#3... Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting is a hot button topic. I haven't come across an eating plan that has more people arguing their opinion.

The foundation of IF is calorie restriction or fasting for a certain time frame, then using "eating windows" to consume what you will need that day. Ex: Fasting 16 hours, then an 8 hour window for calorie intake. There are quite a few variations, some with fasting for 24 hour periods.

I am going to veer off course for just a minute. If a person is told something enough times, the natural reaction is to believe it is true. It happens daily with the media spin on every topic of our lives. In the diet and nutrition industry, we have a lot of people that read an article or have a conversation with the ripped guy at the gym and think whatever is said must be true. It wouldn't be published if it wasn't! That guy must know what he is saying because he is so muscular, right? Wrong. many published articles are product driven. The ripped guys plan may work for him, but that doesn't make it the correct plan for you.

Contrary to popular belief, eating several meals a day does not give a person a boost in their metabolism. This concept lacks scientific backing. Every time we eat, our bodies metabolic rate increases. We then use stored energy to break down that food and absorb the energy. This is called the Thermic Effect of Food. If you have a higher calorie meal, the amount of energy expenditure is higher. Studies show that, at the end of a 24 hour period, there is no difference in the energy expenditure whether we eat several times a day or restrict our calories to a specific window. This is in direct contrast to what a majority of people in the fitness industry believe, therefor IF is often dismissed without the proper consideration.

My hope is that you will take the information I am giving you and draw your own conclusions without the influence of commercial products or misinformed, (however well intentioned), people who assume something is right because they are not interested in actual research.

On with the show....

The mechanics of IF are easy to understand. Eat during your window, fast the rest of the time. Its the pros and cons of this program that you need to consider in order to make an educated decision as to whether it is the right fit for you. Lets start with the benefits of Intermittent Fasting:

1) Fasting keeps insulin at a minimum. This results in your body using fat stores for energy.

2) Since all the blood that used to be in the digestive tract now has a break, circulation increases in other tissues. One reason why stubborn fat is stubborn, is its poor vascularity. Now you are able to take fatty acids away from those cells and into the bloodstream.

3)  Fasted training preserves muscle and boosts muscle growth. The Journal of Applied Physiology lists a study where 6 participants were involved in a controlled study to gauge the effects of fasted training and fed training. 

"Our results indicate that prior fasting may stimulate the intramyocellular anabolic response to ingestion of a carbohydrate/protein/leucine mixture following a heavy resistance training session."

Link:  http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00421-009-1289-x

In other words, fasted training is more of a stress on your body, forcing adaption and compensation, which may be optimal for training. 

4) Growth Hormone (HGH) is increased during the fasted stage. HGH helps repair your body and build muscle.

5) During your feeding window, you will ingest all of your dietary needs. You will experience the feeling of fullness during that window. And I mean full. Obviously, your dietary needs are dependent on your lifestyle, but lets say you are on an 1800 calorie diet. You've only got the feed window in order to ingest that. Now, its easy to do if you are eating garbage. But if you are eating the proper foods, downing 1800 calories in an 8 hour time period isn't as easy as it sounds! But there is no feeling of hunger during the feeding window.

There are more benefits to the IF system, but I won't go into them all in this post. If there is interest, I can always dive more deeply into any of my posts.

Ready for those cons?

1) Studies suggest IF is effective for males but can have adverse effects for women. In addition, IF may cause insomnia, irregular menstrual cycle and adrenal fatigue. These effects are more likely if you are going to the extreme versions of fasting.

2) It takes time to get used to the process. In the first few weeks, during fasting hours, you may experience obsessive clock watching while you wait for the feeding window. This will cause an increase in hypertension.

3) There are studies citing that irregular eating habits can inhibit protein synthesis. (This can be countered with ingesting a few meals in your feed window.) My personal opinion is that there can be a fusion of a standard diet and IF that will be beneficial based on a specific persons needs.

4) Insulin health may not benefit from IF as much as proponents would have you believe. In regard to insulin, what you are eating is more significant than when you eat it. There is a study that measures insulin and blood sugar health during an IF like diet. The problem I have with this study is that it was done on obese subjects. The insulin health improved, but was considered unsustainable. The tests should have a control group of non obese subjects in order for proper results.

I hope that covers some of the basics for you. There is so much more to IF than I have here. Do your research. Ask questions. Never follow just because someone says they are the leader.

Please comment and ask questions below.

My next entry will be a short break from the nutrition world, focusing on youth fitness and what can be done to improve overall performance in our young athletes.