I hope you read my first blog, explaining on a basic level what fasting is. I thought I’d add to what I’ve previously written to possibly provide more clarity for you.
I’ve followed my own practice of fasting for many years. As I share that, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no intenitality around fasting. I just often didn’t feel great if I ate before a workout, so I didn’t. I often found myself internally struggling with whether I should eat or not in the morning. Some days I had a big workout ahead of me and I didn’t want to bonk (the technical term for feeling like shit or hitting a wall) in my workout so then I would eat 1/2 a banana with some almond butter just to have something in my belly. It’s been decades of experimentation for me.
But in the last few years, I’ve become more intentional and put a label or method to my fasting practice. As I share this though, I want to emphasize how easy the practice of fasting can/should be. It’s really simple, just don’t eat. Decide how long you don’t want to eat for and do that. Disclaimer; if you have had any sort of eating disorder, this may not be a good practice for you to start. Please seek professional advice before proceeding. But for the majority of us, we just need to stop putting food in our mouths all hours of the day. We’ve been led to believe that you need to eat first thing in the morning, and then every few hours to keep your insulin levels even. This is complete bullshit. You’re body was not designed to be in a digestive state for 12-16 hours a day. So, just stop eating all the time. Finish your dinner at night and be done. Try and finish a few hours before bedtime – you’ll be amazed at how much better you sleep. When you wake up, try and get to 12ish hours before you eat. A 12 hour fast is a terrific place for almost everyone to start fasting. So maybe that looks like 7pm to 7am before you take in any calories. Disclaimer #2 – many individuals’ bodies are not metabolically flexible so if you start trying to fast for longer than 12 hours, you may feel awful, get the shacks, a headache etc. Avoid this and just start with 12ish hours. If you force yourself to fast longer and feel like hell, you won’t want to continue. Try doing this for 2-3 weeks. If it’s super easy for you, stretch your fast to 14 hours.
One of the beautiful benefits that I often feel is overlooked when instituting a fasting practice is how it will direct you to reconnect with your body. You will learn to reconnect to how your body feels, intuitively, through this practice. You may feel so much more alert, or sluggish, or hungry or light and airy and alive, all by not eating and tuning in to your body and mind.
There are many many ways to fast. You could add butter to your coffee, mct oil, change your hours of fasting, go keto when you do eat, fast different hours around your menstrual cycle, add carbs, take away carbs…just stop eating for about 12ish hours. Let’s start here and build on that.
My hope is to demystify this practice, not add tons and tons of complicated layers so you’re forever confused. Stop eating, start to tune in to your body, and listen to what it’s telling you. Let me know how it goes for you and what questions/challenges/insights come up for you.
love and light,
Alli