Let's be serious would INTERMITTENT FASTING benefit the food industry? Probably not.

Millions of years ago, our great ancestors would wake up,build a fire, sharpen their tools, and embark on a feast. Many times, this feast would sometimes feel like an eternity. From searching, praying, killing, and finally cooking, before you knew it the day was almost over and our ancestors would have their first meal. In other words, they were fasting the entire time.

A human being is one of the five apes that have survived since the beginning of time. From internal to external features with certain modifications, we've preserved a lot of the characteristics from long ago. 

So, what does this all mean? It means our bodies were designed for fasting. You're probably wondering If that's the case and fasting could be a good thing, then why don’t we fast anymore?

The shift of agriculture reshaped the trajectory of human beings. Agriculture changed several variables for human existence right around the time when we began to form languages and communities. With agriculture shifts, everything changed from status, religions, family structures, warfare and customs. Somewhere along the line, fasting become demonized. 

Also let's be serious would fasting be beneficial for the food industry? Probably not. 

 Today we live in a world in which not only do we want something by a touch of a button, but if something is going to take too much time i.e. cooking or preparing a meal or better yet finding a good parking spot for a place to eat, rest a sure in the 21st-century it will be tossed to the side.

 We are currently besieged with new fad diets. Low carb diets, low fat diets and countless other diets exist, all touted to be the next great thing to cure obesity once and for all.

 All work to a certain degree, and some may work better than others, but they all vary. However, there is one common denominator in all these diets and that is that in one way or another, they all result in a reduced calorie intake.

 What this means in practical terms is that if any diet will work, then the caloric reduction is significant enough so that you ingest fewer calories that you burn through physical activity. But what is the best diet? The answer is surprisingly simple. The best diet for anyone is the diet that you can stick with. 

 

But it isn’t black or white, there’s a lot of gray. Being in a caloric deficit for a period of time will slow down your metabolism and leptin levels decline, making the diet much more arduous because you have increased hunger. Not to mention, being insulin resistant can have a tremendous impact on body fat gain.

 

If your insulin system is not working correctly, such as when you have insulin resistance, you will tend to over-secrete insulin, which increases the rate of body fat synthesis especially when carbohydrates are consumed. 

 

Those that are insulin resistant, reducing carbohydrate intake always results in significantly greater fat loss compared to a higher carb, and low fat diet. Studies show that about 75% of Americans are estimated to be insulin resistant, mostly because they have too much body fat.

 

 

What does this all mean? It means you can still be in a caloric deficits and not lose any body fat. So how do we fix this? 

 

If there’s one diet that can make most people lose an enormous amount of body fat, retain muscle, control insulin and not take a lot of time out of their day to focus on, it would be intermittent fasting.

 

 One of the secrets of why intermittent fasting works so well is that it promotes the release of a number of gut peptides that are known to reduce appetite by sending signals to the appetite center in the brain. One of these peptides is leptin, which is released from fat cells. Leptin sends signals to the brain that the fat cells are replete, and in doing so, leads to changes in brain appetite centers that result in decreased hunger. Conversely, when leptin levels decline, appetite is increased.

 

Most people do the 8 on (eat) and 16 (not eat) off with usually 2 to 3 meals that consist mostly of protein, fats and a very minuscule amount of carbohydrates.

 

Numerous studies have shown that going for a longer period of time without eating minimizes the release of insulin from the pancreas. The same applies to focusing more on proteins and fats as opposed to carbohydrates, which are by far the most powerful macronutrient that spike insulin.

 

So combining long periods of time without eating and very little carbohydrates will definitely oxidize way more body fat than any other traditional diets.

 

It doesn’t stop there, other benefits from fasting include cellular repair process and changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible.

 

Fasting,detoxes your body and it does this by removing toxins from your body. You will feel more clean and notice a difference in glow of your skin. The body induces important cellular repair process by removing waste material from cells. 

 Intermittent fasting has also shown to reduce inflammation, lower cholesterol, and the risk of getting cancer. There are also several studies that have shown that intermittent fasting may increase the growth of new nerve cells which would benefit brain function. So, when you put it all together and you take a step back and look at all the studies and facts, there’s a high chance intermittent fasting can benefit most people.

At the very least, try it! After all, our ancestors fasted as a norm. We have them to thank