The Beginner's Guide To Intermittent Fasting

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting Copyright © 2019 –

Copyright © 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Disclaimer

All the material contained in this book is provided for educational and informational purposes only. No responsibility can be taken for any results or outcomes resulting from the use of this material.

While every attempt has been made to provide information that is both accurate and effective, the author does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or use/misuse of this information.

This information is intended for education purposes only, not to diagnose or treat medical conditions.

Hello and welcome to our short, beginners guide on how to get started with intermittent fasting.

The benefits of intermittent fasting are profound. Intermittent Fasting often used interchangeably as Time Restricted Eating, show benefits even if one’s diet is not optimal. Intermittent Fasting Benefits include:

• Weight Loss

• Abundant energy

• Optimal Health

• Increased Satiety

• Autophagy

• Increased Numbers of Mitochondria including the Health of the Mitochondria

• Increased Muscle

• Optimized Gut Health

• Improved Blood Lipid Profile

• Increased Energy

• Increased Healthspan

• Increased Lifespan

However, many people associate intermittent fasting with negative aspects such as starvation, obesity or anorexia. What intermittent fasting really refers to is a voluntary abstinence from food for a certain period of time, usually restricting your daily eating window to 8 hours, for example, such as the 8/16 protocol

– 8 hour eating window with 12 hours of fasting.

A fasted state can promote fat burning via ketosis, which can also be achieved by eating a very low carb diet such as the ketogenic diet. Both promote ketosis with the only difference being that with fasting, we can promote more powerful ‘autophagy’, which is a cellular housekeeping, if you will, optimizing most every area of health. Ketosis from a keto diet can promote autophagy - the shift from burning glucose (carbs) to ketones (fats) that occurs on a keto diet mimics what occurs naturally in a fasted state.

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting Copyright

Brain health is one important area. Fasting stimulates the production of new neurons in the brain. This explains why fasting has been linked to the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Adding even just 12 hours of fasting is beneficial in many areas of health.

The first step, which is usually the hardest, is to actually “just get started” with intermittent fasting or also referred to interchangeably as time-restricted eating. A lot of people over complicate. They overthink it and pretty much make it all that much harder on themselves.

There's really not much to think about. Why? Well, I've got some good news for you. You're already fasting. That's right!

For approximately eight hours of every single 24-hour day/night cycle, you are already fasting – while you are sleeping. Since fasting is technically defined as a period of time where you don't ingest any calories, then sleep is fasting, assuming you do not get up and eat when you should be sleeping. Isn't that good news?

You're already starting the game with an advantage. You already have, let’s say, 6 to 8 hours into the fasting process. The only job that remains is for you to add a few more hours to that time window.

I have other good news for you. I'm sure that you're like most people and when you're asleep, you don't constantly think about eating. You mainly get hungry in the 16 to 18 hours that you're awake. This is normal and may happen at certain times. Even if you eat a lot, you don't think about eating the whole 18 to 16 hours you are awake, right? Are you with me? Good. Your job is to add some of those hours when you're not thinking about eating…to your sleeping hours.

When you put all these hours together, you have a fasting time frame. What's left over is your feeding window. You can eat whatever you want within that feeding window. For the rest of the time, you go without eating.

That's the good news because you already are not eating for a significant amount of time during the 24 hours, all you're doing is adding some organization and order to this pre-existing pattern. This is what's so excellent about intermittent fasting. You're not really doing something drastically new.

It's not like you're completely and totally re-engineering your lifestyle. That's not what's happening. You're just moving blocks of eating and not eating times around. Sure, this takes just a bit of work in the beginning because we are creatures of habit, like I've mentioned before. But it can be done and many are reaping

the weight loss and health benefits of not eating for a period of time.

All it takes are some minor adjustments and before you know it, you will get used to it.

First Things First: Check With Your Doctor

Before you get going with intermittent fasting, it's always a good idea to check in with your primary care physician or your family doctor. Regardless of what you're doing involving weight loss or any kind of lifestyle modification, always make sure that your doctor or health care provider is in the loop.

This is especially true if you are pregnant or you are taking special medication. I'm talking about medication that is not over the counter. Maybe you're taking cold medication or other health products that you buy at the corner drug store. That's fine.

But if you're taking any kind of special medication, especially anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication or heart medication, you need to talk to your doctor first before you adopt an intermittent-fasting protocol or get into any kind of weight-loss system.

Additionally, if you are sick or you have a special health condition, you need to let your doctor know that you are thinking about intermittent fasting. Make sure that your doctor is aware of

what you're planning to do so they can guide you, if needed. Always check with your doctor before doing anything else.

