When intermittent fasting starting to gain attention a few years ago, I had my reservations. After all, this approach goes against the grain in our way of thinking, especially as during the last decade or so we’ve been told to eat every few hours to keep our metabolism boosted. In addition, breakfast has always been the meal we’ve been urged not to miss out on, and nutrition talk involves eating small meals spread three to four hours apart, starting with a healthy breakfast.

But it seems not only dieting fanatics are fans of intermittent fasting. We are seeing very fit, healthy, muscular guys, as well as ordinary men and women, all doing something a whole lot different these days. They’re into the on-off fasting mode which fires up fat-burning like a charged-up furnace! They may skip breakfast or restrict eating for extended stretches and, through all this they’re getting healthier, leaner, and more muscular.

Normally, a restrictive diet will put your body into starvation mode where it learns to survive on fewer calories and becomes extremely efficient at storing fat. The body ends up needing less food simply to stay at your target weight. However, intermittent fasting seems to trick the body out of this starvation response.

Apart from vanity, the reported health benefits of an intelligently designed intermittent fasting programme makes for a wonderfully positive reading list of how it helps us to live longer. Benefits include reduced blood lipids, blood pressure, markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and cancer, increased cell turnover and repair, fat-burning, growth hormone release and metabolic rate, improved appetite control, blood sugar control, improved cardiovascular function and neuronal plasticity. Overall, research has shown that this simple lifestyle tweak can significantly modify body composition and reduce fat mass.

With a personal interest in nature’s most powerful hormone, Human Growth Hormone (HGH), I love the fact that blood levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) increase dramatically with IF. Other ways to promote HGH are with high intensity interval training (HIIT) and good sleep.

Equally, studies show that intermittent fasting can reduce oxidative damage and inflammation in the body (both steps towards ageing and many chronic diseases).  It induces cellular repair processes in the body, gives your organs and cells a break and removes waste by triggering a metabolic pathway called autophagy. A mini detox!

When we talk about neuronal plasticity, intermittent fasting may increase the growth of new neurons and protect the brain from damage.

It’s also known to increase the amounts of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) – a naturally occurring chemical in the body that acts as both a stress hormone and neurotransmitter. 

Well – that said, what are you waiting for!