Fasting for Performance
EATING BIG, FASTING BIGGER
I have been very fortunate that over the last few years I have had the honour of presenting on the subjects of lifestyle, wellness and nutrition in the workplace to various corporations. I have always lived by the mantra do as I do rather than do as I say. In order to be passionate in my delivery and to be a believable presenter, I need to have experienced what I am speaking about.
One interesting topic that kept raising its head in the fitness world was a phenomenon known as intermittent fasting (IF). Recent studies of this kind of fasting – with restricted eating part of the time, but not all of the time – have produced some success. What appealed to me was the Hunter/Gatherer concept. Back in the cave man days we only ate when we caught/captured our food. This could lead to people going days without eating. Most survived as long as they drank water. This challenge of going a length of time without eating appealed to my competitive nature. When I started researching the effect on the body of prolonged fasting I discovered that going without food gives cells in the body an opportunity to perform maintenance and repair. The lack of food also forces cells to resort to alternative sources of energy, for example ketones. These are molecules created in the liver from recycled fat. Their use appears to be beneficial, particularly in improving the balance of hormones involved in appetite and fat metabolism.
Fasting improves sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. Italso increases other hormones such as the stress hormone Norepinephrine, which is involved in fat metabolism.
The idea of intermittent fasting arose after scientists were impressed by the effects of constant calorie restriction. A number of studies in many different animals have shown that restricted eating throughout adulthood leads to dramatic improvements in lifespan and general health. While results from animal studies do not always translate to humans I felt the outcomes were positive enough to warrant giving this a go.
In a 2003 mouse study overseen by Mark Mattson, head of the National Institute on Aging's Neuroscience Laboratory, found that mice who fasted regularly were healthier than mice subjected to continuous calorie restriction. For example they had lower levels of insulin and glucose in their blood, which signified increased sensitivity to insulin and a reduced risk of diabetes.
As I researched further I came across other potential benefits of IF and indicators that it;
· Helps promote insulin sensitivity – Optimal insulin sensitivity is crucial for your health, as insulin resistance or poor insulin sensitivity contributes to nearly all chronic diseases
· Increases the rate of HGH production, which has an important role in health, fitness, and slowing the aging process
· Lowers triglyceride levels
· Helps suppress inflammation and fight free radical damage
In addition, exercising in a fasted state can help counteract muscle aging and wasting, and boost fat-burning.
The basic premise of IF is to eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours.
Why ?
Physiologically, fasting can refer to a person’s metabolic status after not eating overnight, or even the metabolic state after the complete digestion of a meal. Once you’ve gone eight to 12 hours without eating, the body enters a state of “fasting.” At this point I have the stress this fasting state has to be total, no milk in your tea/coffee, no diluted cordial in your water, not even a single crisp just total fasting.
The practice of fasting can lead to a number of positive metabolic changes within the body. These changes typically begin approximately three to five hours after eating, when the body enters a “post-absorptive” state – rather than the state of ongoing digestion, where eating frequent meals means the body is always involved in some sort of digestive activity.
Realistically; my lifestyle suited the IF plan. We sit down as a family every day at 4.30/5.00 pm for dinner (my last meal). I then leave to work until 9.30/10.00 pm (where I can drink only water, black tea, black coffee). I’m home and sleep by 11 pm . Usually I sleep 8 hours until 7/7.30 am. This means that already I have clocked 14 hours of fasting with little or no effort!! I then help get the kids ready for school and do the drop offs, so I am not sitting down for breakfast until 9.30 am. Hey presto 16 hours with no food. I then have the next 8 hours to fuel and eat enough calories to suit my needs.
In my job I still want to be able to lift heavy. I need to lift often and have as little body fat as I can. Remember do as I do rather then do as I say. Bearing this in mind, my my daily IF nutritional plan would look like the following;
9.30 am – Large bowl of oats mixed with 25-50g of whey protein, handful of cashew nuts, sunflower seeds, mix with semi skimmed milk all mixed through to give a delicious high protein, medium carb start to the day.
11.30 am – 6 scrambled eggs, with wheaten bread and avocado
1.30 pm - 1-2 chicken breasts with peas and broccoli.
Post Workout – Greek yoghurt with berries
3.00 pm – 2 portions of salmon with sweet potato, peas and asparagus
4.30/5.00 pm Family dinner, normally a high protein source, medium carbs and low glycemic index veg
Along with the above nutrition plan, I also drink 4-5 litres of water throughout the day as well as 3-4 cups of tea.
Pitfalls; The eating plan above suits my needs. I know this may not fit into everyones daily schedules, but that is not an excuse to fail. If your normal daily routine is eating dinner with the family at 8.00 pm, then plan that you will not eat your first bit of food until 12 noon the following day. It does admittedly take some planning to make this work, but once you get started on this eating plan it becomes a normal lifestyle routine. You may only choose to do it on week days and have the freedom of the weekend to be more flexible. That’s fine you will still get major benefits health wise.
Benefits; As I’ve said, one of my motivators for my starting IF was so I could make an informed opinion on the merits or negatives of the plan. The changes I experienced in my body shape were truly incredible. My waist size dropped to 28" and remains at that. My body fat dropped from 13.2 % to 7.4%.
My general mood and attitude to stress improved significantly, because I had banished almost all sugar from my diet. I was getting far less dips in energy throughout the day. My energy levels where and still are a lot higher, which led to me being a lot more productive in all aspects of life.
Medical benefits have been researched with the fasting plan. If you don’t eat for 10–16 hours, your body will go to its fat stores for energy, and fatty acids called ketones will be released into the bloodstream. This has been shown to protect memory and learning functionality, as well as slow disease processes in the brain.
A study which took place in 2007 showed that intermittent fasting not only reduces the risk of cancer, but also cardiovascular disease. It was also noted that Intermittent Fasting can prevent type 2 diabetes and even reverse it.
SUMMARY
It takes your body about six to eight hours to burn carbohydrates and afterwards your body will start to burn fat. If you eat dinner at 6pm and breakfast at 10am you will be turning your body in a fat burning machine – making you lose weight effortlessly.
Okay to sum it up, we need:
8 hours to eat
8 hours to not eat
8 hours to sleep
Good Luck
Mike