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Intermittent Fasting: A Guide What it is, why it works, and how to do it by P. D. Mangan Rogue Health and Fitness http://roguehealthandfitness.o!
"opyright #$%&, P. D. Mangan %
Disclaimer
'he author P. P. D. Mangan, is not a !edial pratitioner pr atitioner and this booklet does not onstitute !edial ad(ie. 'he booklet is for infor!ational purposes only. only. 'he infor!ation presented here is belie(ed to be aurate, but the author !akes no warranties regarding its auray, and so!e infor!ation !ay ha(e hanged or be outdated. 'he author dislai!s all responsibility for the results of any ations taken as a onse)uene of this booklet. Please onsult a )ualified !edial professional for !edial ad(ie before beginning any fasting or e*erise progra! and before taking any supple!ent.
"opyright #$%& by P. D. Mangan
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Dear Readers, 'hanks for downloading this guide to inter!ittent fasting. +! P. P. D. Mangan, the proprietor of Rogue Health and Fitness, Fitness , a site dediated to helping !en lose fat, gain !usle, attain and retain e*ellent health and energy le(els, and to li(e their !a*i!u! lifespan free of illness and the debilities of age. + started the site as a !eans to share the knowledge that + learned on !y -ourney fro! illness and hroni fatigue to good health and a fit body. ne of the reasons + used the word rogue0 in !y sites na!e is beause we ha(e gone rogue against !ainstrea! health and fitness ad(ie, 1$2 of whih is, frankly, rap. +nter!ittent fasting is one of those proesses whih the !ainstrea! denigrates but whih in reality leads to good health, anti3aging, and fat loss. Read on for !y guide to inter!ittent fasting. 4est, P. D. Mangan
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Intermittent fasting is the simplest, easiest diet plan 6ots of people want to lose weight these days, what with the o!bined o(erweight 74ody Mass +nde*, or 4M+, 8 #&9 and obese 74M+ 8 5$9 ategories !aking up around $2 of the ;!erian population urrently. urrently. Diet books abound, but the !ain the!e of (irtually all of the! is how to ut alories, sine if you eat fewer alories than you e*pend, youll lose weight. 'his is not to defend the so3alled alories in, alories out0, or "+", !odel of weight loss, sine its a lot !ore o!pliated than that. 'he biggest hurdle for fat loss is hunger. hunger. b(iously, b(iously, if hunger wasnt suh a powerful dri(e, !aking us eat when our rational intellet tells us not to, then fat loss would be no big deal. 'hats 'hats why "+" doesnt work: work: ut your alories, and and soon youll be hungry hungry enough that you wont be able to sustain your fat loss resolution. Where the "+" !odel is orret is this: eat less, and keep energy e*penditure the sa!e, and youll lose fat. Diet plans fous on this: how to eat fewer alories. 4ut whats the easiest way to onsu!e fewer alories< ;nswer: dont eat at all. 'his is where inter!ittent fasting o!es in. +nter!ittent fasting !eans si!ply going without food for a gi(en length of ti!e. +nter!ittent fasting has al!ost as !any (ariations as there are people who i!ple!ent it, but there are so!e basi (ersions (ersions of it that +ll show you here, as well as !ini!u! !ini!u! riteria for what onstitutes an inter!ittent fast. 'he benefits of inter!ittent fasting dont end with fat loss either. either. +nter!ittent fasting has profound anti3aging effets, effets, it an inrease insulin insulin sensiti(ity and !itohondrial !itohondrial funtion, and generally ondues to good health. Well disuss those later, toward the end of this guide.
