Titus Perry
10/30/2024
The act of fasting has been a part of man's journey through time for as long as we've existed on earth, that is of course until more recently. Throughout much of the natural world, periods of both short-term and prolonged fasting have been a regular part of every animal's life cycle, and man for over 99.9% of his time here has been subjected to the same experience. With this, our bodies have developed mechanisms of action to sustain itself during periods of food deprivation. Mind you, I am not referring to starvation, while starvation is something humankind has experienced at varying points in our history, fasting is something entirely different and done voluntarily in the modern day.
There have been numerous benefits attributed to the regular practice of fasting for both intermittent as well as prolonged fasting. These benefits range from weight loss/fat burning, lowering blood pressure, enhancing immune system function, calming or clearing skin conditions such as acne, rosacea, and eczema, lowering blood sugar, improving insulin sensitivity, improving focus and cognitive ability, improving sleep, supporting gut and digestive health, and even has had its use in therapeutic applications for managing and even reversing diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative illnesses. Prevention is the key to optimal long-term health outcomes, with diet, sleep, and exercise generally being at the forefront of most people's mind when thoughts of preventative lifestyle factors are discussed. Though, voluntary fasting absolutely has some real estate in the landscape of preventative health practices and should be in most adult's arsenal in the fight against age related disease and illness.
The practice was once a byproduct of the natural feast and famine cycles of life in the wild, but since the advent of farming and agriculture, where food could be harvested and kept plentiful regardless of the seasons or where in the world human civilization took place, the typical feast and famine cycle became a less prevalent element of daily life, and so as more and more food was consumed more and more often throughout more and more of every waking hour, so followed... you guessed it, more and more of the chronic physical ailments that have grown to plague nations the world over. Particularly, the more developed and wealthier they are.
Why it's relevant
The importance of recognizing and accepting that the modern dietary pattern of western culture is in fact a stark contrast to that in which human beings' physical bodies have become accustomed to over time, is the first step to establishing a new paradigm of what is considered healthy practice and what isn't. To many, fasting sounds fad-like and even dangerous. For most of us, we've grown accustomed to feeding every 2 to 3 hours a day for up to16 hours on average. The only time we give our bodies a break is in our sleep (unless you're a sleep eater, then we have a totally different situation on our hands). All jokes aside, this frequent consumption of food, especially highly processed foods that make up a disturbingly large portion of many of our calories puts a tremendous strain on our pancreas, stomach, intestines, heart, liver, and so-on.
It stands to reason that with this constant influx of energy all day every day, the body will over time struggle to detox, maintain metabolic flexibility, and support optimal health. This is where the idea of skipping meals (fasting or time restrictive feeding) garners some attention. The human body does an incredible job of healing itself when given enough time and the right resources. The challenge for us today is in allotting that time and acquiring those resources to kickstart and speed up that process.
Most of our food in developed nations are loaded with artificial preservatives, dyes, hydrogenated oils, added sugar, pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals while simultaneously being devoid of the nutrient content our bodies have evolved to expect and function optimally from. This is important as dietary habits are a part of the healing power fasting can provide; it'd be difficult to attain superior health from the healing/detoxing power of fasting when you shovel loads of these toxins into the body whenever you do eventually eat again. While your food choices are even more important, fasting and TRF (time restricted feeding) have amazing advantages on their own, namely...
Improved glucose control
Reduced cholesterol
Increased autophagy (cellular self-eating and clean up)
Potentially lowered blood pressure
Potentially lowered LDL cholesterol
Lower systemic inflammation
Lower chronic inflammation
Gut healing
Fat burning
Increased stress resistance
Lowered risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease
These advantages are found in many studies looking into the benefits fasting provides. The practice has even proven to provide similar benefits and lengthen lifespan in other complex non-human organisms like monkeys and dogs, and even simpler organisms like flies and yeast cells https://tinyurl.com/bdecp77d. The research shows the relationships between the energy sensing pathways of the body and the adaptations developed when these pathways are "starved" of energy and nutrients. Like exercise, cold exposure therapy like ice baths, and heat exposure therapy like saunas, fasting is a type of adaptive stress that when used periodically can have a plethora of health benefits.
If fasting is something that interest you or anyone you know, it is best to start off slow and develop a tolerance. Too much too soon is too much too soon and you may find yourself more "hangry", lethargic, and weak if you go from having a 16-hour eating window to a sudden 24 hour fast. Many beginners may do well with a 12/12 split, for example, you could start with an eating window between 8am and 8pm for 2-4 weeks, then progress to a 14/10 split with a feeding window of 8am to 6pm, or 16/8, and so on. There's lots of versions of fasting and TRF, things like OMAD (one meal a day), intermittent fasting, Prolonged fasting (24 hours+), and alternate day fasting.
Do what works for you but also be sure that this is practiced safely. If you are a very physically active person like an athlete or you work a very physical job, some plans like OMAD and prolonged fasts may not be suitable for you in many cases. It is also worth noting if you suffer from any chronic health conditions such as type 1 & 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer and so on, that you consult your primary care physician or a registered dietitian before partaking in any of these practices.
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