Intermittent Fasting System

The diet you follow whilst Intermittent Fasting will be determined by the results that you are looking for and where you are starting out from as well, so take a look at yourself and ask the question what do I want from this?

If you are looking to lose a significant amount of weight then you are really going to have to take a look at your diet more closely, but if you just want to lose a few pounds for the beach then you may find that a few weeks of intermittent fasting can do that for you.

Although there are several different ways you can do intermittent fasting we are only going to look at the 24 hour fasting system which is what I used to lose 27 pounds over a 2 month period. The basic method is to fast twice a week for 24 hours, it makes sense to do this a few days apart and it is easier if you pick a day when you are busy so that you do not become distracted by feelings of hunger. Initially you may feel some hunger pangs but these will pass and as you become more accustomed to intermittent fasting you may find as I have that feelings of hunger no longer present you with a problem. You may find that you have great focus and concentration whilst fasting which is the opposite of what you would expect but many people experience this.

Whilst fasting you can and should drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, tea and coffee are okay as long as you only take a splash of milk. If you are concerned that you are not getting enough nutrients into your body then you might consider a juice made from celery, broccoli, ginger and lime which will taste great and get some nutrient rich liquid into your body. Although if you can manage it then it would be best to stick to the water, tea and coffee.

Whatever your diet is whether its healthy or not you should see weight loss after about 3 weeks of intermittent fasting and do not be discouraged if you don't notice much progress at first, it's not a race and its better to lose weight in a linear fashion over time rather than crash losing a few pounds which you will put straight back on. After the first month you may want to take a look at your diet on non fasting days and cut out high sugar foods and any junk that you may normally eat. I have found that intermittent fasting over the long term tends to make me want to eat more healthy foods as a natural course.

If you are intermittent fasting for bodybuilding then you may want to consider looking at your macro nutrients and working out how much protein and carbohydrate you need to eat, this is much more complicated and you can find information about this on several websites which you will need to spend time researching for the best results.

There are many benefits to intermittent fasting which you will notice as you progress, some of these benefits include more energy, less bloating, a clearer mind and a general feeling of wellness. It's important not to succumb to any temptation to binge eat after a fasting period as this will negate the effect gained from the intermittent fasting period.

So in conclusion just by following a twice a week 24 hour intermittent fasting plan for a few weeks you will lose weight but if you can improve your diet on the days that you don't fast then you will lose more weight and if you can stick to this system then you will keep the weight off without resorting to any crash diets or diets that are just impossible to stick to.

Simon Dawes is an exponent of intermittent fasting and uses this system daily in his life more information can be found at [http://www.intermittentfastreview.com]

Article source:  EzineArticles

Intermittent Fasting Results: What You Can Expect

Intermittent fasting is a feeding pattern which alternates between periods of fasting and controlled eating. It is a simple dietary method divided into many types. One of the intermittent fasting methods is alternate day fasting, whereby a person takes a normal diet on particular days of the week and fasts on some. During the fasting days, one does not fully abstain from food but rather reduces calorie intake to 1/4 of the normal diet.

The other fasting type is whereby eating is restricted to a certain time window within a day. This means restricting eating between an 8 hour window eating period, which means a person eats once in every eight hours. Some people however reduce the span to either six, four or even two hours according to their convenience. The longest time that a person can stay without food on intermittent fasting is 36 hours. If practiced accordingly, it can result in a number of positive health effects.

For instance, intermittent fasting promotes general good health. It significantly reduces cravings for snack foods and sugars. The practice normalizes insulin as well as leptin sensitivity. Insulin resistance contributes to many chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart infections. Intermittent fasting will therefore protect the body from such infections.

Intermittent fasting results in improved brain health. Fasting helps the body to convert stored glycogen into glucose to release energy. If the fasting proceeds for some time, continued breakdown of body fats induces the liver to secrete ketone bodies. These small molecules are by-products of fatty acids synthesis, and the brain can use them as fuel. Research also indicates that exercise and fasting results in genes and other growth factors which are essential in recycling and rejuvenating the brain.

This type of fasting also boosts body fitness and loss of weight. Combined fasting and exercise increases effects of catalysts and cellular factors so that breakdown of glycogen and fats is maximized. Exercising while hungry therefore forces the body to burn stored fats for significant weight loss.

The program is also known to prevent cognitive decline. Research was conducted in 2006 on mice, in which water maze tests were used to assess cognitive functions of mice on normal diet and those on intermittent fasting. It was discovered that mice put on intermittent fasting experienced slower cognitive declines, which too applies to human beings.

Intermittent fasting will also boost muscle building especially in men. This is because after eating, the energy gained will be used to sustain a workout session. But if training is done while fasting, the body utilizes stored body fats to sustain the exercises. Eating after the session ensures that the energy gained is utilized in replenishing the body in the best way. This assists the muscles to quickly recover and build up.

