How to do an Intermittent Fast
Many people equate fasting with starving. but that’ a misconception. In fact, you can fast without counting or cutting calories or ever being hungry, if you know how. I’m here to show you How to do an Intermittent Fast or IF Intermittent Fasting made EZ, painlessly and the natural way to eat.
There is a way to fast every day for days, weeks even months at a time without ever being hungry, hitting a plateau in your weight loss or have your body go into “Starvation Mode” where you just stop losing weight. Do I have your interest?
If you enter “Intermittent Fasting” into Google Search you’ll get over 900,000 for results. That’s a lot of information and a lot of different perspectives on how and why you should consider doing an Intermittent fast. I’m here to show you what has worked for me and should work for you.
What are the Benefits ![HGH]()
- Become a Fat Burning Machine
- Avoid Weight Loss Plateau and “Starvation Mode”
- Normalizes Insulin Sensitivity
- Increases Human Growth Hormone Production
- Lowers Blood Pressure
- Reduces Stress
- Boosts Mitochondrial Energy Efficiency
- Lowers Inflammation and Triglyceride Levels
- Eliminates Sugar Cravings
- Increases Life-expectancy (by 30%) and Brain Function
- Cleanses and Detoxes The Body
- May Prevent; Diabetes, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s and Cancer
- But Wait there’s More
Some articles I’ve read and YouTube videos I’ve watched suggested doing an IF so that you can keep on eating all of the junk that you want. I’m sorry that to me makes no sense if your long term goal is Health. I do understand that for many health is not a consideration, but it is for me. I hope living a longer and healthier life is your goal, but even if it’s not IF can help you lose fat and live longer.
People don’t want to give up stuff, most folks I know live to eat instead of eating to live. How to do an Intermittent Fast if you don’t want to give up anything? Well, you don’t jump into it like a cold pool, you ease into it like a warm bath.
Ease into IF Like a Warm Bath
When people come to me for weight loss advice I suggest they start with Dr, Fuhrman’s Eat to Live program, where the focus is on Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds (GBOMBS). I tell them to eat as much GBOMBS as you can and as little as possible of everything else. If they think that they’re hungry they should eat, but they should eat real food… GBOMBS.
If you Think you are Hungry Eat
You don’t have to worry about overeating or eating too often when you follow Eat to Live (ETL). That’s because it is “Nutrient Dense” and not “High Caloric”. Furthermore, on ETL, you get to ween yourself off of the most dangerous and addictive foods that make up the Standard American Diet (SAD) junk food, processed and fast food, salt, sugar, wheat, saturated fats, etc.
These “foods” are high calorie and nutrient poor, leaving you overfed and undernourished and always hungry.
When you eat healthy you remove the addictions, you’re not a slave to the cravings that force you to eat junk even when you’re not hungry. If you’re not hungry you eat less often. By eating nutrient dense food, you feel full and avoid empty calories. The net result, you eat when you’re hungry and stop eating when you’re full. You’re in control, not your cravings and addictions. What a concept!
Learn to Eat to Live First.
What if you can’t or don’t want to Eat To Live? 
You can still do IF Intermittent Fasting and still lose weight. Keep in mind you can be thin with low body fat percentage and still be sick. I’d prefer you not to be sick, but of course, it is your choice.
WARNING: If you don’t do Eat to Live first and jump right into IF expect to have a Detox period a period during which you feel lightheaded before your first meal. This is the same detoxification you would go through if you tried to stop drinking coffee. The caffeine withdrawal usually causes headaches. The good news is that you will detox and start feeling better in a couple of weeks. Your weight loss should be enough incentive to endure any slight discomfort you experience during this period. And, the great news is that after only a few days of Intermittent Fasts these symptoms stop completely.
Why IF Intermittent Fast
I’ve fasted many times over the years, sometimes for as long as three days on a Water Fast. I never did a fast for weight loss. I’ve never recommended fasting for weight loss. I did it as a way to get in touch with my body. Most people have no idea what True Hunger is. They think when their stomach rumbles it’s time to eat again. Your stomach can make noises when your stomach is empty or full. Sometimes it’s not even coming from your stomach, but your intestines.
It’s part of your normal digestive process and it’s called peristalsis. It’s the movement of solids, liquids, and gasses and happens about two hours after the stomach empties itself. You shouldn’t be hungry two hours after eating, you should just be digesting. Those rumblings are often caused by eating too much sugar.
Most of the Standard American Diet (SAD), fast food and processed food is designed to be addictive. It’s designed to keep you overeating on a regular basis. When you start on ETL, you can eat GBOMBS constantly and still lose weight. It’s almost impossible to overeat.
That’s why I tell people that start on Eat to Live, “If you even think you’re hungry EAT… but eat real food”
What makes it difficult is if you haven’t overcome your food addictions and are having constant cravings. If you’re not hungry it’s easy to not eat,
Why IF Works
Your bodies #1 Energy Source is Glycogen (Blood Sugar). When you eat your body produces Glycogen from the food. As long as there is Glycogen your body will never burn Fat. When you stop eating after 6 to 8 hours your Glycogen stores are depleted and your body is forced to Burn Fat. You’re a Fat Burning Machine!
