Benefits of Fasting

My husband and I practice intermittent fasting every single day.  This means that we only have eight hours in the day where we eat food.  The rest of the time we do not and only drink liquids.  

Once in a while we practice a 24 hour fast where we only drink water or non-caloric drinks such as ganoderma infused teas.  Why do we do this? 

Fasting has many benefits that have been backed by science.  For instance:

1. Promotes blood sugar control by reducing insulin resistance.  
If you reduce insulin resistance you increase your body's sensitivity to insulin. This allows it to transport glucose from your bloodstream to your cells more efficiently.  This is important to keep your blood sugar levels more stable, preventing spikes or crashes. (1)

2. Fasting can improve heart health
One of the leading cause of death in America is heart disease.  Having a healthier lifestyle and meal plan is the easiest way to decrease your risk for heart disease. 
One study of 110 obese patients showed that the fasting patients decreased their LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides by up to 32%! (2)

3. Decrease inflammation within the body

Inflammation is a good thing when we need it.  Unfortunately most of Americans are chronically inflammed.  Chronic inflammation causes disease such as heart disease, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.(3)  

4. Prevent dementia and neurodegenerative diseases

A study on animals showed that fasting or reduced caloric intake showed improved brain function and brain structure. Another study showed that fasting actually protected the brain health and increased generation of nerve cells to help enhance cognitive function. (4)

5 weight loss

Obviously if you reduce your intake of food you will stimulate weight loss. Research has shown though, that short term fasting actually helps to boost the metabolism by increasing levels of your neurotransmitters norepinephrine which could help increase weight loss. 

6. increase Growth Hormone secretion
Growth hormone is essential for growth , metabolism, weight loss and muscle strength.  This is where youthful vitality comes in.  But as you age we lose a lot of growth hormone.  You can stimulate the reproduction of this and increase your stamina and actually feel better and more youthful. A study performed on nine men actually showed that after fasting the men's HGH levels increased 5-fold!  (5)

7. Extend longevity in your life

There have been several studies showing very promising effects of fasting and prolonging your life.  one particular study showed that fasting in mice showed an 85% increase in life span (6)

8.Preventing cancer

We are nearly at 50% of the society developing cancer.  This is an avoidable disease.  One study found that fasting actually helped block tumor growth (7) Obviously, if you reduce your inflammation this helps to reduce your risk of certain diseases.  

If you've never tried fasting before and you are in good health try doing a 24 hour fast with just water and non-caloric foods.  If you do have health concerns please use caution and you may want to have a practitioner monitoring you during a fast.  Or you could start with  intermittent fasting.  Give it a try and see how you feel. 

For more information on fasting watch our YouTube presentation, Intermittent Fasting.