FASTING..what exactly do you mean?

How “Scheduled Eating” Can Promote General Health and Longevity

What Exactly is a Fast?   

“A fast is considered to start about 10 to 12 

hours after a meal, when you have used up all 

the available glucose in your blood and start 

converting glycogen stored in liver and muscle

 cells into glucose to use for energy. If the fast

continues, there is a gradual move toward

breaking down stored body fat, (and the liver

 produces 'ketone bodies,' short molecules that 

are byproducts of the breakdown of fatty acids.)

These can be used by the brain as fuel.”

                            Mark Mattson at the National Institute on Aging Washington Post

Growing evidence indicates that both fasting and exercise trigger genes and growth factors that recycle and rejuvenate your brain and muscle tissues.

Give Intermittent Fasting a Try

Consider skipping breakfast eat lunch and dinner and make sure you stop eating three hours before you go to sleep, so you’re eating within an 8-hour time frame every day. In the 6-8 hours that you do eat, you want to have healthy protein, minimize your carbs like pasta and bread and potatoes and exchange them for HEALTHY fats like butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts. The type of fats the media and “experts" tell you to avoid.

This will help shift you to fat burning mode from carb burning mode. Remember it takes a few weeks, and you have to do it gradually, but once you succeed to switch to fat burning mode, you will be easily able to fast for 18 hours and not feel hungry. Your cravings for sugar will magically disappear and it will be much easier to achieve your ideal weight.

The other “magical” benefit that occurs is that you will radically improve the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Why is this a good thing? Because supporting healthy gut bacteria, which actually outnumber your cells 10 to one—is one of the most important things you can do to improve your immune system so you won’t get sick, or get coughs, colds and flus. You will sleep better, have more energy, have increased mental clarity and concentrate better. Essentially every aspect of your health will improve.

Aside from removing your cravings for sugar and snack foods, melting the pounds of excess fat away, and making it far easier to maintain a healthy body weight, modern science has also confirmed there are many other good reasons to fast intermittently, such as:

• Normalizing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, which is key for optimal health as insulin resistance (which is what you get when your insulin sensitivity plummets) is a primary contributing factor to nearly all chronic disease, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer
• Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone"
• Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process
• Lowering triglyceride levels
• Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage

How to Eat Less Today! Small Steps=Big Changes

   Small Steps=Big Changes

                  One Habit at a Time!

How to Start Eating Less Today!

Start with what you serve your food in.

• Smaller Plate-You will eat less food, we tend to fill our plates if you are using a large plate and don't fill it, you might end up feeling unsatisfied.
• Blue Dishes-it has been shown to act as an appetite suppressant since it is the least appealing food color.
• Tall Skinny Glass-this is important if your drink is high calorie. We tend to put less in a tall skinny glass.
• Use  Michi's Ladder:Everyone needs good fat, it increases vitamin absorption which keeps us satisfied and nourished. 
• Use Cayenne Pepper
• Store Junk Food on Top:  Out of Sight, Out of Mind!
• Try ACE:  Sometimes an Appetite Suppresent will at least help you reduce your intake
• Brush your Teeth: as soon as you are finished

Intermittent Fasting and Interval Training.......Increase Hgh naturally!

Get your body in the best shape ever! A winning combination.

QUICK REVIEW from Dr. Mercola's website.

High-Intensity Interval Training and Intermittent Fasting - A Winning Combo for Fat Reduction and Optimal Fitness-  November 02, 2012 Mercola

• When combined, high intensity exercise and intermittent fasting can be a winning strategy to bring your fitness to the next level                        
• Recent research demonstrates that restricting carbohydrates can help burn calories more efficiently and increase muscle oxidative potential even in highly trained athletes
• High intensity interval training has also been shown to burn more calories in less time
•  When you exercise while fasting, it essentially forces your body to shed fat
•    If the thought of fasting for 12-18 hours is too much, you can get many of the same benefits of fasting and exercise by simply skipping breakfast and exercising first thing in the morning when your stomach is empty 

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/11/02/interval-training-and-intermittent-fasting.aspx

Intermittent Fasting- The approach that works for me

What works for me is to limit my food intake to a certain time of day rather than 5 days on and 2 days off.  I believe the body needs time to clean up everyday!

As long as you are eating all day long your body will burn the most readily available energy....food you JUST ate.

Since I am a coffee drinker it is relatively easy for me to "skip" breakfast. This has taken training, and time to slowly get to the point where my body knows that it is not in fact "Starving".  

I have heard so many times not to eat after 6pm-well this just does not work for my family, often times we are not even home from work until after 7pm. 

I like to start my mornings with fluids only! Water with lemon and cayenne , Coffee, Superfoods, and  fresh squeezed juice--only if I am very hungry.

Once I get to the point I know I need to eat which is usually around 12:30-1:00pm, I like to have fruit, something that is very easy to digest (I recommend only eating fruit by itself, at least 30 minutes before a meal-maybe another idea for a blog post?)

I eat a late lunch and a late dinner but the time frame is usually 8 or less hours of the day that I am eating.

This has worked for me for several years, not including when I was pregnant-becuase I was always starving!

Maintaining my body weight has been no effort for me and I think that only eating during a limited window of time helps me make better decisions on what I do eat!  I am becoming quite the food snob, and I mean that in a very healthy way!

It is a process just like everything in life.......but in my opinion you should sweep the three meal mindset under the rug and give it a try.  I promise you wont starve yourself!

sometimes I need a little help from my friend, ACE-It is a natural source of energy, that gives me alot of focus and helps control the appetite.