Many experts are seeing tremendous improvement in blood sugar numbers and waist circumference reduction with only changing the eating pattern.  Try missing a meal or two.  It may be hard at first, but becomes easier and easier as you practice.  You might even start enjoying that lean empty feeling.

Back in the days when most people lived an agrarian lifestyle, they were up early in the morning and worked hard all day long. They ate three hardy meals and worked hard with never even thinking of a snack!  They were hungry for each meal!  Over the last several decades, people in the United States have become increasingly sedentary.  We have still kept the three-meal a day lifestyle and even added snacks without the physical labor to burn off the consumed food.

When our ancestors roamed the plains, they likely fasted for days at a time until they found the next meal.  That obviously worked keeping them strong enough to hunt their food.  And yet, we think we can’t get by without three meals a day?

Our digestive systems were never designed to be working 24/7 like a lot of us expect from them.  They need a rest.  Many digestive problems can be eliminated simply by cutting out snacking and letting our systems digest one meal before feeding it another.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have no doubt heard of intermittent fasting.  So what does it mean and how can you live it?  Intermittent fasting is usually used to denote going a few extra hours a day without eating—Limiting your eating time to a six-hour or an eight-hour window.

Getting started is actually very simple as outlined below—the choice is yours. Start small and work up.

  • 12-hour fast.  Eat at 6 pm.  Eat again at 6 am.  Easy peasy. You should be sleeping most of that time anyway.  You really don’t need that dish of ice cream in the evening!
  • 17/7.  Eat at 6 pm.  Wait until 11 am to eat.  That is 17 hours of fasting with a 7 hour eating window.   Many people are not hungry early in the morning anyway. So try stretching the fasting time out!
  • 18/6.  Eat at 6 pm.  Your next meal will be at 12 noon the next day.  That is an 18 hour fast with a six hour eating window. 
  • 24 hour fast.   When you get ready to try it, you can eat at 6 pm one day and wait until 6 pm the next day to eat again.  Some people eat that way
  • most days and call it OMD or one meal a day.
  • Fasting one or two days a week—And eating a low carb diet the rest of the time works well for a lot of people.
  • Every other day fasting—Many doctors are recommending this plan and getting very good results.

In my experience, it’s most effective to change it up. Eating three meals one day, two meals another day and one meal a different day keeps the body guessing when the next meal is coming.  When you get truly hungry, the body will use up the stored glucose and start burning fat.  And after all, is not that the goal—to get rid of the extra belly fat?

Try one of these plans, starting with a shorter fasting period.  You might be surprised that it is easier than you expect it to be.  If you are busy, the time will go by quickly.  You will feel the hungriest at your usual meal time and then the feeling will subside substantially.  In this day and age, we eat mostly out of habit.  We eat by the clock or because everyone around us is eating.  We CAN learn valuable new habits!  You will feel a great sense of satisfaction and pride in your accomplishment as you see the evidence on your tape measure!  When was the last time you felt truly hungry at meal time?

During your fasting hours, coffee, tea, plain water, or unsweetened sparkling waters are acceptable.  In fact, please do drink plenty of fresh, pure water to keep yourself hydrated.  If you feel a little weak while fasting, put a little pinch of Himalayan pink salt in your water.  And remind yourself of the gift you are giving yourself and your loved ones!

What are the benefits of spacing out your meals?  How does having an empty digestive system actually benefit you?

  • Food tastes really, really good—When you actually feel hungry at meal time, food looks better, tastes better, and can digest better.
  • Your Body has a chance to do repair and cleanup work—When your body is not using energy for digestion, it has energy to do detox work. 
  • Insulin will be reduced–When you are digesting food without a break, your pancreas works overtime creating insulin.  Every time you eat, insulin is secreted.   Extra insulin leads to fat that has to be stored—first around your waistline!
  • Helps with weight management—When you are fasting, your body has a chance to use excess glucose for energy.  Once your body uses up the glucose, it will start burning fat for fuel. 
  • You will feel immensely better—your mind will be clearer, your digestive issues will diminish, your energy will increase and you will see the results with your tape measure!

Try it for yourself and experience the results!