Are There Any Known Health Risks Of Doing Keto And Intermittent Fasting Together
As for long-term risks, people with seizure disorders have been on the ketogenic diet for decades and demonstrate excellent health, DAgostino says. Though, like any diet, it all depends on what foods youre eating. A keto diet rich in bacon and butter is different from one rich in avocado and olive oil, and poorly planned keto can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Because adding IF may make you cut calories too drastically, you may also lose too much weight or lean mass if you take the restriction to the extreme. To maintain muscle mass, he recommends consuming 1 g per kilogram of body weight in protein every day.
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Can I Drink Bulletproof Coffee While Fasting
Technically, bulletproof coffee will break a fast. This is because of the calories in the butter, ghee, coconut oil and MCT oil .
MCT Oil however, is a popular choice to add to coffee whilst keto intermittent fasting to add extra fat to your diet. This helps to fuel your body and brain and help you remain in ketosis.
MCT Oil is converted into ketones by the body and healthy fats such as butter and ghee dont cause insulin spikes.
Therefore, you should still remain in ketosis and continue to lose weight, even if you drink bulletproof coffee whilst intermittent fasting.
A standard bulletproof coffee recipe is:
- One cup of black coffee
- One tablespoon of ghee or unsalted butter
- One tablespoon of MCT Oil or coconut oil
You will need an emulsion blender to mix the fats and water/coffee together. The result is a creamy, unsweetened coffee.
For more tips on making bulletproof coffee, take a look at our post on keto coffee bombs.
Should You Add Intermittent Fasting To Your Keto Diet
Intermittent fasting has become wildly popular over the past few years. Well-known doctors and researchers swear by it.
However, intermittent fasting isnt the magic bullet for health and weight loss that many make it out to be. Most of the benefits that we get from restricting our eating window can be explained by being in a calorie deficit.
While intermittent fasting, it is much easier for us to maintain a calorie deficit, which results in weight loss and improved metabolic function. This is arguably the main reason why skipping meals can be so effective for enhancing many aspects of our health.
With that being said, intermittent fasting can provide us with benefits that extend beyond a calorie deficit because fasting stimulates autophagy and ketone production. We take a closer look at how these two processes enhance our health in this article.
So, what does all of this mean for you? It depends on your lifestyle preferences and the results you are already getting for your diet.
Some keto dieters, for example, are already experiencing amazing results, so I generally suggest that they stick with what they are doing and only use intermittent fasting if they need to a plateau-busting strategy.
Conversely, other keto dieters simply feel best when they skip a meal or two, so they would do best with an intermittent fasting schedule that mimics their energy needs.
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Neurological Health And Mental Clarity
Ketosis and fasting are healthy for the human brain. When the ketogenic diet is followed, sometime within the first 30 days your body stops depending on glucose. This is because it is using stored fat for energy instead, and this state of ketosis is associated with enhanced mental clarity.
For this reason, certain experts believe that intermittent fasting improves a broad range of neuro-degenerative conditions, including stroke, Huntingtons disease, Parkinsons disease, and Alzheimers disease. After conducting a study on animals, researchers at the National Institute on Aging, found that cyclical fasting helps neurons in the brain to resist degeneration and dysfunction.
Whats Next Intermittent Fasting & Keto After The Meal Plan
After youve tried our meal plan, take a moment to assess how it went.
- How did you feel while you were fasting? Were you struggling to make it to your next meal while fantasizing about food or were you able to stay focused throughout the day?
- Does intermittent fasting fit with your schedule and lifestyle better than eating meals throughout the day?
- Is an intermittent fasting schedule a better strategy for you to sustain weight loss than what you were doing before?
Your answers to these questions will provide you with enough info to determine whether or not intermittent fasting is a good dietary strategy for you.
Some people just cant put up with fasting and need to have evenly spaced meals throughout the day, while others experience more energy and focus when they dont have breakfast.
Some keto dieters are able to get incredible results when they use intermittent fasting while others feel worse and dont experience much of a benefit at all.
If you think that intermittent fasting isnt right for you, then theres no need to force it. Just by maintaining a calorie deficit and following the keto diet, you can experience most of the benefits that you would get from intermittent fasting anyway. Follow whatever meal schedule works best for you, and use the principles in our How to Lose Weight on the Keto Diet article to guide you in the right direction.
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How Does The Keto Diet Work
The keto diet is a very low carb, high fat, and moderate protein diet. Of your total macronutrient intake, 5% will be carbs, 20% protein, and 75% fat.
If you wonder what 20 g of carbs look like, let me give you some examples:
- 3 pounds of spinach
- 400 grams of raspberries or blackberries
- 150 grams of blueberries
- 1 1/2 cups of pecans
- a plate of spinach, zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers
On the keto diet, your are consuming so little carbs that your body runs out of glycogen and starts using stored fat to produce ketones for fuel. When your body uses ketones for energy, you are in ketosis.
