MikeBrown30
Senior Don Juan
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- Jan 2, 2009
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I respect your posts about how your body has transformed over the years (good and the bad), but fasting does not send your body into emergency mode. This only begins to happen after about 72 hours or so. Other benefits of fasting include:Jariel said:I've not tried this so I won't say it doesn't work, but generally any period of fasting will send your body into emergency mode causing it to feed off muscle tissue and store calories as fat.
• Reduced blood glucose and insulin levels (markers of improved health)
• Increased fatty acid oxidation
• Maintenance of lean mass
• Reduced inflammation
• Reduced oxidative damage
• Increased cellular stress resistance (especially of the heart and brain)
• Decreased risks associated with degenerative diseases of aging (cancers, heart diseases, diabetes, Alzheimers)
Decreased blood glucose levels:
During the entire 24 fast, blood sugar slowly lowers itself, but remains at normal non-hypoglycemic levels. Additionally, by fasting for 2 days out of 7 during a week, you automatically reduce your sugar intake by about 30% and consequently reduce your glucose levels.
Decreased insulin levels & increased insulin sensitivity:
Increased insulin levels help the body store the energy in food as glycogen and fat. Twenty four hours of fasting has been shown to drastically reduce insulin levels. Insulin causes you to store extra water, so when insulin is low, you also tend to lose water.
Increased lipolysis and fat oxidation:
High sugar levels create more insulin release, which blocks growth hormones (GH). When GH are blocked we cannot burn body fat. Research shows that we burn most fat after fasting for 18 hours, with the effect leveling off after 30 hours.
Increased nor epinephrine and epinephrine levels:
Fasting increases the amounts of both of nor epinephrine and epinephrine, which are responsible for the feeling of being alert and awake. These hormones trigger the release of glucose and fat burning.
Increased Glucagon levels:
Glucagon is one of the dominant hormones in the fasted state that causes fat burning. Its primary role is to keep our blood sugar levels steady.
Increased growth hormone levels:
Short-term fasting can increase growth hormone levels by nearly six fold. Hollywood celebrities are taking growth hormones because it helps them burn fat, build muscle, and supposedly keep them young because of their ‘anti-aging’ effects. Brad Pilon says that if you want large increases in the amount of growth hormone released in your body, all you have to do is fast! Fasting triggers the “growth hormone response” and this response is what prevents us from losing muscle while we fast keeping our metabolism elevated.
Other Benefits of Intermittent Fasting:
Besides the positive cognitive benefits, such as improved focus and mental clarity, fasting can help with many medical conditions. Fasting is one of the fastest ways to increase elimination of wastes and enhance the healing processes of the body. It has been used with success in clinical research on people who suffer from asthma, and has been shown to lower inflammation, one of the major factors for aging. Short-term fasting can help improve immune function by lowering the blood sugar levels, particularly during the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours of an acute infectious illness. Biochemist Marc Hellerstein believes intermittent fasting can also achieve the same ends of delaying or preventing cancer and other degenerative diseases.
*The text in Italics is based off of the "Eat, Stop, Eat" concept, which is a full 24 hour fast. I don't believe this to be optimal for athletes or those of us who weight train, are involved in combat sports etc.