Momentum Issue 26: Find a fasting protocol that works for you.
Hello!
This week, we’re taking a look at fasting and how best to implement it in our own lives.
Fasting has almost endless benefits for essentially every aspect of your health.
Therefore, I highly advocate for everyone fasting in some form. However, not every fasting protocol is right for everyone. It’s important to listen to your body both during and after a fast to see how you respond, and use this to find something that works for you.
This week, spend some time learning about the various fasting protocols and try one you think will work for you.
A Quick Note
I have received a lot of feedback from subscribers wanting me to cover fasting. While fasting is highly beneficial, it’s also highly individual, and, done wrong, can actually be unhealthy and dangerous.
Thus, I have put this issue off for a long time as I am aware of the high levels of controversy and the myriad caveats that come with fasting.
However, I also know that fasting can be highly beneficial for all aspects of our health.
I have spent the last two weeks immersed in the fasting literature, and I hope to provide the most objective and up-to-date information I can, for you to implement at your own discretion.
Please contact your doctor first if you have any diet, blood sugar, blood pressure, or metabolic concerns, and always have something to eat if you start to feel unwell.
This issue will be longer than usual, as there is a lot to cover.
Importance
As previously stated, fasting has benefits for nearly every aspect of your health.
Here are the main benefits:
Weight loss: During a fast, stored fat starts to be used as energy, leading to sometimes dramatic reductions in body fat.
Autophagy: Autophagy is essentially the spring cleaning of your cells - old and damaged cells are cleaned out to make room for new cells, and this process is facilitated by fasting. This is one of the most beneficial aspects of fasting.
Increased muscle mass: Fasting leads to the release of human growth hormone (HGH) which, when combined with exercise, leads to an increase in muscle mass.
Increased resilience: Fasting is a stressor. But it’s a good stressor - also known as a hormetic stressor. In small amounts, hormetic stressors actually help you become stronger and more resilient.
Metabolic health: Metabolism increases due to increased levels of adrenaline caused by the fast.
Heart health: Fasting has been linked to reductions in LDL cholesterol (this is the “bad” cholesterol).
Aging: Due to the impact of fasting on inflammation, oxidative stress, and the promotion of autophagy, fasting can actually delay physical aging.
Inflammation and oxidative damage: Fasting is able to effectively reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the body.
Cognition: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels increase as a result of fasting - leading to improved cognition.
Increased insulin sensitivity: During a fast, certain proteins are released that lead to increased insulin sensitivity.
Diabetes: As a result of increased insulin sensitivity, fasting can lead to improvements in diabetes symptoms.
Protection against neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases: As a result of the presence of ketones and the reduced inflammation and oxidative stress that occur in a fasted state, cognitive health is benefited and there appear to be protective effects against neurodegenerative disorders.
Furthermore, fasting mimics how our ancestors would have lived - it was a normal part of life to have periods of feast and famine. Food wasn’t always readily available and we simply ate when we could, for example after a successful hunt or when we came across a blueberry bush. I have often spoken about the importance of living in alignment with how our ancestors would have lived if we want to be healthy, and a great example of this is the cycling of feast and famine. Our bodies were not designed to be eating at regular intervals and for our digestive processes to constantly be on.
Implementation
There are so many different fasting protocols, so if you want to learn more, I recommend diving into some other resources (I’ll link some below). Here are the main types of fasting:
16/8
This protocol encompasses an 8-hour feeding window and a 16-hour fasting window.
This is probably the most common method, and is generally what people refer to when they talk about intermittent fasting.
Within the 16-hour fasting window, you only consume water. People will often eat an early-ish dinner and then skip breakfast, for example fasting from 7pm and having their first meal at about 11am the following day.
Crescendo
With this method, you fast for 12-16 hours 2-3 days each week.
Follow the 16/8 method above (but you can do 12/12, 13/11, etc.), but only for 2 or 3 days each week.
This may be a good protocol for beginners to start with, as well as women - especially women who are lean and/or under a lot of stress.
