Declutter Your Brain With Intermittent Fasting
Drink plenty of water while fasting. Photo by Ghislaine Guerin on Unsplash
After a meal, I’m like the Death Star. More precisely, my brain is in that moment that the Death Star goes down for the final count. As soon as I step away from the table, I imagine Luke Skywalker and the resistance fighter force zooming into position via the exhaust vent, “Stay on target! Stay on target!” Luke then shoots the torpedoes from his x-wing fighter and “beeeeeeeeeoooowwwww,” contact! I’m ready for a nap.
If you’ve felt the sluggish overload of food and digestion taking down both your body and mind in one fell swoop, then read on as I share my experience of intermittent fasting and consider if the benefits could suit you, too.
It started when I stalled in my weightloss efforts. I thought, my son had raved forever about intermittent fasting, so maybe it was a time I gave it a try. I decided to launch with an initial fast of 24 hours just to give it a spin and see what it might look like as a practice going forward. I ate dinner on a Friday night, and then went all of Saturday imbibing nothing but liquids.
Here are a few of the discoveries I made:
1. Mental clarity improved: Right off when my body wasn’t working so hard digesting food, I found that I had increased energy and that my brain seemed less cluttered in general. At the very least, I wasn’t feeling the immediate sluggishness that often comes with the aftermath of eating. While functioning in fasting mode, I generally felt an increased focus and improved mental engagement.
Science provides information as to how fasting really does help boost the brain. In the article “How Intermittent Fasting and a Healthy Diet Boost Mental Health” by Josh Axe, he points to discoveries that explain what physiology is at work. Intermittent fasting triggers the body to go into starvation mode. (It’s not as dire as it sounds, that just means you’re using fat stores for energy instead of food in your G.I.) At that point, the brain works to improve neuroplasticity (the formation of new neural connections), which can improve the brain’s ability to learn and retain information.
This heightened awareness makes sense if you think about it. At the primal level when our body is empty of food, we are on alert to pay closer attention to our environment so that we’re ready to hunt and capture that next meal when it presents itself.
2. The eating habit: In that first 24-hour window of fasting, I found myself wanting to take an escape from work on more than one occasion, and my knee-jerk thought was, “What can I eat?” As I considered this, it occurred to me how often my urge wasn’t driven by hunger but the desire for distraction. During fasting, I elected to enjoy a hot tea, some ice water or soda water to sooth the desire to eat. I’ll admit, it wasn’t as satisfying as something crunchy, but I became more aware of how often I eat for reasons other than hunger.
3. Giving the body (mostly your gut) a break feels good: As I progressed into that first 24 hour window, I leaned into the sense of hunger as a healthy activity. I felt like I was giving my body processes a rest, and intuitively this seemed like a good thing to do—like restarting your computer after letting it rest for a few minutes.
Over at Today in the article “Is Intermittent Fasting Good For You? Regimen Boosts Weight Loss and Disease Resistance,” author A. Pawlowski explains that, during fasting, there is a metabolic switch that occurs. Once the body burns through the sugar in the liver, it then transfers to burning fat for fuel, signaling a cascade of responses to suppress inflammation and even repair damaged cells. There are studies deciphering possible benefits for a wide breadth of conditions including heart disease, cancer, neurologic disorders and obesity. Your body can literally kick-start other processes by simply giving the digestive process a rest!
VARIOUS FASTING OPTIONS
Diving into the internet (as well as the experiences of friends and family), I learned that there are a surprising number of ways to incorporate fasting as a healthy and regular practice. My first time out I went for 24 hours, but it doesn’t’ need to be that long a fast to enjoy the benefits.
Some other options include*:
· 16:8 Fast for 16 hours then eat regular, healthy meals during 8 hours.
· 5:2 Five regular days of eating healthy meals and two days of restricted calorie intake.
· 12:12 Twelve hours of fasting and then twelve with regular healthy meal intake.
*Do remember that whatever option you go with might be best after a chat with your doctor. Your body and your “particulars” might be the deciding factor in the option that’s healthiest for you—and gets you the biggest benefits.
There are plenty of other variations to consider, but the point is that you can develop a fasting strategy that works for you. For more ideas and the science behind fasting the video titled, “3 Ways To Do Intermittent Fasting: Easy, Medium & Extreme” over at Health For All Women.
JOURNAL PROMPT
I tried to “lean into” the sense of hunger that came up as time passed over that first 24-hour fast. I came away with thoughts and questions about the relationship with food that make for great journal prompts:
· What are my triggers for eating other than hunger?
· How and where do I eat?
· How do I feel when I eat X food? (This may be foods you feel you indulge in more than you’d like.
· What else do I realize when I’m hungry that I don’t recognize when I’m full or have easy access to food?
Perhaps writing honestly and without bashing yourself about how and why you eat can help you decide if the triggers are habits you could shift to new ones, or just how you place food in your life altogether.
For example, I eat fast. I mean, if eating at the table is a contest, I always win. I journaled about this and considered why I eat fast and what benefits might come for me (such as losing weight) if I ate more slowly.
Share your food reflections with the rest of us here in the comments or on Facebook.
EATING IS A PRIVILEGE
To eat is to experience our connection to the earth. We are biological beings, reliant on the earth for EVERYTHING, and the gift of food is not just nourishment but also a universal pleasure we share.
One thing that became apparent (once the sense of hunger sunk in) was the reality that fasting IS a choice for me. I knew I could look forward to food when I decided to end the fast. But, of course, for many people hunger is not an option, but a reality.
In an effort to turn my fast into even greater positive action, I decided to transform the one meal I’ll abstain from each week into a donation. For 2020, I’ve pledged monthly investments toward The Food Bank of Iowa. I think the commitment will help me stick to my personal fasting goal for the year, plus it reminds me that I’m fortunate to choose to be hungry.
If you think fasting is something you’d like to try, be sure to check with your physician before beginning, and make sure it is a safe fit for you.
Also, if you’d like to join me in matching fasting with donating your time or savings, please join me for the #fastingfoodchallenge and share what you’ve decided to do in your community. Happy intermittent fasting!
P.S. Normally this is where I’d place a product offering because of course I’d love for you to check out Storied Gifts Shop. However, since I’d like you to truly consider taking care of yourself and perhaps donating to a worthy food bank in your area, if you feel inspired I’d rather you spent your dollars on that cause. But connecting with you is something I’d truly value so please share if you do decide to pick up on the #fastingfoodchallenge.
Alexandra and Sherry, 2016
Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.
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