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The origins of fasting, and what's wrong with mainstream diet and eating practices Most of the worlds religions ha(e presribed fasting for !illennia as a !eans to beo!e !ore spiritual. +n the !edial real!, fasting has been known as a treat!ent for epilepsy sine the ti!e of Hipporates. nly (ery reently has this pratie begun to reei(e the attention of bio!edial researhers, and what they(e found is that it an ha(e profoundly benefiial benefiial effets on health. Mainstrea! dietary ad(ie, as well as o!!on usto!, ha(e it that one !ust eat !ore or less e(ery few hours. Were Were used to that, and thus we eat three !eals plus snaks. (er the past few deades !ainstrea! diet authorities ha(e e(en ad(ised that one eat s!all a!ounts al!ost onstantly, onstantly, a pratie that has o!e to be known as gra>ing. 'he idea behind gra>ing is that that one will keep blood blood sugars in a nor!al range and and !etabolis! high by eating all the ti!e. +t would be hard to find worse dietary ad(ie than gra>ing, sine it appears that all it does is !ake people fat. 4esides that, gra>ing ne(er allows the nor!al bodily rhyth! of feeding and fasting to take plae. With gra>ing, were always in what sientists refer to as the fed state0. 'o understand how fasting onfers its benefits, we need to understand how hu!ans and the anestors of hu!ans e(ol(ed, and what it was like to li(e in the era in whih our genes were shaped to gi(e us life and health. Hu!ans ha(e li(ed in the hunter3gatherer phase, as opposed to the agriultural or industrial phase, for appro*i!ately 112 of their e*istene. +n that hunter3gatherer phase, food had to be found and either killed or piked or dug up, and then ooked, before it ould be eaten. ?ine there was no refrigeration, r efrigeration, anning, or any other !eans of food preser(ation beyond s!oking s!oking or drying, hunter3gatherers hunter3gatherers si!ply ould ould not eat whene(er they wanted to, in ontrast to today. ;!ong sur(i(ing hunter3gatherer hunter3gatherer tribes that ha(e been studied, and using data fro! historial reords, it appears that the usual pratie a!ong these peoples was to hunt and gather during the day, day, and to eat a large !eal at night after the food had been prepared.
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4ut whate(er the atual ase, you an be ertain that hunter3gatherers do not eat breakfast, lunh, dinner, dinner, and snaks. snaks. +t was that era of strong alternations between feeding and fasting, whih lasted perhaps a ouple !illion years, to whih our genes are adapted. When we li(e in a way to whih our genes are not adapted, we e*periene illness, inluding obesity.
Why fasting promotes health: the case of calorie restriction ;s noted abo(e, its been known for thousands of years that fasting an pro!ote health. @et siene ouldnt pro(ide a satisfatory answer as to the ause of fastings effets on health. With !odern siene and the use of laboratory ani!als, sientists studying aging diso(ered that restriting food by 5$2 or !ore allowed ani!als to li(e !uh longer than when they were fed ad lib, lib, that is, allowed to eat as !uh as they wanted. 'he sientist "li(e M"ay gets the redit for diso(ering the anti3aging effets of li!ited feeding, or as its o!!only known, alorie restrition. % 'his was in the %15$s. ?ientists ha(e sine e*tensi(ely tested the effets of alorie restrition 7"R9, and we now know that CR is the most robust anti-aging process there is. # +t appears to be effeti(e on (irtually e(ery ani!al tested, fro! yeast to wor!s to rodents to pri!ates. 'he reasons for the effets of "R are still intensi(ely researhed, and the details need not detain us here, e*ept to say that "R auses a stress response r esponse in the organis! that leads to better health and longer life. ?tress that leads to better health is known as hor!esis. "R has so!e fairly serious drawbaks, howe(er. howe(er. ne is that ani!als that are ar e fored to do with less food are hungry all the ti!e. When fed, they eat their food all at one.
%McDonald, Roger B., and Jon J. Ramsey. "Honoring Clive McCay and 75 years of calorie restriction research." The Journal of nutrition 1!.7 #!1!$% 1#!5&1#1!. #'(arente, )eonard. "Calorie restriction and sirt(ins revisited." Genes & development #7.1* development #7.1* #!1+$% #!7#&#!5.
