Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
The Disciples of Jesus had attempted to cast out an evil spirit and had failed and the man with the evil spirit was brought to Jesus, and the Bible says, “…Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast him out?’ And he said unto them, ‘This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.'”
Jesus was sanctioning the importance of fasting from a spiritual prospective. Jesus said in these verses it was necessary, along with prayer, to accomplish the very work the disciples were sent out to do. Today it is also important to believers that they may accomplish the tasks God has assigned to them, namely sharing the gospel to unbelievers. Fasting is a way of putting aside our needs for a brief season of time in order to focus our attention on God and His kingdom.
Fasting is more than a spiritual obligation to God. We may count fasting as suffering to prove our love and devotion to Christ, but that is not the objective at all. The purpose of spiritual fasting is recognizing as Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone…” Fasting is opening up ourselves to receive more of God and our relationship with Him and less of self. Our relationship to God is more than just surviving; it is living abundantly through Christ.
Five spiritual benefits of intermittent fasting:
- Redirects our need for regular food to Spiritual food: When I was growing up, several church goers would gather at the church door to smoke after the services thinking they were honoring the house of God by waiting to smoke outside, not realizing that the temple was not a building but their bodies as the Bible says in 1Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Likewise, we often forget the body is the temple of the Lord in other instances. We need not only regular food but also the food of God, which is His word, in order to develop the closeness God desires with us. Denying ourselves food for a season is a cleansing process of the soul making room for food from God through prayer and the study of His Word, which in turn empowers us to live a more dedicated life.
- Recognition that God is the one who sustains life: David said in the psalms, “Like the deer that pants after water, my soul longs for You.” It has often been said by unbelievers that Christians use God as a crutch. They are correct, if they mean that Christians need God in order to live, but what they don’t realize is that they also need God to live. It is God who sustains all life. Without Him there would be no life. One of the things we acknowledge through fasting is our very life depends more on God than the food we consume, especially the abundant life.
- Realigns our attention on God: When we eat constantly, our body is busy constantly digesting the food and either using it for energy or storing the excess in form of fat to be used later if needed. This causes overweight and obesity, which is a great problem in America. It seems we have reversed the true purpose of food: We live to eat rather eating to live. Our thoughts are on what will we eat next and how soon can we eat. Fasting gives the body time to perform other bodily needs and also time to turn our attention to God. The beauty of focusing on God in prayer and praise is that we don’t have time to think about being hungry or when can we eat again. It will become a time of celebrating our relationship to God and praising His many blessings on us including the food He provides.
- Raises our spiritual sensitivity to the voice of God: God speaks to us through the small soft voice of the indwelling Holy Spirit when we turn our attention to Him and away from all the cares of the world through fasting, prayer, study and praise. We are dedicating a specific time for seeking His will and His power in our life.
- Refreshes the spirit and revitalizing the soul: The result of fasting is not a loss of energy or punishing our bodies by depriving them of food. It is a time of refreshing the spirit and revitalizing the soul. It is not losing; it is gaining. The disciples noticed one day that Jesus hadn’t eaten. They asked Him to take a break and eat. Christ said, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about….My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” Unlike eating food which never fully satisfies, there is satisfaction, even gratification, when you are fed from doing the work of the Lord; it is an experience which goes beyond all other experiences.
The benefits of Physical Intermittent Fasting: Whether fasting is for the purpose of the spiritual or the physical, it is Scriptural. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and should not be neglected but be an object of our attention.
Intermittent fasting has been around for a very long time, as noted in the section above on the spiritual benefits of fasting. Not only is it a spiritual enhancement, it could also possibly be an ancient secret to good health. Generally, over the years fasting has dropped out favor even among believers. However, many people are now re-discovering this dietary intervention. Since 2010 there has been about a 10,000 percent increase in searches online for “intermittent fasting,” mostly during the past few years. Research bears out that intermittent fasting could help metabolic disease prevention. In recent years science has begun to research it in regards to Alzheimer’s disease.
Why people get Alzheimer’s disease, is still up in the air. However, Dr. Mark Mattson, a recently-retired professor of neuroscience at John Hopkins University, who spent decades studying Alzheimer’s disease, thinks it has something to do with our modern eating habits, particularly, the timing of our meals. Intermittent fasting is precisely that; it is scheduling a time for eating and time to forego eating for a season for spiritual reasons, physical reasons or both. The goal of this article is to provide everything you need to know about intermittent fasting, in order to get started.
There are several approaches to intermittent fasting. One simple way advocated by Dr. Valter Longo, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California, who spent decades studying the link between aging and fasting, says, “Limiting calorie intake to about 12 hours a day could be a good way to help brain health.” For example, eating between 7 am and 7 pm and fasting from 7 pm until 7 am.
One study that restricted food intake to 8 hours a day, between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., for example, discovered that a group of obese men with pre-diabetes had lower insulin levels and significantly improved insulin sensitivity after five weeks.
Everything in life is about balance. That includes eating and fasting. Fasting is the other side of eating. You are either eating or fasting. The body has a system: As you eat food the body generates energy from it. When all the food needed for energy is used, then the body begins to store the remaining, in form of fat, for later use. The key hormone involved in the storage of food energy is Insulin.
When we eat, Insulin increases, which stores the excess energy in two separate ways. First, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose or sugar units, which in turn are linked into chains forming glycogen, which is stored in the liver or muscles. Since there is limited storage space for carbohydrates and once that limit is reached, the liver starts to turn the excess glucose into fat. This process is called de-novo lipogenesis or “making new fat.” Some of this fat remains stored in the liver, but most of it is deposited in other parts of the body. There is almost no limit to the amount of fat that can be created and stored in the body.
