Intermittent Fasting

There are many types of patients with diverse objectives for their care and a wide array of health concerns. Some are extremely ill with autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammatory response syndromes, and Lyme Disease. These patients just want to be able to function normally. Others who are more wellness-minded, like professional athletes, want to optimize and upgrade their performance and have very different goals. Everyone has individual requirements, and what may be the right approach for one person can be the wrong approach for someone else.

You may hear someone talk about a specific way of eating or an herb or nutritional supplement they are taking and insist that it changed their life. It is important to remember that we are all unique individuals with different requirements based on our genetics and environmental stressors. This leads me to our topic, which discusses one possible way of eating that may help you achieve certain health goals. It is important when a new format of eating is introduced to give it a solid time frame (4 weeks or longer) and to use your intuition if something is right for you.

Intermittent Fasting is a method of eating during a limited time period during the day. For example, eating during an 8-hour period and fasting the rest of the day and night. This could involve eating a late breakfast/lunch at 11:00 AM and finishing dinner by 7:00 PM. During this eight-hour period, you would have two or three meals per day, and no snacks before 11:00 AM and after 7:00 PM.

Another option would be eating on the earlier side, breakfast at 7:00 AM and finishing your last meal by 3:00 PM. Some people choose to eat during a shorter more limited time frame of 6 hours, which would mean that they are fasting 18 hours each day. I think that may be an unrealistic goal and too short of a time frame, living and working in places like NYC, but some find it works for them. One of the commonalities of these different fasting schedules is to avoid eating three or four hours before bedtime.

You may wonder why anyone would subject themselves to such rigidity in their eating schedule. Well, the answer lies in the latest scientific studies and the history of fasting as a tool for physical and spiritual health throughout history.

Our ancient ancestors did not have access to the 24-hour food options that we have access to. Our bodies have evolved and were designed with the idea that food was not available all the time, and our body's chemistry still operates on the notion that favors eating within a certain time period (evolution takes a while).

Intermittent Fasting gives the digestive processes time to rest. One of the major problems with continually eating throughout the day is that insulin is constantly being pumped from the pancreas and into the blood which leads to insulin resistance. Insulin is used by the cell to absorb glucose. The greater the insulin resistance, the greater the glucose or sugar levels in the blood. Insulin resistance is a precursor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, weight gain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, and many other conditions.

Some of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting include:

• Limits inflammation
• Improves blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Beneficial for the heart
• Prevents type 2 diabetes and helps to reverse it
• Helps with cravings (especially sugar)
• Helps raise human growth hormone (HGH), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - these help with anti-aging and triggering new cell growth
• Promotes anti-aging factors by positively affecting DNA
• Weight loss

Intermittent Fasting is an advanced wellness technique. I do not recommend it to anyone that has hypoglycemic issues, severe thyroid disease, gallbladder or liver disease. I only recommend this technique to a patient that I feel would benefit from this and can handle the rigidity. I think the hardest thing to manage with this way of eating is not eating dinner too late. Many of us work later hours or socialize with friends over a great meal (usually dinner). The most important thing with any wellness regimen is finding balance, and not allowing it to impact us to the point that we resent it.

About the Author

Dr. Louis Granirer is a leading NY Chiropractor who specializes in traditional chiropractic care and holistic healing through nutrition response testing. Learn more by visiting his website at www.HolisticChiropracticCenter.com.