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

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.  

Intermittent Fasting - The Easiest Way to Calorie Restriction

One of the FAQs in this blog is ‘how to resist food’.  I must say food is irresistible in many cases. Don’t resist if you have to eat.  When I have to eat, I eat happily.  When I have to fast, I fast happily. I’ve mentioned in my previous posts that I’m much disciplined on weekdays and not much disciplined on weekends and holidays.  Fact is we need a way to regulate between eat and don’t eat. I’m not the one who says this. It’s been in the press lately about a 5:2 diet, meaning a little fasting (2 days) and a lot of feasting (5 days) weekly.  

For those who enjoy going out on the weekend to eat or drink with friends, they generally find it nearly impossible to have a good balance between social life and weight loss. 

But what if there is a way to eat what you want part of the time while still staying on your diet and losing weight? 

Try Intermittent Fasting 

Intermittent Fasting, or IF, is simply alternating periods of eating with non-eating. For example, a person may fast every other day of the week, or only one to two days per week. Doing this allows you to create a weekly caloric deficit rather than a daily caloric deficit.  

You see, most people try to eat the same amount of calories per day. So for example, let’s say that you have figured out that you need to eat 1,700 calories per day in order to lose weight.  So Monday through Thursday, you do a fantastic job of sticking to your diet.  But Friday night you get invited to go to happy hour with a friend and you end up eating and drinking 1,700 calories in one sitting!  

Well, if you had been following an intermittent fasting schedule you would have figured out how many calories you were allowed for the entire week, and then divided it up according to your schedule. This would allow you to eat a lower amount of calories on the weekdays thus saving up some extra calories for the weekend. With intermittent fasting, you make your diet work for you, not the other way around.  

But Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy? 

You might be surprised to know that intermittent fasting has many other benefits besides just weight loss. Studies have shown that it increases insulin sensitivity and lowers cholesterol. It also reduces blood pressure and inflammation, which is responsible for many chronic diseases.  

Intermittent fasting also teaches you how to develop self control and manage your hunger.  It helps you learn the difference between real hunger and eating just because it’s time to eat. This is very powerful in changing your behavior so that the resulting weight loss is long term. 

What Is The Best Way to Begin Intermittent Fasting? 

Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat is the best way to begin a fasting regimen.  This is not just his ideas on what he thinks works well. His book is filled with solid research and science to back up his claims.  Once you download his book, you can begin the diet as soon as tomorrow.  You don’t have to stock up on expensive supplements or special foods. You don’t have to feel deprived because you can still enjoy your favorite foods. All you need is a little will power and the desire to make it happen.  

So what are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose but the weight!

Why You Don’t Need to Eat 5 Meals a Day to Lose Weight

Why You Don’t Need to Eat 5 Meals a Day to Lose Weight

Ask any trainer, nutritionist or doctor and he or she will tell you that you that if you are trying to lose weight then you should be eating 5 meals a day.  The reasoning behind this idea seems to be that eating more frequently will increase thermogenesis.  Thermogenesis is the production of heat by your body in order to perform the work of digestion. When your body is in a thermogenic state, it burns fat.  

There are many people who will tell you that eating frequent meals worked for them.  While this may be true for a number of reasons, it does not mean that if you eat less frequently you will lose weight more slowly or damage your metabolism.  

There are some benefits to eating 5 meals a day. Eating frequently can help reduce the chances of binge eating because your blood sugar will remain stable and you won’t get to hungry in between meals.  It may also help you manage cravings and hunger pangs.  Since you can continuously eat all day long, you won’t feel deprived.  

For some people though, eating all day long can make hunger pangs worse. It can also be difficult to carry around snacks or meals with you everywhere, making it difficult to stick with the diet and increasing the likelihood that you will become discouraged and quit altogether.  

Where is the Proof?

 

Studies have shown that meal frequency does not affect the amount of energy expended by your body (1)(2). In other words, your body will work no harder when digesting 5 meals than it does digesting 3 meals. The results are the same as long as there is an overall reduction of calories.   

Many people have found that the easiest way to lose weight is with Eat Stop Eat, an intermittent fasting style program. Intermittent fasting is quickly gaining popularity in the fitness world because its flexibility and simplicity.  It is not a gimmick. Countless people have not only successfully lost weight, but have managed to keep it off long term.  

So if you have been struggling to eat 5 meals a day because you think that’s the only way you are going to get the fat off, you can relax. As long as you can keep your calories restricted and stick with it, the weight will come off.  Science says so.  Anna also says so.

­­­

Anna is the author of this blog.  She manages weight loss through intermittent fasting after 17 years of struggling with overweight, bloating and various kinds of digestive problems.

Intermittent Fasting Success

Paleo Breakfast

If Paleo diet sounds new to you, let me do a little briefing here. It is a diet that resembles what our ancient ancestors ate - foods from hunter gathering, wild game, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, whatever naturally from nature. There is no wheat, no grain, no rice, no pastry, no dairy.