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B*periening a onstant state of hunger is not so!ething !ost people want to do. + dont, for e*a!ple, and + presu!e that the reader is the sa!e. ;nother drawbak is that people who restrit their alories report feeling old all the ti!e due to a lower !etaboli rate, and they often report less energy, energy, lower libido, and -ust all around not feeling feeling so great. ;nd finally, finally, onstant alorie restrition, espeially if not done preisely and perfetly, an lead to frailty fr ailty,, !usle and bone loss, and lower i!!une funtion. 5 Fortunately, Fortunately, a !ethod that has all the benefits of "R but (irtually none of the drawbaks has been found, and that !ethod is inter!ittent fasting. = ;ni!als that are fasted inter!ittently eat (irtually the sa!e a!ount of food as ad lib fed lib fed ani!als, they !erely eat that food at different ti!es. Frailty, lowered i!!une funtion, or wasting of !usle and bone is therefore not an issue with fasting. 4ut e(en with eating the sa!e a!ount of food, inter!ittent fasting dereases blood sugar and insulin le(els, whih !eans that insulin resistane, the pri!e ulprit in diabetes and obesity, obesity, has been lowered. ;nd ;nd sine diabetes is assoiated with !uh higher risks of heart disease and aner, the insulin3lowering effets of inter!ittent fasting will likely greatly derease the risk of these diseases. +nter!ittent fasting also inreases the resistane of neurons to e*itoto*i in-ury, in-ury, whih shows that it inreases stress defense !ehanis!s in the brain and neural syste!. Fasting also inreases le(els of brain3deri(ed neurotrophi fator 74DCF9, whih has benefiial effets on !ood and ognition, ognition, whih !ay be why fasting fasting has so often been reo!!ended by the worlds religions. 4DCF also i!pro(es gluose !etabolis! and !itohondrial energetis, and !ay e(en inrease brain (olu!e. ;ni!als !aintained on a fasting regi!en show inreased resistane to !yoardial infartion 7heart attak9 and stroke. & f presu!ably great interest to !ost of the publi is the power of inter!ittent fasting to al. ")ifes/an‐ e0tending caloric restriction or m2R m2R inhi-ition im/air ada/tive ada/tive imm(nity of old 5'old-erg, mily )., et al. mice -y distinct mechanisms." Aging mechanisms." Aging cell 1.1 cell 1.1 #!15$% 1+!&1+. = 3nson, R. Michael, et al. "4ntermittent fasting dissociates -eneficial effects effects of dietary restriction on gl(cose meta-olism and ne(ronal resistance to in(ry from calorie inta6e." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1!!.1! #!!+$% #1&##!. 8., and R(i9ian :an. "Beneficial effects of intermittent fasting and caloric restriction on the &Mattson, Mar6 8., cardiovasc(lar and cere-rovasc(lar systems."The systems."The Journal of nutritional biochemistry 1.+ biochemistry 1.+ #!!5$% 1#*&1+7.
fight obesity. A ;ni!als, in this ase !ie, were !aintained on ti!e3restrited feeding0, that is, a feeding window of 1 to %# hours during whih they ould eat as !uh as they wanted. 'he ob(erse of this is that fro! %# to %& hours a day they were allowed to eat nothing. Mie that were bred to be genetially obese bea!e fitter while on this fasting regi!en. +n lean3bred !ie, those that were allowed to eat ad lib bea!e lib bea!e obese, but the !ie on the fasting regi!en re!ained lean and in good shape. ;nd finally, finally, so!e lean !ie were put on an inter!ittent fasting regi!e of %& hours daily on weekdays, and ad lib feeding lib feeding on weekends, and they re!ained lean and fit. ;n illustration of the results below. below.
Results of maintaining mice on various intermittent intermittent fasting regimens.
Cow, Cow, +! sure the reader would like like to know whether whether these results would apply apply to hi!self or to hu!ans generally rather than -ust !ie. Hu!an data on fasting is ad!ittedly in short supply where it onerns weight loss, but the short answer is that theres no reason why hu!ans would not. Hu!ans and !ie share !a!!alian AChai0, 3mandine, et al. "ime&restricted feeding is a /reventative and thera/e(tic intervention against diverse n(tritional challenges." Cell metabolism#!. metabolism#!. #!1$% **1&1!!5.
biohe!istry and physiology physiology..
How intermittent fasting slows aging "alorie restrition, as we(e -ust seen, has re!arkable health benefits, and inter!ittent fasting i!pro(es on those benefits in a nu!ber of ways, !ainly by being far !ore pratial and a(oiding a(oiding the downsides of possible possible inade)uate nutrition. nutrition. ?ine alorie restrition slows aging and inreases lifespan, is it possible that fasting ould do the sa!e< @es, it is not only possible, but highly probable. ne way in whih "R slows aging is through inreasing the le(els of the basi ellular self3leaning proess, whih is known as autophagy. autophagy. +n autophagy, whih is fro! the Ereek for self3eating0, ells produe speiali>ed strutures that eat0 parts of the!sel(es, and the parts that are seleted for eating are ellular -unk0 3 !isfolded proteins, old !itohondria, !itohondria, and other ell organelles organelles that ha(e ha(e passed their e*piration e*piration date. 