The pharmaceutical shill-website Healthline just posted a “beginners guide” to Intermittent Fasting, and it’s not too bad considering their previous abysmal and mostly pseudo-scientific nonsensical content. So, lets break it down.
First off, Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. This could be, for example, a daily ‘feeding window’ of 6 to 8 hours, leaving 16 to 18 hours a day for a ‘fasted state,’ (the typical 16/8 IF,) or it could be two days of fasting a week, while eating normally during the other 5 days.
The obvious advantages, of which many Healthline forget to mention, is not only that of increased Human Growth Hormone (HGH,) better insulin management, a bit more autophagy (cellular cleaning and repair,) but also that of less strain on the digestive system, and if done right, increased detoxification and improved sleep quality. We will get to these benefits in a bit and how it works.
As a fat-loss tool
Healthline call it ‘weight loss,’ while I prefer to call it ‘fat loss,’ because body fat is what needs to be managed, while ‘weight’ includes everything; such as muscle mass, organ mass, and bone mass, and you do not want to lose any of that.
They mention that by fasting most of the day, you will consume fewer meals and likely less energy and having a ‘feeding window’ and a ‘fasting window’ will improve hormones beneficial to “weight loss,” as your metabolic rate can increase by 3.6 to 14% according to studies.
And yes, this is what happens initially as you start fasting. However, if you fast and have nutrient deficiencies, as most people have today, these effects will be very short-lived and actually reversed after a short while.
Also, relying on a reduced food intake due to fewer meals is not a healthy nor sustainable approach to fat loss, as I’ve mentioned many times. Consuming less food will slow down your metabolic rate as your body will adapt and try to save energy for survival processes, and worse, consuming less food will increase the likelihood of not getting enough essential nutrients leading to severe nutrient deficiencies. And as most people have zero knowledge of what to eat, they are usually malnourished to begin with, and thus Intermittent fasting will make it much, much worse.
So, if ‘fat loss’ is the goal, you should eat as much nutritious animal-based food as possible and then fast for two separate days a week or have a few days a week with greatly reduced food intake, while eating normally or even a bit more during the rest of the week. That way, you will not develop any nutrient deficiencies and your body will be able to work as intended, as in keeping all metabolic and hormonal processes going.
Health benefits
Healthline then lists some of the benefits found among the studies made on IF. And as we already dealt with fat loss, let’s get to the rest of the list.
Insulin Resistance
This is another big misconception within modern “science” where low-intelligent “scientists” once again got it all backwards. First of all, what is the single largest factor that causes the pancreas to manufacture and release insulin? Yes, the appearance of exogenous carbohydrates in the bloodstream in the form of glucose. There are a few insulinogenic amino acids, but the response to those is simply just enough insulin to help transport all the amino acids (the protein) to cells where it can be used for repair and cellular construction. However, the insulin response to carbohydrates is enormous since glucose is a potential poison and actually damages cells, especially in the blood vessels as seen in those who have consumed too much carbohydrates for a long period of time and developed what the medical industry calls “diabetes.”
Now, these mentally-challenged “scientists” will tell you that insulin is like a “key” that unlocks cells to let glucose enter the cell and be used as energy. Well, that might be valid if the cell actually is depleted of glucose and needs it for energy. However, our body has this process called gluconeogenesis where it, when insulin levels are normal, produce the perfect amount of glucose needed from primarily fat, but also from amino acids if needed. Considering our body fat, and the fat from food, this is an almost abundant supply of glucose and metabolic energy. Also, gluconeogenesis is extremely effective in a healthy individual, providing unlimited energy for any kind of situation, and it’s only halted when you for some reason supply exogenous glucose in the form of carbohydrates, as now, there suddenly is way more glucose in the blood than there should be, and your body goes into emergency mode, overproducing insulin to get rid of it.
Now, as glucose is very toxic, and if the cell is already saturated and not in need of more glucose, it will simply shut down the ‘doorway’ and not let any glucose enter, as it would kill the cell. And that is what has been labelled as “insulin resistance” by the clowns who call themselves “scientists.” It is not a reduced “sensitivity” to insulin, it’s a survival mechanism as the cells has been damaged, saturated, and simply can’t take any more abuse. Instead, the glucose will be transformed and stored in fat cells, but it will also bind to blood cells and cells within the cardiovascular system as sacrificial lambs and destroy them, as these cells are ‘less complex’ and can more easily be remade. However, that is a loosing battle, hence the extreme cardiovascular damage seen in “diabetics.”
So, the effect seen on “insulin resistance” when using Intermittent Fasting is simply the effect of consuming less food, meaning less toxic and damaging carbohydrates, while also having a longer fasting state which will facilitate some cellular repair.
