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“The best of all medicines are resting and fasting”

  – Benjamin Franklin

Fasting is an age old practice across all major religions and cultures in some form. While I will not endeavour to delve into the spiritual benefits of fasting, there are enough physical and mental benefits of fasting that make it an essential part of any fitness plan. So what are the benefits?

1. Fasting helps to lower weight effectively and sustainably
2. For serious fitness enthusiasts, fasting can help in body-fast recomposition without losing muscle
3. It has cognitive benefits as it may increase BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) that helps in neuro plasticity & enhanced learning
4. Fasting has multiple health benefits like increasing insulin sensitivity, managing cholesterol, speeding metabolism and detoxification of the body
5. It enhances productivity by increasing energy and saving time

Each of the above benefits alone justify fasting! So lets get to how does the body work and how to get into fasting optimally.

Sources of Energy

The body has 3 primary sources of energy – Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins. Carbohydrates are the most common source of fuel and quickly break into sugars that can be used by the body immediately. Whenever we eat, the body converts food into glucose that is then used by the cells to power our bodies. Insulin is the hormone that aids in glucose absorption and balance. So if there is higher glucose (sugar) in the blood, more insulin is released to help in absorption and subsequent storage (as glycogen reserves in the liver). This is how insulin manages the sugar balance in the blood stream. People who aren’t able to produce enough insulin have higher sugar than required which leads to myriad health issues. This is called diabetes.

Fats are broken into Fatty Acids that can be utilised by the body as fuel (if carbohydrates led sugar is not available) or stored in the body as triglycerides. The body is very good at storing fats for use when needed. Brain cells don’t use Fatty Acids directly so when we don’t have enough carbs and only fat feeding the body, the brain uses ketones as fuel. Hence a low carb fat dominant diet is called a keto or ketogenic diet and the state in which the primary brain fuel are ketones is called ketosis.

Lastly, Proteins break into essential amino acids for repair and essential body functions. Whenever the body doesn’t have carbohydrates or fats, it can break proteins for fuel. That is the basic theory of metabolic nutrition.

Feasting vs. Fasting

So now we know that the body can get energy in 2 ways:

1. From the food we eat or
2. From stored energy (Glycogen or Fat reserves)

When the body is using energy from the food we eat, we are in feasting mode. This will typically last for about 12 hours post which the body starts using glycogen and stored fat. This marks the entry into fasting mode. But given the rapid intervals at which a modern human ingests food (we are not even getting into the quality of nutrition), he or she are rarely in fasting mode and perpetually in feasting mode. No wonder stored body fat never gets reduced and more often gets increased especially if energy added is more than energy burnt (typical of sedentary convenience led modern lifestyles). This is where intermittent fasting comes into play. By fasting for more than 12 hours we can train our body to enter fasting mode and use stored fat as fuel. Over time this reduces the body fat leading to leaner bodies.

Intermittent Fasting Protocols

There can be a number of Intermittent Fasting protocols. Leangains is a great site with very rich content around this topic. I am listing 2 protocols below that I find are easy and effective:

1. The 16-8 protocol: This requires fasting for 16 hours and then feasting for 8 hours. The easiest way to implement this is to initiate fasting after the last meal of your day and break the fast only after 16 hours, post which you can feast for 8 hours. Repeat. So for example you have your dinner at 8 PM. Your next meal should be lunch the following day at 12 PM post which you can keep eating until 8 PM.
2. The 24 hour protocol: This is simple – fast for 24 hours. So in the above example, you would have your dinner at 8 PM on Thursday and then have your next meal as dinner at 8 PM on Friday.

Bonus Hacks

• Anything that contains sugar breaks the fast. Water and almost-no sugar food like black coffee and herbal teas can be had while fasting. They help you stay the course.
• For people on heavy carb diets, the first attempt at fasting may lead to “withdrawal & cravings”. Keep at it, have a huge gulp of water and remember that our bodies have enough fat reserves to last us for many days.
• Have plenty of water to flush out toxins.
• Your exercise schedule doesn’t need to change and fasting doesn’t interfere with fitness training at all as long as you consume enough proteins when feasting.
• During the feasted state, eat what you like and don’t count calories. It is very difficult to over-eat during the 8 hour window unless you go completely berserk.
• While technically 16 hour fasting can be any block of time, it seems to work better if you skip breakfast than skipping dinner but experiment and try for yourself.
• Stack intermittent fasting with morning training in the fasted state to accelerate fat loss.

Intermittent fasting is not a new diet, it is a fitness protocol to enhance your health. So give it a shot and you will end up liking the benefits way more than the initial hard work. To know more, Dr Jason Fung’s book on “The Complete Guide to Fasting” is a brilliant resource.