Why Intermittent Fasting Whats The Fuss
One of my answers to people who ask Why do you fast? Are you religious? is Because it can work for your goals!
Its a no-brainer that restricting your calories plays an integral role in weight loss.
But heres the thing when you fast, youre making this caloric restriction a walk in the park, especially if you use your sleeping period as a time to fast.
When done correctly, a healthy person can experience consistent weight loss.
Here are some other reasons why intermittent fasting is the way forward!
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Intermittent Fasting: The Basics
There are many ways to practice intermittent fasting , but the basic premise is simple:
It starts with separating the day or week into fasting and eating windows. You then simply shorten your feeding window, and extend the window in which you consume little to no food..
Unless youre prone to a midnight snack, you already practice a short period of fasting overnight between dinner and breakfast.
The idea is that extending that fasted period on certain days of the week can bring about some interesting benefits. This could be as simple as using a 16-hour fasting window each day or opting for longer fasts once every week or two. One of the big plus points for fasting is that its easy to customize to your lifestyle.
Although IF may seem like a relatively new dietary trend, fasting is something that human beings have practiced for thousands of years.
Like many other predaceous animals, early humans would have naturally gone without food for prolonged time periods in between successful hunts. While this might seem less than ideal at first glance, natural periods of fasting would have likely put these early humans into ketosis. This may have imparted benefits like appetite reduction and mental clarity, which could have actually assisted them in getting through to their next meal and enjoying another successful hunt.
I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency
– Plato
Why Combining Intermittent Fasting With Keto Has Become Popular For Weight Loss
Doing keto or IF can help with weight loss in the short term, though each diet is very restrictive, so they certainly arent for everyone.
But how about combining them? Could two be better than one?
First, in some experts view, it does make sense to pair the two approaches. The keto diet increases levels of ketones in the body during times of fasting, ketones are also increased. The brain will rely less on glucose for energy when in a state of nutritional ketosis. Therefore, the transition into a fasted state during the day eventually becomes seamless after eating low-carb or ketogenic for a few weeks, says Dominic DAgostino, PhD, associate professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa and founder of KetoNutrition.org.
This is a strategy that practitioners counsel patients on at the Cleveland Clinics Functional Ketogenics Program. Adding intermittent fasting can take things up to the next level, says the Clinics Logan Kwasnicka, a certified physician assistant at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. That next level may be overcoming a weight loss plateau, as people may eat fewer calories when doing IF. It can also be a natural progression from a keto diet for those who feel satiated eating so much fat and arent bothered by shrinking their eating window.
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Stable Blood Sugar Levels
Stable blood sugar levels are vital to the success of any diet. This is because when glucose levels plummet, it leads to intense hunger, which almost always results in binge eating. Stable blood sugar levels help eliminate headaches, lack of focus, poor memory, and brain fog as well. Interestingly, these are common complaints among those who follow high carbohydrate diets, as opposed to diets that are rich in fat and protein.
How Intermittent Fasting Works: Insulin Reduction Ketone Production And Autophagy Induction
From a weight-loss perspective, intermittent fasting works by making it harder to overeat throughout the day. A simple rule like skip breakfast or only eat between 5 pm and 8 pm, can help prevent you from reaching for snacks or drinking calorie-dense beverages throughout the day that contribute to weight gain.
Even if you do build up a ferocious appetite while fasting, youll still find it difficult to overeat. In fact, intermittent fasting tends to decrease daily energy consumption and promote fat loss.
This means that you may be able to eat as much as you want and reach your goals as long as you stick to a shortened eating window or a limited number of meals.
When you first try intermittent fasting, your body will need to adjust itself to this new eating schedule. You may be hit hard by hunger pangs and potent cravings at first, but they will soon dissipate as your cells feast on stored fat and ketones.
The key mechanisms behind your ability to fast, lose fat, and improve your health throughout the process are insulin reduction, ketone production, and autophagy. As we accumulate time in a fasted state, our insulin levels decrease incrementally. This promotes the release of fat from our fat cells and stimulates the ketone-producing process known as ketogenesis.
As you continue your fast, youll enter a deeper state of ketosis, become more efficient at burning fat, and ramp up the self-cleaning process known as autophagy.
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Pay Attention To Nutrition
Since you will be fasting for 18 hours a day, dont use it as an excuse to eat junk foods.
Agreed that you will be able to derive faster results by combining keto diet with intermittent fasting.
But, that doesnt mean you can eat anything during the 6-hour feeding period.
You must eat only the foods that are nutritious and keto-friendly. Otherwise, you may develop a deficiency of essential nutrients.
Also, eating junk foods high in carbs and unhealthy fats may pull you out of ketosis thus negating all the benefits of ketosis.