Eat-Stop-Eat
In this method, you fast for a whole 24 hour period, 1-2 times each week.
For example, you could eat dinner tonight and then not eat again until dinner tomorrow.
This method is associated with the autophagy benefits mentioned above. However, for most people this is something that would be done anywhere from once a month to 2 times a week, but probably not every day. (Doing this every day would be more of an OMAD (one meal a day) protocol - which you can investigate if this sounds appealing to you).
This could be combined with one of the other protocols - for example, 16/8 each day and then a 24 hour fast once per week.
5/2
Here you are fasting for two days each week and eating normally for the other 5 days.
On the two fasting days, people will generally consume a very small number of calories (under 500).
Alternate Day Fast
With this protocol, as the name suggests, you fast every other day. This could be done with any of the protocols above - e.g. 16/8 every second day or a 24 hour fast every second day.
For those of you new to fasting, and for women especially, it may be helpful to ease into the fast over the course of a few weeks. This article outlines a great approach to embarking on your fasting journey:
“Weeks 1–2: Time Restricted Eating aka “Intermittent Fasting”
If you are completely new to fasting, I will usually recommend experimenting with what is commonly referred to as time-restricted eating.
An easy, dip-your-toes regimen starts with a 12 hour time-restricted eating window.
This is the most basic introduction to the dance between fasting and refeeding. In all forms of fasting, be it short or long term, there are aspects of repair and rejuvenation on a cellular level that are integral to healthspan and lifespan. This should be practiced and mastered for 14 days (2 weeks) straight before moving on to the next step.
Weeks 3–4: Time Restricted Eating With A Night Limiter
Once you have mastered the 12 hour fast and refeed rhythm, the next step is to coordinate your eating so that you finish your food 3 hours before bedtime.
This is primarily because we want the stomach to fully empty so as to sync up and optimize our sleep and wake cycles, known as our circadian rhythms.
One of the best ways to sync your central and peripheral clocks is to stop eating after 7 p.m.
Do this night limiter for 2 weeks straight before moving on.
Weeks 5–6: Time Restricted Eating (8–9 hours)
Going forward, we are going to have a daily feeding window of 8–9 hours, rather than 12 hours. This will allow for a complimentary 15–16 hour fast. This should be practiced for a further 2 weeks to master and adapt to.
Restricting your eating window to 9 hours has been shown to, in addition to all the things we’ve discussed, have a significant benefit to your heart health.
Weeks 7–11: The OMAD (aka ’24 Hour Fast’)
Once this 8–9 hour fasting regimen is established and comfortable, we will begin to throw in a 24 hour fast, once per week.
It can be breakfast to breakfast. Lunch to lunch. Dinner to dinner. Basically you eat one meal and then don’t eat for 24 hours.
Start doing one 24 hour fast in a 7 day period to start. Then the next 3 weeks should be dedicated to a Time Restricted Eating regimen of 8–9 hours and incorporate 2 x 24-hour fasts per week. This is serving to build up a tolerance for a longer fast which we will begin working on in week 10. After a month of practicing the 24 hours fast protocol outlined above, I will usually recommend trying one 36 h fast before the next step.
Week 12: The 72 Hour Fast
As a general rule, I do not practice a 3 day (or longer duration fasts) more than once per quarter. Dr. Volter Longo’s research has demonstrated lasting effects of up to 6 months following a 4–5 day fast.”
After learning about the above fasting methods, take some time to consider which would fit best in your schedule and lifestyle, as well as with your current fasting experience.
You may also want to consider what your goals are in regard to fasting. For example, I like the mental clarity I get when I write in a fasted state. I also just like that I don’t have to interrupt my work to eat during the morning. I also want to get the autophagy benefits, so am working up to practicing a 24 hour fast once per week.
Put simply, the longer you fast, the greater the benefits. But also, the risks are dramatically increased with longer fasts. We can still reap a lot of benefits simply from fasting for 11 hours per day. Dr. Satchin Panda, a circadian expert, explains:
“The optimum eating window is between 8 and 11 hours. This is because the health benefits that you get from eating within a 12 hour window double at 11 hours, and double again at 10, and so on, until you reach an eight hour window.”
