10 Rules Of Intermittent Fasting

Hello Health Champions.   Maybe you're one of those people who are still on  

the fence about intermittent fasting, or maybe you  just want to understand it a little bit better.  

Either way my goal here today is to help you  see how incredibly simple intermittent fasting  

really is, and by the end of this video you  will know for sure that you can do it too. The  

first rule of intermittent fasting is to know that  you're already doing it because fasting is simply  

the time that you're not eating. So all of us are  fasting between meals, right? The only question is  

how long is that longest time period during a day.  And a lot of people are afraid of missing a meal.  

But here's the question How come you can go eight  hours without food at night and yet you think that  

something terrible is going to happen if you  go more than two or three hours during the day  

without a meal without topping off your blood  sugar or your energy reserves, as they call it?  

Well the reason you can go eight hours at night  and you think you can only go a couple hours  

during the day is that you've been told that.  And you've turned it into a habit. That's the only  

reason the second rule of intermittent fasting is  that it's incredibly easy everyone has 24 hours  

in a day and everyone spends some time  sleeping so there's a time where they're not  

eating. And if you wake up at six or seven then you  probably have breakfast and then you probably eat  

every few hours throughout the day so for a  lot of people that means you're eating for  

about 15 hours and there's about nine hours  that you're not eating. Now that is already a  

form of intermittent fasting that is already  time restricted eating, but you can extend  

that time period. You can increase the benefits  very very simply. All you have to do to start  

is you have breakfast a half hour later and if  you have to get out of the house and you can't eat  

later then you bring a smoothie. And then after  30 minutes you start consuming your smoothie  

and what's going to happen a lot of time is  that you forget about the smoothie and you  

get several hours into it maybe all the way to  lunch before you realized you didn't actually  

have anything. And then you can start shrinking  the feeding window from the other direction also  

and you have your evening snack 30 minutes earlier  so now you shorten it by one hour. And as your  

body gets used to that it's gonna be so simple  so easy to keep that going to push that window a  

little bit shorter every day that you're not even  gonna think about it. You're not gonna miss it  

and if you give that some time give it a couple  of weeks, give it a month, give it two months.  

Doesn't really matter but if you keep it going  and you just listen to your body then you will  

change some habits and before you know it you  will be down to maybe having two or three meals  

in a six hour period. Or you can have a little bit  longer depending on what your body is telling you.  

We'll talk more about that so maybe two meals in  a six hour period. Maybe two or three meals in an  

eight-hour period. Now the thing with intermittent  fasting is that just like a lot of other profound  

things it appears too simple and part of human  nature doesn't like it to be simple because then  

how could we have missed it all along if it was  that simple. But the fact is. It is that simple.  

The third rule of intermittent fasting is to know  that it is only hunger. Now this isn't going to  

happen nearly as much as you think especially if  you follow the schedule that we just talked about.  

But hunger is only a physical sensation it doesn't  mean that your body is in danger. It doesn't mean  

that you're going to die or that something is  wrong. And furthermore we have to put it into a  

context that if you have hunger but you know why  then you don't have to worry it's. Sort of like a  

workout, you're in the gym and you're running  that last rep, and the muscles are swelling,  

and they're burning, and they're hurting, and  you never felt better, you're so happy, you're  

so proud because you pushed yourself you got that  great burn, that unbearable pain. But it's in that  

context it makes sense. If you're sitting at your  computer and your muscles start burning like that  

you should be worried. Like you should go get  some help right away that means something but  

in that context it's a good thing right. And I'm  not saying that you're going to be super hungry,  

but if it happens then don't worry about it  because you know your body has it under control.  

And there's also a difference between true hunger  and that means you have the feeling that hey I  

think I'll eat something soon but you don't have  the need. You could go another hour or another  

two hours until it becomes convenient which is  very different from cravings and this is people  

saying, "Oh my god. I feel terrible, I'm dying, I'm  unfocused, I'm dizzy, I'm lightheaded, I have to  

have something." That is completely different.  That is not true hunger that is a physiological  

imbalance. Rule number four is that intermittent  fasting restores balance. When we have weight  

gain, which is a rampant problem, it's an epidemic  all over the world, weight gain is an imbalance  

between in and out in the body. And we've been  told now for a while that it's about calories in  

calories out but it's not that simple. It's about  why do we engage in that behavior. Why do we eat  

more and more. And the answer has to do with  hormones and insulin in particular. Whenever  

we eat food insulin goes up because insulin takes  blood sugar into the cell where we can use some of  

it for the time being and we can store the rest  for the future. Now when we eat frequently now  

we're going to trigger insulin frequently and if  we do that often insulin is not going to have time  

to come down between meals. Which means we push  it higher and higher and higher and excess insulin  

over long periods of time results in insulin  resistance. And when we have insulin resistance  

we have an imbalance in storage and usage  which leads to additional hunger and cravings.  

