In the world of health and weight loss we have become familiar with words like “insulin resistance,” and “metabolic syndrome,” to describe the ways in which our bodies are struggling to find optimal health. The important thing to understand is that our bodies were designed to work with us toward optimal health and one of the simplest solutions costs nothing and is easy to implement. Fasting is the simplest and most effective solution for metabolic health.

Dr. Mindy Pelz, a functional health and nutritional and fasting expert, tells us that “the rhythm of moving in and out of feasting and fasting creates the greatest metabolic change.” In other words, we have been inundated with the message that it is only about what we eat, when we need to focus just as much, if not more, about when we eat. Fasting has been shown to do more than aid in weight loss. According to recent studies, fasting helps with aspects of metabolic health from weight loss, to high blood pressure, to inflammation and insulin resistance and lowering cholesterol.

You may hear “fasting” and think there is no way you can do it. And often people wrongfully assume it means not eating at all for days on end, when in fact simply skipping one meal a day, a few times a week, can result in large improvements in health.

In one study done in 2018, The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, showed that obese individuals saw dramatic metabolic improvements by simply shortening the “window” in which they ate, eating in an 8 hour window and leaving a 16 hour fasting period, even though they did not change what they ate in that window of time.

What happens when we fast? The most important thing to understand is that we have two sources of energy and we can access those with metabolic switching. We can access energy through glucose (which we get when we eat) and ketones (which are secreted when we enter a fasting state and our body needs an alternative source of energy).

Increases Ketones: ketones are an organic compound that the liver makes when your blood sugar drops; they are an alternative fuel source when glucose is not available. Ketones are also reparative, particularly they repair the nervous tissue. The energy we get from ketones is different from what we get from glucose. It is consistent, and gives us mental and physical clarity throughout the day. A rise in ketones also triggers the release of GABA, a calming neurotransmitter. In short, ketones make us feel amazing and we can train our bodies to find them and use them by fasting.

16-18 hour Fasting: Ketones may begin somewhere around 8 hours. Near the 12-15 hour mark, your body starts making energy by burning fat.

Increases Autophagy: without the influx of glucose, our cells respond by making themselves stronger; this is called autophagy. Autophagy improves cellular resistance by detoxing, repairing, and removing diseased cells. Allowing our bodies to dip into autophagy on a regular basis helps build high performing cells AND remove damaged cells that can cause disease.

17-72 hour Fasting: “autophagy fasting” can begin as early as 17 hours and peaks around 72 hours. We can use these longer fasts to help the body detox, improve brain function, increase immunity and balance our sex hormones.

Decreases Glycogen : When we eat a diet high in sugar and carbs, we create an excess of glucose that our body then has to store as glycogen. It stores excess sugar in muscles, liver and fat. Think of it as food you’ve already purchased but it won’t all fit in your fridge so it has to go somewhere. When you fast, you are accessing that “garage fridge” of food by accessing your fat stores. This then lowers our insulin and fights off insulin resistance.

TRE time restricted eating, or 12+ hour Fasting: We can decrease glycogen when we control our time between meals (no snacking) or fast at any period beyond 12 hours.

Increases Growth Hormone Production: Growth hormone is like a “fountain of youth.” We produced growth hormone while we were growing, but after puberty it begins to drop. Production stops at age 30. Growth hormone helps us burn fat (especially around the midsection), helps us build muscle, and supports brain health. Fasting stimulates the production of Human Growth Hormone.

Fasting between 17-72 hours can help contribute to HGH up to five times by lowering blood sugar levels.

Resets Dopamine Pathways: Every time we eat something sweet or very savory not only do we have a spike in insulin, but we also have a dopamine surge in anticipation of that food. Every time we indulge, our dopamine level spikes up, and then raises our dopamine baseline. This means we need more and more of the food to feel good.

Fasting 48 hours has been shown to reset the dopamine pathways and reduce cravings.

Repairs the Immune System: Dr. Valter Longo is a fasting research expert. He studied the effect of a 3 day fast on patients going through chemotherapy. On the third day of the fast he noticed something incredible: old cells died off and were replaced by new, healthy cells. This happened because of the release of stem cells at 72 hours. Those stem cells identified the white blood cells that were worn down and made new ones to replace them.

Fasting 72+ hours can be used to ease or prevent chronic conditions, alleviate pain and stiffness related to musculoskeletal injuries and slow down the effects of aging.

Are you excited about fasting yet? The most important thing to remember is that almost everyone can do it, and it gets easier the more you do it. Fasting is free, simple to implement and reduces the amount of meals we have to plan and pay for. We can all utilize this skill to improve our health and reach our goals of optimal health.

The Amazing Benefits of Fasting