Most people spread their food intake out over the whole day – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and some snacks in between. But if we look back to our evolutionary history, humans evolved and thrived on an irregular meal schedule way before grocery stores and food preservatives were even a thing. Far from being unhealthy, skipping a meal or two has several benefits for health and weight loss; it’s a beneficial stressor on your body that makes you stronger and healthier.
What is Intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting, or I.F., is basically just setting a short-ish window during the day in which you will eat all of your meals. The rest of the time, you won’t be eating(just drinking water). Personally, my fast starts around 10 p.m. and ends the following day between noon and 2pm Then, I eat big, healthy, fulfilling meals in that eight hour window. However, you can make fasting what you want; you can skip meals, go longer than 16+ hours, or a little shorter if you please, whatever works for you and your lifestyle. Fasting is most commonly understood to involve no food consumption at all, only water, but some people argue for the consumption of coconut oil, bulletproof coffee, or bone broth during a fast.
If you’re already eating primal/paleo, I.F. is pretty darn easy: if you avoid refined carbohydrates and sugar, your energy levels don’t spike and crash after every meal, so you’ll remain fully energized during a fast. But for the masses out there that aren’t, trying I.F. will most likely be quite difficult.
But no worries! There is a solution!
Train your body to switch from carbohydrate dependency to fat-adaptation.
Not sure what I’m talking about?
Here’s what I mean:
Carbohydrate dependency basically means that your body is relying on the carbs/sugar you eat to give you energy. This is extremely common in the average American because a high consumption of carbs and sugars basically forces your body to burn them for energy and then stores the excess as fat. If you are trying to burn fat, being stuck in a carbohydrate dependent state is going to inhibit your progress.
On the other hand, becoming fat-adapted means that your body can get its energy from stored fat cells. THIS MEANS YOU CAN BURN FAT WITHOUT HAVING TO WORK OUT ALL THE TIME. Fat-adaptation is HUGE when it comes to weight-loss and weight-management.
How do you become fat-adapted?
EASY. You eat foods that are coherent with the three foundational principles(primal living) depicted, keep you carbs low, and load-up on a ton of good healthy fats. Oh yea, that last part wasn’t a typo… eating fat is good for you – and NO, it does not actually make you fat!
Ever since the start of the “low-fat diet”, obesity rates have been rising! The key is to eat the right kind of fats.
The Three different types of fats:
Saturated Fats: This type of fat is found in most meat, animal products, and coconut oil. It has been given a negative reputation in the media through false claims insignificant data. This type of fat is the most stable when consumed or used in cooking.
Monounsaturated fats: This type of fat is found in olive oil and is less stable than saturated fats, but still regarded as healthy.
Polyunsaturated fats: For the most part, bad, bad, bad. There are two types: Omega-6 and Omega-3’s. Although you need both to function properly, the aim is to limit Omega-6 and get more Omega-3’s. Omega-6 is the type of fat that is found in industrial vegetable oils and processed foods. It is chemically unstable and easily goes rancid. These oils wouldn’t even exist without modern processing techniques – they are a completely artificial product. When heated, they become oxidized and release these particles called “Free-Radicals” that cause chronic, long-term inflammation in the body — Long-term chronic inflammation is a major contributor to modern disease. Omega-3’s, on the other hand, come from sustainable animal sources and are readily available for use by your body – they balance out the inflammation caused by a diet with excessive Omega-6 consumption.
Here’s a low-level table of the fats you should be consuming vs. those that you should avoid. For a more detailed explanation of fats, check out The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Fat and Paleo.
| Fats To Consume | Fats to avoid |
| Coconut Oil | Peanut Oil |
| Butter | Canola Oil |
| Ghee | Sesame Oil |
| Avocado Oil | Soy Oil |
| Extra Virgin Olive | Vegetable Oil |
If you are eating the rights foods, moderating your carb intake, and fueling your body with the right fats, you will find yourself fat-adapted in no-time!
Starting I.F
Once you are fat-adapted you can start intermittent fasting without pain/struggle(If you tried to fast while still being carb dependent, you’d find yourself sluggish, low on energy, and with an aching stomach because your body won’t have any place to get energy from). Your new eating habits give you a ton of metabolic leverage so why not take full advantage of this new “skill?”
Your body has already reprogrammed its gene expression to get energy from fat whenever it wants, meaning your hunger will subside, blood sugar levels will stabilize, and energy levels will be soaring(without food in your body!). It is in your complete control to accelerate the process of fat reduction to whatever speed you want through the process of intermittent fasting!
The easiest way to start I.F. is to just wait until you are hungry to eat your first meal of the day. At first, you may be hungry right when you awake. That’s ok. Go ahead and break the fast. Overtime, you’ll find it easier and easier to last until lunchtime with good energy and no food. And that’s it!
Teaching your body to operate for 16+ hours improves your insulin sensitivity, gives a massive boost to your fat metabolism, and promotes longevity by slowing cell division in favor of improved cell repair(it’s energetically less expensive to repair a cell than to divide and create a new one).
Summary
By eating the right foods, you train your body to burn fat rather than carbs allowing for an easy transition into intermittent fasting. I.F. lets you accelerate your fat burning to whatever speed you like, it’s all in your control. No matter how you fast, the net effect will tell your genes to upregulate fat burning, downregulate glucose burning, and make more energy producing mitochondria in your cells!
As a reminder, intermittent fasting is a strategy best used after a sustained period of eating foods aligned with the three foundational principles to diet mentioned earlier(and/or following a primal/paleo lifestyle), so that your body is already proficient at burning fat.
If you’re interested in going paleo, I wrote a tutorial that will explain everything and help you get started right now. In college? I’ve got a super detailed guide on how to maintain your diet and find the resources you need to stay healthy ! Have any questions about anything? I’m happy to help!
