Fasting - good or bad for metabolism?

Question
Tanya,


Do you advise your clients to fast+ How, for how long? What happens to my metabolism, how soon?

Thanks in advance

Answer
Peter, as you finish your bed time snack and until breakfast, here's what happens to your metabolism:

1. In overnight fasted man, the animal starch glycogen (in the liver and muscle) provides glucose for brain, which cannot use fatty acids for energy.

2. Since insulin level is low at this time, muscle and fat tissues cannot compete with the brain for glucose. Fatty acids from fat depot provide the most of the needed fuel.

3. As fast continues as happens when you skip breakfast, the glycogen store in liver and muscle is depleted and the body start producing ketone bodies from the fatty acids to cover the brain energy needs.

Many health gurus such as Paul Bregg or Galina Shatalova, intuitively used the fact number three to benefit from the periodic ketosis. In my Banta Diet planning, I advise to use this, too, in stubborn cases and during weight loss plateau.

Also, knowing that 48-hours fast is used to initiate ketosis in the clinical ketogenic diet, I suggest this or modified fast to jump-start the Banta, in most cases with great success.

Recently, research showed many health benefits of such periodic ketosis called 'Intermittent Fasting' and lay public eBooks appeared, for example, the Eat Stop Eat diet or the Every Other Day diet that include either weekly fasts or, as the title implies, 24/24 schedule alternating fasting and non-fasting days.

And finally, to the contrary to the opinion that fasting slows down metabolism, research proved that it does not:

Fasting days do not slow down your metabolism
http://atkinszone.com/did-you-know/2008/10/fasting-days-do-not-slow-down-your.ht...




Suggested reading

Eat Stop Eat
http://tinyurl.com/weekly-fasts

Intermittent Fasting
http://tinyurl.com/24-fasting

Skipping Breakfasts
http://atkinszone.com/faq/2008/09/skipping-breakfasts-not-that-simple.html

Galina Shatalova's Health System
http://atkinszone.com/did-you-know/2008/09/very-low-calorie-diet.html

How I Fast
http://bantadiet.com/plan/?page_id=12

Tanya Zilberter

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