I have always been a very healthy person but recently I have been having digestion problems and felt incredibly sluggish and bloated. I am checking out whether it could be connected with the thyroid .
But while waiting for blood test results I also started looking around for a solution, maybe a change in diet is what is needed? And thus it is that I came across a range of diets lumped together under the label 'intermittent fasting'.
We all know what fasting is: going without food and water, or only water, or only juice for a certain number of hours, usually ranging from 24 to more. It is a very ancient practice and it is often done for religious reasons or to detox.
An occasional fast is very good for your body. I know that because I have fasted for two and a half days on water only. I felt reinvigorated afterwards even though I confess it was not easy.
Intermittent fasting works on the principle that it takes a minimum of 12 hours for the body to begin to burn glycogen - and some people thanks to their continuous snacking never manage it. It also explodes the myth that breakfast is good for you - I knew that already because I rarely have breakfast as soon as I rise.
You can practise intermittent fasting in different ways. The pattern that most appeals to me (and which I realised I had been practising on and off throughout my life) is the 16/8 one: you leave a gap of minimum 12 to 16 hours between your last meal and the next and then you eat normally during a window of eight hours. While fasting you can have water and even coffee or tea - I like ginger and lemon tea. During the eight hours you eat but you do not gorge on countless cakes and pizzas and junk food, just have one normal big meal, making sure to eat proteins.
It is manageable and it helps you to rethink your relationship with food. It also helps you to eliminate all excesses and at the same time it does not interfere with your social life, as you can change when you have the eight hour window. You also do not have to 'fast' everyday. And you can continue to exercise and do all the regular things you do, you are only delaying your next meal, not starving yourself!
I have not done it for long enough to be able to report any significant weight loss - not my aim anyway - but already it has given me a sense of relief in managing my digestion.
Like for everything else, there are those who swear by it and those who find it impossible. Then there are those who complain of weight gain because probably during the eight hour window they eat everything in sight.
I suggest you research it and then try it to see if it suits you. Just google 'intermittent fasting'. There is also a FB page. If you decide to give it a go, let me know how it goes.
(photos from a fashion shoot at Stratton Hotel, Swaffham, with model Nick Collis)
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