'he au!ulation of ellular -unk is a hall!ark of aging, as is the delining ability of ells to indue autophagy and rid the!sel(es of -unk. @outhful organis!s ha(e the full ability to indue autophagy and free the!sel(es of -unk, thus !aintaining !aintaining youthful struture and and funtion. ;s they age, organis!s organis!s inluding hu!ans deline in the ability to indue autophagy. autophagy. 'he result is aging ells and delining funtion. ;utophagy is strongly indued by lak of food. +n young ani!als, suh as hu!ans, the natural rhyth! of fasting o(ernight beause you ant eat while youre asleep strongly pro!otes autophagy, autophagy, suh that its !a*i!u! rate ours early in the !orning, before eating. +n older ani!als, ani!als, this natural rhyth! is greatly redued. 4ut fasting an help restore youthful le(els of autophagy. autophagy. 'he longer the fast, the !ore strongly autophagy will be indued. Morselli, ., et al. "Caloric restriction and resveratrol /romote longevity thro(gh the ;irt(in&1&de/endent ind(ction of a(to/hagy a(to/hagy." ." Cell death & disease 1.1 #!1!$% e1!. )evine, Beth, and '(ido
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;ni!als that ha(e been genetially altered to inrease their le(els of autophagy li(e longer than nor!al ani!als. 1 4y induing autophagy, autophagy, inter!ittent fasting slows aging and protets against disease. Fasting an e(en indue autophagy in neurons, i. e. the brain, and should thus protet against the de(elop!ent of neurologial diseases like ;l>hei!ers, ;l>hei!ers, Parkinsons, and other for!s of de!entia and ogniti(e deline. %$ 'herefore fasting fights against one of the hief fears that people ha(e of aging: !ental deline, along with the nursing ho!e and total helplessness. ;ging greatly inreases the risk of aner, and inter!ittent fasting has the potential to lower that risk. %% Fasting dereases blood gluose le(els, and this is highly signifiant for aner beause aner ells use gluose as their !ain energy supply. When people eat onstantly, onstantly, espeially when they eat lots of refined arbohydrates, they gi(e tu!or ells plenty to feed on. +nter!ittent +nter!ittent fasting an ut aners food supply while while allowing other ells to ha(e energy aess. 'ho!as ?eyfried, a sientist who has done !uh work on aner, notes that a ketogeni diet has the potential to treat brain aner. %# +n the ketogeni diet, arbohydrates are radially restrited, and as a onse)uene, ketone bodies are produed by the li(er fro! fat in order to pro(ide an alternati(e ellular fuel in plae of gluose. Where fasting o!es in here is that it also has the ability to produe ketone bodies, and thus !ay help pre(ent and treat aner, aner, basially basially by star(ing it into sub!ission.
Intermittent fasting and muscle ne )uestion that !en who lift weights or e*erise generally ha(e is whether inter!ittent fasting will affet their !usle !ass. Most bodybuilding ad(ie regarding . "3(to/hagy genes and ageing." Cell Death & Differentiation 1.1 #!!*$% *&1!#. 1=ellai, . %$ 3lire>aei, Mehrdad, et al. ";hort&term fasting ind(ces /rofo(nd ne(ronal a(to/hagy a(to/hagy." ." Autophagy Autophagy . . #!1!$% 7!#& 71!. %%)an6elma, %%)an6elma, Jan, et al. "3 reason for intermittent fasting to s(//ress the a?a6ening of dormant -reast t(mors." iosystems 1#7 #!15$% 1&. %#@ho(, %#@ho(, :eih(a, et al. "he calorically restricted 6etogenic diet, an effective alternative thera/y for malignant -rain cancer." Nutr !etab "#ond$ .5 #!!7$% 5.
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diet has it that one should always be well fed, e(en to the e*tent of taking protein before bedti!e, or e(en to the the e*tre!e of eating in the the !iddle of the night. b(iously, b(iously, if you pratie inter!ittent fasting fasting with any regularity regularity, you wont be doing this. 'he good news is that fasting an atually pro!ote !usle growth. ;s noted abo(e, fasting strongly pro!otes the ellular proess of autophagy, autophagy, and autophagy is re)uired for the funtional apaity of !usle. %5 "alorie restrition, of whih inter!ittent fasting is a te!poral (ariation, protets against !usle wasting 7saropenia9 in aged ani!als. %= During fasting, the prodution of growth hor!one greatly inreases. %& Meals atually da!pen growth hor!one prodution. 'he result of inreased growth hor!one during fasting is the protetion of skeletal !usle fro! breakdown. 6ater, well disuss how you an best integrate inter!ittent fasting into an e*erise progra!, so that you an ensure !a*i!u! !usle growth and fat loss, along with good e*erise reo(ery. reo(ery.
4efore we disuss how you an fast inter!ittently, inter!ittently, and how you an integrate it with your daily life, inluding e*erise, lets take a look at a different sort of fasting, prolonged fasting.
