16:8

OK, so about 4 weeks ago my husband and I decided to do the 16:8 fasting plan, as we figured it might actually be something that we could do, we could manage it, and for the time being we can do it together, as we are both still working from home (mostly).

My husband stopped taking sugar in his coffee, probably a good thing as he drinks between 8-10 cups a day (albeit little cups) ; I tend to have one tea, and two coffees before midday, then water and infusion teas for the rest.

We decided to cut out carbs completely, so no white potatoes, rice, pasta or bread! Hard for me, as I LOVE granary seeded toast and butter in the mornings.

We went hard core for the first two weeks, to get the kilos to come down and fill us with enthusiasm by doing the DUKAN diet phase 1, the attack phase. This is eating protein only for 2 weeks, with squeezed limes to replace any salt, rigorous 20 minutes walking per day, fibre galletes and plenty of water. Difficult if you are vegetarian, unless you have a good nutritional knowledge to get the protein you need.

We ate smoked salmon and poached eggs for breakfast most mornings, oven cooked chicken, salmon, or steak for lunch, and then Dukan galletes 1-2 interspersed in the day, either the ones I had made with curry flavour or mashed banana (for flavour only).

Three weeks in we worked out the times which worked best for us. These seemed to be 10:30am-6:30pm most days, and 12pm-8pm on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s when I teach Pilates in the evening.

It is fabulous,  my brain no longer feels foggy, I don’t get the 3pm lull or get tired in the afternoons, I take supplements Vit C and D3 daily, sometimes Omega 3 when I have it, I have started running twice a week again and look forward to my morning run, I have started Boot Camp and feel happy to feel my muscles working and rising to the challenge, albeit not very gracefully, and the Pilates classes I teach have more interesting moves and exercises in them as I feel inspired again, with a renewed fresh approach.

The concept is simple: Eat all your meals within an 8hour window, and fast for 16hours, of which 7-8 of these you will be asleep! It is key for Fat Burning, Increased Energy, Improved Concentration, Lowered Sugar Levels.

I used to get ‘hangry’ when my usual meal time approached, something I have battled with for years. This does not happen to me anymore. I used to stress about what to have that was good, didn’t take long to make, to sit with the children at breakfast, whilst getting the girls ready for school, packed lunch, relocate shoes etc. I no longer worry as it is planned in for later in the morning. Breakfast time is calm and serene. Hurray.

We are more conscious about what we are eating, as it seems to have focussed our minds as to what we are putting into our body. We thought we were pretty good before, but we realised we used to eat quite a lot of biscuits and chocolate.

After all, the stomach IS YOUR SECOND BRAIN! Many illnesses comes from what passes through our lips, and down into our stomach. Many of us abuse this system for years. The truth is, we all have the power to heal our body AND MIND by looking after this second brain, the stomach.

Here is the science part behind the 16:8 if you want the science, here it is:

You have eaten for 8 hours; you stop. The 16 hour fasting starts. The first 4 hours your body is busy digesting, doing its thing. Between 4-8 hours your body is balancing your blood sugar; all food will have left the stomach and insulin is no longer produced. Between 8-12 hours all food is burned up/used up. The digestive system goes to sleep. YOUR BODY BEGINS HEALING. Auto phage. Human growth hormone begins to increase. After 14 hours the body converts to using stored fat as energy which continues for the hours ahead.

If a couple of times a week you can fast a little over the 16 hours, i.e. to 18 hours or 20, your body will heal and regenerate cells. This fasting sweet spot 16-18/16-20 hours has tremendous healing and regenerative powers.

Your body is a miracle, be kind to it. Look after it, feed it good stuff.

The stuff that is not in a packet or has a label with ingredients you cannot pronounce. If it has more than 3 ingredients in it, put it back on the shelf. Vegetables, fish, meat, fruit -are one ingredient each. It takes 15-20 minutes to make a tasty fresh meal. Spoil yourself with the good stuff, try the 16:8 and see how great you start to feel. Write to me and tell me :-))

If you were thinking about trying the 16:8, I hope this has helped you make up your mind. Regenerative living. It is never to late to do something different. Better.