With that out of the way, let's get down to the steps that you need to follow so you can adopt an intermittent-fasting protocol.

Choose Your Feeding Window

This is the most important step in intermittent fasting. A lot of people would tell you that they have an ideal schedule for you. Don't listen to those people. Everybody's different.

Some people are night owls. They're most effective and creative late at night. They wake up at 6 in the evening, going all through the night and they continue until 6 in the morning. That's when they sleep.

Other people are early birds. They wake up very early. We're talking about 3am and that's when they do their best work. By the time noon time rolls around, they're winding down.

Most people are somewhere in between. You have to pay attention to your body rhythm or circadian rhythm. The worst thing that you can do is to impose intermittent fasting as some sort of straight jacket on your body’s current schedule.

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

If you are an early morning person, it doesn't make sense to adopt the schedule of a night owl. You're not doing yourself any favors as you most likely will not maintain the protocol. The reverse is also true. Stick with your schedule. This means that when you're picking your feeding window, you have to look at when you're most active and when you are most likely to eat. With that piece of information in mind, you can then piece together the 8-hour-feeding window typically needed by males or 10-hour-feeding window typically recommended for females to start. You can always shorten it down the road.

Base your intermittent fasting feeding window on your existing lifestyle. I can't emphasize this enough. There's no need for you to change your lifestyle just so you can adopt intermittent fasting. It doesn't work that way.

Intermittent fasting is a stressor (a hormetic stressor) to the body, albeit a good one. However, it is still a stressor and changing up your sleeping and eating times will only add to it.

Look at how you're eating, when you're eating and what your overall body clock is like. Adopt intermittent fasting to that pattern.

Pick your feeding window wisely. There's nobody to impress. You're not trying to live up to somebody's expectations. You're

doing this for yourself. So, make sure you put together something that works for you.

Decide On A Start Date

Deciding on a start date is a basic tenet of planning and preparing – this equals success in any area of life.

We have all these ideas that we know we should be doing. So, we make all sorts of plans and guess what? When that day comes, we're unprepared. Then, we do what most other people do in that situation. We kick the can down the ‘tomorrow’ road.

“Tomorrow” never comes. If you find yourself in a situation where you're always saying to yourself “I'll do that tomorrow or “I'll have more time tomorrow”, you're not doing yourself any favors. All you're doing is postponing the start date. This is similar to exercising. Initially, it is important to schedule a day and time that you know you would be most likely to stick to and then honor it as you would a doctor appointment.

If you keep procrastinating long enough, you never, ever begin. But that's the reality and the truth for most people. This applies across the board. This applies to all sorts of people. To shortcircuit this, you simply have to decide on a start date and honor it.

This is one of the most important decisions you have to make when it comes to intermittent fasting. When you decide on a start date, you want to pick a date that you are sure you will start on.

That's the day you would say, for example, that “From 6am to 2pm, it's okay for me to eat. After that, I will not eat anything.”

This is the date that eating pattern starts to take hold. It's important.

A lot of people think that if they give themselves enough scheduling cushion like, let's say, 2 months ahead of time, by the time their start date comes, they will be prepared.

If only things worked out that way. Most people who set start dates that far ahead are just as unprepared on that actual day as the day they planned their decision. Sounds crazy, right? But it happens all the time. Why?

The rest of your life happens when you set up such a big cushion. You have so many other things that you have to attend to and by the time that your chosen start date comes, you're unprepared. You're unprepared mentally, physically and logistically. It just hits you like a ton of bricks and guess what happens.

That's right. You postpone it again and again until you forget about it. It’s all very subtle. You can't set a scheduling cushion that is too big. It has to be close enough for you to have some

sense of urgency. It has to be immediate enough for you to prioritize it.

On the other hand, scheduling a start date that is too close can freak you out. If you've ever seen a deer caught in headlights, please understand that most of the time, the deer is fast enough to avoid an oncoming car, especially if the car is fairly distant.

The problem is when we choose any type of deadline(s) that freak us out, we freeze. Just like that deer who is otherwise capable of getting out of the way, we're just frozen in our tracks. We can't do it. We feel we're incapable.

We are under the impression that we have no other option. This is exactly the kind of mindset you get into when you set up a start date for intermittent fasting that is too immediate. Let's say, you decide that all this information that I've given you is so awesome that you want to do it right here, right now.

While I applaud your decisiveness and ambition, I would caution against it. Why? It may be so intimidating initially that you end up failing. You don't even get out of the gate. Or you stick to it for a short period of time and then you bounce back.

This happens quite a bit because people realize that they're not ready. Remember, when you make a decision, whether it's

financial, romantic, physical, medical or dietary, all parts of you have to be aligned.