What is special about Paleo diet and why I go on with it?  Recently I’m suffering from some seasonal allergy, my doctor suggested a number of holistic healing methods and one of them is to go on a temporary Paleo diet.

Actually I don’t really fond of the idea of food restriction, as it is quite inconvenient when I have to eat with others. So buffet is a good idea, as each one of us can eat whatever we love to eat. Today I have a free coupon to eat at Café Too of Island Shangri-La. Below is a summary of my Paleo breakfast along with a Paleo dinner of the previous night.

One-Egg Omelette with Ham and Mushroom

Curry Chicken with Cucumber

I usually eat curry with rice, but went for cucumber as I was on Paleo diet

Poached Fruits, Prunes, Baby Pear, Appricot, Apple - are very delicious and healthy.

Of course I won't miss my favourite fresh fruits.

At dinner, we still had a wide range of food choice by omitting rice and pasta.

Crystal Pork

Drunk Chicken

Hot and Sour Soup with sliced pork, mushroom

Tea Tree Mushroom and Green Bean Sprouts in Fish Broth

To do Paleo diet is not that difficult, but in the first few days, I do feel miss my favourite fried rice, fried noodle, pizza, hamburger etc.  After the first week, it becomes much easier.  As I’m not on strict Paleo, so I can still enjoy coffee and tea with a bit of milk.  However at the buffet table, I do miss my favourite toast.  Anyway, temporary food restriction is a test of my willpower.  I’m sure I can do it, especially I’m doing it for my health. 

If you want to try Paleo diet, please understand this diet encourages weight loss.   I’m quite below par according to BMI, but I lost five pounds in the first week.  If you are in a hurry to lose weight, you may consider combining intermittent fasting with Paleo diet. 

If you want to find out more about Paleo diet and learn preparing your own Paleo meals, here are some links for your reference.

 

Paleo Diet  Paleo Power Lunch Paleo Cookbooks

Intermittent Fasting - Paleo Diet

Top 10 Diet Rule Experiment

Top 10 Diet Rule Experiment: How To Tell If a Diet Will Work For You
If you and I went to the local magazine stand and scanned the covers of the fitness magazines we would find dozens of ‘weight loss’ rules.

In fact we could spend the rest of the week reading magazines about the latest greatest weight loss tricks many of which may actually work for someone. But realistically there’s just no way you could actually follow ALL of them. So how do you know which ones are right for you?

The easy answer is you have to decide which rules fit best for YOUR life and then try to stick to just one or two that will make the most sense for you and have the most benefit.

This may be the first time in your life you become a scientist, and your experiment is you. Here’s what you do…

Browse any of the popular magazines, blogs, websites or anywhere you like to get fitness information. Read up on the diet and weight loss tips and tricks, these could be simple changes like not drinking calories, or a bigger philosophy like limiting the amount of carbs that you eat.

Make a top 10 list of diet strategies you’d like to try, and that sound doable to you. At this point add one new diet strategy to your life for two weeks. Record your bodyweight at the beginning of the two weeks and again at the end. If you haven’t lost any weight this strategy doesn’t work (for you). Discard it and move on to the next one.

This is the simplest way to tell if something will work for YOU. If the strategy you picked sounds like a good idea but seems too difficult for you to manage then it’s simply not a good fit for you in this stage of your life. If it worked for your friend but not for you that’s ok, there will be one that works just for you, this is why you make a top 10 list and try each of them, one at a time.

Let’s suppose you find one that works over a two week period and you don’t want to stop. That’s fine, just add the next one in the list, if you can handle more than one strategy at once more power to you and you’ll probably lose fat even faster. My guess is that sticking to more than one or two rules will be almost impossible, so it will be pretty easy to tell which strategy is really working.

For me the simpler the diet is the better, (which is the main premise behind Eat Stop Eat).

Even when you are following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle you can still use the top 10-diet rule as a way to guide how you eat on your ‘eat days’.

The top 10 diet rule experiment is the fastest way to find dietary habits that work for you - after all you’ll never know until you try.

Article source:  Eat Stop Eat

10 Secrets to Fasting in a Healthy Way

One of my readers suggests 10 fasting tips which I find intersting and would like to share with you.