With that said, avoiding carbohydrates and only consuming animal-based foods will fix this problem completely.
Inflammation
Again, the retarded “scientists” got it all backwards. Inflammation is NOT a “driver” of chronic diseases, it’s a healing response. Trying to lower inflammation by drugs or therapies is counterproductive. Do not focus on inflammation, focus on what is causing damage and remove it, then help your body to heal. However, chronic inflammation, as in high levels of inflammation over a long period of time, is a sign that your body is trying to heal something but does not have enough resources to do so. The repair process is slow and steady, but you are continuously inflicting more damage making it a never-ending cycle. A slow repair process can be from nutrition deficiencies, lack of sleep and rest, too much stress, a high toxic load, or simply eating too frequently, not allowing for a healing-induced fasted state.
So, Intermittent Fasting will allow for a slightly longer fasted state, which might be enough for some people to get some healing done, and thus inflammation will go down. Still, the key is to nourish the body, then activate autophagy and detox through some fasting, and also to avoid whatever is poisoning you and/or adding to the toxic load.
Heart Health
Here they mention cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and again insulin resistance. Well, there is no “bad” cholesterol, that’s another misconception as cholesterol is essential to life and needed by every single cell. Actually, cholesterol is needed for cellular repair, and your body will manage your cholesterol levels based on its current need. If you have damaged your cells by consuming carbohydrates, cholesterol will go up to aid in healing and repair. If you decrease carbohydrates or cut them out, cholesterol will slowly go down, but may also stay elevated for some time as repair from all the damage you have done can take years.
And triglycerides are simply converted glucose that could not enter the saturated cells. If you eat less toxic garbage, as in carbohydrates, triglyceride levels will go down. And again, this might happen on IF as you eat less and as you are in a longer fasted state, your body will have more time to clear out triglycerides from the blood, making for a more favorable blood reading.
Cancer
I covered cancer in-depth here. (https://bartoll.se/2023/09/my-take-on-cancer/)
Brain Health
Our brain requires both glucose (as provided by gluconeogenesis) and ketones (as provided by being in ketosis or in a fasted state) to work optimally.
If you consume several meals a day, and worse, carbohydrates, there will not be much ketones present, as ketone production is hampered to prioritize glucose disposal, nor will there be much uric acid produced, our most potent antioxidant and protector of cells, including the brain. So, yes, IF will help a tiny bit with optimizing brain health, however, the most important steps are to follow our species-appropriate diet of only animal-based foods and to avoid all sources of carbohydrates.
Anti-Aging
Yes, to a tiny degree. Here you need to understand what is causing aging, and what is really accelerating it and then limit that as much as possible. The worst factors are toxins and poisons such as carbohydrates, chemicals found in all plant-foods, added chemicals found in man-made foods, beauty products, and other pollutants, stress, gaining body fat or unnatural amounts of muscle mass, all kind of strenuous exercise, especially sports or anything frequently repeated.
In other words, anything that causes stress to your body, that burdens it, that will increase its need to repair, rebuild, and overcome.
So, Intermittent Fasting might reduce the number of meals and the likelihood of eating too much, and again, it will allow for some low-level autophagy, as in cellular recycling and repair, while improving detoxing.
Women and Intermittent Fasting
Then they actually touch on the subject of women and the fact that women are more sensitive to IF, as it can really screw with their hormones if done too extreme of too often. I’ve touched on this many times. And the most important thing is to have your ‘feeding window’ early in the day to allow your body to modulate cortisol, which is increased as you wake up in the morning. Actually, anyone doing a typical 16/8 IF should eat during the first half of the day, and then fast in the afternoon/evening.
Safety concerns
They also touch on being underweight, as in skinny, which is far from ideal when trying any kind of fasting protocol. However, even if you’re skinny, you still have some bodyfat for energy (unless you’re anorectic.) So, the most important thing is simply not to be malnourished, as in having nutrient deficiencies, which most people unfortunately have. Even those who are overweight are usually overfed but undernourished, as in simply eating energy-dense crap totally void of actual nutrients. This is also why anyone plant-based, or heavily plant-based, never should do any kind of fasting, as they are already severely malnourished from a very lacking and idiotic diet (they are slowly starving and killing themselves.)
Whenever you want to adopt any kind of fasting practice, you need to make sure you are consuming plenty of animal-based foods, as in plenty of meat and animal fats. That is the only source of bioavailable nutrients for humans, and the only way to be fully nourished. And once you are fully nourished, then you can benefit from fasting. Not before. Do not fast if you have not been consuming a lot of animal-based foods for at least a couple of weeks.