I'm talking about being mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally prepared. When you set a start date that is so immediate, that alignment doesn't take place. Part of you wants it yesterday. But the other parts of you are not quite ready.

You have to decide on the right start date. How would you know? Well, you have an intense enough sense of urgency that you can focus on it and follow through while at the same time having enough distance so it doesn't freak you out or emotionally intimidate you into inaction.

Unfortunately, there is no golden rule for this. This varies from person to person. Regardless, you have to pick the right start date. Otherwise, all the information that you pick up from this book is not going to help you.

It is important to plan and shop for the healthy foods you need to keep your fasting a success. You are a product of your environment.

Plan Your Meals For All-Day Satiety

The name of the game when it comes to intermittent fasting is satiety. This is the sense of fullness you get from your food. You may be thinking that this is all physical, but it is emotional as well.

If you're the type of person who eats food for emotional comfort, then you know that your satiety signals are different from somebody who eats because they're hungry only. You have to plan your meals within your (for example) 8-10-hour feeding window for full satiety. Again, there's no golden rule for this. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this because everybody is different.

Some people get really satiated when they eat a chocolate chip cookie. It may only have a certain number of calories, but in terms of emotional satiety, it packs quite a punch for some people. Others need something meatier. Maybe a doubly-patty quarter-pounder burger or a thick, juicy steak. Whatever works for you, make sure you focus on a sense of fullness or satiety. You are eating to feel full. It's also very important to make sure that you're looking for satiety for the rest of the day.

In other words, pick your battles carefully. When you eat foods that are high in quality protein and healthy fat, they fill you up

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

and make you feel full for a much longer period than if you were eating refined and processed foods such as desserts, breads, chips, crackers etc. Relying more on protein and healthy fat, also has a beneficial effect when your body begins to utilize its fat stores for fuel – this is called ‘ketosis’ and is a game-changer when it comes to health and weight loss success.

Plan your meal with satiety in mind. I don't expect you to get this right the first time around. Maybe you will experiment with this for a few weeks. But before you know it, things will fall into place. You might notice that eating certain foods make you feel fuller throughout the day.

I'm not just talking about physically feeling full. I'm talking about emotionally and mentally feeling full. How do you know? You don't crave as much for the rest of the day. That should be your benchmark.

If your cravings can easily be taken care of by drinking water, tea or coffee, then you know you're on the right track. On the other hand, if your cravings are so intense that you can't help but eat something, then you might want to look at what you're eating during your feeding window and make some changes.

Again, the only person that would know what changes to make is you. You're the person who's going to detect the patterns. Not me or anyone else. Pay close attention to satiety. Focusing on

flavor and texture are great, but at the end of the day, it's all about eating healthy food to feel fuller for a longer period of time.

Add Some Physical Activity To Your Day

At this point in the book, a lot of people freak out. Whenever people hear or read the word “exercise” they check out. It's as if that word is so loaded and so negative that they'd rather do something else.

Well, it doesn't have to be like that. You don't necessarily have to pack up your gym bag, go straight to the gym (spend hours there) and do some weight lifting or spend some time on cardio machines. You don't have to do that unless you want to.

You don't have to sweat buckets. You don't have to sign up for a Zumba class. You don't have to buy special tights so you can do Pilates in the morning. Any additional, physical activity would do.

Many begin losing weight with intermittent fasting alone and by making just small changes to daily, physical activities.

Many folks sit too much at work all day, then they sit while commuting home, they sit eating dinner and after dinner? They sit and watch TV. They park very close to their ultimate destination, they take the elevator instead of the stairs and are not walking their dog. These are examples of what is preventing better physical health and weight loss success.

What are a few small steps outside of intermittent fasting to weight loss and optimal health success?

• Find every opportunity to move more

• Drink more water

• Make half your plate veggies (if not sensitive to them)

• Stop drinking your calories

• Avoid fruit juice

• Keep a journal

So, let these actions become part of your daily routine and eventually they will become natural. Paired with intermittent fasting, these few small hacks and tweaks to your daily physical activity level pay off handsomely.

Here's the good news. You don't have to do this all in one sitting. The point is, it's okay to start small. It may not seem like much, but it will have an impact.

Now, if you are in better physical condition and you want to profoundly improve your fitness and fasting results, High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, is excellent. This type of exercise is for a very, short period of time roughly 12 minutes; and provides the same benefits (and in some cases more) as longer-duration cardio.

Here is a basic foundational HIIT example:

• Go as fast and as hard as you can for 30 seconds

• Return to a slow to moderate pace for 90 seconds

• Repeat 8 times

That’s it! Do this HIIT session 3-4 times each week.