Fasting has been a part of many dietary regimens and religious observances for centuries, and while met with some skepticism, has proven to have very definite health benefits when done properly. Whether your goals are spiritual, physical or both, you can gain more from fasting by following some helpful advice. Here are 10 secrets to fasting in a healthy way:

1. Allow adequate time to eliminate harmful foods and substances from your diet – Prepare for your fast by gradually weaning yourself off such things as alcohol, nicotine, and sugar. Your body will not suffer from withdrawals if you give it time to adjust before embarking on a full-blown fast.
2. Gradually reduce food intake – Eat increasingly less food each day leading up to a more extensive fast. Again, you want your body to adjust to the reduced caloric intake, which will allow you to fast for longer periods later.
3. Try a liquid diet instead of a full fast – If you are skeptical about eliminating all substances from your diet, or you are about to embark on your first fast, you can try a juice fast, rather than not eating anything. Replace solid foods with fruit or vegetable juices, which will supply the necessary nutrients for your body, and minimize any ill effects of fasting, such as headaches or irritability.
4. Fast carefully – Do not fast if you are not in good health, are pregnant, or are underweight. You should be in sufficient health to subsist on reduced caloric intake without any risks to your body. The benefits of fasting would be lost if your body is not receiving adequate nutrition already from your normal diet.
5. Stay away from rigorous exercise or activities – Avoid strenuous activities while fasting. Limiting your food intake will also reduce the energy your body requires for performing such activities. Focus instead on cleansing your body, and meditation. Your body will still burn calories efficiently enough to lose weight without being taxed too heavily.
6. Maintain a healthy diet when not fasting – Fasting should be preceded and followed by a nutrient-rich diet. A person will not benefit as much from a fast if their diet before and/or after the fast is not a healthy one. So build up to your fast ahead of time; then afterward, build back up to your pre-fast diet.
7. Avoid binge eating at the conclusion of a fast – When ending a fast do not eat a large amount of food right away. Your stomach will have shrunk during the fast and will not be able to properly digest a lot of food for several days. After several days of fasting, your appetite will also have diminished accordingly; so there’s no need to binge at its conclusion.
8. Stay hydrated – Drink lots of water when fasting. Your body will be eliminating a lot of toxins from your bloodstream, and the additional liquid in your diet will help to cleanse it. Avoid other liquids like coffee and soft drinks, however.
9. Keep the fast period short – Extended fasting should only be done under close medical supervision. A fast lasting no longer than 4 to 5 days should be no problem for a healthy individual. Beyond that, you want to be sure that your body is handling the stress and diet change without difficulty.
10. Pre-fast eat foods that will continue to benefit you throughout the duration of the fast – Certain foods rich in complex carbohydrates allow for a slower, gradual release of energy which facilitates fasting much better. These include: beans, barley, wheat, oats, semolina, and rice.

Fasting can provide you with an array of health benefits if it’s done the right way. By maintaining a healthy diet and staying properly hydrated before and after the fast you can receive the maximum benefits throughout.

Article source:  AuPair.org

Fasting and Cleansing

While I'm enjoying the benefits of fasting weight loss, fasting is not only responsible for weight loss.  It is also responsible for cleansing - I mean the cleansing that is far beyond many products being marketed for the purpose of cleansing and detoxing.

Many people questioned the science behind fasting, and insisted that any type of "fasting" was inherently dangerous. I've recently read an article written by Brad Pilon (author of Eat Stop Eat and a nutrition researcher) in which he describes the science-backed benefits that support fasting, and describes the real way to cleanse your body.

As the original article is quite long and technical, I've tried to do a summary here.

The Truth About Fasting and Cleansing

To understand the long-term health benefits of true cleansing, we need to look into a unique process within the human body called 'autophagy'.

Autophagy: The Anti-Aging Solution?  The term autophagy is derived from the Greek language meaning 'eating of self'. In short, it is the internal 'custodial system' that your body uses to identify and discard the damaged or malfunctioning parts of a cell.

If you are interested in how autophagy works, check it out from Wiki.

The more time you spend in the fed state, the less time you have to really ramp up the autophagic (cellular cleansing) process within your body.

This is where short-periods of fasting come into play.  One of the major health benefits of fasting is that it improves autophagy. The principle signal to "turn on" the autophagy dial is the act of entering the fasted state. And if fasting is the signal to turn on autophagy, then eating is the signal to turn it off.

By allowing for growth when we eat and the autophagic process of repair maintenance and cleansing when we are fasting, we help restore a balance in the cellular maintenance process, not to mention the possible prevention of muscle loss as we age.  So you can consider fasting as an anti-aging solution.

The key is there needs to be a balance - You can't overeat all the time or fast all the time without expecting some sort of negative repercussions. It is the optimal balance of these processes that allows for the breakdown of damaged pieces and their replacement with new well-functioning pieces.

By allowing for growth when we eat, and the autophagic process of repair, maintenance, and cleansing when we are fasting, we help restore a balance in the body that may be a missing link in the prevention of many of today's deadly and debilitating diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease, liver disease, and even loss of muscle size and function.

Brad Pilon is one of the world's most recognized advocates of Intermittent Fasting - You can learn more about his approach to intermittent fasting in his newly revised and expanded book Eat Stop Eat.