In conclusion, intermittent fasting is a healthy practice but it could result in depression to people who cannot fully sustain it. It needs commitment and perseverance to move through the changes in diet, since only consistency will achieve these positive results.

Thanks for reading.

How would you like: better control over your hunger, an easy way to lose fat and build lean attractive muscle, increased insulin sensitivity, reduced inflammation, increased growth hormone, a super efficient way of eliminating toxins, the freedom of being able to eat whatever you want without any guilt?
With Intermittent Fasting, all this and more is possible. To find out how, visit my website [http://www.intermittentfasting.ie]

Thanks again,

John "The timing of breakfast isn't important" Mulry

Article source:  EzineArticles

What Are the Benefits of Fasting?

In the United States the percentage of obese people is growing. Currently 35% of Americans are obese. Experts predict that soon 50% of the people in the U.S. will be obese. There are many reasons for this but there is one main reason. People eat too much food.


When looking for a car to drive, people want a car that is the most efficient at using gasoline. That way you can get a lot more miles out of each gallon that you put in. When it comes to eating, they want the opposite. They want a metabolism that is as fast as possible so they get the smallest amount of energy from the greatest amount of food.


So people want to put as much food into their mouth as they can. The cause of this is a lack of happiness so they are trying to get more happiness from eating. It is easier to fast for a short time than to try to eat less food all of the time. Many people have lost over 100 pounds just by fasting on weekends.


Some say that you should not fast if you do not change your diet after the fast. This is like saying that you should not bathe if you are just going to get dirty again. This is also a sure way of losing weight. If someone eats nothing for 3 weeks they are going to lose weight. This is just one benefit of fasting.


Another physical benefit is that while fasting (drinking only pure water), the body gets rid of toxins at a faster rate. Now some people say that the body cleanses itself everyday. This is true. But if the rate of toxins going into the body, is faster than the rate of toxins going out of the body, the toxins build up in the body. Holistic healers call it toxemia when there is a lot of toxins in the body. They say that toxemia is the cause of most health problems. The fast gives the body a chance to catch up on cleansing.


Intermittent fasting is when the fast is less than 24 hours. Many recommend this because you do not have to go without food for over a day. Another thing that fasting helps with is that you can get better sleep since you do not have any digestion going on. Also during a fast your digestive system gets a vacation.


Since many people do not have the best diet, they can have problems with their colon like constipation. During a fast, the colon gets a rest and vacation. After this rest, the colon will work better than it has in many years. The way that this whole thing works is that the body is always trying to heal itself and cleanse itself, but people prevent it from doing its job. Fasting gives the body a chance to do its job.


Also during the fast, you save time and money. You do not have to spend all this time shopping for food, preparing the food, eating the food and cleaning up afterwards. You also save the money that you would have spent on food. This goes back to the example of wanting a fast metabolism to so you can buy and eat as much food as possible. Many wise men have fasted like Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad and Pythagoras. They knew that fasting has immense benefits even though it is not easy to do. Here is an article that has quotes about fasting from 7 different medical doctors (MDs). See The Many Benefits of Fasting.


The author, Chuck Bluestein, was a chemist for the U.S. federal government. He believes in educating instead of medicating when it comes to health.


Article source: EzineArticles

The Truth About Fasting

The benefits of fasting have been big news lately. But how effective is it? Most people are interested in it as a weight loss tool, and indeed you can lose weight using it, but in reality it has many benefits beyond weight loss, and some of them are quite miraculous.

 

It has been known for many years that it extends the life of mice, worms and flies rather dramatically, and even appears to extend the life of monkeys. Does it extend the life of humans? Many people are convinced that it does, but the truth is that we're still not sure, although it looks hopeful.

 

There's no doubt, however, that it has health benefits in relation to heart disease, cancer, dementia, and even your mood and well-being. It can't be called a cure, but it does set the stage for healing by allowing vital parts of your body to rest and recuperate. There's no doubt that excess eating puts a burden on your body, and that it needs an occasional rest. Indeed, studies have shown that if it doesn't rest, it forgoes much of the repair and regeneration needed for optimal health.

 

Glucose, Glycogen and Fat

 

Your body needs energy to run properly, and it gets this energy from the food you eat. Food is turned a form of sugar called glucose. Your cells (and particularly the ones in your brain) need a constant supply of glucose, and if it gets low you begin to feel fatigued and weak.

 

Glucose circulates in your blood after you eat, and it is used up fairly rapidly as you go about your everyday tasks. If not replenished, it is, in fact, depleted in a few hours. This creates a problem: how do you maintain a good supply? Glucose itself can't be stored, but it can be turned into a form called glycogen that can be stored in your muscles and liver. From here it can be drawn out and used as needed. It is usually good for about 10 to 12 hours.