Hence, if you want to fast while on the keto diet, do it with dedication and justice to the rules of both the diets. This means:
- Eating only between the designated periods
- Increasing your intake of healthy fats
- Reducing carbohydrate consumption
- Eating moderate amounts of proteins
How Long Can We Last Without Food
Once you start fasting, you may feel ravenously hungry as your mind is flooded with images of your muscles disintegrating into thin air. This is simply how your mind reacts to the threat of starvation just because it feels like you will lose all your muscle and starve doesnt mean you will.
In fact, Mahatma Gandhi survived for 21 days without food while only taking in sips of water. During times when people had no food or water at all, they were able to survive for 10 to 14 days. However, these are just anecdotes what does the science say?
Many studies have been done during hunger strikes and religious fasts confirming that humans have the capacity to survive even longer than Gandhi did during his fast.
One monk, for example, set out to do a 40 day fast with medical supervision while maintaining his daily activities in the monastery. After 36 days, the medical professionals had to step in due to profound weakness and low blood pressure when standing. Although the monk fasted for 15 days longer than Ghandi, the medical professionals were able to stop the fast in time so that he could recover.
Another study tracked 33 political prisoners who were on hunger strike. The prisoners fasted for 6-24 days before being hospitalized for dehydration due an inadequate intake of fluids and electrolytes . Breaking their fast was described as being uncomplicated.
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What Are The Health Benefits Of Combining Keto And Intermittent Fasting
The main benefit to combining keto and IF really is weight loss, because you’re majorly cutting back on calories. It could be potentially beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight as well. But there isn’t much research out there yet on other prominent health benefits of combining the keto diet with IF.
“However, if you are consuming plenty of vegetables, healthy fats from nuts and seeds, and good-quality protein, that will help you maintain healthy eating habits throughout your diet,” Gyimah says. When you get into that routine of packing veggies, a.k.a. antioxidants, lots of protein, and good fats into your diet, it may support lean muscle mass while you lose weight, she adds. Plus, the fiber and antioxidants from those foods can only help your gut health and your immune system as well.
Will You See Results
Results are obviously important and perhaps the main reason why people try intermittent fasting or the keto diet during their lives. This method is safe, but will it produce the outcomes you desire?
In short, yes.
If done right, you can enjoy the following benefits of combining keto and intermittent fasting:
- Quickly reaching the state of nutritional ketosis
- Reducing initial side effects like upset stomach and keto flu
- Getting rid of cancerous cells
- Having less hunger pangs
- Avoiding brain fog that comes from eating lot of carbs between fasts
- Preventing drastic shifts in sugar levels that can cause mood issues like depression
- Still be in fasting mode even when youre eating
- Rapidly reducing fat tissue
- Reducing oxidative stress and inflammation
- Improving cognitive effects
Many people who combine both diets actually see better results than people who only stick to one method. Dozens of studies have been done on men and women to determine whether or not fat loss and improved health are actually benefits of this combination.
One study that appeared in the Journal of Translational Medicine studied 34 resistance-trained men for eight weeks. The numerous researchers discovered guys who did the combo of keto and intermittent fasting actually lost 14% more body fat than the control group.
People who did keto at the same time actually retained more muscle mass than those who just tried intermittent fasting, making it a great way to cut fat while retaining healthy muscle.
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Add In A Keto Supplement
We are big fans of keto supplements to help support ketosis and regular users of both exogenous ketones and MCT oil to support the ketogenic lifestyle.
There are also multivitamins designed for the ketogenic lifestyle which are great support during keto intermittent fasting, when you are not taking in nutrients from whole foods.
Having said that, keto supplements should never be a replacement for nutrients obtained via whole foods on the keto diet.
It is important that you eat quality foods on your non fasting days to keep your body filled with the essential vitamins and minerals it needs.
Which brings us to our last point
And What’s The Deal With Intermittent Fasting
IF is a pattern of eating where you restrict foods and sweetened beverages for an uninterrupted period of time every day and then eat only during the remaining hours .
You can pick your windows but we encourage people to eat when the sun is up and fast when the sun is down, says registered dietitian Amy Shapiro, founder of Real Nutrition. During fasting hours you can drink water, black coffee or plain tea, but nothing that provides calories or requires any sort of digestion or shift in hormones.
The theory behind IF is that depriving your body of calories for an extended period of time forces it into a temporary state of starvation and slowed metabolism. This makes your fat cells burn glucose for energy and can lead to improved weight loss results. One plus is that you don’t necessarily need to cut out any foods to stick with IF. It’s really the slashing of calories in general that’s said to boost weight loss, and experts say there’s not one IF schedule that works better for losing weight over anotheryou can choose whichever one works best with your lifestyle.
There are several different ways to schedule your fasting times, but the 16:8 version is the most commonly used. For people who are newer to IF, the 14:10 schedule might be easier to stick to, because you have a 10-hour eating window and only a 14-hour fast.
Also something to note: IF is not recommended for people with a history of disordered eating, since it can get into pretty restrictive territory.
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