In the beginning of utilizing intermittent fasting, choose a lowlevel activity such as walking or lifting light weights until you become more fat-adapted, meaning when your body is utilizing its fat stores for fuel as opposed to glucose – typically 10 days to two weeks.

Sleep Well

As I've mentioned previously, you already have a powerful asset when it comes to intermittent fasting. You are already sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Sounds awesome, right? Well, not quite.

If your sleep quality is very poor, you're not doing yourself any favors. In fact, don't be surprised if you wake up hungry. Do yourself a big favor and get quality sleep. This is one of those things that cannot be assumed.

Why Does Sleep Matter?

A lot of people are under the impression that as long as they choose to sleep 6 to 8 hours that they are automatically sleeping

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

well. No, not everyone does. Quality and quantity are not equivalent.

Sure, you may be sleeping 8 hours. But if you're tossing and turning all that time, you're probably waking up groggy or restless. Choose to sleep well. How does this happen? You have to have a pre-sleep ritual.

But when it comes to intermittent fasting and optimal health –sleep reigns. A lack of quality sleep encourages hunger including sugar and carbohydrate cravings and why those who are chronically sleep deprived gain weight and can become insulin resistant and on the road to weight gain and Type 2 diabetes. Research shows that simply missing one night of quality sleep leads to an increase in cravings for junk foods.

It is also crucial to wind down your mind and body before you sleep. You don't want to go to bed worrying about the things that you need to do at the office, big decisions that you need to make, relationship issues, anger, frustration etc. That's the worst way to attain sleep quality.

It's a good idea to engage in some sort of calming ritual like meditation, mindfulness or simply listening to calming music –anything that will relax you before you go to sleep.

The key here is to come up with some sort of mental cutoff where you refuse to worry, be fearful or anxious about stuff that you do for a living or stuff that pays the bills. You have to give your mind a rest during the night.

One of my best tips is to write down everything that is worrying you, causing concern and stress and keep it there. It is an excellent tool that really works. You have to say to yourself: “Past this point in time, I'm not going to stress or be anxious about anything. I'm just going to enjoy my life and live in the present moment. Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Then sleep like a baby.

I know it's easier said than done. After all, a lot of us gain a sense of control and effectiveness when we're kicking things around in our heads. But that's an illusion. “Solving a problem” by worrying about it is not much different from trying to control the weather by chewing gum. It doesn't make any sense.

Sleep is not one of those things that you just turn on and off like a light switch. You have to ease into it. You have to be mentally prepared. In fact, you have to be prepared on so many different levels for you to create quality sleep.

When you're fully rested, then you're less likely to wake up hungry. Most importantly when it comes to intermittent fasting,

you are more likely to recharge your willpower and resilience –your body simply will not need the food like it did before.

Additionally, to help encourage better sleep, stop drinking any liquids such as coffee in the early afternoon. make sure the room is very dark – bat-cave dark. Also ensure that the room you sleep in is very cool. Stop using all blue-light-emitting devices such as your cell phone or computer 90 minutes before bedtime.

Drink Water When You Get Hungry

A lot of people think that when hunger pangs hit them, they have to automatically rush to the fridge, pantry or make a quick stop at the nearby McDonald's or fast-food, chain store. It doesn't have to be that way! Pay close attention the next time hunger pangs hit you. Did it last forever? Was it excruciatingly bad? If you're honest about it and if you bother to actually become aware of it, it's not really as bad as you think. Think of hunger pangs like storm clouds.

Sure, when you're right under a storm cloud and it's raining, it seems like it's going to rain forever. You might even be on the lookout for Noah and his ark. But if you're objective about it and you look at the big picture, it doesn't really rain all that long and then it moves on.

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

The same applies to your hunger pangs. It may be very uncomfortable when you're in the middle of it. It might seem to drag on forever, but research shows, they only last a couple of minutes. But if you're able to weather it, it will pass. This is why I suggest that you drink water or any other healthy, non-caloric liquid such as coffee or tea when you get hungry.

At the very least, it takes your mind off your hunger pangs. Drink clear, clean, fresh water. Don't drink soda. If you have a sweet tooth and you can't help it, do yourself a big favor and drink a zero-calorie soda such as stevia-sweetened sodas. But as much as possible, stick with water. You will be surprised as to how effective drinking water is when dealing with hunger pangs. The reason is because our brain registers hunger and thirst in the same area and confusion results – you think you are hungry when in reality, you are mildly dehydrated. As formidable as hunger pangs may seem, on an emotional level, they pass very quickly and know, you are not starving. You just have to give yourself the proper tools and mindset to let that dark cloud of programmed hunger move away from you.

