Intermittent Fasting Is Life Changing
Intermittent fasting often gets a bad rep. I unintentionally began fasting intermittently by chance. It's changed my life, and it can change yours too.
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Happy Sunday!
Intermittent fasting is something I have been toying with on and off over the past few years, without even realising, it was a thing. But for the past few months, beginning around mid-February, I have been intermittently fasting consistently. I don’t break my fast until 12:30 each afternoon.
The reason I don’t break my fast until lunchtime isn’t because I have superhuman discipline. It started predominately because I became extremely busy and didn’t have the time to make myself breakfast each morning. That’s another way of me saying I am too lazy to find the time to make myself something to eat each morning. But this habit has led me to a fascinating discovery.
I no longer miss eating breakfast. My body has adjusted so well that I rarely even get hungry before lunchtime. I run around 8-10k each morning on a fast too, and my body doesn’t crave breakfast. It’s had no noticeable adverse impact on my running. I never feel bloated while running, and I can’t remember the last time I had a stitch while running.
This result made me begin questioning why I even ate breakfast in the first place. It turns out that the only reason I ate breakfast, was because society commands we need three meals a day for a healthy lifestyle. There are 7.6bn people on the planet today. When we consider this with any level of rationally, surely, it can’t be right that eating breakfast is the best thing to do for each of the 7.6bn people on the planet. By inference, it’s impossible that eating breakfast is the best thing to do for everyone.
I tend to listen to my body a lot more now, shutting away the brain that thinks it’s more intelligent than millions of years of evolution. My body certainly doesn’t need to eat breakfast every single morning.
Skipping breakfast has given me several noticeable benefits:
- I’m more alert during the day
- It’s easier for me to concentrate and my concentration levels are higher
- I’m generally in a far better mood
- I feel healthier than I have ever felt
- I paradoxically have more energy
Fasting every morning has been a huge game-changer.
When I break my fast at 12:30, I eat a very light lunch. I generally break my fast with either some cereal or a bagel sandwich. My next and last meal for the day is dinner, which I eat around 18:00. I only eat two meals a day, so I make sure my dinner is healthy and more substantial, as this is where I fuel my body most of my daily calories. Although never too heavy on calories.
I eat all my daily calories between these five and a half-hour window. On occasion, I may eat some grapes, strawberries or oranges between my lunch and my dinner, just like our early ancestors who would have snacked on fruits and berries between substantial meals. I avoid sugar at all costs, even in my coffee, which I always drink black. I don’t eat any cookies, chocolate ice-cream and the ilk. I can’t remember the last time I drunk a fizzy drink - I much prefer water. Some may look at me with pity, but my body doesn’t crave these sugary snacks. Fruits are the only source of my sugar.
I prefer a natural diet, where I avoid processed foods. I keep my diet simple and tend to eat meals available to our early ancestors. It’s what my body has evolved to eat. Although I do eat meat, I consciously cut down on the amount of meat that I am eating. I want to go even further and become a vegetarian for a few days a week, as I think we generally consume far too much meat than is good for us.
The results of this diet have been outstanding. My energy levels are through the roof. I get bouts of insane concentration. And my general health and wellbeing are far higher than it was before I unintentionally commenced this diet.
If you’re thinking about following a similar diet, remember that it takes a few weeks for you to see any noticeable results. Don’t give up. Give it at least four weeks to decide if this is something for you before you decide to throw in the towel. Don’t expect immediate results, but I can assure you, the results are worth it. The future you would be thankful.
Have an awesome week ahead,
Samuel
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This Week's Wisdom
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- In the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
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