The Fasting and the Furious: How Not Eating Can Help to Balance You Out
In the last few years, fasting has become one of the more popular ways to cleanse and detoxify the body. We never thought making yourself hungry would end up this popular, but it has rapidly become recognised as a powerful method of allowing the body’s healing mechanisms to perform at a more efficient level.
What is fasting and why do it?
Fasting is the act of abstaining from consuming food for a prolonged period of time. It is like a more intense version of a detox. And a detox is exactly what it says on the tin – the removal of toxins from the body by eating foods which are easy on the digestive system. This will include soups; smoothies and softer and more neutral foods. Fasting takes matters further and removes the digestive load completely. The body is capable of surviving on far fewer calories than most of us can really comprehend and so not eating for a day or two, whilst presenting a mental challenge, is not a problem for our bodies.
Much of our calorific intake is actually spent on the digestion process itself. (That’s right: the food we eat helps us digest the food we eat!) Thus, not eating for a while gives the digestive system a massive break. Fasting gives our physiologies rest - so the body can redirect its energies towards cellular repair, bolstering and administering health to the immune system as well as repairing damage to the digestive system itself.
Pretty much anything we do - eating, recovering from illness, sport, concentrating – is hard work for the body’s resources and drains our vital energy. The liver, the main organ of detoxification, is usually working near capacity - a bit like a router struggling for bandwidth. Eating less periodically gives the liver a chance to catch up.
Two stores of energy: glycogen & fat
When we eat food, more energy is taken on board than can actually be used. The excess energy is stored away for later use. The main hormone used in this process is insulin and the liver is the organ that converts energy.
Insulin levels rise when we eat and this helps store the energy in two different ways. Carbohydrates, which are broken down into simple sugars are then stored in the muscles or liver. There is however, limited storage space, and once it is used up, the liver begins to turn the excess energy into fat. And as we know…humans have the capacity to store plenty of fat! So, there are two main stores of energy in the body: glycogen and fat. Glycogen transfers to energy more readily than fat and so is the first one to be used.
When we reverse the process and stop eating, the body begins to use its fuel reserves by breaking down the glycogen which can last for up to 36 hours. If no food enters the body, it will then begin to break down the stored fats for energy.
Start with something gentle - and get some expert advice
Avid abstainers advise that the best way to get into fasting is to start with an intermittent approach by not eating between certain hours of the day. The 16/8 method advocates fasting for 16 hours a day and eating within the remaining 8 hours. Once you have acclimatised yourself to managing your “hanger” (hunger + anger!) and the discomfort of hunger pangs, you begin to experience the benefits of more stable sugar levels as well as an increase in energy not spent on digestion. As you become experienced you can then move towards more prolonged fasts.
Fasting requires some finesse to balance well, so it’s sensible to seek out a guide to help you. Christian Di Giorgio - one of our Iyengar Yoga teachers at Yogaloft and a registered Osteopath - is passionate about fasting and you are likely to hear something on the subject in one of his classes. Oona Davidson is a nutritionist who works at Yogaloft and also has a wealth of experience on the matter. You can read more about both of them at the links below.