Intermittent Fasting Diet: Intermittent Fasting Weight Loss Benefits

Intermittent Fasting Diet: A Quick Way To Lose The Holiday Weight Gain

Intermittent Fasting Diet (IF) is the newest fad to lose weight and keep it off and the research shows that it is highly effective for fat burning, longevity and a long list of other Intermittent fasting benefits.

What Is Intermittent Fasting Diet?
Intermittent fasting diet is where you go 18-36 hours at a time without food.  For example. if your last meal is at 6 pm, you can wait until 12 pm the next day to eat again. Or you can eat breakfast and lunch and skip dinner until the next day. You don't have to do IF every day to be effective but the more you do it, the more effective it is.

The key is to restrict the time you eat food to a period of about six to seven hours each day, such as from noon to 6 or 7 pm.

Intermittent Fasting Weight Loss
One of the reasons IF helps with weight loss is that It takes about six to eight hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores and after that you actually start to shift to burning fat. However if you are replenishing your glycogen by eating every few hours, you make it far more difficult for your body to actually use your fat stores as fuel.

It appears particularly powerful when combined with exercise—i.e. working out while in a fasted state first thing in the a.m. before breakfast. It can also boost general health and longevity.

Why Fasting With Exercise Dramatically Boosts Fat Burning
1.  Fasting and exercise both increase your SNS sympathetic nervous system which in turn increases fat burning.

2. Fasting can trigger a dramatic rise in human growth hormone (HGH), also known as "the fitness hormone." Recent research found fasting raised HGH by 1,300 percent in women and 2,000 percent in men!

3. The combination of fasting and exercising maximizes catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

4. Exercise and fasting also yield acute oxidative stress, which keeps your muscles' mitochondria, neuro-motors and fibers intact. (acute oxidative stress, such as occurs due to short intense exercise or periodic fasting, actually benefits your muscle.)

You Need To Eat After An Intense Workout
If you don't eat after a workout, your body has no fuel to rebuild and recover with. The best recovery meal is 20 grams if protein from a fast-assimilating source like a high-quality whey protein concentrate 30 minutes after your workout (many experts recommend 30 minutes before a workout also).

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Research has confirmed intermittent fasting benefits can help:
•Normalize your insulin sensitivity. When your cells become insulin resistant it leads to disease such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer
•Normalize ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone"
•Promote human growth hormone (HGH) production--the anti-aging hormone
•Lower triglyceride levels
•Reduce inflammation and free radical damage. Increases anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as adiponectin and IL-15, which are associated with improved insulin sensitivity, increased thermogenesis, decreased fat storage, increased muscle regeneration and increased life span.
•Decrease blood sugar concentrations
•Decrease blood pressure
•Decrease heart rate
•Enhance immune function
•Reduce body fat
•Balance estrogen and prevents related metabolic disorders and cancer.

Intermittent Fasting Diet The Right Way
1. Your ideal food ratio is: high protein and fiber, low carbs.
That ratio promotes satiety and resists hunger. The protein builds lean tissues and the low carb-high fiber ratio helps optimize your insulin and sustain a healthy metabolism.

2. Quality protein, vegetables, nutrient dense fruits, good fat.
Your protein should be organic and includes  fish, eggs, legumes and dairy (non-denatured whey protein is the best protein).

Fiber and carbs include greens, cruciferous vegetables, roots, legumes, corn kernels, wild rice, oats and barley, berries, cherries, citrus, papayas and apples.

Fats include nuts, seeds, avocadoes, olives, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil and whole dairy.  Fats are preferred to carbs because they will give more satiety and the ability to sustain energy during fasting.