The Basics of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting (IF) is part of living a healthy lifestyle. Many people flock to IF to lose weight, reduce medications, and even reverse non communicable diseases (NCDs). In the Om Naturelle Facebook Community and other online communities, I see a lot of questions regarding IF from people new to the lifestyle. Today let’s address some of the most basic and most common questions.

What is Fasting?

By definition, Fasting is the act of abstaining from all food and drink (except water) for a specified length of time.

If we follow this basic definition, it really clears up a lot of questions regarding IF. However, there are many who suggest that black coffee is also acceptable during fasting times. This does not include flavored coffees (ie. French Vanilla or Hazelnut coffee). Tea has been highly debated because it is often flavored. Most straight black teas (Rooibos for example) is also completely acceptable. Dessert teas (sweet teas, flavored teas, etc) will break your fast.

If you take vitamins or medication, I suggest you read my article on IF and Medication to learn more.

Clean Fast vs. Dirty Fast

Personally, I hate these terms. I am a firm believer that you are either fasting or you’re not. In your IF journey, you will often hear people talk about ‘dirty fasting’ this is the idea that you can consume certain foods and drink that don’t break a specific threshold for fasting — sometimes that threshold is 2g of sugar, or 50 calories worth of food. Some suggest that small amounts of food or drink don’t increase insulin ENOUGH to break a fast. I disagree. I believe there is no in-between. In this case, it is very black and while. By definition, you are or are not fasting. So don’t let the temptation of a ‘dirty fast’ whisper sweet nothings in your ear. Don’t fall pray to that weakened mindset. Clean fasting is the only real way to fast.

Fasting Times

With IF, we have our fasting time and our eating window. You’ll see numbers like 16:8 or 18:6 or even 20:4 — these are your windows. The fasting time is always the first number, and the eating window is always the second number. A lot of people like to begin with a 16:8 fast. You can set the eating window to fit your lifestyle.

When you first begin to fast, depending on your current health, exercise level, and current nutrition level, you may want to start with a larger eating window. Your body needs 12 hours of fasting before it begins to burn fat. If you’re not in the best of health and have extremely poor nutritional habits, you may find a 12:12 fast easier to begin with for the first few weeks — don’t expect to lose weight within this time — this is simply an adjustment period. It’s good to let your body adjust slowly over time. Every few weeks you can increase your fasting window by an hour until you reach 18:6.

Weight Loss vs Maintenance

The optimal IF range for weight loss is 18:6 or 20:4. This is where most people see the most amount of weight loss. I DO NOT RECOMMEND fasting for more than 24 hours unless you are directly advised and supervised by a health professional.

Once you have achieved your weight / health goals, then you can move into maintenance mode which is a 16:8 window and you can remain there safely for the rest of your life.

Wait… what? You mean THIS ISN’T A DIET!

NO! For the love of God! This is not a diet. It is a complete lifestyle change. You can live your whole life doing IF and be extremely healthy, get fit, and be happy. Get the ill-advised concept of a diet out of your head. Diets are designed to fail you. This is not. This will change your life. Why? Because it’s a permanent change. A lifestyle change.

What Can You Eat?

So if this isn’t a diet — what can you eat? This is a huge question. A loaded question really. Technically, with IF, you can eat whatever you want provided it is relatively healthy. IF sort of forces you to be more mindful of your food choices. You learn to eat foods that keep you feeling fuller for longer — and this usually means NOT eating carb-laden foods. You naturally gravitate away from sugary foods as you realize that when you eat them, you find yourself hungry again shortly after. Whereas, if you eat plenty of healthy fats and proteins, you’ll find yourself needing and craving less food.

I highly suggest a low carb, high fat diet. If you are omnivore and have no allergies or nutritional challenges, then keto(ish) is a fantastic way to still eat a lot of the foods you’ve come to love and yet still lose weight, lower triglycerides, cholesterol, and raise LDL. If you are vegan or have nutritional challenges, you may find this to be a little bit more challenging. However, it is still completely doable if you put the effort in.

Three Meals A Day?

