Intermittent Fasting: The Key to Anti-Aging?

In ancient times, our ancestors were used to dealing with the scarcity of food. Having plenty to eat some days and little on other days was the norm, and did no harm to their wellness and wellbeing. Could it be, however, that intermittent fasting in this way can also have anti-aging effects?

 

This could be the case, as intermittent fasting enhances cellular repair, reduces oxidative stress and seems to be a great way of increasing your lifespan. Food scarcity over many thousands of years appears to have led to our ancestors and, subsequently, us, developing protective mechanisms in their bodies to help them adapt in times when food is scarce.

 

When food is scarce, the cell membranes in our bodies become more sensitive to insulin. This allows fat to be stored effectively and food used effectively too. On the other hand, when food is abundant, the body desensitises the cells to insulin, in order to store fat, and this produces oxidative stress and causes inflammatory conditions in the body. The increased insulin can also lead to increased risk of cancer and enhances cellular division.

 

Now that we have a massive abundance of food sources, the body is constantly receiving signals of surplus. In order to turn on the body’s natural anti-aging mechanism, intermittent fasting can be employed. This turns on the genetic repair mechanisms in the body and enhances the rejuvenation of cells. This process seems to allow certain cells to have a much longer lifetime, perhaps because it is less expensive to repair a cell than it is to break it up and make new cells. This stops the formation of cancer cells.

 

Therefore, new diets such as the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet could have all kinds of fantastic health benefits. As well as losing weight you could reduce your risk of cancer and keep looking younger for longer.

Categories: 5:2, anti aging, body, cells, diet, enhances cellular, Fasting, Food, intermittent, intermittent fasting, oxidative stress

Not as Scary as It Sounds: Why You Should Try Fasting

There are so many diets out there that it’s almost impossible to try them all. Still, you’ve probably had a good go. There’s low-fat, low-calorie, high-protein, low-carb, low-GI – just thinking about them all is enough to do a number on your wellbeing. But maybe weight loss wellness it isn’t a question of what you eat, but at what times you eat. This is according to nutritionist Teresa Boyce, who argues that you do not need to eat as often than you do.

 

Boyce notes, ‘There are many exceptions, such as those suffering with blood sugar disorders, pregnancy, athletes, body builders and people wishing to gain weight. These groups of people have physiological needs for frequent calorie intake, but for the average person there is no need for constant feeding throughout the day. There is buzz in the world of weight loss around a concept called intermittent fasting, which is going for periods of time without food.’ This may seem like a lot of hard work and deprivation, but the truth is you already fast regularly. Every time you sleep, you are fasting, which makes the whole intermittent fasting eating plan seem a lot more manageable.

 

‘There are many variations to intermittent fasting,’ Boyce points out. ‘However all variations have one common theme: consume your calories within a certain time frame within the day (a feeding window) and do not eat anything else outside of those hours.  This gives your body a break from digestion and time to use stored body fat as energy. By having a smaller feeding window in the day you are less likely to snack. You can focus on completely balanced main meals that are going to be more satisfying than constant grazing.’ So, how do you introduce intermittent fasting into your diet? Simply by eating an earlier dinner and a later breakfast, so that you don’t eat anything for 12-14 hours in-between. If you eat your breakfast between 9-10am, lunch between 1-2pm and dinner between 6-7pm, you have a 10-hour feeding window and a 14-hour fast each day.

 

If the hunger pangs hit, don’t worry – you’re not jeopardising your wellness in any way. However, if you do need to curb your appetite, have a cup of green tea or a glass of water. ‘You may be shocked to realise your hunger pains naturally subside,’ says Boyce. ‘Besides, being a little hungry between meals is normal especially if you’re trying to lose weight. Once you establish a new fasting pattern, you may wish to extend the fast to 16 hours a day.’ When having your three meals, make sure they are still nutritionally balanced, providing you with mixed vegetables, fruit, quality protein, good fats and whole grains.

 

Boyce comments, ‘The key to remember is you’re NOT starving yourself; you’re fasting for a period of the day. Make sure your meals are balanced and healthy and don’t graze outside of your balanced meals. When trialling this method you will likely discover you don’t need to eat as often as you currently do, and you will become aware of how much you over eat. Listening to your body and understanding its actual needs is the first step to long-term weight loss and optimum health.’ Plus, it’s not just your waistline you’re helping through intermittent fasting; this eating technique can enhance immunity, boost tissue repair, reduce unhealthy cholesterol levels and lower inflammation. As inflammation is a known risk factor for chronic illness such as diabetes and cardio vascular disease, surely it makes sense to give anything a go that might help to prevent it.

Categories: boyce, Fasting, feeding window, Health Benefits, intermittent, intermittent fasting, meals, nbsp boyce, weight, Weight Loss

Intermittent Dieting: Weight Loss that Breaks All the Rules

Intermittent dieting is a popular weight loss tool these days, but wellness experts are a bit sceptical about just how beneficial this way of losing weight is to your wellbeing. Joanne Chen, author of The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair With Our Favourite Treats, details, ‘As a health writer, I’ve always been smug in my nutrition knowledge—and not shy about sharing it. “You need breakfast,” I’d scold my friends. “Consistency is key!” Admittedly, I was a little patronising. So of course I rolled my eyes a few months ago when my friend Emily, visiting from London, told me about 5:2—aka The Fast Diet—developed by health journalists Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. I listened incredulously as Emily described friends shedding weight like crazy by eating what they wanted all week, save for two non-consecutive 500-calorie “fast” days.’

