12 - Intermittent Fasting: A Greatly Underestimated Medical Method
Hello, welcome to the "Scientific Weight Loss Course." I am Jessica.
weight loss surgery in detail. Drug treatments have side effects, and
weight loss surgery has limited applicable populations. If you don't
want to take medication and can't have surgery, are there other medical
weight loss methods?
The answer is definitely yes. That would be intermittent fasting, also
called light fasting, which is applicable to almost everyone seeking
weight loss. Medical evidence confirms that this is absolutely a
greatly underestimated weight loss method.
Light Fasting ≠ Fasting
When you mention light fasting, what comes to mind? Is it not eating
for many consecutive days? Some people reportedly don't eat or drink
for three days, and others even don't eat for fourteen days. Or perhaps
light fasting is just fasting - eating one less meal or two less meals
every day?
Fasting originates from ancient religious rituals and isn't a new
medical invention. Like Christianity's Lent, Islam's Ramadan, and
Buddhism's retreat, all involve fasting. As early as in "Zhuangzi·Free
and Easy Wandering," there are records of "not eating grains, absorbing
wind and drinking dew," which became a model for later Taoist
immortality cultivation.
But you must note that fasting is not the same as light fasting. Many
people see "light" and "fasting" and interpret and practice it
themselves, resulting in not only no effect but potentially harming
their bodies.
Medical light fasting is a medical dietary treatment that not only has
requirements for fasting frequency and duration but also strict
regulations on energy intake during fasting days. Only by strictly
following these regulations can it be considered true light fasting.
This point needs to be clarified first.
Benefits and Mechanisms of Light Fasting
As for how to specifically implement this scientific light fasting,
we'll discuss that later. First, let's see what effects light fasting
actually has.
I've summarized the latest research results from dozens of top medical
journals and categorized the benefits of light fasting into three
types - helping with weight loss, treating diseases, and extending
lifespan.
First, naturally, it can help with weight loss.
Besides weight loss, light fasting can also treat diseases. Research
has found that light fasting can control blood sugar, reverse
pre-diabetes, lower blood pressure, and reduce acute episodes of asthma
and arthritis. Moreover, beyond physical changes, light fasting can
actually improve memory, enhance cognitive function, and has certain
effects on preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's
disease.
As for extending lifespan, there's currently no human experimental
evidence, but it has been confirmed in animal experiments.
Some people might think: Are you selling snake oil? Claiming to cure
everything? But if you analyze the metabolic reactions in our bodies
after light fasting, you'll believe these effects.
After 8-12 hours of fasting, hunger triggers the first wave of
metabolic changes. At this point, the sugar in the body has been
consumed. Without sugar as the primary energy source, the body can only
break down fat and use the resulting ketones as energy substances.
Immediately after, these ketones activate neuroendocrine signaling
pathways, telling our cell nuclei, "The body has no energy, think of a
solution quickly." After receiving the signal, cell nuclei activate a
series of self-protective effects, including reducing protein
synthesis, improving insulin sensitivity, and increasing the
self-clearance of damaged cells.
This might sound a bit abstract, so let me explain. It actually means -
After human cells sense the threat of hunger, they activate the
survival desire to conserve energy and protect themselves. This
self-protective effect then stimulates the potential of all organs
including the heart, liver, brain, and gastrointestinal tract,
improving performance to prepare for stress.
That's not all. During light fasting, to adapt to environmental stress,
every cell in our body undergoes systematic repair, fixing its own
damage. After light fasting ends and the recovery period begins, normal
eating and good sleep bring the body into a completely new state of
cell growth and functional tissue reconstruction. This back-and-forth
alternation ultimately achieves repair and regeneration effects.
This is probably what Zhuangzi meant by "striking the water for three
thousand li, spiraling upward for ninety thousand li." Only by diving
deep underwater can one soar in the nine heavens above. Tiny cells can
give us the same inspiration.
Let me add something here: if there's no hunger and our cells are
well-fed, what are they doing? "When well-fed and warm, one thinks of
lust" - yes, they're busy reproducing. After all, for life,
reproduction and inheritance are always the most important tasks. But
if they're always busy reproducing, cells will neglect self-repair.