In essence, when a person lives an active life, including a proper amount of exercise, and a proper diet, intermittent fasting allows the body to use its stored energy, by burning off excess body fat. When a person lives a sedentary life, less of the food they eat is turned into energy and more is stored as fat. This can lead to weight gains, which can be detrimental to health. Body fat is food energy which the body uses during a fast, which can result in weight loss. However, fasting is not to be confused with dieting. Dieting seldom works and it complicates life, whereas fasting is effective and simplifies life.
There is no set standard for fasting. It is up to you, and possible with the help of your health care provider, to determine what suits your needs the best. If you choose, fasting can be considered a part of your everyday life. For, example, you may fast between dinner and breakfast for a period of 12 to 14 hours. The term breakfast refers to the morning meal which breaks your fast, so according to the English language, fasting is considered a normal everyday occurrence. If you are able to eat a later breakfast, it will extend the duration of your fast. This simple method of fasting only excludes late night snacks, which are proven to work against you. This method can become a powerful dietary intervention for you, especially if you are not presently greatly overweight. It indeed can be a starting point in fasting, which you can tweak as time goes by to include other forms of fasting.
There are two states in which the body exists: they are the fed (insulin high) state and the fasted (insulin low) state. Either the body is storing food to use later for energy, or is burning stored energy, one or the other. When eating and fasting are in balance there should be no weight gain, but sometimes weight loss. When we avoid fasting, the body stores unused energy in form of fat. When we fast and live an active life style, including exercise, our body burns excess fat, keeping our weight under control. Maintaining a desired weight is not dependant on dieting but rather on lifestyle. Fasting is actually a part of a healthy lifestyle.
Intermittent fasting not only benefits weight loss; there many potential benefits. Throughout history fasting has been referred to as “cleanses,” “detoxifications,” or “purifications.” People believed that fasting cleared the body of toxins and renewed them. Today science backs that up. Here is a summary of possible benefits of fasting:
- Weight loss
- Lowering insulin and sugar levels in the blood
- Mental clarity
- Reversing type 2 diabetes
- Increased energy
- Reduction of inflammation
- Reduced risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Activation of cellular cleansing
- Reduced cholesterol
- Longer life
Popular regimens of intermittent fasting:
A 12 hour fast, for example, begins at 7 pm and ends at 7 am. This means eating all your meals in a 12 hour time period and fasting 12 hours.
A 16 hour fast, for example, begins at 3 pm and ends at 7 am. This means eating all your meals in an 8 hour time period and fasting 16 hours.
A 20 hour fast, for example, begins at 8 pm and goes to 12 am the following day. This means eating during a 4 hour time period and fasting 20 hours.
A 24- hour fast, for example, begins at 8 am and ends at 8 am the following day, or also can begin at 12 am and end at 12 am the following day, or at 7 pm and end at 7 pm the following day. This means going for a period of 24 hours without food.
A 36-hour fast, for example, begins after dinner on day one and not eating again until breakfast on day three. This is the most powerful fast for losing weight.
There is plenty of flexibility in intermittent fasting. You choose the duration and frequency of a fast. However, longer fasts of several days, especially 14 days or more may require medical supervision. The reason for this is the high risk of “Re-feeding Syndrome.” This is a dangerous shift in fluids and minerals that can occur when food is re-introduced too rapidly after a long fast.
Planning a weekly schedule for fasting:
You may start a schedule that includes only fasting during a 12 hour period each day and add to that schedule as you become accustomed to fasting. For example you may add a16 hour fast at the beginning of the week by eating all your meals in an 8 hour time period and fasting for 16 hours. Perhaps later, you can add a 24 hour fast another time in the week.
The most scientific supported version of intermittent fasting and the results of most studies is called a 5:2 fast and involve eating regular meals 5 days and fasting 2 days. On the 2 fasting days you can eat up to 500 calories at whatever time you prefer, or scatter it over the 24 hour period.
An alternate approach to the 5:2 version of fasting is to have “fasting” days with 500 calories every other day during the week, not just twice a week. For instance, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Intermittent fasting FAQ:
Can anyone fast? No. Don’t start a fast if you are underweight, have an eating disorder, pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18 years of age, have diabetes, take prescription medication, have gout or high uric acid, or serious medical conditions before consulting your health care provider.
Can I exercise during fasting? Yes. The body can supply the energy you need for exercising by using stored energy (like body fat). An exception to the rule is extended aerobic exercises, which are enhanced by eating before you exercise. As in any exercise routine, it is important to drink fluid and replenish salt.
Are there possible side effects? Yes there can be: Hunger, constipation, headaches, dizziness, indigestion and muscle cramps can be an issue. However, as time goes by, some of these, if they exist, can diminish, or can be treated by using over the counter medication.
Will intermittent fasting burn muscle? The body does not use muscle for energy unless it has to. It will get energy from stored glycogen in the liver and stored body fat.
Tips for intermittent fasting:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Endure hunger.
- Drink unsweetened coffee or tea.
- Eat a low-carb diet to lessen hunger as you fast.
- Don’t binge after fasting.
- Eat a light meal to break your fast.
Getting started:
- Choose the type of fast you want.
- Determine the length and frequency.
- Don’t start a fast if you are sick or don’t feel well.
- Continue to do as you normally do except for eating.
- Break the fast gently by eating a light meal.
Disclaimer: Although fasting has many proven benefits, it, nevertheless, is still controversial. One potential danger is in regards to medications, especially for diabetes. It is always wise to consult your doctor concerning any changes in medication or relevant lifestyle.
If you have any of the following conditions, you should not fast: You are underweight, have eating disorders, like anorexia, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and people under the age of 18.
This guide is given for information only and is not intended to replace information from professional dieticians, or health care providers.
Written by Jimmie Burroughs