 

However, the 5:2 isn’t the only intermittent diet around. Many Brits have found themselves turning to another on-off diet known as the two-day diet, which was outlined in a book by dietician Michelle Harvie, PhD, and oncologist Dr. Tony Howell. This diet bans you from eating any carbs apart from fruits and vegetables two days a week. There’s another variation to be published next year, entitled The Every Other Day Diet by Krista Varady, PhD. So the question is; Could yo-yo dieting, fasting, and skipping meals actually work? Intermittent fasting is different than regular dieting, making your metabolism improve with short spurts of feast and famine. Valter Longo, PhD, director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, explains that this is the way our ancestors had to eat and so returning to this old way of eating can help reverse the modern obesity epidemic.

 

‘Fasting is hard, though,’ notes Chen. ‘And in some sense, non-fast days are harder. Following the rules outlined in The Fast Diet, I eat yogurt and berries, an arugula salad, and a chicken drumstick on my first fast day. The next day, I stuff my face with cake and mac ‘n’ cheese and feel sick. Apparently, there’s a thin line between yo-yo and intermittent dieting. It’s called control—and I don’t have it.’ Susan Roberts, PhD, professor of psychiatry at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, points out that, for this reason, intermittent dieting ‘may not be sustainable.’ However, while those opposed to intermittent dieting argue that it leads to nutrient deficiency, Roberts takes a less critical view: ‘Our bodies are designed to retain vitamins we take in over time, on days we do eat.’

 

This means that, as long as you pay close attention to nutrition on your “good days,” the bad days won’t be too harmful to your wellness. Chen comments, ‘It’s no wonder, then, that after two weeks of very little good food and a lot of very bad food, I shed no weight. Emily, however, fares better. “Really? You lost nothing?” she asks incredulously on our transatlantic call. By doing 5:2 for a month—eating egg whites, smoked salmon, and “lots of cucumber” on fast days and healthy portions of salads, fruits, and protein on non-fast days—she’s lost about six pounds…While I can’t say I’ve become more alert with this new way of eating, I have become more aware of my food. I’ve acquired a deep appreciation for good coffee. I crave chickpeas as if they are a treat. I’ve also gained some humility, and I’m no longer condescending about diet mantras. It seems—at least for some people, like Emily—so-called healthy rules are best broken.’

Categories: 5:2 Diet, control, day diet, days, diet, Dieting, eating, intermittent, intermittent dieting, intermittent fasting, Weight Loss

Does Eating Before Exercising Help or Hinder Your Health?

Most wellness experts will tell you that you should avoid eating shortly before exercise, as this can harm your performance. The logic goes that eating just before you work out leads to a spike and drop in blood sugar, but is this really as damaging to your wellbeing as people believe? Not according to the New York Times, who recently featured an article busting this fitness dogma as a myth.

 

The New York Times noted that newer research shows that eating before a workout doesn’t necessarily impact your performance. One study, in particular, has shown that cyclists who drank sugary drinks prior to a workout were able to complete a strenuous 20-minute ride with no problems. In fact, other research has demonstrated that if you eat easily-digested carbohydrates before exercise, you may even be able to work out for longer. Still, even with that in mind, there remains a whole wealth of research and logic that strongly dictates you should skip eating before exercise, especially if you’re interested in maximizing your fat-burning potential.

 

When you exercise while fasting, it, in essences, forces your body to shed fat. This is because the fat-burning processes in your body are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which you activate through exercise and lack of food. When you combine the two, therefore, you maximise the efforts of cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases, which are cellular factors and catalysts that force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy. For example, one study found that fasting before you do aerobic activity helps you to reduce your body weight and body fat, but eating before a workout only helps you to lose weight, and not fat.

 

Another reason why you should exercise and fast at the same time is that this also yields acute oxidative stress, which, in turn, benefits your muscle. According to fitness expert Ori Hofmekler, acute states of oxidative stress are ‘essential for keeping your muscle machinery tuned. Technically, acute oxidative stress makes your muscle increasingly resilient to oxidative stress; it stimulates glutathione and SOD [superoxide dismutase, the first antioxidant mobilized by your cells for defence] production in your mitochondria along with increased muscular capacity to utilize energy, generate force and resist fatigue. Hence, exercise and fasting help counteract all the main determinants of muscle ageing. But there is something else about exercise and fasting. When combined, they trigger a mechanism that recycles and rejuvenates your brain and muscle tissues.’

 

The mechanism Hofmekler is referring to here is triggering genes and growth factors, which includes brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and muscle regulatory factors (MRFs). These factors signal your brain’s stem cells and your muscle satellite cells to convert into new neurons and new muscle cells, respectively. Why is that important? Because this means that exercising without eating beforehand may actually help you to keep your brain, neuro-motors and muscle fibres biologically young. More than this, the combined effect of both intermittent fasting and short intense exercise could help you to boost your growth hormones, raise your testosterone level, enhance your cognitive function and even prevent depression.

 

The best way to begin using this technique is to start by exercising before you eat breakfast. When we talk about intermittent fasting, we’re not talking about a cycle of binge eating or starvation, nor are we advising any other extreme form of dieting. Rather, what you’re after here is to time your meals to allow for regular periods of fasting. Some people prefer daily intermittent fasting, while others like to fast a couple of days a week or every other day. However, if you want to do daily intermittent fasting, the length of your fast should be targeted to 16 to 18 hours, or only eating between the hours of 11 am and 7 pm, for example. Basically, this means you can skip breakfast and make lunch your first meal of the day instead.

Categories: acute oxidative, anti-ageing, daily intermittent, eating, exercise, Fasting, intermittent fasting, Muscle, oxidative stress, Weight Loss, york times