Muscle Growth And Repair
A study of healthy adults found that 48-hour fasting increased human growth hormone secretion by up to 400%. It also increased the frequency of growth hormone bursts throughout the day.
HGH increases muscle mass and stimulates faster muscle repair. It may also speed up the healing process for wounds and more serious injuries. HGH is so effective that taking it externally is banned in professional sports and is considered doping.
It seems counterintuitive, but occasionally going without food for two days may actually help you build muscle, not lose it.
Safety And Side Effects
Despite the long list of possible health benefits associated with fasting, it may not be right for everyone.
For example, if you have diabetes, fasting can lead to spikes and crashes in your blood sugar levels, which could be dangerous .
Its best to talk to a doctor first if you have any underlying health conditions or are planning to fast for more than 24 hours.
Additionally, fasting is not generally recommended without medical supervision for older adults, adolescents, or people with underweight (
Helps With Cardiovascular Health
Intermittent fasting, and the Monk Fast, in particular, is known to improve cardiovascular health, helping to prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels, like heart disease.
Fasting helps to improve markers of poor heart health, like high blood pressure.
Studies suggest that short-term fasting may improve levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood. Reducing levels of this kind of cholesterol can contribute to good heart health and reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular conditions like heart disease.
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Breaking Your Extended Fast
When you fast for days on end, your stomach shrinks. To prevent indigestion, its important to not gorge yourself the first meal back. Instead, you should think small.
Make your first meal a small one, such as a protein shake or a few hundred calories of lean meat. Protein is not only easier to digest than fat, but also it switches off muscle catabolism . After your mini-meal, wait about an hour before eating a regular-size meal thats rich in healthy fats like olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil. These fats will help you stay in ketosis.
A final tip is to eat iodine-rich foods following a fast to support the production of your thyroid hormones T3 and T4. This tip is especially important for women, who generally need more thyroid support while fasting.
For more info on safely breaking a fast, watch our video featuring celebrity health coach Thomas DeLauer.
Is Intermittent Fasting Safe
Some people try intermitting fasting for weight management, and others use the method to address chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, high cholesterol or arthritis. But intermittent fasting isnt for everyone.
Williams stresses that before you try intermittent fasting , you should check in with your primary care practitioner first. Some people should steer clear of trying intermittent fasting:
- Children and teens under age 18.
- Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- People with type 1 diabetes who take insulin. While an increasing number of clinical trials have shown that intermittent fasting is safe in people with type 2 diabetes, there have been no studies in people with type I diabetes. Mattson explains, Because those with type I diabetes take insulin, there is a concern that an intermittent fasting eating pattern may result in unsafe levels of hypoglycemia during the fasting period.
- Those with a history of eating disorders.
But, Williams says, people not in these categories who can do intermittent fasting safely can continue the regimen indefinitely. It can be a lifestyle change, she says, and one with benefits.
Keep in mind that intermittent fasting may have different effects on different people. Talk to your doctor if you start experiencing unusual anxiety, headaches, nausea or other symptoms after you start intermittent fasting.
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Hour Fast After : What To Eat To Break Your Fast
When breaking your prolonged fast you need to calmly introduce food into your system. You can always start with ready-to-eat breakfast foods like green tea. Just stay clear of heavy foods like nuts, meat, and dairy.
Move on with the following, and after your stomach gets used to the food , you can slowly introduce your regular diet.
Health Benefits Of Fasting Backed By Science
Fasting has been associated with several health benefits, including weight loss, improved blood sugar control, decreased inflammation, and enhanced heart health. It might also offer protection against certain conditions like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
Despite its recent surge in popularity, fasting is a practice that dates back centuries and plays a central role in many cultures and religions.
Defined as the abstinence from all or some foods or drinks for a set period of time, there are many different ways of fasting.
In general, most types of fasts are performed over 2472 hours.
Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting, ranging from a few hours to a few days at a time.
Fasting has been shown to have many health benefits, from increased weight loss to better brain function.
Here are 8 health benefits of fasting backed by science.
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What Is Intermittent Fasting
Many diets focus on what to eat, but intermittent fasting is all about when you eat.
With intermittent fasting, you only eat during a specific time. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple days a week, can help your body burn fat. And scientific evidence points to some health benefits, as well.
Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has studied intermittent fasting for 25 years. He says that our bodies have evolved to be able to go without food for many hours, or even several days or longer. In prehistoric times, before humans learned to farm, they were hunters and gatherers who evolved to survive and thrive for long periods without eating. They had to: It took a lot of time and energy to hunt game and gather nuts and berries.
Even 50 years ago, it was easier to maintain a healthy weight. Johns Hopkins dietitian Christie Williams, M.S., R.D.N., explains: There were no computers, and TV shows turned off at 11 p.m. people stopped eating because they went to bed. Portions were much smaller. More people worked and played outside and, in general, got more exercise.
