Suz16's Journal, 04 December 2013

So how are you doing yours? Mine involves skipping breakfast - and only eating between noon and 7ish. This has your body fasting for 17-18 hrs. This is enough to get your body to shift into fat-burning mode. I'm amazed at how it's working. AND I'm not suffering in any way!  

600 CALORIES - WHOA. That'll do something alright. Here's the article I read that got me started. The Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting Omitting breakfast, as part of an intermittent fasting schedule, can have a number of phenomenal health benefits, from improving your insulin sensitivity to shifting your body into burning more fat instead of sugar for fuel. This will help you painlessly lose weight without being hungry as you will now finally have the ability to burn fat. The Hippocrates Institute has also more or less eliminated breakfast, serving only raw vegetable juices in the morning. This is basically intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting, also known as “scheduled eating,” does not necessarily mean abstaining from all food for extended periods of time. Rather it refers to limiting your eating to a narrow window of time each day. Ideally, you’ll want to limit your eating to a window of about 6-8 hours, say from noon until 6 or 8 pm each day, which means you’re fasting daily for 16-18 hours. This is enough to get your body to shift into fat-burning mode. This is a gradual process. Typically you start by not eating anything for three hours prior to going to sleep. This will give you a head start to the fasting process so if you sleep for 8 hours you’ve already fasted for 11 hours when you awake. The next step is to wait as long as you can before you start your first meal or “break” your fast. You can gradually extend the time that you have your first meal by 15 to 30 minutes a day. After several weeks you will be having your first meal at lunch. Typically, the more your body uses carbs as its primary fuel rather than fat, the longer this will take. Once you shift to fat burning mode, modern research has confirmed some of the benefits to be: Normalizing your insulin sensitivity, which is key for optimal health as insulin resistance is a primary contributing factor to nearly all chronic disease, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone" Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process Lowering triglyceride levels Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage