Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting and fasting, in general, are the buzz in health circles these days.  In reality, fasting has been around for thousands of years.  Many ancient cultures and religions have incorporated a fasting ritual beginning thousands of years ago.  Our paleo ancestors likely fasted for periods simply out of necessity because a reliable food source was not always available and could not be preserved.  

Fast forward to the developed world today, and the thought of going for extended periods without food would seem unbearable to most people.  We are so used to having food always available and eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacks in between.  The digestive system is constantly working without getting a break. 

If fasting is going for periods of time with restricted food intake, what exactly is intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting can refer to going a day or longer without food, but more commonly refers to the practice of fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week or daily intermittent fasting.  Daily intermittent fasting refers to eating all food within a six or eight-hour window and fasting for the other eighteen or sixteen hours.  This is commonly referred to as 6/18 or 8/16. This might look like eating dinner at 6:00 pm and then not eating again until noon for an eighteen-hour fast or 10:00 am for a sixteen-hour fast. 

Why would you want to practice intermittent fasting when there’s food right there in the fridge or cupboard?  There are several therapeutic health benefits of intermittent fasting:

1. Reduce inflammation. Every time we eat, our digestive system has to do its job and the immune system along with it.  Our immune system is constantly on patrol, and since about 80% of the immune system is in the gut, the very act of eating challenges the immune system.  If you have autoimmune disease or symptoms of poor gut health, your immune system could use some downtime. If the immune system can relax, there can be a corresponding reduction in inflammation.

2. Promote healing of leaky gut. By taking a break from food and environmental toxins entering the gut, a leaky gut (or intestinal permeability) gets a chance to repair. Cells lining the small intestine are replaced every 3-5 days, so by taking a break from foods and toxins, the lining has more opportunity to build up the membrane that lines the gut.  If you have autoimmune disease, leaky gut must be healed as discussed in this article. 

3. Increase energy. One benefit of intermittent fasting is to boost energy through improved mitochondria performance. Mitochondria are the organelles in each cell from which our energy is produced.  The mitochondria use either glucose or ketones to produce energy and are much more efficient at producing energy from ketones. When a food supply is restricted, the mitochondria use ketones to produce energy, resulting in increased output of energy.   Read more about mitochondria in this article. 

4. Improve autophagy.  Fasting encourages the clean-up of old cells and regeneration of new cells, called autophagy. Autophagy will happen in response to the mild stress of fasting, boosting natural detoxification. This also helps improve mitochondrial performance. 

Several studies have shown improvement of symptoms through intermittent fasting in several autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis.  

Is there a downside? 

Intermittent fasting does create stress in the body.  If you are already under a lot of stress, you should consider whether your body would benefit from added stress.  It might be better to try intermittent fasting when other stress levels in your life are low. 

Intermittent fasting can also stress the adrenal glands, so if you are suffering from adrenal fatigue or thyroid imbalances, added stress may not be the best idea.  

Personally, I have experimented with intermittent fasting and generally find a reduction in inflammation.  For me, any reduction in inflammation is a win!

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