Extend Your Hunger Waiting Time

Everybody has a hunger. It's like a fuse. You can stay hungry for an X period of time until you break down completely and raid the

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

fridge or order out or even make a stop at the nearest, fast-food joint.

Everybody's different. Some people can wait a little bit longer. Others fold like a house of cards when the hunger pangs come. For this step, I need you to make a game of extending your resistance to your hunger pangs.

It doesn't matter whether you are a person who completely folds the moment you get hungry or you can last quite a bit. There's always room for improvement. If you feel that you have no willpower and you just have to eat whenever hunger pangs get to you, resolve to wait it out for 5 minutes or 2 minutes. That's your starting point.

Once those 2 minutes pass, go ahead and eat. But make sure to resolve that the next time hunger pangs happen, you're going to try to scale up from those 2 minutes. Next time, shoot for 3, then 4, then 5. I think you know where I'm going with this.

Never underestimate your ability to adapt. What's crucial is that you're conscious about the adaptation process. This enables you to wait out your hunger pangs, which by the way, is in no way starvation. Your hunger signals are a combination of many things, including your circadian rhythm regarding food intake, time of previous meals, how much you ate at your last meal, how

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

exercise impacted your energy response. Many factors apply to the hunger pangs, but know one thing…you are not starving.

Many people when they first start with intermittent fasting, fold like a house of cards whenever hunger pangs hit because they don’t know the truth that they’ll be just fine. It's like the big bad wolf showing up at the houses of the 3 pigs and he is at the first pig's house, the one made out of straw.

So, if you cave, there is always a next time! That is the good news. Next time make it to 1 minute, then 2, then 3. And before you know it, you can make it long enough for the hunger pangs to go away.

Remember, everybody's different. Some people have hunger pangs that seem to go on forever. Others have quick, short bursts. Regardless of what you're dealing with, don't take it all lying down. You can choose to adapt. Act accordingly.

The Multiple Types of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is essentially very simple. Fasting for 12–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy which releases ketones into the bloodstream to be utilized for fuel as opposed to glucose. This should encourage weight loss and optimal health.

Here are the most popular ways in which you can do

Intermitten Fasting

1. 16:8 Protocol. This only means that you are fasting for 16 hours and then taking in all your meals (calories) within an 8-hour-eating window. For example, you would finish your evening meal by 8 p.m. and then skip breakfast the next day, not eating again until noon. You can utilize the 16:8 protocol every day, if you wish.

2. 12:12 Protocol. This means you are fasting for 12 hours and your eating window (taking in all of your calories) is 12 hours. As mentioned previously, if your last meal is at 7 pm in the evening, the next meal would be at 7 am in the morning. You can utilize the 12:12 protocol every day, if you wish.

3. 5:2 Protocol. This means you eat normally for 5 days and fast while restricting calories to 500-600 calories for 2 days of the week.

4. Eat-Stop-Eat Protocol. This protocol is doing a 24 hour fast once or twice a week – fasting from dinner one day to dinner the next. Eating responsibly for the other 5 days.

Tips for Intermittent Fasting Success:

• Stay Hydrated! This is essential. Remember that any food or drink with calories will break a fast. So have coffee or tea without dairy or sugar.

• Add Electrolytes. Sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium are essential electrolytes that can be quickly depleted if you're abstaining from food.

• Avoid Obsessing Over Food. This is a big one as many people, especially in the beginning, focus on food. Ensure you plan for this and distractions. Remember: you are not starving. Focus instead, on the rewards of intermittent fasting.

• Break the Fast Correctly. When your blood glucose is low, the last thing you want is to dramatically spike it with refined foods such as white flour products, white rice, sugar, etc – which are not healthy and defeats the purpose. Break your fast with a healthy fat such as avocado or olive oil and a quality protein.

• Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods. Choosing nutrient-dense foods such as leafy greens, wild salmon, avocados and berries will allow you to stay satiated and healthy. Choosing processed foods or other unhealthy choices, will defeat and reverse the health benefits accrued from intermittent fasting.

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

• No Vigorous Exercise. Exercise is excellent, but keep it light until you adjust to fasting.

I wish you all the very best in your future, healthy endeavors!

Lori Shemek, PhD, CNC, CLC

References:

https://content.iospress.com/articles/nutrition-and-healthyaging/nha170036

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15640462

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24048020

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25540982

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2405717

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410865

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S19315244140 0200X

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15123782

Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17291990/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17374948

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23773064

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22323820

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11220789

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17306982

https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/212538

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5288891/

https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S15504131(17)30612-5