The Basics of Intermittent Fasting

Beginning After the Last Meal: Blood Sugar Level Rises
Your body starts the digestion process immediately after food intake. Ingested carbohydrates are being processed and released into the bloodstream as glucose (sugar). This increases the blood glucose level. As a result, your blood sugar levels rise. This, in turn causes your body to start producing insulin. This hormone has two important functions.
 

Firstly, it stimulates the absorption of blood sugar (glucose) into the tissues for a quick supply of energy, immediately after eating.
 

Secondly, it stores energy. Usually, the body does not need all the energy that is being released through excessive consumption of carbohydrates or sugar. It is for this reason that insulin stimulates the conversion of glucose into it storage from glycogen.
 

Glycogen is stored in your liver and muscles, only to be released when energy is needed again. Once the glycogen storages are full, the excess glycogen is stored in your fatty tissue in the form of fat.
 

Begins 3 Hours After The Last Meal: Blood Sugar Level Drops
Insulin transports the glucose in the blood to our cells and tissue. As a result, the level of glucose in the blood drops and the blood sugar levels drop again.
 

Whilst the hormone, insulin, is in our circulation, the cells are poised to absorb energy. During this time, and as long as glucose is in our blood and glycogen in our muscles or liver, fat is not used as a primary source of energy.
 

Our body switches to energy production from fat once the glucose in our blood has been depleted and the glycogen reserves are used up.
 

Begins 9 Hours After The Last Meal: Blood Sugar Levels Settle Down
After the food has been digested and our body has discontinued producing insulin, there is a brief resting period for our bodies. However, this state does not last long, because our organs, muscles and cognitive processes are continuously consuming energy. A new player enters the field of hormones: Glucagon.
 

As soon as our blood sugar levels drop, the body has to react. Glucagon’s task is to release the previously stored glycogen back into the bloodstream. With this, your blood sugar levels remain constant and energy supply is ensured.
 

Begins 11 Hours After The Last Meal: FAT BURNING
The quenchless energy needs of your body is taking its toil. Even the energy reserves from the previously stored glycogen are quickly exhausted. Now it is time to fall back on a larger resource: Your fat reserves. The average calorie supply of an adult person in the form of fat reserves amounts to about 80,000 calories.
 

In order to tap into these reserves, your body starts producing fat-burning hormones. An impressive, six hormones, listed below, are involved in this vital mechanism. These hormones perform more or less the same function for fat metabolism:

· Growth Hormones (Human Growth Hormone, HGH)

· IGF-1 (Insulin like Growth Factor)

· Glucagon

· Testosterone

· Adrenaline

· T3 (triiodothyronine)

Begins 12 Hours After Last Meal: The Ketosis
After your army of lipid-metabolizing hormones has set to work and provided your body with new energy, something interesting happens: Ketone bodies are produced as a by-product of fat burning.
 

Ketone bodies or ketones are fatty acid molecules that are formed when fat reserves are broken down. They are also know to provide energy to the heart, brain and all other vital organ systems.
 

Ketones activate the nerve cells, intellectual capacity and develop new cells from brain stem cells. They are the reason why we are particularly focussed and productive during the fasting period.
 

Begins 14 Hours After The Last Meal: The Autophagy
Prolonged abstinence from food and the conversion to fat metabolism activates another mechanism. After about 12-14 hours the autophagy is activated.
 

An interesting word with an even more fascinating function. Autophagy, translated from the Greek autophagos, which means “to consume oneself”. And this is exactly what happens during autophagy. Your cells begin to process “themselves”.
 

Old cell components and so-called “misfiled” proteins are recycled, but cells can be completely renewed.
 

So your body is undergoing a big clear out and proper clean up. This not only makes your cells more efficient, it also prolongs the life of your cells and with that your own.

* Fastic (HealthVida GmbH & Co. KG, Version 1.21.0, July 8, 2020

 

1.  Take a current inventory of your weight, BMI, and body measurements.

2. Select an intermittent fasting plan.
**The first number in the sequence is the number of hours fasting; the second number is the number of hours in the eating window.
• Starter - 12:12, 13:11, 14:10, 15:9
• Advanced - 16:8, 17:7, 18:6, 19:5
• Professional - 20:4, 21:3, 22:2, 23:1
Start where you feel most comfortable.  

3. Select your fasting and eating window times. For example, if you choose the 12:12, you may fast from 9pm to 9am.

4. Make a plan to get active. Walking is a great, low impact exercise.

5. Try to work with a fasting buddy.

6. Keep track of your daily fasting hours and exercise.  Choosing a fasting app may be helpful.