Occasional 24 Hour Fast
Most people opt for a 16:8 diet—fasting for 16 hours per day and eating during an 8-hour window—though it's not totally clear as of now if 16 hours of intermittent fasting is the magic number. Fast for 12 hours a day. Share on Pinterest. Different styles of intermittent fasting may suit different.
Research suggests that an occasional 24-hour fast may improve cardiovascular health. Some animal research shows that fasting will help fight some types of cancer, or even preserve memory. A person can break his or her fast using the following methods: 1. Drinking water: This is essential if circumstances prevented it during the fast. The 16/8 method. The 16/8 method involves fasting every day for 14–16 hours and restricting your.
We all naturally fast – or take a break from eating – for at least 8 hours a day. It’s when we’re asleep!
The prevailing view has always been to start your day with a hearty breakfast but recent research suggests that taking a longer break can help you lose weight and improve overall health. It’s a movement that has gained popularity but it is also evidence based with research continuing to show its benefits.
Whether you call it “intermittent fasting” (aka IF) or “ time-restricted eating,” it involves intentionally taking a “break” from eating for anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day.
Intermittent Fasting has been shown to:
🔥Lower Insulin Levels
🔥Enhance Recovery & Reduce Inflammation
🔥Boost your metabolism
🔥Increase Fat Burning,
🔥Help with Cellular Regeneration
Also, it stands to reason that if you’re eating for fewer hours a day, there’s a good chance you’re eating less overall, helping to lose weight if that’s a goal.
Pretty impressive huh?
And it’s not nearly as hard as you think.
There are numerous health benefits related to intermittent fasting including:
Weight and body fat loss. ...
Increased fat burning. ...
Lowered blood insulin and sugar levels. ... (Possible reversal of type 2 diabetes)
Possible improved mental clarity and concentration. ...
Possible increased energy. ...
Possible increased growth hormone, at least in the short term
Here’s a breakdown of what you body does each hour of fasting (times based from last calorie intake):
4-8 hours
Blood sugars fall
All food has left the stomach
Insulin is no longer produced
12 hours
Food consumed has been burned
Digestive system goes to sleep
Body begins healing process
Human Growth Hormone begins to increase
Glucagon is relaxed to balance blood sugars
14 hours
Body has converted to using stored fat as energy
Human Growth Hormone starts to increase dramatically
16 hours
Body starts to ramp up the fat burning
18 hours
Human Growth Hormone starts to skyrocket
24 hours
Autophagy begins
Drains all glycogen stores
Ketones are released into the blood stream
36 hours
Autophagy 300% increase
48 hours
Autophagy increases 30% more
Immune system reset and regeneration
Increased reduction in inflammation response
72 hours
Autophagy maxes out
* Autophagy is a detox process your body undergoes to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones. A protein called p62 activates to induce autophagy and is the key to an improved human lifespan over time.
You can fast for as many hours as you want, and you can do this every day or ever just one or 2 days per week or per fortnight – you’ll get health benefits in direct relation to what you do and how often.
I regularly do 16:8, where I fast for 16 hours per day by eating only within one 8 hour window per day – why don’t you give it a try and see what happens with you!
You hear people talking about intermittent fasting all the time. Don’t you find it interesting how you can stop eating for plenty of time? Aren’t you curious about how your body will respond? How it will go on without any source of energy? And what exactly are the famous 24 hour fast benefits?
Evenif you know, what happens if you fast for a few days? Will your body be able tolive through it?
Thereare a lot of things you don’t know about fasting, it’s time to find out now howit can be helpful!
How a 24-Hour Fast Goes
It pretty much explainsitself, a full day fast means you stop eating from breakfast to breakfast orwhatever meal you choose.
The thing about thisfasting style is that it doesn’t affect you negatively, you can still eat onemeal a day and you can still take your meds with food if needed, you can eventake supplements with that one meal to avoid muscle loss and provide you withthe needed minerals.
The fact that you can still eat once a day also doesn’t mess up with your family schedules if you have one meal with them daily.
You simply drink yourcup of coffee and keep on skipping food until it’s time for your daily meal.While taking care of drinking enough liquids and water.
The recommended weeklyamount of 24-hour fasting is three times per week.