How much and how many meals to eat a day is another big question. How much is easy. Eat until you begin to feel full. Don’t eat until you are full — that is too much food. How many meals? Well that depends on you and your lifestyle. Some people choose to eat 3 meals a day, but most choose to eat only 2 meals a day. Some even do OMAD (one meal a day). Personally, I eat breakfast and dinner. In the afternoons I will have a light snack. Usually a nutritional shake, or a protein bar, or some cheese and nuts and seeds.

How Many Calories Should I Consume?

That’s the lovely thing with IF — you don’t actually need to count calories! What you do need to do is make healthier food choices 90% of the time. Instead of a cookie, have a veggie snack. Instead of pizza and beer, have steak and wine. At the end of the day, this is not about caloric restriction. It’s about healthy eating during your eating window. That’s it!

Can I Have Cheat Days?

With IF there are no cheat days. Don’t panic!! Listen, IF is pretty lax. If you want that cookie — have it! Just be mindful and only have 1 cookie — not 6. Have it twice a week, and not every day. Again IF is not about restriction, its about you being you and just being mindful of what you put into your body and when.

So I Can Drink Alcohol Too?

Technically, yes! But again, moderation is key here. If you usually have a few drinks a few nights a week, maybe cut that down. Maybe you can have 3 drinks on a Friday night instead of 9 drinks scattered throughout the week. Ultimately, if you can cut out the alcohol altogether, that would be best. But if you can’t, or simply choose not to, that is ok too. Just keep it minimal.

How Much Water Should I Drink?

The rule of thumb for water is simple. Take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2. That is how many ounces you should be drinking in a day. You can do some simple math to figure out how many cups that is — or better still, how many water bottles.

Example: If you weigh 200 lbs, divide that by 2 = 100 ounces of water. 100 oz is 12.5 cups — or if you have a 26oz water bottle on hand, then you need to drink a little less than 4 bottles of water a day.

This also includes any coffee, tea, or other drinks you have in the course of the day. But keep in mind there is a “dehydration factor” when you drink anything that isn’t coffee. Coffee, for example has a dehydration factor of 4, So if you drink 10oz of coffee, only 6oz will count towards water intake, the rest lends itself to the dehydration factor.

At first it’s hard to drink that much, eventually it gets easier. I promise.

Should I Work Out Too?

You certainly should! But I’ll be honest, many people still lose weight and get healthy even without exercise. I would absolutely recommend you try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise, 3 times a week. Alternating between cardio and resistance training is best. If you’re not in a place where you can exercise right now, that’s ok. Maybe focus on IF first, get that down pat. Stick with it for 6 months or so before you begin to even think about exercise. If you start too much all at once, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure and we don’t want that.

What If I Have Health Conditions?

If you have NCD’s such as diabetes, hyper or hypothyroidism, cardiovascular disease, or any other non communicable diseases, you may want to reach out to your doctor as well as a nutritionist who can help monitor your progress and adjust your medications as needed. Often times, many people with NCD’s find that within a year of beginning IF they can reduce or eliminate their medications. Yes, that’s how powerful IF is!

When Will I See Results?

The first thing I will suggest is hide the scale. Because this is a lifestyle change and not a diet, IF is a longer process. Remember, anything worth doing does not come easy. I will recommend you download MeThreeSixty and use that app monthly to monitor your non-scale progress. You will often lose inches around your waist before you see any changes on the scale.

Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged. Don’t expect much progress in the first 30 days. That time is more or less a detox period for your body. For some, people don’t see much progress for 6 to 8 weeks. But don’t let that stop you! They may not see the scale budge but they lose inches around their waist, they sleep better, they have more energy, they are more clear minded, they FEEL better. That, my friend, is far more important than any number on the scale!

Conclusion

This is just a small tidbit of information that is Intermittent Fasting. Is it a wonderful lifestyle that allows you to be in control of your hunger, your cravings, your weight, and YOUR LIFE! It’s definitely worth the initially struggle. I highly recommend it to anyone who is not only looking to lose weight but for those who are also looking to get healthier overall. If you have any questions, or would like to consult with me (as I am a registered nutritionist), please do not hesitate to reach out or join my Facebook group!