Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhrrrrrgggghhh!
That was a scream. A yell. A howl. A cry.
Do you feel like a warrior yet?
No?
Oh. Alrighty then. That’s because that shriek above was actually a bellow of frustration and not a war cry.
Why the frustration? Well, Cause … dude (or dudette) …
Who knows what intermittent fasting even is? Do you know anything about intermittent fasting benefits?
Well, some rocking Amazonian Warrior Princesses over at popsugar.com do. In fact, they’ve put together a good article on exactly what intermittent fasting is. They also show how it fits in with good weight loss plans.
So, without further ado, let’s let them spell it all out for us, shall we?
5 Types of Intermittent Fasting (and the 1 a Dietitian Recommends)
“You’ve tried eating healthy, tracking your macros, monitoring your portions, and exercising like crazy, but your body isn’t where you want it to be. Enter: intermittent fasting.
Although there are a variety of methods of intermittent fasting, most involve eating for a certain period of time and then not eating for a certain period of time. Certified dietitian Leslie Langevin, MS, RD, CD, of Whole Health Nutrition says that aside from a number of health benefits including lowering diabetes and other disease risks, improving blood sugar levels, extending life spans, and improving memory, intermittent fasting could be another tool in your belt to help with weight loss or to break through a weight-loss plateau.
She says, “It gets your body out of ‘storage mode’ and mobilizes fat stores for energy.” This means that without having the constant source of food (fuel) you’d get from eating all day, your body will dip into the fat it already has stored. That’s why people find so much success losing weight with intermittent fasting. There are a few different methods described below so see which one might be right for you.
16/8 or Leangains
What is It? Made popular by fitness expert Martin Berkhan, this method involves a 16-hour fasting window and an eight-hour feasting window. An example would be to stop eating at 7:00 p.m. and then fast until 11:00 a.m. the next day. During the feeding window, two to three meals are consumed, consisting of healthy, whole foods. There are specific guidelines about what to eat, but on all days, protein is pretty high.
Pros: All you do is skip breakfast and have lunch as your first meal. If your mornings are busy, this time tends to fly by.
Cons: It’s tough if you’re one of those people who needs to eat in the morning in order to function or if you do early morning workouts. You can change the fasting window so you stop eating at 6:00 p.m. and start eating again at 10 a.m. the next day. The specific eating guidelines could be a turnoff.”
There’s four other methods described in the popsugar article, and we recommend going and checking it out.
You can do so by clicking on the article title above, or the image right under it.
Next, for those of you who are into weight training, the following video from Greg O Gallagher over at kinobody.com shows some great intermittent fasting benefits. And, it’s just for you.
Intermittent Fasting Benefits If You Workout in The Morning
Intermittent Fasting Guide
“There are many different approaches to intermittent fasting, but this intermittent fasting guide lays out the most effective approach by far … Unfortunately, most other approaches over-complicate your eating patterns making fasting a burden on your life. For example, having to stick to a precise fasting and feasting window can be very difficult. Some other styles of fasting utilize longer fasts lasting 24+ hours.
I have been utilizing what is laid out in this intermittent fasting guide for four years now! It has been hands down the most effective nutrition hack I have ever come across. In this article, I will be explaining how intermittent fasting is the ultimate fat loss, muscle building diet and how you can make it as enjoyable as possible.
I don’t know about you, but fasting for 24+ hours is just not fun.
I believe in making intermittent fasting as effective and enjoyable as possible. This intermittent fasting guide is the solution! Push your first meal later into the day. This is when you maximize the benefits of fasting while making it work with your body and your natural instincts. Let me explain.
INTERMITTENT FASTING BENEFITS
A huge component of learning how to do intermittent fasting is getting used to skipping breakfast and extending your overnight fast into the day. By doing this, some pretty remarkable things happen. Growth hormone levels rise, this helps preserve muscle mass and shifts fuel metabolism to fat burning.
Furthermore, insulin sensitivity in the muscles increases, this sets the perfect storm for lean muscle gains. By having improved insulin sensitivity, you can better direct carbs into your muscle stores and away from fat storage.
Testosterone is also boosted during short-term fasting.
Now if you were to eat first thing in the morning, you would miss out on these incredible benefits. As well, cortisol peaks in the morning. Eating with elevated levels of cortisol can trigger post meal hunger.
This is why many people find it much easier to control their cravings when they utilize intermittent fasting. Now on the other hand, fasting for long periods of time is far from ideal. Fasting for 20+ hours will deplete liver glycogen shifting you into a catabolic state. This is when training performance may suffer and muscle building will be impaired.”
Go check out the full article by clicking on the title above or the image right under it.
Finally, we want to round everything out with some advice from Timothy Bell, who runs one of the top fitness blogs of 2017. In the article below, he lays out some little known intermittent fasting benefits you’ll want to read about.
Intermittent Fasting! Eat, Stop, And Eat Again.
What Are Some Intermittent Fasting Benefits?
“- A leaner physique! Your body improves its ability to burn fat for energy. When you’re body is not supplied with food for 12+ hours, it begins to rely on fat for energy. It is learning how to burn stored body fat for energy.
– Improved insulin sensitivity and Blood Glucose Levels! Controlling insulin is paramount when looking to avoid and prevent disease such as diabetes. Intermittent fasting has a positive effect on improving your blood sugar and insulin sensitivity!
– Improved Cardiovascular Health! The University of Utah ran a study and found that people who fasted at least 1 time per month were 40% less likely to have clogged arteries than those who didn’t fast. After 3 weeks of intermittent fasting patents saw an increase in good HDL (good cholesterol) and a decrease in triglycerides (the bad cholesterol).
– Less likelihood of over eating! A shorter window of time in which you can eat can actually help prevent you from over eating or taking in an excess amount of calories! With less hours during the day to eat it’s much harder to take in too much food.
These are just a few of the intermittent fasting benefits. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that our bodies actually run a little more efficiently and prevent certain diseases when we’re not in constantly fed state! After all, we evolved over thousands of years without a constant food source at our finger tips. Our paleolithic ancestors would have periods of time where no food was available and a long walk, run and hunt was needed to score a big meal! Having an abundance of food around us all the time and an ever-growing amount of processed, sugary, and unhealthy food has left most people overweight, overfed, and on the road to some serious problems. So what do you have to lose, give intermittent fasting a try and see for yourself just how much better your body feels.”
To read this, and other great articles by Timothy, head over to jungle-fit.com.
Oh! Now you need to scream like a warrior. Come on.
You’re sitting in front of your computer … no one’s watching. Be like Nike. Just do it. We dare you. 😉
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