Nowadays, TV, the internet and other entertainment are available 24/7. We stay awake for longer hours to catch our favorite shows, play games and chat online. Were sitting and snacking all day and most of the night.
The Benefits Of Fasting Don’t Kick In At The Same Time For Every Person
Experts agree that your personal habits will play a role in when exactly certain health benefits will kick in.
“There are very few definites here,” says Vincent Pedre, M.D., an integrative physician and gut health expert who frequently recommends intermittent fasting diets to his patients.
“Where you start seeing those benefits depends on what you eat, how healthy your gut health is, what kind of physical activity you’re doing, etc.”
For example, letting calories slip into your fasting window, overeating calorie-dense foods like pizza during your eating window, not prioritizing sleep or physical activity, or making one of these intermittent-fasting mistakes could all delay or counteract the benefits of intermittent fasting.
Even if you’re formulating the rest of your diet and lifestyle perfectly, it’s important to understand that the different health benefits associated with intermittent fasting will likely kick in at different durations of fasting.
For example, weight loss may be triggered by a relatively short fasting window, while entering ketosis or triggering autophagythat “self-cleaning” cellular process that boosts brain functioning and maybe even longevitymay take significantly longer.
Unfortunately, not enough research has been conducted on all the different forms of intermittent fasting to provide any hard-and-fast rules.
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Benefits Of 36 Hour Fasting Once A Week
One of the potential 36 hour fast benefits is weight loss, and indeed the prospect of losing weight is one of the primary reasons that people try any sort of fasting diet.
A review of 27 intermittent fasting dietary interventions found that all 27 studies resulted in weight loss of 0.8% to 13.0% of the starting weight with no serious adverse events.
According to research, periodic fasting, such as doing a 36 hour water fast once a week, alters the metabolism and supports weight loss through three primary ways: altering your circadian biology, modifying your gut microbiome, and you shift modifiable lifestyle behaviors such as your sleep patterns and energy intake.
In terms of altering your circadian biology, fasting 36 hours usually involves doing a full 24 hour fast and then extending that fast through the next night, finally breaking the fast the following morning.
This confines your eating window in such a way that you wont be eating outside of the normal daylight hours.
Eating at abnormal hours disturbs the 24-hour circadian rhythm in our body, which disturbs the natural cycles that affect our biology and behavior, governing things like wakefulness and sleep, metabolism and energetics, and hormonal secretion patterns.
Studies have shown that late-night eating, or eating outside of a typical daylight window, is associated with higher insulin secretion and glucose levels, which can result in weight gain.
Fast Days Are Actually Quite Productive
This again is a paradoxical truth.
You might feel that fasting might lower your energy and prevent you from working. But thats not what happens. Instead, your productivity increases.
When I started fasting, I realised that eating meals takes a lot of time. And on top of that, post-meal drowsiness also chops away at your productivity. On your fast day, these factors are ruled out and so your productivity increases.
Only later in the day, you might feel a little low on energy which I feel is actually quite helpful because it can help you go to bed early.
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How To Do A 48
In theory, a 48-hour fast is simple you merely give yourself a full, two-day break from eating. One common method is to stop after dinner on the first day and begin eating again at dinnertime on the third.
Contrary to popular belief, you can still drink zero-calorie fluids, such as water, black coffee, and tea, during the fasting period.
Its vital to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, which is one of the major potential complications of longer fasts .
Afterward, its important to gradually reintroduce food. That way, you avoid overstimulating your gut, which may lead to bloating, nausea, and diarrhea .
Your first meal post-fast should be a light snack, such as a handful or two of almonds. This would be followed by a small meal one or two hours later.
On non-fasting days, you would maintain your usual eating pattern, making sure to refrain from overindulging in higher-calorie foods.
Its most common to do a 48-hour fast 12 times per month as opposed to once or twice per week, as required by other fasting methods. Appropriately spacing out your 48-hour fasts may offer greater health benefits .
As 48-hour fasting is not advisable for everyone, you should try shorter fasts, such as the 16:8 or alternate-day methods, before doing a 2-day session. This will help you understand how your body responds to a lack of food.
Although the health benefits of intermittent fasting are well documented, specific research on 48-hour fasting is limited.
How Not To Ruin The Health Benefits Of Your 36 Hour Fast
So as not to undo all of the hard work and health benefits of your 36 hour fast, plan your exit strategy before you even begin your fast.
After not eating for as long as 36 hours, you will need to warm up your gut before returning to eating solid foods. For keto eaters, we would recommend a mug of bone broth.
Check out our article on what to eat to break a fast for the ultimate guide on this.
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Get A Fasting App That Can Track Extended Fasts And Consumed Drinks At The Same Time
When you are beginning your Monk Fast, you will find that tracking your zero-calorie beverage intake as well as calories intake throughout the rest of the week can help you to stay on track with your fasting.
