Intermittent Fasting for Well being and Weight Loss

Written by: Hiyaguha Cohen

July 08, 2020

Health blog

Article overview:

Jon Barron advocates juice fasts once a week, 3 days once a month, and a 5-day liver cleanse twice a year.
Another type of intermittent fasting is known as the 16/8 diet for health and weight loss.
Both have incredible health benefits, helping with weight loss, blood sugar, antiaging, and even brain health. Learn fasting tips!

Jon Barron's fasting protocol

If you read regularly, you know that Jon Barron has long been a advocate of intermittent fasting for the sake of health and weight loss. His recommended protocol includes fasting one day a week with juice and a superfood like chlorella, spirulina, stabilized rice bran, or something similar. He also suggests a three-day juice and superfood fast once a month and a five-day juice / superfood fast twice a year as part of a biannual liver detox.

16/8 diet protocol – intermittent fasting

Those who follow Jon's protocol get great results, but the idea of skipping a day of gluttony once a week may seem too difficult for some people. Fortunately for the near-phobics, there is another type of intermittent fasting that seems a little less daunting and is growing in popularity. The concept, known as the 16/8 diet, involves limiting food consumption to a narrow window of time per day, but anything is possible during that window of time.

Here's how it works: You can eat eight hours a day. Other than that, you can only consume water or non-calorie drinks. So if you finish dinner by 6:00 p.m., you're essentially fasting until 10 a.m. the next morning and having 16 hours without food.

Research on Intermittent Fasting

It sounds so simple and yet preliminary research shows it works on many levels. Animal studies found that rats that were allowed to eat high-fat foods in unlimited amounts within a limited daily period weighed less and had normal cholesterol and blood sugar levels, while rats allowed to eat whenever they wanted within 24 hours gained weight . Developed high cholesterol and blood sugar, and impaired motor control.

There has only been one small human study to date, but the results have been just as promising. Twenty-four obese subjects followed the 16: 8 plan for 12 weeks. In the end, participants saw significant drops in blood pressure and weight. Oddly enough, there was also a control group that consisted of subjects who were following a different type of intermittent fast (fasting on the second day) and who on the 16: 8 plan lost more weight, burned fewer calories, and lowered systolic blood pressure more than that fast every other day.

Why Fasting Works

Jon Barron explains some of the benefits of fasting in his book Lessons from the Miracle Doctors. “First, when you deprive your body of food, your body begins to consume itself in order to survive. Your body is geared towards self-survival, consuming damaged and toxic cells first to keep the healthiest ones for later. Processing food requires a tremendous amount of energy and puts a huge strain on your body's organs. (Check your heart rate after a large meal and see how exhausted you feel.) When you fast, your body redirects that energy to repair and rebuild. "

Proponents of time-limited eating point out that your pancreas releases insulin each time you eat to help keep blood sugar levels stable. If you limit eating to an eight-hour window, you release less insulin into the bloodstream, and that's a good thing because the build-up of insulin promotes fat storage and inflammation in the body. As research confirms, when fasting lowers insulin levels, normalizes blood sugar levels, and the body burns fat, insulin sensitivity increases.

Intermittent fasting will help you lose weight

Intermittent fasting will help you lose weight in three ways. First, if you don't succumb to gluttony during the eight hour mealtime, you will most likely be eating fewer calories each day. More importantly, however, you are forcing your body to burn fat for energy, which results in weight loss as you tend to use up all of your body's available glucose during fasting. And finally, as your body goes into a fat-burning state – since it is no longer needed at the same level – your insulin levels go down, while at the same time your levels of growth hormone and norepinephrine increase, which in turn increases your body's breakdown of fat for energy.

Intermittent fasting can prolong life

As mentioned earlier, studies show that intermittent fasting causes the body to produce more human growth hormone (HGH). HGH is key to strength, muscle building, immunity, disease resistance, recovery from injury, weight loss and optimized metabolism. Research also shows that intermittent fasting can trigger a type of cellular repair process called autolysis, which helps the body "intelligently" rid itself of waste and toxins, and animal studies show it can even extend lifespan. Other benefits include increased resistance to cardiac injury, heart rate stabilization, and reduced oxidative damage.

Intermittent fasting can protect the brain

Finally, research shows that intermittent fasting can also be good for the brain. A study on fruit flies found that fasting blocked the synaptic activity of neurons. Because overactive synaptic activity has been linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, it is possible that fasting has a protective effect on the brain. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins rat studies found similar results, but concluded that the brain stimulates chemicals that promote cell growth, and that the brain actually makes new cells and becomes more resistant to plaque during stress from fasting. The study director Dr. Mark Mattson, Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said, “There is an increase in adaptive stress responses when people are fast at times, which is good for the brain. Similar to exercising muscles, neurons in the brain benefit from mild stress. "

If you choose the 16: 8 diet, here are some things to keep in mind:

Experts recommend that very young children should not fast as they will need extra calories to grow. On the other hand, fasting has been shown to reduce seizures in epileptic children. Diabetics and people with low blood sugar should also check with their doctor before fasting.
You can pick any time window you prefer, as long as you limit food intake to an eight-hour window per day. However, remember that the later you eat, the more difficult it becomes for you to lose weight, as studies show that once the body releases melatonin, which occurs just before bed, calorie burning naturally slows down. The ideal is to finish dinner at 6 a.m. and then fast until breakfast at 10 a.m. the next morning.
Some sources say it is okay, or even good, to have coffee or tea (without cream or sugar) during Lent to help fight hunger. Others claim that such drinks trigger metabolic processes in your body. So it is better to just drink water.
For weight loss, the usual rules apply during meal times. If you get out of hand during your eight hour window, you are sabotaging any benefits you may have gained during Lent.
Experts say the average person loses seven to 10 pounds within 10 weeks of starting intermittent fasting.
You probably won't get that hungry. 16: 8 fasting is not like fasting for a full day, and drinking water (or coffee or tea) will most likely assist you during your fasting hours. If you stay busy, you cannot focus on what you are missing. If you really can't make it 16 hours without eating, try 15 or 14 hours first and work your way up. But remember, you really need to fast up to 16 hours a day for the benefits to take effect.