So frequent meals actually changes our behavior  from two reasons both because we're creating a  

habit and an expectation, but also because we  don't have access to the food since insulin is a  

storage hormone we're shifting the balance towards  storage and away from usage. So here's a graphic  

on what that looks like the norm has become that  we eat like we said every three hours or so.  

And what this means then is that after the last  meal we still have a period of time where insulin  

is high because we're processing that food. Which  means that there's really only six hours every day  

that we allow insulin to drop so we're bringing up  insulin six times a day and it stays high for 18  

hours and there's only six hours that we're  allowing it to drop. Now compare that with the  

other model we talked about where you compress  that feeding window down to about six hours.  

Then there's still going to be three hours after  that last meal but there's a huge difference  

because we're only bringing up insulin twice a day  and it only lasts for about a total of nine hours  

which means now we have 15 hours we have  two and a half times as long to allow that  

insulin to drop so we're creating a balance.  We're restoring balance between storage  

and usage rule. Number five is that intermittent  fasting is very very safe, but even so you'll  

probably come across some advice warning you about  the dangers. And one thing they often bring up  

is they call it an eating disorder because on the  surface it could look like bulimia to them. That  

bulimia is when someone has an unhealthy emotional  relationship to food they feel very very guilty  

about food and they deprive themselves and then  when they can't stand being deprived anymore now  

they compensate with excess and they say that  intermittent fasting will mimic this behavior  

and drive this and nothing could be further from  the truth. In fact, when you start intermittent  

fasting then you create a healthier relationship  to food you reduce cravings you reduce hunger.  

We're also warned about dehydration they say  that when you eat less that you forget to drink.  

Well my experience with myself and hundreds of  other people is the opposite. That when you reduce  

the food then you're more likely to carry  around a water bottle you're more likely  

to have an extra cup of tea or coffee or some  other drink. And then they say that you will  

be hungry you're going to suffer from low  energy you have mood swings and irritability  

and you will also raise cortisol because it's  very stressful for the body well it's not  

entirely untrue but it is probably going to happen  much less than you think if you do it gradually  

and it's only because we're trying to change  a pattern, change a habit and an expectation  

in the body so for a few days two, three, four  days maybe you might have some of this but then  

you'll have much less this is only the body trying  to get over a carb addiction where you have always  

been providing blood sugar every few hours  so the body expects it and when you stop  

it gets a little insecure but it soon passes and  then you're much much better off. So what we really  

need to do is to compare the short-term discomfort  to the long-term benefit so if someone's an  

alcoholic they're going to feel terrible if they  stop drinking but does that mean that the right  

thing is to keep drinking? I don't think anyone  would argue for that. So if your body is addicted  

whether it's for alcohol or to frequent meals  or processed foods or sugar or carbohydrates  

then the long-term solution is to stop doing that  and if you have a few days of discomfort then  

it's going to be very worth it and like I said  if you do it gradually then you probably won't  

even notice. Rule number six is to understand that  it's very natural so often like we said before  

they'll call it an eating disorder anything that  doesn't fit the norm that doesn't fit what we're  

accustomed to is called a disorder. Well, then 100%  of our ancestors had an eating disorder I guess  

and as well as all of the animals of the planet  because nobody gets food at regular intervals six  

times a day. Now how much and how often animals  eat is going to depend on what they're designed  

for so if they're designed to eat mostly  water and fiber if they eat grass and plants  

then they're forced to graze all day. They  have to eat eight ten twelve hours a day  

because the nutrient concentration and the energy  is so low in that food whereas other animals  

who eat more concentrated more calorically dense  food like fat and protein they typically eat  

once a day. So if we eat a little bit of everything  we'll end up somewhere in between. Rule number  

seven it is very healthy it brings down insulin  like we talked about it brings down glucose it  

brings down blood pressure but then there  are some other benefits as well because it  

increases something called autophagy which is a  form of self-eating when we're not stuffing things  

into the body all the time then the resources  become a little bit more appreciated. The body  

senses that it has to take better care of them and  as a result it increases the recycling capacity  

the recycling mechanisms in the body so we're  improving immunity. We're increasing growth hormone  

which is muscle sparing and we're also increasing  fat burning. And as a result of course you will  

typically lose weight but it's not about  restricting calories it's about reducing the  

number of meals the time period that we're making  insulin because insulin is the fat storing hormone.  

