Why do I need to use intermittent fasting?
Intermittent Fasting is an effective way to lose weight by combining periods of fasting with periods of regular eating. It can also help you improve your health, increase your energy levels, reduce inflammation, and even lengthen your lifespan. It’s also easy to implement into your lifestyle.
You can start right now. Take advantage of your body’s natural ability to burn fat, improve your health, and lose weight, just by changing your eating schedule.Â
Intermittent fasting is simple once your body gets used to it and you lock down the right schedule. There are several tips that make your first intermittent fasting experience easier.
There are 4 stages in the fasting cycle:
- The first stage is the absorptive stage. This begins immediately after eating. You’re fed and your body is digesting and absorbing nutrients.
- This stage is roughly four hours in duration. The body relies on glucose for energy and the mechanisms for storing body fat are very active.
- This is the stage most of us are in the vast majority of the time. We eat again before our metabolism moves on to the next state.
- The next stage is the postabsorptive state. This stage lasts from 8 to 12 hours. The primary source of fuel is still glucose, but the source is the liver, rather than directly from food.
- The fasted stage. Once the liver glycogen stores are depleted, the body is in a fasted state. At this point, the body is switching over from glucose to other energy sources, including fat.
- The final stage is a switch from fat storage to fat mobilization. This is the point that the body has no interest in storing fat but is very interested in releasing fat to be used as energy.
- This is also a period of low insulin. In fact, low insulin is considered to be one of the primary triggers for this state. It’s also why diabetics that use insulin have a difficult time losing fat. The body is reluctant to hold onto fat if insulin levels are high.
Intermittent fasting allows the body to move beyond stages one and two. There are many health benefits that occur once the fasted state is reached.Â
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