My One Meal Menu

My One Meal Menu

Some of the FAQs I received from my readers are: What do you eat in that one meal? What calories, what kind of food and what portion size and did you eat all those foods being recorded in your food blog? Well I’m going to answer all these questions together.

I have a food blog and a fasting blog. These two blogs seem conflicting, but they aren’t. Though one is about eating and the other about fasting, they are related. Today I’m going to use some of the old photos from my food blog to answer the above questions. To answer one of the FAQs: 99% of the food photos were taken from my dining table, so I actually ate the foods.

My meal frequency is somewhat famine style - generally one meal a day, sometimes no food for a day or two. Don’t assume that my one meal is a great super size one. Although sometimes I do binge, at company events or family/festival gatherings, I eat normal portion meals most of the time. Calories, food group…I don't care!

Different people may have different standard of a normal meal. Professional athletes’ normal meal size may be much larger than mine. So let see the normal meal size of a female headhunter.

My Normal One Meal Dinner – Home Cooking
I enjoy eating at home. This is the time when I can sit down, relax and enjoy food. I may have mentioned this before – food become more tasteful after I practice fasting. And some readers also reported that they eat more respectfully after practicing fasting.

Here is couple of examples to demonstrate my normal portion dinner. Simply click on the links to view the original articles from my food blog.

Green Risotto - Hong Kong Style * My Home-Made Vegetarian Pasta My Normal One Meal Lunch – Economy
Although my one meal is usually dinner, I do eat lunch in some occasions, especially over the weekend when I don’t need to rush for time. Here are some examples of economy normal portions of my normal lunch. Super Value Tea Set * My Vegetarian Lunch Box * Classic Dim Sums

My Normal One Meal – Luxury
In some occasions, I do lunch in a slightly luxury way such as going on an outing and enjoy a holiday seafood lunch. It is luxury in terms of money, but very normal in terms of meal size even it is a 4-course one. Lamma Island Seafood Outing

My Over-sized One Meal
There are occasions that I eat a lot. Over a banquet, I never want to single out myself. So I eat a lot. However I do have a rule that I won’t do two big meals in a day. If that happens, I’ll try to make excuse to one of them. If both meals are unavoidable…mmmm….that’s a very difficult day for me. I usually have to go on a 30-hour fasting after that. In my experience, fasting is a very good remedy for binge eating. Though I sometimes binge over long weekends or holidays, a day or two’s fasting will enable speedy recovery. Here is a blog post to demonstrate how big my one meal could be – an 8-course banquet plus rice/noodle, desserts and fruits. Cantonese Festival Dinner

 

Creating New Habits Towards Intermittent Fasting

Want to try intermittent fasting but don’t know if it is right for you? Here is a short article to help.

In a nutshell, intermittent fasting (IF) is to acquire a better life through a simple lifestyle. To begin with, take a look at the following 3 rules and see how you feel.

• Rule #1: Eat Meals Every Day...Sometimes 2
• Rule #2: Move/Exercise for 10 Minutes Every Day
• Rule #3: Quiet the Noise for 10 Minutes Every Day

If these 3 rules sound probable to you, then continue reading.

They say that it only takes 21 days to create a new habit, so for the next 21 days you are going to follow the above 3 simple rules.

It's not going to get any more complicated than that, no need to. No other distractions to get you off track. The goal is to master the foundations of each pillar (eating, movement, lifestyle) with the “IF” Life principles and then make it a lasting part of your lifestyle. Master these foundations and you can stop any yo-yo weight fluctuations than many seem to suffer from nowadays. You will also embrace your own active lifestyle which will add into helping you stay lean and healthy.

Want to take a closer look at the life of an IFer? You can go through this blog or read this article as a fast track: Why I Do “Less” (Eat, Exercise and Work) for Better Results

Author of the article is actually practicing the 3 rules above, although I’m not sure if he developed them in 21 days. I recommend this article not only because I appreciate his style of writing. Because I’m someone in a similar lifestyle and truly understand that what he says is going to benefit anyone who does it. I like his quotes as well, such as:

· Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci
· It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential ~ Bruce Lee
· Never confuse motion with action ~ Benjamin Franklin
The article also includes a Bruce Lee video which is truly inspiring.

So here you go:

Why I Do “Less” (Eat, Exercise and Work) for Better Results
By Mike O’Donnell

My general lifestyle theme for the last decade (and on this blog) has been one of practicing more simplicity in all aspects of my life.

Not because I’m trying to neglect myself of anything (that’s not that point of a simple lifestyle), but rather quite the opposite. It is because of what a more simple life can bring in return as far as happiness, sense of freedom, reduced stress and even more results.

Trust me, I still want to accomplish and do many things…but I’ve found that by simplifying the steps to get there, those results can happen quicker. I’m much more focused and efficient at what I do.

Sounds like something worth trying right? So here’s some of my reasons I continue with simple eating, exercise and working. Hopefully it will inspire you to try something new and simple in your lifestyle approach as well!

