To fast or not to fast? That is the question.

During a session of ADD fueled Internet surfing I stumbled across the topic of fasting and it's benefits. While this is nothing new, it is certainly something I never successfully tried, the closest I can was the master cleanse better know as the lemonade diet. Lasted a whole two days, and while yes I felt certain changes in the mere two days, it wasn't worth the price of the expensive grade B maple syrup, the daily lemon squeeze or the idea of carrying around homemade lemonade.

After reading through countless articles many pro fasting, I decided to try out
Intermittent fasting. Basically rather than going a number of days with no food, you do a daily fast usually between 12-16 hours. For women it's usually recommended to do 12 or 14 hours. The idea behind not eating for this span of hours is going back to our ancestors who did not have access to food 24/7. In theory by fasting we will be allowing our bodies to use some of the fat that we store and also we will be giving our bodies a break of trying to process the food we are constantly shoveling into which will result in mental clarity as your body will be giving your brain it's full attention. This is a little odd to me given then when I'm hungry and not eating my mind can not focus but I'm willing to try making sure that my meals I do eat are substantial in brain-friendly foods. Another supposed benefit of intermittent fasting is that it is suppose to help curb cravings for junk food. The theory behind this is that since you will not be eating 24/7 your body will revert back to more primal cravings. Meaning that since you have abstained from food for 14 hours (or however long you chose) that it will not crave a bag of Doritos but would rather have something packed full of nutrients, like protein rich eggs, veggies and lean meats.

Now I will leave you to do your own research and decide if it is right for you. As for me personally what attracted me to the idea were the possible benefits of weight loss and mental clarity. It should be noted that if weight loss is your goal to remember that just because you are fasting does not mean you can eat whatever you want in between fasts. You should still aim to eat a healthy diet and exercise.

So my plan is to start with a 12 hour fast, and eventually move to a 14 hour daily fast.I figured this shouldn't be too hard given that I usually try not to eat past 8pm anyways. So the plan is fasting daily for 28 days. I am starting this week the intent of not eating between 7pm and 7am. I just finished my dinner at 6:45pm and for the rest of the evening will drink non sweetened green tea and water.

Let's see how this goes!