Prolonged Fasting 'he borderline between inter!ittent and prolonged fasting is neessarily arbitrary, but for the purposes of this disussion, +ll define prolonged fasting as anything longer than #= hours. %5Aeel, %5Aeel, Brian 3., (0i (0i )in, and Jeffrey . 8essin. ";6eletal m(scle a(to/hag y% a ne? meta-olic reg(lator." reg(lator."Trends Trends in %ndocrinology & !etabolism #.1# #!1+$% +5&+. %=Mar>etti, %=Mar>etti, man(ele, et al. ";arco/enia of aging% (nderlying cell(lar mechanisms and /rotection -y calorie restriction." iofactors +5.1 #!!*$% #&+5. ., et al. "asting enhances gro?th hormone secretion and am/lifies the com/le0 rhythms of gro?th %&Ho, %&Ho,
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Prolonged fasting has been notably ad(oated and studied by Galter Galter 6ongo, a sientist at the ni(ersity of ?outhern "alifornia who studies aging. 6ongo, along with another noted sientist in the field, Mark Mattson, wrote the following about fasting:
Fasting has been pratied for !illennia, but, only reently, reently, studies ha(e shed light on its role in adapti(e ellular responses that redue o*idati(e da!age and infla!!ation, opti!i>e energy !etabolis!, and bolster ellular protetion. +n lower eukaryotes, eukaryotes, hroni fasting e*tends e*tends longe(ity, longe(ity, in part, by reprogra!!ing !etaboli and stress resistane pathways. +n rodents inter!ittent or periodi fasting protets against diabetes, aners, heart disease, and neurodegeneration, while in hu!ans it helps redue obesity, obesity, hypertension, asth!a, and rheu!atoid arthritis. 'hus, fasting has the potential to delay aging and help pre(ent and treat diseases while !ini!i>ing the side effets aused by hroni dietary inter(entions. %A Prolonged fasting appears to work largely by lowering the le(els of insulin3like growth fator %, or +EF3%, a growth hor!one. +n growing ani!als, +EF3% helps regulate growth, but after !aturity, !aturity, it ats as a pro3aging hor!one, hor!one, and lowering it has has anti3aging effets. Prolonged fasting an at against aner by retarding growth of tu!ors and sensiti>ing aner ells to he!otherapy. % +n hu!ans, prolonged fasting appears to redue r edue the inidene of side effets to he!otherapy. % 6ongo and olleagues reently studied a so3alled fasting3!i!iking diet 7FMD9. %1 'he idea here is that prolonged fasting of se(eral days is diffiult for !ost people to adhere toI letting people eat a s!all a!ount of food instead of o!plete fasting for a few days inreases o!pliane with the regi!en. 4ut of ourse, its not o!plete fasting, so does it work< @es, it does. 'he study had three faets, and looked at the effets of se(eral day, day, low3 %A)ongo, %A)ongo, =alter D., and Mar6 8. 8. Mattson. "asting% molec(lar mechanisms and clinical a//lications." Cell metabolism 1*.# #!1$% 11&1*#. %)ee, %)ee, Changhan, et al. "asting cycles retard gro?th of t(mors an d sensiti>e a range of cancer cell ty/es to chemothera/y." Science translational medicine.1# medicine.1# #!1#$% 1#ra#7&1#ra#7. re/ort." Aging "Albany %;afdie, %;afdie, ernando M., et al. "asting and cancer treatment in h(mans% 3 case series re/ort." Aging N'$ 1.1# #!!*$% *. %1Brandhorst, %1Brandhorst, ;e-astian, et al. "3 8eriodic Diet that Mimics asting 8romotes M(lti&;ystem Regeneration, nhanced Cognitive 8erformance, and Healths/an." Cell metabolism #!15$.
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alori intake on yeast, !ie, and hu!ans. +n !ie, 4i3!onthly FMD Jfasting3!i!iking dietK yles started at !iddle age e*tended longe(ity, longe(ity, lowered (iseral fat, redued aner inidene and skin lesions, re-u(enated the i!!une syste!, and retarded bone !ineral density loss. +n old !ie, FMD yles pro!oted hippoa!pal neurogenesis, lowered +EF3% le(els and PL; ati(ity, ati(ity, ele(ated CeuroD%, and i!pro(ed ogniti(e perfor!ane. 'o reiterate, the FMD F MD lowered le(els of fat, inreased lifespan, redued aner, and re-u(enated the i!!une syste!. +n hu!ans, three FMD yles dereased risk fators/bio!arkers for aging, diabetes, ardio(asular disease, and aner without !a-or ad(erse effets, pro(iding support for the use of FMDs to pro!ote healthspan. Following is a graphial representation of the results of the FMD.