 

What happens when it is depleted? The body then turns to the fat cells that are stored throughout your body. They can be broken down and converted to what is called ketones. This is, of course, what dieters look for, namely, the loss of fat cells. But you have to be careful if you remain in this stage for too long. The body soon begins to break down protein; it can also be converted to glucose through a rather complicated process. And this causes the loss of muscle - something you don't want. Indeed, in most diets, a fair amount of the weight loss comes from muscle loss along with depletion of water (leaving you dehydrated). So don't be deceived.

 

Weight Loss Through Fasting

 

As I mentioned earlier, you can lose weight by fasting, but most doctors and dieticians do not recommend long fasting periods because they can have an adverse effect on your overall health. In addition, it is difficult for most people to fast for long periods of time. A better alternative is what is called intermittent fasting in which you fast on certain days of the week, and eat normally on the others. One form of this is alternate-day fasting. In this case you fast (or restrict your calories) on one day and eat normally the next. This works well for some people but Dr. Michael Mosley of BBC has put forward what he calls the 5-2 fasting diet. In this diet you restrict your calories only two days a week. He suggests 500 calories for women on these days and 600 for men. This is much easier for most people to do, and it appears to give the same results as more extended fasts. But weight loss is not the most important benefit of such a diet, so let's look at the other benefits.

 

Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

 

It may be hard to believe but there are tremendous benefits to intermittent fasting. The main thing it does is rest many of the vital parts and organs of your body so they can do their job better. Some of these are:

 

It rests the digestive system. This, in turn, helps many other parts of the body.

• It reduces blood sugar. This decreases the production of insulin, and makes it more sensitive and effective. Furthermore, it rests the pancreas.
• High blood pressure is controlled.
• Detoxification occurs. Fasting helps clear out your body and detoxify it. For this it is important to drink lots of water.
• It increases your energy and makes you feel better.
• It helps protect you against heart disease and stroke.
• It helps rev up your immune system and as a result it fights excess (of chronic) inflammation.
• It reduces oxidative stress caused by free radicals in your cells. 

Some Surprising and Different Benefits

 

One of the hormones in your body is called IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1); it helps your cells grow and is particularly important in growing children. As you reach adulthood, however, it decreases significantly. This is important, since as you grow older it appears to have adverse effects: it accelerates aging and can even lead to cancer. So it's not something you want high levels of when you're older. And studies have shown that intermittent fasting decreases it.

 

Also, in your brain is a protein referred to as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). It is important because it has been shown to help stem cells turn into new neurons. This takes place in a section of the brain called the hippocampus, which is critical in relation to memory and learning, BDNF has many effects: it appears to protect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and it also acts as an anti-depressant, suppressing anxiety.

 

Finally, intermittent fasting also helps increase autophagy, which is a system in the cells that gets rid of damaged molecules that could lead to serious neurological diseases.

 

Diabetes

 

Diabetes comes in two forms: diabetes I and diabetes II. We will be mainly concerned with diabetes II. As we saw earlier, all cells use glucose as fuel. But it can't get into the cells without insulin. Insulin is produced in the pancreas according to the amount of glucose in the blood; it's role is to allow the glucose to enter the cell. Most of the cells in your body have what are called insulin receptors that bind to insulin that is circulating in your blood. When a cell has insulin attached to its surface it allows glucose in, so it obviously plays an important role in your body. But too much can be detrimental. Insulin increases your hunger, promotes the storage of fat cells, and it has been linked to diabetes and heart problems.

 

One of the major problems associated with insulin is what is called insulin resistance. In this case the pancreas produces insulin, but insulin receptors on the cells no longer work properly, and don't allow glucose to enter as they should. With no place to go, the glucose continues to circulate in the blood, and the cells soon begin to starve. The body realizes that something is wrong and the pancreas produces more insulin in an attempt to get sucrose into the cells, but this causes the pancreas to overwork, and it eventually begins to wear out. The result is diabetes II.

 

Studies have shown that intermittent fasting improves your insulin sensitivity. This in turn allows your body to do a better job of controlling your blood glucose levels after meals, and therefore helps rest your pancreas. Both of these are important in relation to the prevention of diabetes II.

 

Rules for Fasting

•  It is best to use a 5 - 2 approach, with regular meals 5 days a week, and two days of restricted food (500 calories for women, 600 for men).
• Stay hydrated. Drink Plenty of water; it helps flush out toxins.
• When not on fasting days (and even when fasting), keep your nutrition maximized. In particular, eat sufficient vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
• Remember that 12 hours of fasting is needed for the effect. From 12 to 18 hours is best. It plateau's beyond 18.
• You can exercise during fasting periods, but don't overdo it.
• Be careful of fasting if you are diabetic. 