Frequently asked questions
1. Can I drink liquids during the fast?
Healthline says “Yes. Water, coffee, tea and other non-caloric beverages are fine. Do not add sugar to your coffee. Small amounts of milk or cream may be okay.”
No, water is okay. Water with some electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and even magnesium is even better. Dry fasting is the best, but you need to work up to it and condition your body to work normally again before trying it.
Coffee is simply bean-juice, as in mixing the plant’s seed with water, the most toxic part of any plant. Adding toxins and stimulants to the body by drinking them during a fast when you want your body to detox, relax, and heal is kind of retarded.
Milk and cream will slow down or even shut down the effects of fasting. Do not consume anything that contain ‘energy-giving’ nutrients, as in protein, fats or toxic carbohydrates.
2. Isn’t it unhealthy to skip breakfast?
Healthline says “No. The problem is that most stereotypical breakfast skippers have unhealthy lifestyles. If you make sure to eat healthy food for the rest of the day then the practice is perfectly healthy.”
Well, ‘breakfast’ was hijacked by the food industry with toxic cereals, bread, chocolate milk, juices, and other slave-foods totally void of nutrition to make you crave for nutrients by getting cravings and being constantly hungry.
However, it is much healthier to have your ‘feeding window’ earlier in the day and thus your last meal at least 6 hours before you go to sleep. That will ensure that digestion has taken place and that your body can actually rest and activate autophagy while you sleep. This is extremely important for health and for sleep quality. Never eat big late in the day, never eat closer than 4 hours to bed time.
3. Can I take supplements while fasting?
Healthline says “Yes. However, keep in mind that some supplements like fat-soluble vitamins may work better when taken with meals.”
No, man-made vitamins are toxic and has no resemblance to what you will find in nature, as in animal-foods. Most supplements are totally useless. When doing IF, not even electrolytes are necessary as the fasting window is so short, but you can take them if you feel cold or if you easily get cramps or spasms.
4. Can I work out while fasted?
Healthline says “Yes, fasted workouts are fine. Some people recommend taking branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) before a fasted workout.”
BCAA will break your fast as they will activate mTOR, stopping autophagy dead in its tracks. Since IF is a very short-term fasting protocol, you can work out whenever you want. And if you finish your fast with a workout and a meal afterwards, then sure, you can have BCAA before or during your workout to help mitigate cortisol. But if you work out and then plan to continue fasting, do not take anything, nothing but water if needed.
5. Will fasting cause muscle loss?
Healthline says “All weight loss methods can cause muscle loss, which is why it’s important to lift weights and keep your protein intake high. A 2011 study showed that intermittent fasting causes less muscle loss than regular calorie restriction.”
Well, fasting in itself is muscle sparing – but only if you are fully nourished. If you have nutrient deficiencies, then you will start to cannibalize muscle protein after the initial spike of Growth Hormone wears off.
However, on an IF protocol, the fasting will not be long enough to lead to muscle loss (catabolism.) If you experience muscle loss on IF, it’s due to your diet and lifestyle (stress, lack of sleep, toxic load.)
6. Will fasting slow down my metabolism?
Healthline says “No. Older studies show that short-term fasts actually boost metabolism. However, longer fasts of 3 or more days can suppress metabolism.”
Correct. However, again, being malnourished will accelerate this, and also if you do not get enough energy, as in using IF as a fat loss tool by eating less every single day. And on longer fasts, as beyond 3 days, metabolism will slowly go down to preserve energy for repair and what is important. However, if you’re fully nourished this decline will be very small and your metabolic rate will jump back up again when your resume eating and are fully nourished again.
But if you fast for long while being malnourished, it’s just as damaging as going on a starvation diet for losing fat. After such abuse it might take months or even over a year to restore a damaged metabolism.
7. Should kids fast?
Healthline says “Allowing your child to fast is probably a bad idea.”
Most of the time, yes, since children are growing and developing, which require a lot of nutrients. And that is why they really require an animal-based diet, preferable a real ‘carnivore diet’ to really thrive and reach their potential. Giving your children man-made foods and feeding them carbohydrates and plant-based foods is simply child abuse.
And if you fucked-up as a parent and now have woken up and you realize that your poor child is obese and unhealthy, then get that child started on our species-appropriate way of eating immediately. Then, after a few months, if still over weight, you can use IF or some short periods of fasting to help the child lose fat and detox. But make sure he or she really get enough of meat and animal fats in between. Remember, they are growing and developing – and the only source of bioavailable and essential nutrients for humans are found in animal-based foods, especially fatty meat, organ meats and eggs.
Too much fasting, even if nourished, will interfere with their development.
That is all I had time for this morning. If you need help or coaching, please feel free to contact me. Also, check out the nutrition quick-start guide for more information.