You can raise it up to five days per week when your body gets used to it.
Benefitsof 24-Hours Fasting
Here’s the info you’ve been waiting for!What can fasting do to your body? Why is all the fuss about it? Read to findout!
1- Weight Loss
It’sa no brainer fasting will cause weight loss. No food = No weight gain.
Thebody burns all the fats and glucose in it during fasting, and it renews itscells. It’s like getting your body a makeover!
If you manage to follow a good exercise plan while fasting, you will get the body of your dreams in no time, but you need to watch your exercising intensity, to avoid restraining your muscles.
2- High Metabolism
Metabolism begins to slow down as we advance inage, your body doesn’t burn fats and digest food when you’re 50 the way it didwhen you were 20, that’s a fact.
Studies done on the results of intermittentfasting showed it actually has an effect on the body’s metabolic rate.
Fasting lets the digestive system take a break,leaving it a plenty of time to fix the effects of everyday damage.
Toxins are then let out of your body and the hormones are balanced, which boosts your metabolism by a significant amount.
Take care though because fasting for more than48 hours can have an opposite effect and slow down your metabolism instead.
3- Renewed immune system
Intermittent fasting completely resets theimmune system of the body, because stem cells start producing white blood cellsimmediately when you stop eating.
It can be really beneficial for people suffering chemotherapy or weak immune systems, under the supervision of a doctor of course.
4- Ketosis Process is On
When the body uses up its glucose stored in the liver, it starts burning fats as the new source of energy, which generates Ketones. That’s why the process is called Ketosis.
Ketones enhance concentration and productivity, it affects the brain positively.
Interested in the Ketosis process? You can actually get a custom keto diet that would perfectly fit your body type, lifestyle, and food preferences.
5- No More Toxins
Toxins in our body are stored in the liver and kidneys, when you are fasting, the kidney has a chance to lose the toxins contained in it along with the water stored in your body.
The liver works as a storage unit for vitaminsand minerals of the body, it turns to burning stored fat and glycogen whenyou’re fasting.
That’s why fasting improves the detoxificationprocess that your body already does on its own.
There’s also a little fact that you need toknow, every gram of carbs you ingest needs about 4 grams of water to digest it,excess water can contain toxins that gets stored in your body as fats.
So, when you’re fasting and no carbs areentering your body, you don’t need that excess water.
6- Balanced Blood Pressure
Fasting can mess with the blood pressure, thefirst day or two of fasting can give you a feeling of low blood pressure,that’s completely normal because the body gets rid of its fats and salts.
Afterward, your body gets used to it and your blood pressure becomes normal.
In fact, it’s healthier that way because high blood pressure causes weight gain and can cause heart issues in the long term.
7- No Inflammation
Inflammation is mostly caused by free radicalsthat are responsible for oxidative stress.
Free radicals are present in food, it’s easy now to connect the dots!
Fasting means no food for plenty of time, which means free radicals significantly get lower.
Fasting also lowers insulin levels which helpsprotect the body against inflammation.
8- Good Heart Health
Heart diseases are the most common side effect of aging, they are caused by an unhealthy diet, smoking, imbalanced blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
Fasting controls nearly all the risk factorsthat can cause heart diseases. It balances blood pressure and cholesterol.
It also causes lower glucose levels which decrease the production of triglycerides in the liver.
To be brief, fasting controls the levels ofanything that can affect the heart muscles due to the amount of time spent withno intake on food.
9- Anti Aging Effects
Occasional 24 Hour Fast
There’s a process that happens in the body called autophagy. It’s when the body puts the damaged or broken cells to use for generating energy. The cells are then replaced by good ones. That means the body technically recycles its cells which slows down aging because a buildup of damaged cells can cause early aging effects.
This process happens when you’re on a day-long fast, it stops once you ingest food even in little amounts, because your body’s priority then is digestion.
So intermittent fasting is one way to offeryour body more chances of autophagy.
10- Balanced Insulin Levels
High levels of insulin cause weight gain andcan be bad for diabetes patients. They are caused by our style of eating. Thebody is designed to receive only 3 meals a day but let’s face it, we eat about4-6 times daily.
That causes high glucose levels in the levelwhich in turn causes insulin imbalance that can result in type 2 diabetes dueto the excess load it puts on the kidney.