Barry Parker is a professor emeritus (physics) at Idaho State University who now spends most of his time writing. He is the author of 28 books on science, health writing, and music, and he has written for the Smithsonian, Encyclopedia Britannica, Time-Life Books, the Washington Post, and numerous magazines such as Flyfisherman, Astronomy Magazine, and Sky and Telescope. One of his books is "You Should Write a Book: Writing it With Style and Clarity, Publishing Beautiful Pages, Selling Thousands of Copies," It is based on a course he taught at ISU for several years, and is available through his website http://www.BarryParkerbooks.com. He is also the author of "Feel Great Feel Alive" which is on health, fitness and self-improvement, and he is CEO of Stardust Press. While at ISU he did research on the DNA molecule and on Einstein's Theory of Relativity. His latest book is "Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow."

Article Source: EzineArticles

Eat Well and Stay Slim

My Eating Philosophy - To Eat Well and To Stay Slim

If you care to find out why I write this blog, you may realise I have eating problem and yet I overcome it by short term fasting. 

I've eaten a lot over the Easter holidays... at least eating much more than I normally do. However I'm still keeping one meal a day. See my Yummy Easter summary below. So apart from the four meals below, I ate nothing else over the holidays.  This means one meal every 24 hours.  But I don't restrict what I eat, I simply eat whatever I love to.  

There is another fitness philosophy called Eat Well Every Other Day.  Meaning you eat a restricted amount of calories on day 1 and on day 2 you eat whatever you love to.  

If you want to explore my option of staying fit, there is a book called Eat Stop Eat. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to eat one meal every 24 hours like me.  If you follow the ESE way of short term fasting, you only have to do a 24-hour fast twice weekly.  Well, if this looks possible, give it a try.  Or there is another book called The QOD Diet: Eating Well Every Other Day which is also worth reading.

If you want to eat well and at the same time stay fit, short term fasting is an interesting topic to explore.  There are many options.  Don't limit yourself to the options I suggested.

My Yummy Easter

Today is my last day of Easter Holidays.  As my recent leg pain has restricted my mobility, eating has become the highlight of my holidays.  Not only eating, but eat well.  

Eat well to cheer up a sick person.  Not bad at all.  Here's my yummy Easter summary.

Day 1 (April 18, Friday) - German buffet lunch, featuring knuckles and sausages
Day 2 (April 19, Saturday) - Dim Sum buffet lunch, 18 varieties totaling 20 dishes
Day 3 (April 20, Sunday) - Sichuen spicy special lunch set
Day 4 (April 21, Monday) - Solo luxury dim sum lunch

Food Blog and Fasting Blog
I have a food blog and a fasting blog.  The two blogs seem conflicting but they are tightly related.  I fast, so I eat less food than a normal person do.  Why I do this? You can find answers in this blog.  Less is more.  As I eat less food, they become more important in my life.  So I have a blog to record what I eat.  I eat less, but eat well.  Take a look at my 20-dish dim sum buffet,  which demonstrates how well I eat at the same time stay slim.

Cheers

Anna

Easter 2014

Why Short Term Fasting Works Well For Women

There are many weight loss programs out there but men and women may not experience the same results.  Some programs work better for women such as short term fasting.  In the first instance, let’s don’t be afraid of the word ‘fasting’, as we are not talking about fasting for a day or a week.  It is a matter of extending the time in between meals which won’t be a big deal to most people.

When man and woman get married and moved in together, both living busy lives, eating out is kind of unavoidable, may be 2 or 3 times a week.  At home they may cook relatively healthy meals and generally eat breakfast and dinner together.

This somewhat normal life in time will make a difference between man and woman in their body weight.

After a few years of marriage, most men may remain similar in weight but women may put up 15% or even more in weight. Why does this happen?

Something wrong with the metabolism?  Stress at work? Pregnancy? Or rare hormonal disorder?

Well, women usually put on weight because of eating too much.

More specifically, wives put on weight because they eat the same amount of their husbands. 

They are eating almost everything in the same size servings.

When they would go to the restaurant and order the same meal, men didn’t get the ‘Big Guy’ serving size, while women got the ‘slim girl’ serving size…both plates looked identical.

When husband made them healthy omelets, he didn’t make one for himself then a half an omelet for the wife, he simply made two omelets.

This is the plight of women. 

Most serving sizes in restaurants are too big for the average man, let alone a woman who is 4 inches shorter and 40-60 pounds lighter.

And, for the most part, when eating at home people usually don’t ‘downsize’ the portion sizes for the smaller person.

Even if we tried, we generally end up at some middle ground that is still a little too much for an average sized woman. Let say a man stands 6’2” weights 200 lbs and his wife stands 5’6” weights 135 lbs, both eating the same amount of food day in and day out.  The weight problem will bother the woman much faster than man.

This is why short term fasting works so well for so many women. It gives them a chance to play a little catch up. Or more correctly to play a little ‘fall behind’.  Allow an extended gap in between meals, such as 12 hours or 18 hours, once or twice a week.  In fact there are many variations in doing short term fasting and that women can try and work out a way to tie in to their life styles.