+n the hu!an sub-ets of the FMD, F MD, "3reati(e protein le(els dereased. "3reati(e protein is a !arker for infla!!ation, infla!!ation, and high le(els are are an indiation of risk of of
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oronary artery disease. f the sub-ets, 1 of the! had high le(els of "3reati(e "3r eati(e protein, so they were onsidered to ha(e a higher risk of heart disease, and in of those 1, le(els bea!e o!pletely nor!al. nor!al. 'hus the FMD lowers lowers the risk of heart disease. 'he FMD also redued blood gluose le(els by %%2, and ketone bodies rose 5. fold, so the FMD shows e*ellent pro!ise in the pre(ention of aner, as well as diabetes. 'he sub-ets lost 52 of their body weight, and al!ost all of this was fat, not !usle, whih shows the potential of the FMD and of fasting in general for weight loss and for the preser(ation of !usle. 'he fasting3!i!iking diet onsisted of about %$$$ alories on day one, and only #& alories on days # to &. +t was about %$2 protein, &A2 fat, and 5=2 arbohydrates. B(en with the arbohydrates, the alorie ontent was low enough that a state of ketosis was indued.
A crash diet cures diabetes in one week
?ine were speaking of the ability of (ery low3alorie diets of at least se(eral days duration to !i!i the effets of fasting, its worthwhile to bring up a si!ilar ase. Ble(en obese people with type # diabetes were put on a rash diet of A$$ alories a day, and after a !ere one week, blood gluose le(els had beo!e nor!al, as did triglyerides.#$ Cor!al insulin sensiti(ity and beta ell funtion was ahie(ed, indiating that these people had essentially been ured of diabetes. 'hese people were plaed on a fasting3!i!iking diet, whih is all a rash diet really is. ;ll of this shows the power of food to either gi(e us health or !ake us ill. ; redution in food intake either through fasting or a (ery low alorie diet has tre!endous apaity for uring us of our ills. Physiians of old knew this, and this pratie, !ore sientifially based to be sure, is only only now o!ing bak into into the knowledge and pratie of !odern3 day dotors. f ourse, you dont need to ask your dotor for per!ission to fast although if you ha(e any serious illness, you should ask. For the rest of, generally healthy, healthy, fasting has few side effets and low risk. 6ets see how one an i!ple!ent inter!ittent or #$)im, #$)im, e )in, et al. "Reversal of ty/e # dia-etes% normalisation of -eta cell f(nction in association ?ith decreased /ancreas and liver triacylglycerol."Diabetologia triacylglycerol."Diabetologia 5.1! #!11$% #5!3.
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prolonged fasting.
ow to implement intermittent fasting +nter!ittent fasting has about as !any (ariations as there are people who pratie it. 'here are pratial li!itations of ourse, and !ini!u! durations, so lets look at these. +n the old days, before the rise of fast3food restaurants and on(eniene foods, !eals had to be prepared at ho!e, al!ost always by the wife and !other of the household, and this took plenty of work. +n the e(en older days, refrigeration did not e*ist, and onse)uently food storage and preparation was e(en !ore laborious. 4eause of this, !ost people had a natural daily rhyth! of fasting, and it lasted fro! fro ! dinner in the e(ening 7or supper, for so!e of you in other parts of the ountry9 to breakfast in the !orning. +! sure that !any a reader an reall reall their !other saying so!ething along the lines of, 4etter eat your dinner, dinner, there wont be anything until breakfast0 + re!e!ber it, anyway. anyway. 'he up3regulation of autophagy, autophagy, the ellular self3leaning s elf3leaning proess, is one of the hief benefits of inter!ittent fasting, fasting, and going without without food all night night strongly inreases it, at least in nor!al, relati(ely healthy and youthful ani!als and hu!ans. +f we so!ewhat arbitrarily define the o(ernight fasting period as lasting %# hours, fro! A:$$ P.M. P.M. to A:$$ ;.M., then this is our !ini!u! fasting duration. Eoing without food for less than %# hours does not onstitute fasting, sine you are in what sientists all the fed state, during whih ti!e your body is digesting food and then the onstituents of that food irulate in the blood strea! to nourish !usles and organs. We an le(erage o(ernight fasting for our inter!ittent fasting regi!en in two ways. ne, !ost people do not get hungry o(ernightI after all, youre asleep, and unless you beo!e ra(enous, sleep o(errides hunger. hunger. 'wo, 'wo, sine the o(ernight fast strongly pro!otes autophagy, autophagy, and this proess is going strong by the early hours of the !orning, we(e got a -u!p start on our fast f ast by starting it after the !eal on the pre(ious e(ening. 'his is, in !y opinion, the best basis for inter!ittent fasting. +f you get up in the %&