A fasting app can help to ensure you drink adequate amounts during your fast and eat a normal amount of calories on your eating days.
The DoFasting app can provide an easy way to track your fasting as well as offer you a ton of recipes to try out once you have finished your fast.
Intermittent Fasting Long Fasts Vs Prolonged/extended/water Fasting
Most people who do intermittent fasting refrain from eating for 12-18 hours daily. However, some will fast longer, up to 48 hours, to give their body more time to reap the benefits.
A fast longer than 48 hours is referred to as a prolongedfast, also called an extendedfast or water fast. Most people who do prolonged fasts go 3-7 days without food. It is recommended that such a fast be done under medical supervision.
This article will focus on the 24 to 48-hour intermittent fasting long fast.
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Build Your Way Up To It
You should try other intermittent fasting methods before dedicating time to the 36-hour fast. This is to ensure you feel comfortable with not eating for certain time periods. Alternate-day fasting is one method to try if you want to build up your tolerance to not eating all the time.
The 12-hour fast is another great place to start when forming a new eating pattern. This means youll fast for 12 hours and eat outside those long periods. Getting used to time-restricted feeding is important for narrowing down your chosen eating windows.
How To Practice Extended Fasting Safely
There are ways you can do the 36-hour diet safely without harming your body.
People who chose to complete this lifestyle change lost significant weight after reducing calories. Just make sure to reduce calorie consumption during eating windows, as this helps promote fat loss.
Here are 4 safe ways you can do intermittent fasting:
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Stages Of Intermittent Fasting
4-6 Hours Blood Glucose Drops
This is all part of the process of getting into ketosis. The body will burn through any glycogen stores in the body.
10-12 Hours Liver Glycogen Used
Glycogen is mainly stored in the liver and the muscles. It provides the body with a source of energy when blood glucose levels decrease.
12-14 Hours Rise In Ketones
Insulin helps fuel the bodys cells by converting sugar into energy. When there isnt enough insulin, ketones build up.
18-20 Hours Fat Oxidation Increases
Fat oxidation refers to breaking down fats into energy.
22-24 Hours Liver Glycogen Depletion
Glycogen depletion happens when the body runs out of glycogen stores because of lack of food , or due to intense exercise which has used up the bodys glycogen supplies.
24 Hours Gluconeogenesis Progresses
Gluconeogenesis is the process by which glucose is synthesized from non-carbohydrate metabolites. In simple terms, this is the process when the body creates carbohydrates from fat and protein.
24-36 Hours Growth Hormone Spike
Several studies have shown that fasting leads to a major increase in HGH levels.
HGH is responsible for maintaining, building, and repairing healthy tissues in the brain, as it helps regulate body composition, fluid balance, muscle, and bone development.
36-48 Hours Autophagy Increases
48-72 Hours Ketosis Deepens
This has already started between 12 and 14 hours, and between 48 and 72 hours, this process intensifies with more ketones being produced.
The Health Benefits Of Multi
On a Wednesday morning in January, I woke up sick. I had a sore throat, I was unusually tired, and I could feel myself fighting something off. I hadnt been sick in three years! I wondered, why this cold get me?
I took an at-home COVID test and thankfully, it was negative. But by day four, my cold symptoms werent any better. Id had three bad nights of sleep, and I was feeling absolutely lousy. I gave in and begged my boyfriend to go buy me some cold medicine. He raised his eyebrows and said, You know this happened because you were bragging about not being sick in three years. I knew he was right.
Later that day as I was scrolling through Facebook, a post caught my attention: Fasting For Three Days Can Regenerate Entire Immune System. The headline caught me at a weak moment. One of those moments in which Id do pretty much anything to feel bettereven consider not eating for three days.
I had never fasted before, or even skipped a meal. Im not one of those people who gets busy during the day and just forgets to eat. I have never understood these people.
But the article intrigued me, and it was based on sound research, which Ill describe in this post. By the end of my day of Googling, I was surprised that in all of my obsessive reading about nutrition that Id never come across this research before!
In this post, Ill discuss:
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Reduces Blood Sugar Levels
Fasting for a prolonged duration can lower blood sugar or glucose levels. During a 36-hour fast, blood sugar levels drop significantly and remain the same due to minimal insulin spikes. Also, fasting regularly helps the body develop better insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar levels and protecting us from type 2 diabetes.
Track Your Fast With An App
Applications like DoFasting will guide you through the intermittent fasting journey. It has progress trackers and calendars that encourage you to reach your weight loss goals faster. Tracking your fast ensures you dont accidentally miss eating or fasting windows.
You also gain access to tips and guidance from health professionals. They can share their experiences with the 36-hour diet and how it benefited them. Finding a suitable dietary plan may be difficult therefore, DoFasting was created to make the process much easier.
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