Short term fasting allows woman to eat at a restaurant without having to leave 1/3 of their food on the plate.

When eating at home with their family, they don’t need to cut their chicken breast in half and giving it to the dog.

It is a dietary custom/portion size equalizer.  If you want to find out more about short term fasting, there is an ebook called Eat Stop Eat fully focused on the topic.  

My 5-Day Spiritual Fasting Experience

I’ve recently gone through a 5-day spiritual fasting, however not quite successfully.

Many things in life are easier to know than to do.  Even I’m an experienced faster, I would give myself a marginal fail.

Although spiritual fasting has a religious origin, I don’t do it out of religious reason.  I’m recently facing health problem and many things in life seem to be out of control, hence the fast.

I started the fast after Sunday lunch.  Monday and Tuesday I had a cup of white coffee in the morning, a glass of fresh orange juice for lunch and milk for dinner, and of course water throughout the day.  Wednesday I had water only.  I failed on Thursday morning as I felt so weak and that I still had to work, so I grab a little cereal bun.  I then do water fasting through Friday evening.  I broke my fast with a pear, a banana and a few slices of salmon sashimi.  Raw food is a good idea to break fast as it’s easy for the relaxed body to pick up the digestive work again.

Although many people do salt water flush** in the morning, I did it twice on Wednesday night and Thursday night.  I was successful even I did it at night because I had been in a fasted state for a few days, it didn’t matter I did it in the morning or at night.  As I had to go to work in the morning, I found it convenient to do it in the evening.

After the flush, my body had a wonderful feeling of relief and comfort.  Although I do intermittent fasting all the time, bloating is still occasionally bothering me.  The relief feeling was really good.  Mentally I tried to stay calm with everything and try not to get angry with things that I normally will. 

For anyone fasting, the purpose should be to become a better person, to recharge one's spirit. Try to avoid conflict with other people; try to improve your character; try to find your own connection to a higher power. In that sense, I would give myself a pass as well.

However I grade myself an overall marginal fail not because I ate a tiny breakfast on Thursday, I also didn’t manage to maintain that refreshed spirit for long.

Fasting in Ramadan is an amazing spiritual exercise. When we're fasting, we're in a spiritual zone. But once our fast ends, it's all too easy to lose what we have gained. And that was my case.  So I’m planning to re-do this exercise again.

If you have had a successful spiritual fast, congratulations, I’d like to hear from you and share your experience.  For others who want to do this exercise, do try to keep the spirit of your fast alive throughout the year. If you got rid of bad habits, don't go back to them. If you've just ended a lengthy fast, try to keep fasting a few days every month. Keep up whatever spiritual practices you did (as much as you can) during your fast. Let us not be angels during our fasting days and devils the day after our fast is finished.

You don’t have to worry if you fail.  There are few things in life that you succeed in the first time.  Keep up the spirit and try a few shorter fasts to start with and you’ll be there.

**Note:  Salt Water Flash  cleans up our entire digestive system and is generally part of a Lemonade Diet, aka Master Cleanse, usually done in the morning with an empty stomach. Do not do it until you have a good understanding of it.  Click here to find out more about Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet 

Do You Need Media Fast?

Fasting is defined as willingly abstaining from something for a period of time. It is most popularly used in the terms of food, but really can be applied to anything in life. Fasting not only gives us a chance to get away from something, but also the clarity and silence that may be needed in order to really figure out what is going on with our lives. 

So what is media fast?  Readers of this blog may have some kind of intermittent fasting experience.   For beginners, it may means not eating until noon. For others, it means only eating within an 8-hour window each day and fasting the other 16. Others fast for a full 24 hour period once a week.  As for myself, I eat once every 24 hours.  There are numerous other approaches as well.  

What about media fast?

In Hong Kong at the Mass Transit Railways stations, there are all kinds of announcements.  Recently I notice an interesting one – ‘please mind the steps when using the escalators, do not only look at your mobile phone’.  In deed, the way Hong Kong people get addicted to their iPhone, iPad, iPod, i…everything is in a somewhat morbid state.  I’ve seen someone when getting off a bus, his eyes were still on his phone with fingers moving, perhaps composing an email.  In fact, I don’t see anything that cannot be deferred for a few seconds in order to get off the bus safely or use the escalator in a more safely manner. 

Over a social dinner, there was almost no interaction between my friend and me, because her attention was only on her iphone and ipad…that’s why I could only propose buffet when she invites me to eat.  That way I can focus on food, and she can focus on anything she loves.  Isn’t the morbid usage of media seriously affecting our lives?   