Click here to read the full article

Intermittent Fasting Success - Creating New Habits in 21 Days

Paleo Diet

Though intermittent fasting does not restrict food group, I do heard people on paleo diet gain outstanding results. I once recommended a book called The Paleo Diet - The Original Human Diet in this post and received encouraging feedback.

If you seriously want to know “what to eat”, it's worth finding out what 'paleo diet' is all about and to gain some great insight into food and your health.

If you don't have time to read through a book, the link below contains a number of videos which will quickly help you understand more about Paleo Diet.

Click Here
to start with
USDA Food Pyramids Vs Paleo Food Pyramid - Explained

Want to try a few paleo dishes and see how it tastes? I've some free recipes for you. Just click to download, no registration required.
Broccoli and Pinenut Soup
Pumkin Chicken Curry
Lemon Meringue Pie

Intermittent Fasting Success

5-day Mini Master Cleanse

I have just completed a 5-day mini master cleanse. Here is a summary of my story.

Background
I feel I need a spiritual renewal plus some cleansing and detoxification. I know I’m going to lose weight but I don’t have much weight to lose, so I decide to cut the standard period of 10 days by half.

Preparation
Although the actual fast lasted 5 days, I started to cut my food consumption ahead of time. In fact, I had 4.5 normal meals the week before I started fasting. 4.5 meals in a week sound unrealistic, isn’t it? Nope. I seldom eat more than 10 meals in a week. So I’m actually cutting 50% of my normal diet. If you have to cut your weekly meals by half, would it be possible? I believe it’s no big deal.

My preparation also included the mental part. To be successful, this is the most important. I kept telling myself, if I can’t control myself for 5 days, how can I control myself for the rest of my life? This feeling is really wonderful. I wanted to do it and I did it. I must say this is truly a good exercise to go through. I usually gather at the office pantry for social talk, but in the fasting week, I didn’t even walk into the pantry. I had a water machine nearby my desk, so drinking was not a problem.

Fasting Process
I drink the lemonade three times a day to replace breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rest of the day, I drink water only. What if I really feel hungry and wanted something to eat? Well, hunger has not been my problem for a long time. This may have set the background for my successful fasting lifestyle. However there had been moments that I really wanted to eat. Once throughout my 5 fasting days, I had a spoonful of the maple syrup which was one of the ingredients of my lemonade drink. Guess what. At that moment, if you ask me what the most delicious food in this world is, I must say ‘maple syrup’. No wonder people with fasting experience will eat respectfully, really enjoy the taste of food and without wasting any food.

Lemonade had no fiber in it. So I had a glass of laxative tea every evening which helped me go to the bathroom easier the next morning. The waste quantity wasn’t much, but very dark in color, much darker than usual. I guess this is normal as I’m cleansing out the stuff that had been clogging on my colon.

The Challenge
It was five years ago when I first encountered a 6-day fasting. Throughout these years, my fasting windows have been 24-hour most of the time and quite often 40-60 hours. However beyond that was a little challenge. Day 3 had been the most difficult. Once I past that, I felt great and much more optimistic. In fact, to enable the process run smoothly, I stayed calm on everything and thus picked the week when my boss was away and business was relatively slow.

Side Effect
Coated tongue – I had this for the first two days. But I know this is a normal side effect of fasting and cleansing, so it didn’t bother me much.

Weight loss – I lost 6 pounds and achieved truly flat ab. To many people this is a positive side effect but for me, not really. In fact I’m quite standard in terms of body weight and shape. I’m now actually a bit underweight.

Exercising
Daily swimming had been part of my life for many years. I thought I should remain less active during fasting and swap to hula hoop for the first 3 days. However on day 4 I felt really energetic, so I resumed my lunch hour swimming. So as day 5.
WARNING: DO NOT do this if you are fasting for the first time.

Breaking Fast
I break my fast with a bowl of fish and lettuces congee. A 5-day fast is not too long nor short, but still needed some care in breaking fast. Congee made me feel comfortable and prepare my digestive system for a slightly heavier lunch the next day.

NOTE: This is just a report of my mini master cleanse experience. It is not meant to be a proper master cleanse guide. If you are looking to do a full master cleanse, check out Raylen Sterling’s website about Master Cleanse Secrets. You can even subscribe her newsletter. Find out more before kicking start.

Why Bother With The Lemonade Diet?

Do you love lemon? A lot of us do. What do you love a lemon for, apart from its fragrant and refreshing nature? Have you ever associated it with weight loss, health and even a master cleanse? In fact, a Lemonade Diet which is also known as The Master Cleanse, is a life transformation exercise where many people enjoy a new and better life after going through it.

As someone who’s enjoying the benefits of fasting, I would like to introduce more fasting diets ideas to encourage more readers to go fasting. Let me begin with the Lemonade Diet.

