#IMWChallenge March 2022 Edition

Intermittent Fasting

The February 2022 Low Carb #IMWChallenge is coming to a close. I hope everyone that participated in any way learned something that improved your health. Even though the challenge portion of the Low Carb Diet/Lifestyle is ending today, that does not mean you should go back to eating more carbohydrates again. Hopefully you feel the difference this lifestyle has made. I hope it becomes a part of what you do moving forward.

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Now presenting March 2022 #IMWChallenge Fasting.

Don't get alarmed by the term fasting.

It's not fringe or cringe.

It's not kooky or spooky.

It's actually a great method to allow your body to safely remove excesses that have built up that may be throwing your optimal health off kilter.

In other words Fasting allows your body to rebalance or detox naturally.

Think about it.

If you have excess fat on you and want to remove some safely, then probably a good thing to do would be to NOT keep putting more food in that eventually gets stored as more fat. Instead give your body a break or a fasting period to do just this.

Your fat cells do many things but one that is very well known is that fat cells store excess energy as fat for future use. This stored fat for the future is why we all don’t keel over if we miss a meal or two or three or even thirty.

Think about the word "future" and how to get there.

Do you think if you continue to eat more than your body needs it will ever release some of the stored excess?

So intermittent fasting is a way to train your body to rebalance it's energy reserve from fat cells and allow it to instead be used and burned for energy.

Lower carbohydrate lifestyles help to make Intermittent Fasting easier.

Here is the mechanism.

To store excess carbohydrates into fat cells for future use our body uses the hormone insulin. Think of insulin as a key that unlocks the door of the fat cell. Also think of it as a one way door that allows fat in but not out. So to release or burn excess fat stores we need to lower insulin production.

How do we lower insulin?

1- Lower Carbohydrate lifestyle

2- Fasting

3- Increased Exercise/Activity

The February 2022 #IMWChallenge focused on #1 - Lower Carbohydrate lifestyle.

The March 2022 #IMWChallenge will focus on #2 - Fasting, and generally Intermittent Fasting.

Instead of writing a whole bunch more let us instead learn about Intermittent Fasting from one of the world experts, Dr. Jason Fung.

Here is a short YouTube video

This Intermittent Fasting #IMWChallenge is not just for weight loss.

• It is for allowing you to achieve a more optimal overall health.

• It is for allowing you to develop a different relationship with food, one that allows you to not be driven by anticipation of your next meal.

• It is for allowing you to get into ketosis if that has been a goal for you.

• It is for allowing your brain to switch to burning ketones to see if you improve your clarity and brain function.

• It is for allowing your immune system to work better as every time you eat your immune system is on high alert for anything that got into your gut via your meal. There has been much research on how both lower carbohydrate diets and ketosis helps to improve the function of your immune system. These past two years are proof we all want a healthy immune system.

• It is for allowing your body to clear out excess and detox safely.

• It is for allowing your Gut to have a rest so it can better absorb the nutrients it wants while eliminating those it does not.

• It is for allowing your liver to take a small rest from having to continually detox your last meal as well as process the nutrients for delivery throughout your body.

• It is for allowing your kidneys to take a break and not have to filter out the excess that your blood is carrying due to your last meal.

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So, here is the #IMWChallenge March 2022

For Week One:

Let's try an Intermittent Fast of 16:8

This means you have an 8 hour eating window in which to eat/drink your meals.

Then you have 16 hours with nothing but non caloric fluids, i.e, water, unsweetened beverages,

Ex:

My 8 hour eating window would start at 11AM and finish eating by 7PM

My 16 hour non-eating or fasting window is from 7PM until 11AM the following day.

If you feel up to it you can extend the fasting window.

If you feel up to it during the week, try for a 24 hour fast on the day of your choosing.

Most likely we will be increasing the fasting window as March progresses.

So who is up for the challenge?

The March 2022 #IMWChallenge of Intermittent Fasting ?

Please leave any questions and comment below.

Also let me know how you did with February’s Low Carb Challenge.

Was there something more or different we could have done to make the challenge more enjoyable or successful?