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April 10 - August 24, 2019
To begin, the key to understanding how intermittent fasting works requires that you view your body as being capable of existing in two main states: the fed state and the fasted state.
Your body enters the fed state when you begin ingesting food and lasts for a while (3 to 5 hours) until the food you have eaten is fully digested and absorbed into the body.
One peculiar thing about the fed state has to do with the
hormone i...
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But what is insulin and what role does it pla...
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ingest food is that the carbohydrates are broken down to glucose. The hormone insulin is then produced.
Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas – an important organ that forms part of your digestive tract.
storage space in the liver is limited due to its small size. Consequently, your body switches to converting the rest of the glucose into fat.
the whole point of fasting is to go without food for long enough so that your body transitions from the fed state to the fasted state so that it can begin breaking down fat.
Literally, every intermittent fasting technique that exists is designed keeping this objective in mind.
If you break the normal schedule (as I will show you in this book) and start purposely going without food for certain periods of time, you will allow your body to start burning fat for energy, effectively helping you lose weight without having to do much of anything else.
hunters and gatherers.
Then enter the 5th Century BCE and esteemed Greek medical practitioners such as Hippocrates began advocating the use of fasting for healing purposes.
Hippocrates is famously quoted as saying, “To eat when you are sick is actually feeding your illness.”
Why Choose Intermittent Fasting:
intermittent fasting offers a wide array of benefits. In this chapter, we are going to cover seven of them,
Weight Loss
Dr. Rafael De Cabo, the lead researcher of the team explains that fasting activates the body’s natural repair and maintenance mechanisms that are usually not easily activated when you are consistently eating.
Improves Heart Health Did you know that heart disease is considered the world’s biggest killer disease? This is according to a 2016 study by WHO.
ketosis.
intermittent fasting puts your body in a state known as ketosis – a state in which your body resorts to using ketone bodies as a source of fuel instead of glucose.
May Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease Did you know that Alzheimer’s disease is currently the most popular neurodegenerative disease in the world? According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in ten people aged 65 and above suffer from this disease. This equates to 5.7 million Americans.
It has been also established that 1 in 3 aged people who die, die with Alzheimer’s, a figure that is higher than that of deaths caused by breast and prostate cancer combined. In short, Alzheimer’s disease is a real problem.
However, research has shown that intermittent fasting can help with managing this disease.
“Intermittent fasting improves learning and cognition and protects nerve cells from dysfunction and degeneration.”
But what is the science behind it? How does it work to fight Alzheimer’s?
scientists have come to understand that Alzheimer’s disease is associated with high amounts of a protein called beta-amyloid.
This protein has been observed to accumulate in the brain of patients with this disease. Conversely, the protein is absent in brains of healthy people.
Intermittent fasting helps increase the ration of AQP4 to that of beta-amyloid. This has the effect of clearing and preventing the accumulation of beta-amyloid and other toxic materials in the brain. This reflects in the lab rat by improved cognitive functioning.
Fights Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
Lastly, intermittent fasting can help fight oxidative stress and inflammation - the primary reasons why you age and get sick.
Oxidative stress produces unstable molecules called free radicals.
Free radicals are highly reactive and therefore easily react with other important molecules in your body like protein and DNA, thereby destroying them.
free radicals
This is what leads to chronic illnesses and even aging.
So, how does intermittent fasting help with situation?
Well, for one thing, it is worth knowing that free radicals are produced by poorly functioning mitochondria in your body. Mitochondria are cell organelles in which respiration takes place.
When you fast, your cells are subjected to conditions of unusually low levels of glucose.
This forces them to start seeking alternative sources of energy such as fatty acids.
Your cells adapt and switch to survival mechanisms such as getting rid of excess mitochondria and producing healthier mitochondria to take their place. The overall effect of thi...
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Also when you fast, cells respond by producing anti-oxidants that react with the free radicals thereby preventing or lowering their harmful effects.
Also remember that this is just a self-help book and I am not the slightest bit a medical professional.
If you are a diabetic, stay away from intermittent fasting because it may prove to be fatal.
That said, if you still insist on trying it, you should probably consult your personal physician for the right guidance. Do not go it alone.
In the next chapter, we will move past the basics and get into discussing the various intermittent fasting strategies you can implement. Get ready; this is where the rubber hits the road.
Leangains (16:8 Method)
It’s actually simple really. The idea behind this method is that you are supposed to fast for 16 hours and then eat normally within 8 hours. You are supposed to do this every day of the week.
All things being equal, I would recommend that you skip breakfast since that is easier to stick to. Most people prefer going to bed having eaten well; therefore, that leaves the breakfast option the best and most popular option.
(but ensure you eat healthy foods for greater success).