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet. Lately it seems like every Hollywood actress or actor who needs to get in shape is turning to this decades old health system that involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

With all the diets out there to choose from why would anyone bother with the Lemonade Diet?

There are two main reasons people like the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet. The first (and most obvious) is that it works. The results people are getting with the Master Cleanse border on miraculous, and they are backed by thousands of devoted users who are living testimonials to the effectiveness of the Master Cleanse.

The second reason people choose the Master Cleanse over other diets and wellness programs is that it's fast. The typical person only spends 10 days on the Master Cleanse, compared to other diets that can last months or even years you can see why they choose the Master Cleanse. For urgent dieters who for any reason need to shed pounds in a short period, this method is widely used.

Another interesting thing about the Lemonade Diet lasting just 10 days is that you only need a short term burst of will power to get through it. Having to sacrifice for months is what makes other diets so hard to stay on, but most people can will their way through 10 days.

What can you expect from 10 days on the Lemonade Diet?

Even though most people are going on the Master Cleanse to lose weight quickly, there are many other health benefits to be gained by doing the Master Cleanse. Flushing out your system is what the Master Cleanse is really designed to do. Even back 60 years ago when the Master Cleanse was first invented people had health problems as a result of waste building up inside of them. Today with processed foods, pollution, and all around poor diets our bodies desperately need to be flushed out every once in a while.

When you flush out your body with the Master Cleanse the waste you eliminate will be abnormal. The smell, color, and texture of the waste that comes out of your body shock some people, so you should be prepared.

It's true the Master Cleanse can help you lose up to 20 pounds, look younger, ease chronic pain, cleanse your body of internal waste, and boost your energy levels in 10 days but...You know the saying - "if it was easy everyone would be doing it". Right. Some people can’t even do it for one day.

If you want to try the Master Cleanse, there's more you need to know than just drinking the lemonade mixture for 10 days. In fact most people who try the Master Cleanse without knowing all the steps fail. If you want to see whether the Lemonade Diet is right for you, there's a good book Master Cleanse Secrets that you should read before starting because it covers the common problems people face, and how to avoid them.

Go fasting! I wish you all the best!

Anna

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Lemonade Diet

No Breakfast is Good Breakfast!

You may have heard of ‘no news is good news’. What about ‘no breakfast is good breakfast’? If you haven't heard of this, let me ask you one question. What are the reasons you get off a bed?

You may say that the alarm clock rings; time to go to work; time to go to school; time to go to the airport; or time to go do something.

What if it is on a holiday that you don’t really need to wake up on time to do anything? What are the reasons you get off a bed when you don’t really want to?

Well, I didn’t close my curtain well enough, the sun was shinning on me; there were noises around; my back pain didn’t allow me to stay in bed any longer; or weather was too cold, my heater was out of order….the list goes on… Have you ever been told by your stomach to wake up? Because you are so hungry that you need to get off the bed and eat? I think these are the only group of people who really need a breakfast. Are you one of them?

Today, I have a day off. I have no lunch/dinner booking, so I decided to do something unusual – I went to the McDonald’s. It has the best breakfast deal in town (starting HK$13) so I went there. While I was enjoying my sausage muffin, I had a crazy idea as to ask a few people around me ‘why are you here?’ Some looked at me as if I were a mad woman. But the fact was, nobody said that they were hungry. It was just a habit or they love McDonald’s or they came because it was cheap.

Eat breakfast as a habit, can that be changed? Why are we eating when we are not hungry?

Weight loss is a hot topic nowadays. People tend to spend huge money in SPA, diet programs and expensive gym membership without realizing that the change of a little habit can do the job – no breakfast.

In fact, many people looking to lose weight are reluctant in changing their eating habit. Why don’t we take a simple step to begin with? Let me put it this way – 'no breakfast is good breakfast'. If you could switch to a ‘no breakfast’ lifestyle, then you are on your mark to start an IF lifestyle. IF simply stand for Intermittent Fasting, Intensity Fitness and Instant Freedom, according to Mike O’Donnell, author of 2 Meal Solution.

I notice Mike O’Donnell has newly developed a E-course for those who want to lose weight with a simple lifestyle. The good news is that his E-course is free. Take a look at Mike's website and see if you want to enroll for his free E-course.

Intermittent Fasting Success - No Breakfast is Good Breakfast

Overcoming Binge Eating By Fasting

For a period of time, I failed to overcome binge eating by fasting. I think it may happen to you even you are an experienced faster like me.

Chinese New Year holidays were just over here in Hong Kong. I just couldn’t resist eating. Food is for celebration and festival is for family members, relatives and friends to get together and share fun. If I refuse to eat, I’ll make myself extremely unpopular. I used to have a dilemma of loving to eat but afraid of bloating, indigestion and gain a bigger belly. Of course, this dilemma does not exist any more. When I resume fasting, my life goes back to normal.

