Why you are fasting but not losing weight
There is a hormone called Insulin and it is an anabolic peptide hormone. Its job is to regulate the sugar levels in the blood by using it for energy and storing the excess as fat for use in times of emergency.
When you are insulin sensitive and metabolically flexible, the body will be able to switch its energy requirements between sugar and fat almost immediately. It means that when you do not eat, the energy will be provided by the stored fat. After all, the purpose of storing fat is to use it in times of need.
The problem arises when that time of need never comes. We keep on eating 3 meals a day with snacks another 3 times and that's not all. Sugary drinks, biscuits, popcorn at the movies, its almost every few hours we are eating. And the before bed snack is there too! All this ingestion of food and most of it is carbohydrates and sugar, for many years trains the brain to use glucose for energy almost exclusively.
To add to the complications, due to this constant eating, the insulin levels are constantly raised. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. As long as the Insulin is high, you cannot use the fat which you have stored. That is why it is a good idea to check your Insulin levels to decide your sensitivity or resistance. Blood glucose may be within limit and if Insulin is high, you are metabolically inflexible.
So what really happens when you fast with a raised Insulin, since your body cannot use the vast store of fat that you have accumulated, your brain starts to sense a lack of energy and sends a signal for you to provide it with sugar. If the sugar does not arrive, you start getting irritated, angry, incredibly hungry and finally end up eating even more than before.
So the repercussions may actually be a gain in weight! Or as a final resort to provide energy, the body will start breaking down muscle to make glucose and the last thing you want is to lose muscle.
So the question is, after years of abuse and feeding the brain almost exclusively glucose, how to train the body to use fat ? And unless you do that your efforts to lose weight may either go in vain or may even backfire. So the first thing is to check your Insulin level and aim to bring it down. Start by taking Apple cider vinegar in the morning (diluted in water, preferably organic with the mother).
It will help regulate your blood sugars. The next thing is to send a signal to your brain that there is actually another source of energy which is Ketones. Incidentally, the brain prefers Ketones over glucose. So adding MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) Oil to a cup of unsweetened coffee or tea will start releasing Ketones in the Liver.
The next thing to realise is that hunger is just a sensation. Just like you feel hot or cold. So if you are hungry and you take a simple thing like a glass of water, chances are that within a few minutes your hunger will subside. But before doing that you have to start by cutting out the snacks and eating two meals in a day.
Start by three meals even and eventually try to close the window by cutting out the breakfast. Eat only when you are hungry and not because it's time to eat. Remember to supplement with unfortified and unsweetened electrolytes which is key to enable the functions of your body running smoothly.
With a little effort to reduce junk food and live a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly, bringing down stress levels and reversing insulin resistance, the body will eventually start functioning like it should. And when you fast, it will automatically switch to fat and vice versa.
That is actually how we are designed to function. It's in our DNA. Continuous eating and a stocked refrigerator with sweets and processed foods and drinks is abnormal and eventually leads to health complications. Keeping fasts is natural and it is the best gift you can give to your body as it rests and repairs itself during these fasts. That was a natural thing for thousands of years when we have been hunter gatherers.
Vibhuti Misra
Holistic Health Specialist
+91 813 088 2160
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