Without repair, damage accumulates more and more, and people become
unhealthy.
You see, the body and universe are connected, both containing the
principle of "fortune depends on misfortune, misfortune lurks within
fortune."
How to Fast to Achieve Light Fasting?
Since light fasting is so effective, how should we specifically operate
it? Medically, light fasting has a set of basic standard procedures,
including three steps -
The first step is determining what to eat.
On light fasting days, it doesn't mean you can't eat anything except
water. Rather, you need to control your caloric intake within a very
low range, generally 500-700 calories. Men can have slightly more,
women can have less. Consuming a certain amount of calories not only
helps the body repair damaged cells but also helps you control the urge
to binge eat the next day.
However, while both are 500-700 calories, choosing what to eat and what
not to eat is very particular. A latte plus a piece of cake might be
500 calories, already reaching the energy limit for light fasting. But
eating this way is not only nutritionally unbalanced but will also make
you hungry very quickly.
How to choose?
First, choose foods with low glycemic index to make yourself hungry
more slowly.
Glycemic index is a medical measure of how quickly blood sugar rises
after food enters the body. Remember one point - the slower blood sugar
rises, the slower your hunger will come.
Second, ensure protein intake of more than 1g per kilogram of body
weight.
With adequate protein, the human immune system can function normally,
and people are less likely to get sick. You can choose low-fat milk,
eggs, and lean meat as protein sources.
Finally, ensure vitamin and fiber supplementation.
Eat various colored vegetables and fruits together. Fruits like apples,
blueberries, and kiwis with low calories are excellent - they
supplement vitamins and fiber. More simply, you can consider taking a
multivitamin tablet.
Of course, if you find it too troublesome to prepare a 500-700 calorie
meal, you can directly choose meal replacements that we'll discuss
later.
Okay, after discussing what to eat during light fasting, let's solve
the second question - when to eat?
It's simple. These 500-700 calories of food should be consumed within
6-8 hours. Only this way can we ensure our cells fully experience
hunger and activate repair and regeneration programs. As for these 8
hours, whether it's from 8 AM to 4 PM or from 11 AM to 7 PM, you can
choose freely.
Finally, the third step - frequency of light fasting.
There are only two classic light fasting plans -
One is the alternating plan, which means alternating: light fasting
today, normal eating tomorrow, with no more than 3 days of light
fasting per week. The other is the "5+2" plan: any two days of light
fasting in a week, with normal eating the other five days. It can be
two consecutive fasting days or two separated fasting days - both work
and are effective.
These three steps above are the medical regulations for light fasting,
and eating this way can help you lose weight.
As for other plans online, such as consuming less than 250 calories
daily, fasting continuously for more than two days per week, or fasting
more than 4 days per week, they either don't help with weight loss,
have great risks, or lack medical research evidence. Don't use yourself
as a guinea pig.
Start Your Light Fasting Plan
At the end of the course, I'll give you a specific light fasting
example to make it easier to implement. For instance, a 6-month light
fasting weight loss plan can progress gradually like this:
First month: Only 1 day of light fasting per week, eating up to 1000
calories that day, consumed within 10 hours from 8 AM to 6 PM. This
month isn't difficult, right?
Second month: We add one more day per week, 2 days of light fasting,
still 1000 calories each day, but eating time reduced to 8 hours. Eat
normally on other days.
Third month: Still two days per week, but reduce to 750 calories per
day, eating time shortened to 6 hours.
Fourth month: Two days per week, eat a little less each day, reduced to
500 calories, eating time still 6 hours.
Maintain this for two more months, and we complete the plan. When
broken down, it's not very difficult, right?
I must also remind you: In the early stages of light fasting, most
people will experience hunger, irritability, and decreased
concentration. Don't worry - these reactions will almost completely
disappear within 1 month, and the vast majority of people can continue.
Key Points
1. Light fasting is not fasting - don't follow unverified information
online.
2. Medical light fasting requires consuming 500-700 calories within 6-8
hours, 2-3 days per week.
3. There are two standards for selecting light fasting foods: First,
low glycemic index; second, pay attention to supplementing protein,
various vitamins, and fiber.
4. If you're sick or a woman during menstruation, don't do light
fasting.
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