From CNY eve on Feb 2 through Feb 6 (day 4 of CNY), I have been busy eating for a continuation of five days. I felt overloaded, to be honest. On Feb 7-8, I had only one meal of regular portion. That fast was around 42 hours and I had two meals on Feb 9 and then I continued with my normal one-meal day. Yesterday at the gym, I didn’t notice any weight gain. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I’m extremely disciplined on work days but not on holidays. Once I go back to work, resume daily swimming and intermittent fasting, I’m not afraid of gaining weight.

So have you been binge eating over Easter weekend, Halloween or Thanksgiving? Don’t worry. Simply overcome binge eating by fasting.

BTW, have you read the book The Modern Diet Review? It reviews and compares several weight loss methods including Low Fat, Balanced Nutrients, Cleansing, Low Carb, Intermittent Fasting, Blood Type and Detox. It’s interesting to know that people on IF manage to keep their weight off by adding in a fasting day when they felt like they were starting to over eat and gain a bit of weight. Well that was exactly what I did.

If you want to take a look, I have the author John Barban’s permission to give away this ebook to my readers for free. Right click this link and choose 'save target as' and download The Modern Diet Review. It’s just a 24-page short ebook which you may finish reading in 15-30 minutes.


Enjoy reading and happy fasting.

Anna

Intermittent Fasting Success Report -

Overcome Binge Eating by Fasting

Fasting For Weight Loss

When I talk about fasting for weight loss, some feel curious, some feel feared. Many wondered why and how I developed this habit. In fact, if we review our eating history, it’s easy to find something in common.

Remember how much and how often you ate when you were 13? Look at the photo here.


The bottom row was how I ate when I were 13. True! No exaggeration! I did have a record of eating 5 bowls of rice for lunch. When I grew up, my food consumption decreased accordingly. I thought I cut from two to one at my mid 20s. Now I am eating one meal a day, or even without any food on some days. In fact, this does not only happen to me. Many find that they are eating less and less, especially on weekends when they don’t have to work.

Fasting may sound scary to those who worry about energy level or afraid of hungry pangs. However fasting for weight loss isn’t scary at all. I am still eating EVERYDAY and eating what I love to eat.

The kind of short term fasting I do have almost no impact on my social life and yet my body benefits. That way my digestive system got periodic recess, shifting focus from digestion to cleansing and repairing, resulting not only in weight loss but more energy and better skin, not to mention my bloating problem says good bye to me.

May be you’ve been told a million times that you should eat at least three meals a day; or eat like a king for breakfast and a queen for lunch and a beggar for dinner. Forget about these. They may work for some people, but not for you, if you want to lose weight naturally and permanently. Fasting for weight loss is the new trend, whether you want to shed a few pounds or maintain your body weight. Try to start your fasting weight loss project by skipping a couple of meals a week. I’m sure you’ll see the benefits.

If you are afraid of hungry, drink a glass of fresh prune juice to replace lunch or dinner. Its high fibre will create a feeling of fullness and keep you away from hungry. It will also encourage bowel movements and you will gain additional benefit if you are suffering from constipation. Because of this, please make sure no over consumption of prune juice to avoid diarrhea.

More about juicing for weight loss.

Try it out once, and I’m sure you’ll love the feeling. Be prepared to allow some time for your body to burn fat, and DO NOT expect overnight results.

NOTE: You need to do a little more if you are aiming to maintain a steady body weight, i.e. do this short term fasting in an ongoing manner. It could be even better if you could incorporate some daily exercises. If you do these, you’ll simply save money in buying weight loss programs, diet recipes and still enjoying a healthy life.

Read my fasting for weight loss story.

Recommended reading: Eat Stop Eat – a scientific guide for short term intermittent fasting.

Fasting and Starvation

So let’s talk about the death journey. Scary? Yes, it is. Starvation is really scary, but not fasting.

Starvation induces death. Fasting will not.

But why is there the misconception? Let's clarify it.

Fasting Facts

First of all, let’s take a look at some of the fasting facts.

Health experts say that most healthy individuals have enough fat stored in the body to live without food for several weeks, as long as they keep themselves well hydrated and without emotional stress. Starvation only occurs when the body has exhausted its fat reserves and must use tissue from vital organs as a source of energy to survive.

Human fat is valued at 3,500 calories per pound. Each extra pound of fat will supply enough calories for one day of hard physical labor. Ten pounds of fat are equal to 35,000 calories! Most of us have sufficient reserves, capable of sustaining us for many weeks.

From Fasting to Starvation

There is a huge difference between fasting and starvation.

Fasting is when there are foods around but we don’t eat for a period of time in order to achieve a certain health goal.

Starvation is when food is badly inadequately, people eating scraps of whatever is available or even dirt.

Here is an article describing the starvation death journey in details. I have summarized it for your quick reference.