In fact, the excessive use of media does not only happen in Hong Kong, it’s a worldwide scenario.  If you can live a better life going on food fasting, are you able to survive without media for a period of time at least each day and regain control of how you want to spend your time, in a more positive way?  Here are a few of my suggestions.

Computer Fasting:  Schedule your computer time as needed. Get on, check the emails, respond right away, delete or file, and keep that inbox clean. Read the sites you want to read and then move on. Do it once a day or twice a day. Don’t just come on all day long and wander around the internet, as you could easily waste a whole day and be less productive.

Email Fasting:  When holidaying, set out-of-office alert such as ‘I’m on holiday with no internet access.  If it is urgent please contact…’  Remember, it won’t be the end of the world if people cannot reach you.  There must be ways that things can move on without you.  My former boss used to take us to offsites where there were practically no mobile connection of any kind (except Inmarsat).

Cell Phone Fasting: Do not make phone call unless it is extremely time sensitive.  Only answer phone calls from important people, whom you are expecting them to call.  Turn off the phone for a few hours a day (at least when you are eating or meeting). These are precious moments in your life that could be used for whatever you want them to be, instead of just talking to people who are looking to kill some time and gossip. Nothing is that urgent.  Do not make excuses such as ‘what if someone calls to inform my house is on fire or the day care centre calls for emergency’.

News Fasting: Check the head pages of Yahoo or MSN in the morning and look at the headlines, anything that is important will be there. Click on it if you find something you want to know more, if not then you’re done for the day. No need to sit through 30 minutes of pure negative energy from the local news. Take control over what information comes into your life, and what does not!

TV Fasting:  Enjoy the shows you like, turn off the TV when they are over.

These are just a few example of how you can apply the practice of fasting to any part of your life. You could fast from negative people, eating out, drinking, information overload, etc and more. Take control of how you want to spend your time, and the only way to know what you want to do is take time to just rest and relax.

I’ve come across a consultant who worked with a university student who was failing her grades. After a review of her schedule and her life, there was no question she was overwhelmed. As a result, her studies were suffering. Her life was so noisy that she had no peace.

The consultant counseled her to fast from all unnecessary input, including some favorite activities. Here is her fasting list.

1. Stop watching all TV.
2. Stop all online surfing except for course papers and research purposes.
3. Fast from Facebook; block all incoming social media notifications.
4. Completely cease listening to her iPod. Remove those ear buds!
5. Quit coffee; her caffeine intake was abusive.
6. Check email only three times a day.

In just 2 weeks, this young woman went from frazzled to calm and peaceful. It was challenging at first, but she was counteracting an addiction.

That’s the point. If you can’t stop checking your email every 3 seconds or Facebooking for hours a day, you are addicted. Those activities can contribute to stress-related illness and cause people to feel overloaded.

If you don’t think you can get rid of the actions that are controlling you, you likely are hooked. It’s time to fast. Fasting can be an easy and effective solution.

Today, review your schedule and decide if you need a media fast.  

Fasting Is Not Just For Food

Fasting means willingly abstaining from something for a period of time and is mostly used in the terms of food.

Fasting not only gives us a chance to get away from something, but also the clarity and silence that may be needed in order to really figure out what is going on with our lives.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life?

Most people have experienced stress related to work, family, relationship, responsibilities, or simply life in general.

Need help? Well, it’s at your finger tip.

What is it?  Fasting.

The Process of Fasting

Have you ever felt overwhelmed because of the choices you have made—and society will continue to add to your obligations, if you let it.

Input from so many sources can swamp even the most organized individual. That’s how fasting comes into play.

Food fasting has been used for centuries to cleanse the system of toxins and give the body a break from the constant demands of having to process food.

Research has confirmed there are as many psychological benefits to fasting as there are physical benefits. For those who has successfully gone through any fasting process (either long or short) could reveal evidence that fasting can restore control.

If you fast successfully, you prove to yourself you can implement self-control over food; it indicates that you have the ability to re-gain control over other things in life.

I fasted from food for one reason:

·      On my way to relieve my bloating problem, with the side effect of weight lose.

Food fasting may not be for everyone but it taught me one important lesson in life - I can say ‘No’.  If you could learn to say ‘No’ through food fasting, you can learn to say ‘No’ to a number of other things in life, through which to re-gain your power of control and live a better life.

Food is not the only fixation that can be the focus of a fast.  Media fast is another hot topic which I’ll talk about in my next post.

The Benefits of Juicing

The Benefits of Juicing 

Most people do not eat their daily amount of recommended fruits and vegetables. Products like V8 have grown in popularity because many of those same people are realizing that in order to improve their health and avoid common illnesses or disorders, they must improve their diet. V8 provides a convenient way to add essential fruits and vegetables to your diet between meals. But why spend money on a product that is filled with unhealthy preservatives when you can juice your own produce at home and modify your juicing recipes to match your personal preferences?

 

Consuming fresh juices of fruits and vegetables has many benefits.

