Important Intermittent Fasting Tips you should Know

    There are a lot of things you could do for your health, intermittent fasting arguably the most important thing you can do and there's nothing else that even comes close in creating a healthier life. on the flip side, snacking and continued eating is one of the worst things you can do for your health.

    In this post today, I’m going to show you the basics of how to do intermittent fasting and this isn’t actually just for the beginners only. If you have advanced into intermittent fasting this will be a refresher course.

What happens when you do intermittent fasting?

When we fast, we try to shift our metabolism from sugar burning to fat burning. A common confusion that a lot of people have when they're fasting is that they think their body is starving. They think it's not eating but in reality, when you don’t eat your body starts to finally eat its stored fat.

How do I know if my intermittent fasting is working?

One of the best indicators to check if intermittent fasting is working is “Appetite “. if your appetite is reducing and you don’t constantly feel the need to snack and eat continuously that means that it's working and it will make it a lot easier for you to continue your weight loss Journey.

Goal of Intermittent Fasting

A key principle that you should always have in mind is that “you have to get healthy to lose weight” not “lose weight to get healthy”. With that in mind you should not just focus on weight loss, weight loss will come when you get healthy.

To truly begin your intermittent fasting Journey, you want to get into a condition “where the food is no longer controlling you” but the other way around. so many people are into this situation where the food they eat is literally controlling their life and destroying their life.

Starting your fasting Journey

Breakfast and First Meal

One of the easiest ways to start is by skipping breakfast or pushing your breakfast further and further towards lunch. So, when you wake up in the morning ask yourself “am I really Hungry or am I just eating out of habit” chances are you're not going to be hungry for breakfast so don't eat. If necessary, drink a glass of water. so, the simple rule of thumb is, “don’t eat if you're not hungry”.

To help reduce your hunger levels for breakfast you have to make sure that your carbs level is down for lunch and dinner, because if you have high carbs in your lunch or your dinner the next Morning, you’re going to be hungry but if you keep your carbs low at roughly about 20 grams to 30 grams then you're not getting to be hungry within the morning.

Another thing that you can do is what is known as “Bulletproof coffee” and you can add either butter to your coffee or MCT oil. butter is very satisfying and MCT oil will turn into ketones which will make it a lot easier to go all the way until your first meal at noon. if you drink coffee fine, if not, just do a tablespoon of MCT oil - that’s the type of extract from coconut oil that turns into ketones very, very fast.

BULLETPROOF COFFEE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Bulletproof coffee (brewed)

• 1 tsp. to 2 tbsp. Brain Octane C8 MCT oil

• 1-2 tbsp. grass-fed, unsalted butter or 1-2 tsp. Grass-Fed Ghee

Bulletproof tip: If you’re still new MCT oil, start with 1 tsp. and build up to the total serving size over several days. You can also adjust the quantity of butter (or Ghee) and see what works for you.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Brew a cup (8-12 ounces) of coffee using Bulletproof coffee beans.

2. Add the coffee, Brain Octane C8 MCT oil and butter or ghee to a blender.

3. Blend for 20-30 seconds until it looks like a creamy latte. Enjoy!

Bulletproof tip: If don't not own a blender, add all the contents to a big mug and use a milk frother until the concoction is mixed and creamy.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (1 CUP):

• Calories: 230

• Fat: 25g

• Saturated Fat: 21g

• Carbs: 0g

• Protein: 0g

• Fiber: 0g

• Sugar: 0g

• Salt: 0mg

Another important fact you have to realize is that your hormones are on rhythms or waves and the cortisol hormone - Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response - peaks at eight o'clock in the morning. This is usually why you may find that you're hungry in the morning - because of a cortisol spike - but you're not really hungry it's just a hormonal shift and a sensation that you get.

The next suggestion I’m going to recommend is, if you have this minor hungry feeling just ignore it. If you ignore the hunger nine times out of ten it will go away. This is because there are certain hormonal shifts happening in the body that are creating that sensation but just ignore it. If you ignore it and it doesn't go away and you feel dizzy tired weak then you need to eat but you really need to be able to tell the difference between “hunger” and “time to eat”. Just bear in mind that as you start doing this, it's going to get easier and you won't have any hunger in the morning - unless you consume carbohydrates.

The next simple tip to make your first meal even better is to make sure you add some fat at the end of your first meal. it can be pecans or olives or some nut butter. it could be peanut butter, brie cheese or fatty meat. it could be any of those. Adding fat is necessary because when you start doing intermittent fasting your boy hasn’t adapted yet, so you need the fat to help you go longer and to feel satisfied which will enable you fast longer.  the fasting itself and the combination of low carbs is really what's going to help you start to adapt to this new fat burning level in your body. Also do the same thing with dinner.

 

Intermittent Fasting with keto

The next Tip for your first meal is about “Healthy keto” what is healthy keto? Well, healthy keto doesn’t just mean going on a low carb diet. it's using quality foods that are higher in nutrients. When doing intermittent fasting the last thing you want to do is end up looking Unhealthy or sickly.  This may seem strange to you but some people, when they lose weight, they tend to look very unhealthy. Am talking “dried out hair”, “looking older and stressed out “when fasting you want to look good and that’s what the ketogenic diet is for.  Keto gives you that healthy glow when fasting. there's such a thing as dirty keto where most people do not pay attention to the quality of their diet and eat at fast food restaurant or buy fast food.  It may be low carb because you're not eating the junk food but it's very, very low-quality food and it’s not recommended.

