Book Review: Intermittent Fasting

Notes from the book:

Intermittent Fasting: Simple Guide to Weight Loss, Fat Loss, and Improved Health - THE FAT LOSS AND ANTI AGING DIET (Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss, ... Loss, Weight Loss Diet, Lose Fat Book 1) (Childs, Valerie;Louis, Joy)

1. The most important thing to understand is this, the number of calories your body burns throughout the day is not dependent on meal frequency.
2. In weight loss, what matters most is the difference between the number of calories taken in and those used up by the body. Regardless of your meal frequency, you will gain weight if at the end of the day, you eat more calories than you expend.
3. What matters is not whether you eat breakfast or not but what you eat.
4. Proteins are the sources of amino acids that keep muscles healthy and growing. Once you eat a meal containing proteins, that is enough to produce amino acids for more than 16 hours.
5. The book recommends a fasting period of between 12-24 hours.
6. Studies have shown that even three days of fasting do not affect training performance.
7. To make your training highly effective however, it is recommended that you take a pre and post workout protein supplement. Some BCAA powder or tablets are the best.
8. calories in versus calories out is what matters. As long as you are not snacking on unhealthy, high calorie junk food or overeating, you should be okay.
9. Eating three large meals, instead of six smaller ones, results in much better appetite control.
10. Whether you fast for 12 hours, 36 hours or three days, your blood sugar will remain the same.
11. The science behind intermittent fasting weight loss is mostly about how the body produces its energy. When you eat, sugar is stored in the liver in form of glycogen. The body uses it to produce energy. When you eat a meal during breakfast, lunch and dinner, your body will never run out of glycogen to use for energy synthesis. There is therefore no time when it will turn to fat burning for energy.
12. The only problem is, you want your body to burn fat so as to reduce it and lose weight. The only way to do this is wait until glycogen is depleted, then force the body to burn fat.
13. Intermittent fasting does this. It takes about 8-12 hours, without further eating, for glycogen to run out. This is why it is recommended that any intermittent fasting method should not run for less than 12 hours. After 8-12 hours, the body turns to fat for its energy needs. To help in burning more fat, you can engage in exercises such as cardio workouts or weight lifting.
14. With continued adherence to intermittent fasting, you can get to a point where the body adapts to using fat more than glycogen.
15. you should get to a point where the last meal is at 8pm at night and the next full meal at noon the next day.
16. To get the full benefits you have to also change your dietary components. Include more fruits and vegetables in your meals and do not forget to drink lots of water. Avoid highly processed foods and high sugar products like Soda and candy.
17. Having a planned menu before you start ensures that you know what you are going to eat for each meal of the week.
18. The best way to spend your fasting hour is by staying busy.
19. To amplify the benefits of intermittent benefit, include regular workouts into your schedule.
20. Simply because fasting for 15 hours has done wonders for you does not mean that 48 hours will too, in fact, it will damage your body. Prolonged fasting is what is referred to as starvation. Your muscles start to waste, metabolism rate drops and energy levels go down drastically. This kind of fasting is not helpful at all.
21. Experts recommend the minimum fasting period to be 12 hours and the maximum period to be 20 hours.
22. Do not fast blindly. Keep checking your health status to ensure that the fasting is not causing any health problems.
23. Just eat healthy, do your exercises, lower stress and you will live a long healthy life.
24. If you can manage 12-16 hours of fasting once every week or so, it will benefit you a lot.
25. “It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard.”
26. Improving your sleep, energy levels, mood, attention span, body composition, motivation, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and quality of life starts by changing the food you put on your plate.
27. Yes, the Whole30 eliminates cravings, corrects hormonal imbalances, fixes digestive issues, improves medical conditions, and strengthens the immune system.
28. Added sugar and artificial sweeteners. All alcohol. All grains (even whole grains). Legumes, including peanuts and soy. Nearly all forms of dairy.
29. Added sugars, whether from table sugar, honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup, do not contain the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that contribute to your overall health, but they do contain lots of empty calories.