When we address all of this you get tremendous  health benefits and yes you will probably lose  

some weight as well but that's more of a bonus.  Rule number eight is that it's cheap now typically  

when something comes around it gets your attention  you want to give it a try it usually involves an  

expense it's going to cost you something well how  many things do you know of that you can try that's  

going to cost you nothing right we're just talking  about you doing less of something you're already  

doing. You're already eating just don't do it as  frequently that's all we're saying. The only other  

thing I can think of is going for a walk that's  pretty inexpensive too so try that as well. Rule  

number nine is that intermittent fasting should  be adapted to the individual everyone can do some  

intermittent fasting except infants because they  are growing so fast they're living off mother's  

milk which is nature's way of dealing with that  fast growth and that very particular food supply  

so they're on their own schedule there's no  reason to restrict their feeding but everyone  

else can do some form of time restricted  feeding. The question is how restricted? That  

is gonna be different for everybody and that's  what you have to figure out what's right for you  

so if you're very very thin if you have a hard  time putting on weight if you're malnourished  

if you're growing very quickly like small children  or if you're trying to grow for some reason or if  

you're pregnant you're growing something inside  you then you don't want to be very extreme  

in your restriction but you can still get all  the nutrients you need in two to three meals in  

an eight hour period or maybe ten hour period if  you're extra hungry but nobody needs meals every  

few hours food every couple of hours throughout  the day and of course children some of them are  

still growing and some of them are very very picky  eaters now I believe that we would not get nearly  

as many picky eaters if we didn't give them sugar  or processed foods or white food typically what  

these kids will eat is sugar and white stuff but  the body has this amazing desire to survive so if  

you feed these kids real food at regular times  and they skip a meal then they're going to be  

extra hungry for the next time their bodies are  not going to let them perish and you probably  

wouldn't have hardly any picky eaters. And other  unfortunate children who have been given plenty of  

the sugar and the processed and the white stuff  they can develop obesity and type 2 diabetes  

before they even get into their teens. There are  8-year-olds who are type 2 diabetics because  

they've been overeating the sugar and the wrong  stuff. So you don't want to restrict their food  

too much not like an adult but you can certainly  restrict their time window down to six hours or so  

because they have a metabolic problem that needs  to be reversed and in two square meals they can  

still get everything that they need and then there  are those people who just have very very stubborn  

weight. They may be obese or just moderately  overweight but their bodies are very stubborn  

they have very stubborn insulin resistance  and it's been that way often for decades  

now for them it may not be enough to do what most  people do. They might have to go a step further  

to something called OMAD which is one meal a day  and that starts making a difference for a lot  

of people but some people have to go to one meal  every other day and that's not for everybody but  

if everything that you try so far doesn't make a  difference then you might have to go a little bit  

further and while that might seem a little extreme  it does tend to work for just about everybody  

and as long as you eat real food nutritionally  dense food you can still get all the nutrients  

that you need in that one meal. Rule number 10 is  to understand intermittent fasting is liberating  

because an eating disorder is when the food  controls you and whether you have a traditional  

eating disorder or you're just eating six times a  day and you can't live without that that's still  

food controlling you when food controls your  energy levels and your mood and your schedule  

when you have to eat to feel good then food is a  drug. With intermittent fasting what you'll find  

is that you can eat when it's convenient. If it's  not convenient you can go a few extra hours and  

still feel perfectly fine in every way. You'll find  that over time you will have much less hunger you  

will have much less cravings they don't control  you anymore. You'll find that it frees up a lot  

of time when you don't spend so much time cooking  and eating and what you also find is that there's  

no going back and it doesn't mean that you can't  but what I find is that for the hundreds of people 

and even thousands if you count all the comments  on the YouTube forums when people try this  

and they find out how good they feel and that  food doesn't control them, they can't even imagine  

going back I've never heard of anybody going  down to two meals a day and then going back  

to six meals. If you enjoyed this video you're  going to love that one. And if you truly want  

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