“Most of your body’s fat burning happens 6 to 8 hours after finishing your last meal and increases almost exponentially after a full 12 hours of fasting, making any amount of time fasting past 12 hours highly beneficial for weight loss.”
Furthermore, when the various benefits kick in will be different for everyone, which is why it’s so important to play around with various methods and pay attention to how your body feels.
I’m working on various fasting articles, such as the benefits of the different lengths, what’s allowed in each type of fast, and more detailed guides on how to fast. I will link these in next week’s issue, so I’m not overloading this issue.
Notes about fasting:
Any calories of any sort can potentially break the fast. Depending on who you talk to, there is a lot of ambiguity in what is allowed during the fasting period. During my 16/8 fasts, I will consume black coffee and some supplement such as functional mushrooms. Sometimes I will also add some MCT oil, as this is able to essentially go straight into the bloodstream to be used as energy. However, for my longer fasts where I am really going for the autophagy benefits, I stick to water only.
Always stay hydrated. Unless you’re doing a dry fast (which means no food or water - and something you really should do under medical supervision) you can have as much water as you want. In fact, hydration is really important to enhance the benefits of the fast as it helps flush out all the toxins. This article on fasting states: “Fasting without drinking enough water could be worse than not fasting at all. The damaged cells or other wastes that sit in your body can not be excreted without anything pushing them out. Additionally, your body is not taking in the water you would usually consume with food. If you’re not properly hydrated you will likely get headaches, muscle cramps, and intense feelings of hunger.”
This practice can be formal or informal. Chris Kresser likes to take an informal approach, which mimics how our ancestors would have fasted: “Going for extended periods without eating was completely normal for our hunter–gatherer ancestors—if a hunt wasn’t successful, food may not have been available. We’re biologically adapted to this style of eating; we didn’t have access to a steady food supply until the agricultural revolution.”
There will always be an adjustment period where your body is getting used to not having food regularly. It’s normal to experience hunger (sometimes intense hunger), cravings, and withdrawal symptoms (usually from carbohydrates). These symptoms should subside as your body gets used to fasting.
Make sure to regularly check in with yourself. I like this checklist by Precision Nutrition:
“As you try these experiments, continue to check in with yourself physically:
Although you may be a bit more uncomfortable than usual, overall, is the hunger manageable? Or do you even notice it?
When stress spikes, are you more or less reactive?
How is your sleep?
Your sex drive?
Your energy levels?
Your exercise performance?
Also check in with your feelings around food and your body:
Do you feel guilty or ashamed if you have to “break the fast” early?
Do you feel deprived and then overeat when eating is “allowed”?
Do you feel hypercritical of your body shape, or attach feelings of worth to how well you’re IF-ing [intermittent fasting]
Monitor yourself with curiosity, kindness, and honesty.”
Resources
Here’s a guide I wrote for women on how to decide if fasting is right for them:
In this article, I also discuss my own bad experience with fasting.
This podcast with Dr. Rhonda Patrick (who is a great resource for anything to do with fasting) is really helpful and I highly recommend listening to it if you’re considering fasting or even if you have your own fasting practice.
Fasting Documentary - trailer
This documentary features many big names in the fasting and longevity sphere. You can watch it on Amazon Prime if you have an account.
Here are some other articles I have found particularly helpful, from sources I trust:
To (Intermittent) Fast or Not to Fast; That Is the Question
Intermittent Fasting: The Science Behind the Trend
Could You Benefit From Intermittent Fasting?
Keep an eye out for more fasting articles from me coming soon. I will be compiling all my raw data into actionable information for you.
If you have any questions, just reply to this email and I will do my best to answer them.
One of my main challenges involving fasting windows is fitting the training on it.
Is it ok to exercise while in the fasting window? When would be the ideal time to exercise considering a 16/8 schedule? I've been doing some experiments but still haven't figured out the best strategy.
Thanks for your time and work.