 

Fruits and vegetables are filled with essential vitamins and minerals that are vital to curing or fighting many common disorders. Recently, it was discovered that cabbage juice helps to treat peptic ulcers. And keracyanin, which is the pigment found in cherries, can help ease gout attacks and increases the movement in both fingers and toes.

 

Citrus fruits also play a major role in treating certain afflictions. Many can attest to the healing power of cranberry juice and its effect in preventing kidney stones and urinary tract infections. Plus, the healing power of grape juice is also widely well know. Grape juice contains a compound called trans-resveratol, which is believed to help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

 

By drinking at least three glasses of grape juice a day, you can prevent heart attacks just as effectively as taking an aspirin on a daily basis. But what most people do not know is that the pit of the grape contains powerful antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, which are considered even more potent antioxidants than vitamin C or vitamin E. Juicing grapes gives you the opportunity to consume these healthy benefits because when you juice grapes, you put them into the juicer with their seeds and all.

 

So why not just buy bottled juices? It’s simple. Bottled juices do not give you the healthy benefits that juicing fresh fruits and vegetables give you.

 

When you go through this blog, I never recommend packaged juices.  Why?  Because they are made from fruit concentrates and not whole fruit juices. Plus, packaged juice has to be pasteurized before it can be sold. Part of the pasteurizing process includes boiling the juice to stop the growth of bacteria and other various organisms. However, boiling the juice also destroys the natural vitamins and minerals within the juice, therefore decreasing its nutritional value. The major benefit of juicing at home is that you can avoid all of this and take full advantage of the total nutritional value of your fresh fruits and vegetables.

 

Juicing does not have to take up a lot of your time. It’s easy and quick to throw a few pieces of produce into your juicer and enjoy a fresh glass of juice within minutes. Juicing does not have to consume your life, and drinking even one glass of fresh juice every day will boost your vitality and your health in ways that you won’t expect.

 

For more benefits of juicing, click here.

Great Juice Recipes for Juicers

I have often heard of people starting out juicing by using their blender. I’m here to tell you that this is a huge mistake. A blender and a juicer are two separate appliances and they perform two different functions. 

A juicer’s purpose is to separate the liquid juice from the pulp. With a juicer, you can place your produce into it in manageable pieces -- peels, stems, and all. The juicer extracts the juice and disposes of its pulp. A blender, on the other hand, will not separate the pulp from the juice. Plus, a blender is not capable of giving you the kind of juice quality that you are looking for with juicing. If you were to toss stringy or hard vegetables like carrots, beets, or celery into a blender, the mixture would come out gritty instead of being like juice. 

Now that you are fully committed to using a juicer rather than a blender, feel free to create your own delicious juice recipes. 

Many people do not know where to start when doing this. They might be taking this task too seriously. The best part of creating your own juice recipes is using your imagination. You already know the taste of the fruits and vegetables that you desire to juice. You just have to think about which ones will taste good together. 

If you are looking to juice a vegetable that might not taste so good, consider mixing with it a fruit that has a strong taste. Lemons are great for this purpose. Some other fruits that you might want to try for this task are strawberries and citrus fruits such as oranges. You should also limit juice from green vegetables to 2 ounces per glass, or else you may experience some gastric discomfort. 

If you are a beginner at juicing, there are a few things that you need to know. First, avoid juicing bananas and avocados. They are very soft and can clog your juicer. Leave the juicing of those fruits to the pros for now. 

Another thing you should know is that most fruits and vegetables can be juiced as a whole in manageable pieces, but you should remove the rind of citrus fruits like grapefruit, tangerines, and oranges. Keep as much of the white pith as you can with these fruits, because that’s where many of the nutrients come from. Lemons and limes can be juiced whole with their peels. 

Allow yourself to be creative and don’t worry about making mistakes. Experiment with the flavors you like. Start off using just two or three different fruits and vegetables. Once you get the hang of juicing, you can broaden your skills and add a little bit more to your recipes. Juicing offers your body a huge amount of benefits. Vegetables are responsible for healthy muscle, tissue, glands, and organs, but it is only through juicing that you are able to consume one-hundred percent of their available nutrients. So, take full advantage of juicing and the healthy options that it offers you. 

Click here for more Great Juice Recipes for Juicers.

Juicing Information

 Juicing Information 

As my fasting weight loss success all began with a 6-day juice fasting, hence I’ve developed this blog.  Since then juicing has become an important part of my diet.  For those who are afraid of the word ‘fasting’ and for those who are afraid of getting hungry, juicing is an ideal solution.  I’ve researched the topic and pulled together some juicing information to share with you.  Here’s the first article, and a few more to follow. 

Juicing Information 

Many people are taking their nutrition and health seriously. They have turned to juicing to improve their health, increase their energy, and reduce their chances of developing the common health problems that face society today. 

