Fasting: Strategy not starvation

Is fasting all it's cracked up to be? Definitely! Let us explain.

​Going without food might seem a little barbaric but trust us it's not. For those you new to this term, fasting is the process of going without food for a strategic amount of time to enhance and improve health and fitness markers such as weight and fat loss results and improved cognitive and body functions. 

​What happens when we fast?
Once our body has roughly gone more than 12 hours without food and all the readily available fuel has been used it begins to draw stored fat into the bloodstream as it now needs an alternative source. When we eat foods (especially carbohydrates) our body releases the hormone insulin to drive the energy around the body for use and into storage. Since most of westerner's diets are consistently filled with carbohydrates and more than they generally need insulin is always presence which creates a resistance to it. This resistance then creates a negative loop whereas the liver is secreting more and more insulin in response which in the long term leads to diabetes and other metabolic diseases. The presence of insulin also inhibits the release of Growth Hormone which we need for healing and repairing the body.

Growth hormone acts as a muscle sparring and building tool so there's no need to worry about muscle loss plus a smaller eating window has shown to help individuals manage their overall calorie intake. 

The longer we fast the better these benefits become and the better we begin to feel. When the body begins to use fats for fuel (ketosis) the brain benefits too since it actually operate better on fats. Fasting is also the perfect environment for our natural healing process, cleaning out dead cells and tissue.

There are 4 fasting strategies we use which promote all the benefits listed above but vary slightly in fast length and other protocols;

• The 24 hour fast
• The Warrior Fast
• The Daily Fast
• The 12 hour Fast

The best thing about fasting is you're already doing it to a certain degree which make the application of this strategy less daunting than you might think. If you count up all the hours you're not eating from the time you finish your last meal to your first the following day you can bet you're not far off tapping into those benefits but once you extend your hours it's important to break it properly. Breaking-the-fast is the most important meal of the day but unfortunately we've been taught how to break it incorrectly. First of all breakfast isn't limited to the hours in the morning and neither are your options of high sugar cereals, smoothies and fruit juices. Eating a low/slow carb high protein breakfast is a much better option and the perfect addition for keeping your body burning fat.

Please let us know what you think and please share with your friends and family.

Speak soon, The Team.