During fasting, no food gets in your body whichmeans no insulin is produced, that’s why fasting can protect you against a lotof bad effects of insulin imbalance.
11- High Growth hormone
Fasting increases the amount of growth hormone in the body, which naturally gets lower as we age, causing lower metabolism and less muscle mass.
You might even find it weird that some peopleingest artificial growth hormone to slow down aging effects!
While 24-hours fasting can give you the sameeffect.
12- Lower Stress Levels
There is a stress level called Cortisol, it’s produced by the body during times of physical and mental stress, which puts the body in an alert state.
It’s the body’s way to put itself in survivalmode in case it’s needed, high levels of this hormone cause weight gain anddisturbed sleep habits.
During fasting,this hormone remains at its normal level.
Fast Safely!
You don’t just start fasting without gettingthe help you need first, that’s why you need to read this article, to knowexactly what to do and what to avoid during fasting. Read to find out what youshouldn’t do:
Don’t dive indeep!
I get you’re all excited now about fasting thatyou know how it can benefit your body and get you in shape, but don’t get inabove your head!
You need to start with a short fasting periodand gradually make it up the charts.
It makes it easier for your body to adapt andmakes you more immune to the hunger!
The full 24 hour fast should be your goal,start with intermittent fasting and you will be able to pass through a full daywith no food intake whatsoever.
Don’t forgetyour liquids!
Consuming enough water and liquids isESSENTIAL, capital letters!
You don’t even want to know what dehydration can do to your body, a headache will seem like a piece of cake then.
You need to increase your water intake tocompensate for the loss of food.
Grab yourfibers!
Keep in mind that fasting causes constipation,a lot of it! It’s something you definitely don’t want to go through!
You need to insure you get enough fibers on your non-fasting days to compensate for the loss of it during fasting days.
General Notes:
If you suffer diabetes, you need to speak toyour doctor before going for this, because fasting might not be the best optionfor you.
If you’re pregnant, underweight or suffered aneating disorder before, I wouldn’t recommend fasting without the supervision ofa doctor.
Getting your blood tested before starting thiskind of diet can be beneficial for you to be 100% sure your body won’t getaffected in a bad way.
Planning the way you will break your fast can be really helpful too, to avoid binge eating and unhealthy eating methods. Which brings us to another thing you need to look out for:
Break Your Fast Safely!
You may not think much of this but breaking the fast is one of the most important factors for it to work. I recommend you follow these ways for safe, successful fasting:
- Asip of water: Start by drinking a small amount of water if your fasting is ano food/no water type.
- Asmall meal: Don’t put a load of your digestive system, start by eatingsmall portions of food.
- Slowchewing: Take your time chewing each bite, to trick your mind intothinking you’re full faster.
- Don’teat raw food: Again, we don’t want to upset our digestive system when it’sjust starting, that’s why it’s better to break your fast on cooked foods thatare easier to digest.
- Stay in your comfortzone: Don’t go out trying new kinds of foods when your body isrecovering from fasting, it can make you ill and it can restrain your digestivesystem.
How Your Body Responds to Fasting
Thebody runs on energy the same way a car runs on fuel. The most important sourceof energy is glucose, it’s present in carbs.
Whencarbs are digested, the glucose is stored in your liver and muscles, waiting tobe let into your bloodstream when you need it.
Intermittent Fasting messes up this process because no carbs are being let into your body. This results in the liver using up all the glucose in it and getting your body in fasting mode.
Yourbody then begins burning more calories, using the fat as its new source ofglucose. That’s the state your body is in after 24 hours of fasting, which isthe safe zone.
When your body runs out of fats to burn intoenergy, it gets into survival mode and starts to burn muscle tissue for energy.That only occurs after days and weeks with no food, which is not an option inthe one-day fasting we’re talking about.
To Wrap It Up!
Fasting is aninteresting way to lose weight.
It lets youknow how amazing the human body is, how it can keep you going with no source ofenergy!
Occasional 24 Hour Fasting
It also letsyou connect to your body on the spiritual level.
There is muchmore to talk about regarding fasting, but now you know how to start and howwonderful it can be.
It’s an experienceyou don’t want to miss!