!orning at A:$$ ;.M., and you ate dinner %# hours earlier, you(e already got %# hours of fasting under your belt. Cow you -ust need to add a few !ore hours and youre done. Perhaps the !ost o!!on (ariant of inter!ittent fasting is one of %A hours, and this (ariant is one that + often pratie. +n this %A3hour fast, you skip only one !eal, breakfast. 'his fast is pretty pretty easily e*tended to to % hours, if you ate dinner at A the night night before, and dont eat lunh lunh until noon the the ne*t day. day. asionally +(e e*tended !y fasts until late in the afternoon, !aking a f ast of #$ to ## hours. Many people fast for #= hours, and do this repeatedly, repeatedly, eating only one 7e(ening9 !eal a day. 7Bating one !eal instead of three has been shown to ause fat loss, lower ortisol le(els, and higher HD6 le(els, all good things. #%9 Many people worry that they will be tor!ented by hunger during their fast, but what usually happens is that hunger goes away, away, and e(en !ore so the longer the fast lasts. Drinking offee and/or tea an greatly ease fasting by reduing sensations of hunger, and + onsider the! an absolute !ust for !y fasting. ?o the )uestion naturally arises, do offee and tea interrupt or negate a fast, and what other for!s of alories !ight do this< "offee and tea and water of ourse ontain no alories, so they will not disrupt a fast. n the ontrary, ontrary, they enhane it, sine both offee and tea ha(e been shown to inrease autophagy. ##,#5 ?!all a!ounts of fat do not inrease insulin response, and therefore do not disrupt autophagy, autophagy, so s!all a!ounts of rea! in your affeinated be(erage of hoie will not spoil your fast. 4ulletproof "offee has been trending strongly lately, lately, and !any people wonder about using it for fasting. 4ulletproof "offee is offee that has been blended with fairly large a!ounts of butter and either oonut oil or M"' 7!ediu!3hain triglyerides9 oil. ;tually, ;tually, + wonder about it !yself. b(iously no ontrolled sientifi studies ha(e been done on 4ulletproof "offee, and while in theory the fat in this offee will not ati(ate the insulin response, an i!portant o!ponent of fasting its inati(ation, that is the rather large a!ounts in it !ake !e )uestion whether its a good thing to use for fasting purposes. Many people use it to lose weight, weight, sine it an kill the the appetite and allow you #%;tote, #%;tote,
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to go for !any hours without eating, but whether it interferes with the benefiial health effets of fasting is an open )uestion at this point. + rarely use 4ulletproof "offee, for what its worth. ;s we see, skipping breakfast is the best strategy for a fast of %A hours or so. +f you eat breakfast and skip lunh lunh and then eat dinner later, later, + belie(e belie(e that you will negate !any of the benefits of fasting, sine the longest you would go without eating is about %# hours. 6onger fasts are !erely an e*tension. + know so!e people who ha(e fasted for up to = days, and they(e told !e that after day %, it gets easier, with hunger pretty !uh disappearing. 'his !ay be an effet of ele(ated blood ketones, whih pro(ide an alternate energy soure and possibly kill hunger. 'he world reord for fasting, in ase youre interested, is held by a !an who went for 5# days without food. #= He was obese when he started, and his weight dropped fro! =&A to %$ pounds. Fi(e years after the fast, he weighed %1A. +t goes without saying that he was !edially super(ised, as this type of thing should be. Howe(er, Howe(er, he appeared to suffer little in the way of ill effets. ?peaking of ill effets, who should do fasting under a dotors super(ision< Eenerally, Eenerally, as noted, fasting is safe, but those who suffer fro! fr o! diabetes, heart disease, aner, or any other serious health proble! should definitely onsult their dotor first. Dosages of !ediations !ay need to be ad-usted, and in so!e ases a ses a dotor !ay (eto fasting.
Autophagy enhancement
We(e noted se(eral ti!es in this dou!ent that up3regulation of autophagy is one of the hief health benefits of fasting. +t turns out that a nu!ber of supple!ents also ati(ate autophagy: these are so3alled alorie3restrition !i!etis. #& ;!ong these alorie3restrition !i!etis are hydro*yitrate, niotina!ide, res(eratrol, and epigalloatehin gallate 7BE"E9. #=;te?art, #=;te?art, :. <., and )a(ra :. leming. "eat(res of a s(ccessf(l thera/e(tic fast of +# days d(ration." Postgraduate medical (ournal *.5* (ournal *.5* 1*7+$% #!+&#!*. #&Madeo, #&Madeo, ran6, et al. "Caloric restriction mimetics% to?ards a molec(lar definition." Nature )evie*s Drug Discovery #!1$. Discovery #!1$.
