Is fasting right for you?
What words immediately come to mind when you hear the word fasting? Hunger, deprivation, crazy people, not going there...
Fasting in some form or other has been around for a very long time, but in more recent times there have been a lot of studies which point to many health benefits which may come from fasting.
Fasting simply means abstaining from eating for varying periods. A few years ago the 5:2 diet was popular. You ate normally for five days a week and restricted your calories for the other two. No more than 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men on the two fasting days. This worked well if you stuck to it and didn’t treat the other five days as party time.
More recently though fasting options have included eating within an eight hour window and abstaining from food for the other 16 hours, known as 16:8. Even doing this for a few days a week can be beneficial. Just choose days that you are busy and refrain from eating from dinner time until lunch time the next day.
Now, the authors of the book 'What the Fat' have released 'What the Fast', a guide to fat loss and better health through eating only one meal per day, for two days a week and eating three meals a day the rest of the week. The book lists some of the benefits of fasting being it burns fat, controls blood sugar, cleans and restores your cells and sharpens your mind. There are also some great recipes in the book. If you are interested in finding out more you can get information and if you wish, purchase 'What the Fast', from the authors’ website, here.
But...fasting is not for everyone. Anyone who has a history of disordered thinking about food may find fasting too restrictive and too easy to slip into the fast and binge mode. To be able to fast also requires a fair bit of mental fortitude until it becomes a habit.
Another excellent book that I highly recommend is 'The Obesity Code' by Dr Jason Fung. If you are overweight/pre-diabetic/type 2 diabetic or just want to better understand why you may be having difficulty losing weight, this is a good read.
Whatever fat loss method you employ, remember my three criteria:
- It must be healthy
- It must give you results
- You must be able to keep doing it (most of the time) long term, to keep the results. Anything that is faddy or too restrictive most likely will not last.
Remember that I will be away for all of June and July. Yes, as I mentioned in my last post my husband and I are taking an extended break.
My last day of work is 31 May and my first day back is 7 August.
If you have been thinking about getting back on track before winter, now is the time to contact me and get yourself set up.
Try some new recipes
Winter is the time when we feel like eating heavier types of food so I’ve put more recipes on my website:
As well as some treats:
- Protein balls
- Chia seed raspberry jam (no sweetener or sugar)