Juicing involves pureeing fresh fruits and vegetables to make a juice or a smoothie. There are several benefits to juicing your daily serving of fruits and vegetables rather then eating them as whole foods. 

By drinking fresh juice, your body is able to quickly absorb the many vitamins, minerals, and overall nutritional value that fruits and vegetables contain by bypassing the digestion process that is necessary for whole foods. The nourishment of the fruits and vegetables are easily delivered across the intestinal walls and into the blood, where your body can use them right away. 

As a matter of tradition, we cook vegetables before eating without realizing that fruits and vegetables are healthier if they are eaten raw. Enzymes that play a key role in your metabolism are mainly found in raw foods. Enzymes convert the food you eat into body tissue and energy, increasing your metabolic rate. In turn, this helps you to burn more calories and leads to weight loss. 

In addition to an increased amount of energy and assistance in weight loss, juicing can also delay the effects of aging and promote longevity. Juicing gives you access to the essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and enzymes that raw fruits and vegetables contain. 

The nutritional makeup of these foods is stripped due to cooking, preserving, etc.  More importantly, fresh fruits and vegetables contain compounds known as antioxidants. These antioxidants neutralize the free radicals in your system. These free radicals are responsible for many degenerative diseases such as cataracts, high blood pressure, and even cancer.

Juicing can also help combat diabetes. Type 2 diabetes means your body has become resistant to the insulin produced by your pancreas. Recent research has shown that raw produce is the best super food for diabetics. It nourishes your body and stabilizes your blood sugar levels in ways that cooked produce cannot. 

In the past, experts have cautioned people with diabetes to stay away from sugars, even the ones found in fruits. Recently that opinion has changed, and we have found that specific nutrients such as vitamins A, B, and E, iron, potassium, etc. found in fresh fruits and vegetables aid in managing the disease naturally. Specifically, the vitamin B7 which is found in mangoes, nectarines, and peaches aids your digestive process and activates your enzymes. Diabetes is controlled by food intake and results from the inability to process sugars, making digestive health a priority for diabetics. Plus, manganese -- which is found in carrots, celery, cruciferous vegetables, garlic, beet greens, parsley, and spinach -- helps to reduce insulin resistance overall and improve the metabolism your glucose. 

Juicing is a simple and great way to optimize your health and energy. The best thing about juicing is that you can change the recipes and create ones that are specific to your needs and tastes. By simply learning about the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that will benefit and treat your specific disorder, disease, or condition, you can create your own scrumptious recipes and power juices to improve your health. 

Click here for more juicing information.

Starvation Mode vs Intermittent Fasting

Starvation Mode - What It Is and Why it Will Probably Never Happen to You 

If you are trying to lose weight, then most likely you have heard the term “starvation mode”. It is the idea that if you skip meals or don’t eat enough protein your body will go “catabolic” and eat your muscle, consequently slowing down your metabolic rate.  

It is true that your body will feed off of its own muscle when it is truly starving. But getting your body to that point is extremely difficult and simply cannot happen to the average person who skips a few meals or doesn’t eat enough protein – which most of us do on a weekly or even daily basis! Despite what you have read and heard, our bodies are made to use our body fat (not muscle) in the absence of food. 

True “starvation mode” negatively affects the body’s hormone levels and is brought on by an extreme combination of factors. To support this point, consider Karl Friedl’s 8 week military starvation experiment (1) using soldiers that had an average body fat level of 14%. The goal of this experiment was to beat the soldiers down and try to get them into starvation mode. The soldiers were fed a diet between 1,000 and 1,200 calories while at the same time being deprived of sleep and physically pushed to exert more than 6,000 calories per day. This means that there was a daily caloric deficit of 3,000 to 4,000 calories.

You might think that these soldiers would start breaking down and losing lots of muscle right away.  But actually, it wasn’t until around the 6 to 8 week mark that the soldiers had finally reached such low body fat levels, around the 5%-6% range, that their bodies had no choice but to start using their muscle as fuel.  

This experiment shows why it is so easy to lose fat at the beginning of your diet and exercise routine and why “those last 10 pounds” are often so hard to lose. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that your metabolism has slowed down. The less fat you have to lose, the slower your body will burn it for fuel.   

The key is to find a diet, or way of eating, that helps you to regularly and effortlessly tap into your fat stores. The best way to do this is through intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting, or IF, is quickly gaining popularity among the fitness community for its ease, convenience, and fantastic results it produces. Those who follow this type of diet will alternate periods of fasting with non-fasting.  A great example of this type of fasting is the Eat Stop Eat program written by Brad Pilon.  

As you can see, there is no reason to constantly worry about starvation mode or losing your hard-earned muscle. You can relax and do what feels right for your body.  Just remember to eat a reasonable amount of lean protein, choose healthy foods, and most importantly, don’t stress about your diet!