I hope by now given you an insight into the reasons we get fat and T2 diabetic.
Fasting and LCHF is a vastly complex or really simple depending whether you want the science or just want results. Out of necessity I have simplified the process, but this is enough of an outline to shift perspective and encourage you to research and experiment on your own. It’s not an excess of calories that is the problem but an excess of insulin. Insulin steals your blood sugar and drives it into the tissues as an emergency measure to cope with the overload of refined carbohydrate that flashes over to glucose in a jiffy. When the system breaks down your body can no longer respond properly to its influence. This is called insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome.
I’ll stress this again. The most important thing to get fixed in the mind is to AVOID INSULIN SPIKES, and the only way to do this is to avoid the foods that cause the spikes, sugar, refined processed foods and all carbohydrates that are quickly digested and turn to glucose. If you are eating rice, pasta, potato, wheat (ALL wheat by the way - long wheat is no miracle food or diabetes cure) you are eating SUGAR!
So along with adopting a LCHF lifestyle which essentially lowers blood sugar (and weight issues) I am introducing fasting, which if adopted is another tool you can use to achieve your goals of optimal health.
Essentially what fasting does is gives you a very long interval between eating with no insulin being present. This will mean that your stored fat will be drawn on for the energy shortfall effortlessly.
So what are the practicalities? Well the nuts and bolts of intermittent fasting are wide and varied. Just google ‘intermittent fasting’ and any number of pages will pop up.
For my part, breakfast has been a thing of the past for a few months now. I have been following a 16 -18 hour fast that starts at 5 - 6 o'clock in the evening and ends at roughly mid day. If I’m busy I can easily go 24 hours.
So what might you expect when you undertake a fast? Well, if you have made sure that you last meal of the day was heavy on fats and very low on carbohydrate then the evening will pass effortlessly. On rising you will not feel hungry and you’ll wonder why. You might feel a little discomfort late evening, but I can assure you that if you just live through it the next morning those feelings will be absent when you wake. Your body will not be protesting that it’s starving as it is now on the path to its natural set point of optimal weight. If you are sugar (carbohydrate) burning it won’t work as you will be back on the roller coaster of sugar highs and lows.
Overcoming the sheer habit of eating first thing is a mental issue, it feels so strange not to eat something shortly after rising, but your body, with no insulin present, will happily be drawing on it’s fat reserves. I just have a cup of tea with a little full fat milk and another on or two until midday when I will break my fast with another low carb meal.
I emphasise that any difficulties will be in your head rather than your stomach as you will be changing the habits, literally, of you lifetime and it just seems a little odd until you get used to it.
LCHF is a fantastic lifestyle which will enable you to achieve optimal health in it’s own right, but combine this with intermittent fasting and you will have a devastating methodology that makes a drug regime look as crude and as ineffectual as cracking a nut with a sledgehammer. Give it a try at least!
In closing I would urge you to research Dr. Jason Fung, as he is has by far the best proponent on the subject. His videos and blogs are superb and he’s just published a book.
By the way, my wife has adopted a LCHF lifestyle and fasts as well. She has lost 14 pounds to date and has got back the figure she had as a teenager!
Does Intermittent Fasting Boost Your Metabolism?
Intermittent Fasting vs. Caloric Reduction – What’s the Difference?
Insulin resistance (IR)
An attempt to understand the physiology behind the success of LWMDR, in controlling blood sugar.A coincidence or possibility.