 

Second meal

second meal is called your “eating window” let's just assume you had your first meal at noon and your second meal is at six o’clock, that’s roughly a six-hour eating window.  After your first meal, you could maybe eat a snack if you want this is not usually recommended as snacking is the biggest killer for progress because these snacks stimulate insulin every time you eat.  And what you are trying to do is fix the insulin resistance which was created by a high level of insulin for a long period of time which comes from constant eating and eating a lot of carbohydrates.  

A little motivational tip: if you do a six-hour eating window that gives you a fasting cycle that's pretty good. if you do this, you’re going to see some amazing results especially with your brain.  you're going to grow new brain cells which will improve your cognitive function, your focus, your memory your ability to keep your attention, your creativity as well as your mood. you're going to get happier and if you were depressed, you're going to feel much, much better just because your brain is healing.  

Also, your immune system is going to get stronger as you will actually grow new immune stem cells in your bone marrow. inflammation goes down and you start getting rejuvenated. you start healing faster all sorts of amazing things happen.  all right

Another problem we need to resolve is night snacking. I’m sure there are some people out there that have a hard time not snacking at night.  snacking at night is a big No, No. it's also called “grazing”. This can include, nuts, chips you name it, popcorn. Night snacking is very bad so we want to get rid of it. To do this we use a very “Powerful tool” called “self-discipline”. so, make sure you don't buy snacks anymore – out of sight is out of Mind. stay busy because if you're idle and just sitting there watching TV it's going to be more difficult.

Another thing that’s going to help you is making sure that you have a very big dinner with fat so you're actually don't feel the need for any additional things. Also, just know that if you're like most people, you probably have insulin resistance which means you can't absorb nutrients as well as you should. So, even though you eat and you're full you might not feel satisfied.  feeling satisfied is going to happen once the insulin resistance goes away and especially if you're eating a lot of nutrients filled foods.  

Apple Cider Vinegar and intermittent fasting

Taking a table spoon of apple cider vinegar in your water for dinner will help with lowering your insulin levels. apple cider vinegar has acetic acid and the biggest benefit of acetic acid is to make insulin more sensitive to help your blood sugars.  so, it's going to actually help you reduce insulin which is why it works for weight loss. it'll also help your appetite by helping insulin work better so you absorb more nutrients and be less hungry. 

Apple cider vinegar in your water is really good if you don’t have Apple cider vinegar you can add some lemon juice to your water - a teaspoon, half of a lemon or even a whole lemon.  By doing this you can have things like “vitamin c” or “citric acid” that can help reduce kidney stones and if you're at risk for gout. For the best effect just add the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar in your water when during dinner time.

VEGETABLES

Another suggestion is “vegetables”. Eating vegetables is highly recommend so make sure consume more vegetables you can easily do this by eating a salad. You can eat a big salad either in the first meal or the second meal. you can switch it out you can have just vegetables sometime or just a salad.

An important fact that I want to mention is when you do intermittent fasting in keto together within 14 days of fasting the fat in your liver is going to be gone. Which is a huge and exciting improvement in your health.

Tea and herbs

other things I’m going to talk when fasting “green tea” drinking through the day helps reduce insulin resistance and allow you to fast longer. other types of tea or herbs that are in tea that are also really good for blood sugars that will help reduce appetite are:

cinnamon tea

garcinia herb

ginseng

ginger

they are all really good to lowering appetite.  

 

Exercise

If you exercise, try not to take any pre-workout drink with a carbohydrate or even protein base.  Also, avoid any post drink or taking any amino acids while you're working out before or after. This is because after you just worked out you have created an amazing effect with growth hormone and as soon as you start eating something you basically nullify a lot of those results. especially if it's carbohydrate and even if it's protein. you're going to get enough amino acids from the meals, so you don't need to worry about putting back these amino acids because really most of them tend to even just turn into sugar. so, make sure you avoid eating around exercise and keep your fasting consistent. Also, avoid doing tedious exercise. Just do something simple and short that’s enough to get your heart rate going and leave you feeling energized.

 

Supplements and fasting

the other point you need to know about is supplements. when people fast a lot of times they have symptoms like keto fatigue, keto flu, cramps and they might have thyroid symptoms. all that means is that they're probably deficient in certain nutrients. This may be because the demand for certain nutrients go higher and maybe you haven't been eating nutrient dense foods or a while. 

So, what you need to do is just make sure you just take Vitamin B, natural ones, nutritional yeast is mostly recommended and electrolytes. You can also take an electrolyte powder that has trace minerals. (if you need on comment below so I can give you to link to a store). this way you can get the trace minerals and the electrolyte minerals with high amounts of potassium which is going to help aid your fasting. potassium is needed in large amounts in the body at about 4700 milligrams.  

Taking this potassium or supplements during intermittent fasting and especially prolonged fasting will help you easily avoid keto fatigue, keto flu and thyroid symptoms.  

I hope this post has helped you clear some misconceptions, mistakes and confusions concerning Intermittent Fasting. Comment if you have anything to add.