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'hese non3to*i substanes enhane autophagy by (arious !ehanis!s, but in general they at through the sa!e !oleular pathways as does alorie restrition r estrition and inter!ittent fasting. 'hese o!pounds thus ha(e the potential to i!pro(e health through their !i!iry. We who fast an also use the! to boost the autophagy proess while we are fasting. 'he presene of food, or being in the fed state, ould di!inish the effets effets of these o!pounds. 'herefore, if one deides to use the!, they should be taken duriong a fast. Hydro*yitrate is Hydro*yitrate is an ine*pensi(e o(er3the3ounter weight loss aid. ?tudies that ha(e looked at its effiay in weight loss are !i*ed, but there see!s to be at least so!e effet there. 4ut, what it does as well, is ause !assi(e autophagy0, and interestingly, interestingly, this see!s onneted to its weight3loss effet. #A 7'hough its anybodys guess why that !ight be.9 +(e often taken #&$ !g of hydro*yitrate in the !orning, after +(e fasted all night and plan to ontinue !y fast for se(eral !ore hours. ;utophagy ati(ity ati(ity is only detetable detetable by ertain sophistiated laboratory tests that are una(ailable o!!erially, o!!erially, so one an only speulate at the strength of the boosting effet of hydro*yitrate on autophagy. autophagy. 4ut it see!s to !e a worthwhile thing to do. Hydro*yitrate has anti3aner properties as well when used in o!bination with se(eral other supple!ents, but there ha(e been reports of to*iity when taken !ore than 5 ti!es a day and o(er se(eral days duration. ?o to be on the safe side, + ne(er take !ore than one dose of hydro*yitrate daily, and not e(ery day either. Ciotina!ide Ciotina!ide no relation to niotine, and often sold as niaina!ide is a for! of (ita!in 45. Ciain, the other (ersion of (ita!in 45, has been used for deades to lower lipid le(els, but niotina!ide does not ha(e that effet. +t is known to enhane autophagy. autophagy. + ha(e so!eti!es used a &$$ !g tablet instead of hydro*yitrate. ;gain, + take it in the !orning of a fast day. day. Res(eratrol and Res(eratrol and uru!in uru!in are are two other o!pounds known for life e*tension in e*peri!ental ani!als, and they also inrease autophagy. autophagy. + take these regularly. regularly. Res(eratrol espeially !ay be able to inhibit !'R, an i!portant !ehanis! in !usle growth, so + skip it on !y gy! days, although + suspet that the effet is too s!all to #AMariEo, #AMariEo, '(illermo, et al. "Caloric restriction mimetics% nat(ralF/hysiological /harmacological a(to/hagy ind(cers." Autophagy ind(cers." Autophagy 1!.11 1!.11 #!1$% 17*&1#.
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notie. BE"E is a o!pound found in green tea, and it pro!otes autophagy. autophagy. 'he beauty part here is that you an drink green tea while fasting and get e*tra health benefits. +f you dont like green tea, and/or you would like a higher dose of BE"E, you ould take a green tea e*trat apsule e*trat apsule while fasting. Ereen tea e*trat is appro*i!ately =$2 atehins 7not all of whih is BE"E9. ther o!!only used substanes an inhibit autophagy, autophagy, and these should not be taken during fasting. Most notable in this regard are (ita!ins " and B. Muh reent researh has shown that (ita!ins " and B an di!inish the health benefits of e*erise, if taken daily in fairly large a!ounts. ne gra! of (ita!in " daily is enough to do this. ;s for fasting, its been shown that !any of the benefits of alorie restrition and presu!ably inter!ittent fasting o!e fro! the stress response of the organis!, speifially the response to free radials or reati(e o*ygen speies. Gita!ins Gita!ins " and B blunt this response. + !yself take (ita!in " 7but 7 but not B9, but +! areful about taking it away fro! both fasting and e*erise, in other words, on days that +! doing neither. Muh of the effets of these (ita!ins are unknown in this regard, and the effets are )uite possibly !inor, but -ust to be on the safe side, and sine its its no big deal to take take then when +! fed and not not working out in the gy!, + reo!!end a(oiding the! while fasting. 'he supple!ent n3 aetylysteine, one that + oasionally take, !ay ha(e si!ilar effets.
Intermittent fasting can change your life + hope that you(e en-oyed this guide to inter!ittent fasting. 4ased on what +(e s et out abo(e, + an say that fasting an hange your life. +t has the power to help pre(ent !any illnesses, inluding aner, aner, heart disease, and diabetes, it an spur on weight 7fat9 loss, and it retards the aging proess. + wrote about inter!ittent fasting and its onnetion to the slowing of aging in !y book, ?top the "lok: 'he pti!al ;nti3;ging ?trategy, ?trategy , so for further infor!ation, hek it out. @ou @ou an also read !ore about fasting fa sting and about other health and anti3aging %1
strategies at !y website, Rogue Health and Fitness. Fitness .
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