The Death Journey of Starvation

Until water fasting goes on past the point where all fatty tissues and all abnormal deposits have been burned for fuel and recycled for the nutritional elements they contain, vital muscle tissues and organs are not consumed. And as long as the body contains sufficient nutritional reserves, vital organs and essential tissues are rebuilt and maintained. In fact the body has a great deal of intelligence in doing whatever possible in keeping us staying alive. It knows exactly which cells are essential to survival, which ones are not. The body knows which cells are abnormal deposits, and it goes to work to metabolize them first.

For example, the body recognizes arthritic deposits, cysts, fibroids, and tumors as offensive parts of the landscape, and obligingly uses them for foods in preference to anything else. A starving (not fasting) body also knows precisely in what order of priority body cells should be metabolized to minimize risk of death or permanent disability.

After a starving body has reached skeletal condition, or where some small amount of fat remains but nutritional reserves (vitamins and minerals) are exhausted and there is insufficient nourishment forthcoming, the body begins to consume nutrient-rich muscle and organ tissue in a last-ditch effort to stay alive. Under these dire circumstances, the least essential muscles and organs from the standpoint of survival are metabolized first. For example, muscles in the arms and legs would be consumed early in the process, the heart muscle used only toward the very end. The very last part of the body to be metabolized when one is starving and as has come very close to death would be the brain and the nervous system.

Starvation begins where fasting ends, which is when real hunger begins. If the return of hunger is ignored whenever it takes place, whether it is in 30, 60, or 90 days depending upon body weight and type of fast, at that point exactly, not a day before, starvation begins very slowly. Usually it takes a considerable period of time after that before death occurs. It is important to note that this discussion applies only to the abstention from food, not water. Death takes place very quickly in the absence of water.

So now, do you still find fasting scary? If we are talking about a 24-hour fast, there is practically nothing to do with starvation. However prolong fasting say beyond 60 days could be risky.

HEALTH WARNING: You must discuss with your doctor before going on prolong fasting and received medical supervision throughout the process.

The DIRTY DOZEN Obsessive Compulsive Eating Habits

Does any or all of these seem to be the way you are eating? If so, you may want to read my free report on The Dirty Dozen.

1. Eating multiple small meals every day – even if it doesn’t fit your schedule
2. Drinking Green Tea to help burn fat
3. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water every day
4. pre, during, and post workout nutrition
5. Overeating “healthy foods”
6. Allow yourself a cheat meal once a week
7. Eating To Maintain Muscle Mass
8. Avoiding entire food groups
9. Making Your Nutrition Habits The Most Important Factor In Your Day
10. Keeping a Food Diary
11. Obsessing Over Nutrient Timing
12. Letting Your Diet Define You

Many people follow these rules in their quest to lose weight. However, most of these rules do very little to actually promote weight loss. Since it is believed that following these rules should ALWAYS cause weight loss, you have no choice but to assume the rule itself is correct and therefore YOU are doing something incorrectly.

I have a report called the DIRTY DOZEN which is all about the twelve most obsessive compulsive eating habits and how to break them.

I have the author’s permission to distribute it free for my readers. Email me at annafasting(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk with a headline "The Dirty Dozen" and I’ll email you a copy. (I respect your privacy and your email address will be kept CONFIDENTIALLY)

Intermittent Fasting Success Report - Free Report on OCE

Bookend this Long Weekend for Weight Loss

July 1st and July 4th are the Canadian and American big time long weekend kick offs for the the summer. And there is also some big time eating that goes on during these weekends.

BBQ steak, burgers, ribs, sausages, chicken, pasta salad, potato salad, grilled veggies, beer (or whatever your beverage of choice might be)...and that's not even mentioning the desserts.

No doubt there will be some serious eating going on, and some serious OVER eating. So how do you enjoy all the great food during a long weekend and still come out the other side without gaining and fat?

I've found the easiest answer is to 'bookend' the weekend with the principles found in Eat Stop Eat.

By using the techniques in Eat Stop Eat to prepare for the weekend you can eat all the great foods that will be cooking during your long weekend feast without the guilt or the extra bodyfat that usually comes with these kind of events.

Get Your Copy of Eat Stop Eat today

Use Eat Stop Eat again the day after the weekend to get back on track for the following week and you might even LOSE weight when it's all said and done. This is the 'bookend technique' that many other Eat Stop Eaters have adopted and used with great success to get through holiday weekends without gaining weight.

Eat Stop Eat is the easiest and quickest way to prepare for and erase any potential fat gain from a long weekend eating extravaganza.

Get your copy of Eat Stop Eat today and be prepared for the upcoming long weekend.

It's the perfect way to get rid of guilt AND fat at the same time.

Anna

PS: For additional information, read my previous post on My Crazy Fasting Lifestyle and see how I ate madly over the Easter long weekend and resumed normal weight in two days.