and evening, making the switch to a 20:4 pattern could be challenging.

Start by alternating days. Eat normally one day and follow the fasting routine the next. The goal isn’t to lose weight immediately, it’s to get accustomed to the new way of eating. After a week or two, move to fasting every day.

Once you feel comfortable with the pattern, you can move to a longer fasting window. You can also dial in your nutrition as you go, avoiding certain foods to help maximize your results.

What Happens When You Fast?

What does fasting do to the body that helps you lose weight? Once your insulin levels drop during a fast, your body starts to convert stored glucose into energy.

When you repeat this process daily, your body will get accustomed to it and switch into “fat burning” mode more quickly. This is why following a pattern is so helpful – it trains your body to expect it.

Longer fasting periods give your body more time to burn off those excess pounds to create energy.

Intermittent fasting also lets your GI tract rest and repair itself while you’re in the fasted state.

Where to Turn for Help Getting Started

Knowing what happens when you fast probably makes intermittent fasting sound pretty good. It can be an effective way to lose weight and feel healthier but the eating and fasting pattern is only part of the solution.

Fasting for 16 hours and then gorging yourself on burgers and pizza isn’t going to be very helpful.

If you want to learn how to get the most out of intermittent fasting, Amazing Life Chiropractic and Wellness can help. We’ll help you design a nutrition and wellness plan that fits your lifestyle perfectly.

Get in touch with us today to learn more.

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What’s the Relationship Between Nutrition and Obesity?

Over the nearly two decades from 2000 to 2018, the obesity rate in the U.S. increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. And severe obesity rose from 4.7% to 9.2%.

There are several causes of this obesity epidemic but one of the most common is nutrition, or more accurately, the lack of it.

Let’s take a look at the relationship between nutrition and obesity.

Nutrition Is a Double-Edged Sword

Your relationship with food is like any other relationship in your life — you can nourish it or you can neglect it. When you respect it and put some effort into it, nutrition can help you live a longer, healthier life.

If you don’t respect it and take the path of least resistance, it can lead to many health-related problems, including obesity.

Obesity Contributes to Many Other Health Risks

Obesity goes beyond simply being overweight. The clinical definition of obesity is based on your body mass index, or BMI. A normal BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range, overweight is 25-29.9, and obese is anything over 30.

Obesity has many side-effects, including conditions such as:

• High cholesterol
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure

It’s not all about your physical health though. Being overweight can also lead to mental health troubles like depression and low self-esteem.

These health problems can become a vicious cycle. Obesity makes you feel physically unwell, which contributes to feelings of depression. You ease those feelings by eating more of the junk food that led to the obesity problem in the first place, and so on.

Is Proper Nutrition Enough to Deal With Obesity?

Healthy eating habits will make a big difference in how you look and feel, especially if you’ve been eating poorly for a long time. The more extra pounds you’re carrying around, the quicker you can see improvements when you change your diet.

That’s not to say it’s easy. Learning how to eat properly and putting that knowledge into action by following an effective weight loss program will take some effort and willpower.

What’s the Relationship Between Nutrition and Obesity?  

Don’t expect to make the change overnight but a few simple adjustments over a few weeks can make a world of difference.

Improving your nutrition is only one half of the equation though. The other half is exercise.

There are plenty of diets to choose from but weight loss ultimately comes down to burning more calories than you take in. What kind of food you eat to get those calories plays a big part in it too.

You might get the same number of calories from a couple of slices of pizza or a salad and lean chicken breast but we probably don’t need to tell you which of those two options is better for you.

Where to Turn for Help With Nutrition and Obesity

If you want to solve your nutrition and obesity problems, it can be overwhelming. The internet is full of conflicting information and there are thousands of books on the topic, many of which also contradict one another.

How do you pick out the accurate advice and set the rest aside? Amazing Life Chiropractic and Wellness can help.

We’ll show you how to improve your health through an effective nutrition and wellness plan that will help you lose weight, feel better, and live a happier, more fulfilling life.

Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help.

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The Benefits of a Nutritional Detox: Your Body Will Thank You

By this point, we’ve all heard about the awesome results a detox can have for your body. But have you considered wading in and trying it for yourself? With so many mental and physical benefits to be had, there’s all the reason in the world to consider a detox process.

Treating your body the right way can help relieve a multitude of difficult problems. For anybody still on the fence, join us, today, as we break down five of our favorite detox benefits for your consideration.

Weight Management

One of the biggest benefits of a nutritional detox is also one of the most obvious. Changing your diet to eliminate toxins from your body allows you to drop all of the things causing weight gain and fat maintenance.

Instead, what you’re left with is a healthier gut biome and a body that isn’t constantly struggling against the substances you are eating. When your diet shifts to detox intake, your weight will also be less likely to fluctuate.

Increased Energy

Looking for an energy boost? Sugary drinks and strong coffee can do a lot of harm to your body, especially over time. On the other hand, the natural energy boost of a whole body cleanse detox has been well documented. And, what’s more, it’s not causing your body longterm harm.

Learning how to detox your body means clearing out all of the sugar and caffeine and other things that cause energy slumps when they run out. Instead, you’re left with a more stable, more sustainable energy source throughout the day.

Clear-Headedness

If you want to deal away with cloudy headedness and absentmindedness, a whole body detox has a lot to offer you, professionally. Many times, detoxifications will include a mental component, as well, waking you up and sharpening your thought process.

Going back to the question of sugar crashes, sudden drops in your energy from a lack of stimulants can also affect your mind. This is part of what makes detoxification such a positive experience. It brings out the best in your body, but also your mind.

Healthier Internal Organs

The whole point of a detox is to help your body flush out the toxins that are inside of it and might be doing it harm. These are your “waste removal” organs, and this cleansing gives them the break they need from the toxins that build up in and around them.

Your body can accumulate more toxins than you might expect. A detox is a good, active way to flush out these toxins so your internal organs can work more efficiently.

Clearer Skin

For thousands of people, the quest for clearer skin can seem like a neverending journey. All of the skincare products can come and go, but if your diet isn’t playing along, skin problems can and will still develop.

Detoxes are a great way to cleanse your skin when all else fails. With as little as a strict detoxification diet, you can see near-perfect results with your skin-clarity. A word of warning: as the detox process works its magic, your skin may flare up initially, before later clearing up, again, after completion. 

Detox Benefits

A detox food plan can take any one of a dozen different forms. What’s important is to get one that helps flush out toxins, encourages natural energy, and benefits your body in ways that matter to you.

Ready to learn more about nutritional detox and its benefits for your body? Check out some of our other blog posts, today, and find out more about our nutritional detox services (as well as many others).

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