If you sleep eight hours and the first thing you do is eat or even drink a glass of OJ, you’re replacing the Glycogen and preventing any fat loss. Bad move.
When you postpone your first meal your body begins to burn fat. The longer you wait to eat the more fat you burn.
Do you Want to Increase Fat Loss and Build Muscle?
Workout before your first meal. 
Even walking 30 minutes will increase fat loss. Walking 30 minutes and doing a high-intensity resistance workout ( a couple of times a week) will put your fat loss and muscle building into overdrive. You give your body no choice, but to burn more FAT.
Who Should do IF
Anyone can and should do IF except people that already have Low Blood Sugar or Pregnant or Nursing women.
What to do… Ease into it Like a Warm Bath
IF Feeding Window
You can start IF simply by skipping or postponing breakfast.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the 
day” is just an advertising slogan coined by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the co-inventor of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.
Rather than attempting a 24 hour period without eating any solid food, which is an uncomfortable prospect for many people it’s easier to just think of IF as postponing the inevitable. Meaning, eventually, you’re going to have to eat. Fasting isn’t Starving or going into Starvation Mode.
IF is a way to set a period when you’ll eat and a period when you won’t. It could be a day or two during a week where you don’t eat and you force your body to start burning fat.
Feeding Window, if you wake up and skip breakfast or postpone breakfast until 10 AM, 11 AM or Noon and then eat when you’re hungry until after dinner at let’s say 7 PM or 8 PM at night, that’s your Feeding Window.
Your Fasting Period will be from your last meal at night until your first meal of the next day. So, for example, if tomorrow you skip breakfast and your first meal is at Noon and your last meal of the day is dinner at 8 PM, your feeding window is Eight Hours.
From 8 PM until Noon the next day is your Fasting Period. Eight hours out of 24 you eat. 16 hours out of 24 you Fast. Intermittent Fast.
You don’t have to start with an 8/16 IF, in fact with the idea of making it easier you could start with a 12/12 IF (8 AM to 8 PM) and work your way up to a 10/14. When 10/14 seems too easy then you can think about 8/16 (where I am now).
Noon to 8 PM is now very easy for me. I’m drifting toward 1 PM to 7 Pm feeding window or a 6/18 feeding window. Remember it’s easy to postpone your next meal when you’re not actually hungry.
What should you eat during your Feeding Period? I eat and suggest you eat GBOMBS… why? Because it’s the healthiest highest nutrition foods I can think of. Why would I eat anything else?
Others do IF so they can continue eating of the Junk Food they want, I don’t. Our goals may be different. I eat to live, others live to eat. You choose.
HOW to BREAK the FAST
First thing in the morning before I do anything I weigh myself. The first thing I put into my body is I have Black Coffee (no cream and no sugar). Drinking green tea throughout the day is very healthy. I’m not sold on drinking eight glasses of water per day. I don’t drink tap water or bottled water. I drink water that been filtered to remove Fluoride, Chlorine and heavy metals which I consider to be toxic.
Sometimes my first meal of the day will be 20 ounces of filtered water, ½ tsp of Baking Soda (to help reduce the acidity of the water) and a couple of tablespoons of soaked Chia seeds . Yes, I do consider this to be a very healthy and filling meal. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself and see.
What you eat first is what you’ll digest first. I’ve read that you should eat fat first to help you feel full faster. Good fats here would be nuts, seeds and avocado. You could have Steel Cut Oatmeal, Berries, soaked Chia seeds, Greek Yogurt and some Chopped Nuts.
My first meal is usually Black Beans and Salsa, with a couple of tablespoons of soaked Chia seeds and a dollop of Greek style yogurt. This meal gives me over 30 grams of Protein and over 30 grams of Fiber and is very filling.
The rest of my day I try to eat pretty consistent, some could say boring, but I’m never bored with the way I eat. I usually take an afternoon walk and eat a piece of hand fruit (apple, pear, banana, peach) while I walk. A couple of ounces of nuts or seeds makes a great snack for me as well.
Dinner always starts with a Big Salad and then 20 minutes later Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds (GBOMBS).
I always have filtered water with ½ tsp of baking soda near me that I sip if I’m thirsty. I don’t drink eight glasses of water a day, because I don’t believe there’s any need to do so. I eat when I’m hungry I drink when I’m thirsty I sleep when I’m tired. I know it may sound odd, but it works for me.
Here’s The Plan
- Eat to Live to Remove Food Addictions
- Stop Eating After 7 or 8 PM
- Breakfast Isn’t The Most Important Meal of the Day… Wait
- Postpone your First Meal as Long as Possible… Increase Over Time
- Reduce your Feeding Period from 12 to 10 to 8 to 6 Hours per day
- Have your First Meal after Exercise
- Weigh yourself Daily
Follow this simple plan and without effort, the pounds will melt off. You’ll never have to diet, count calories, measure portions, ever be hungry or feel deprived. As an added bonus you’ll live a longer, healthier, happier and more productive life. Now, that’s what I call “An EZ Plan” and How to do an Intermittent Fast.
As always your Comments and Questions are welcome.
Please, when leaving a comment, Click on the two Notify Me buttons under the Post Comment button, so you’ll know when I’ve replied.
Thanks,
The post How to do an Intermittent Fast appeared first on Make It EZ 4 Me.