Time Restricted Feeding

Time restricted feeding (TRF), often called intermittent fasting or water fasting, describes the utilization of intentional feeding and fasting windows throughout the day or week.

Digestion utilizes a tremendous amount of energy so when we have time away from food our body is able to utilize other healing states and functions.

Research suggests that your body starts producing growth hormone around 13 hours away from food, around 15 hours of fasting your body switches to using ketones, which are stored in fat, for fuel.

Your body goes into autophagy around 17 hours, this is the process of cell turnover and cleaning out which can help reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer as well as support healthy brain function and strengthening and regulation of the immune system.

Near the 24 hour mark of fasting intestinal system cells are produced which supports gut healing and repair. Now that you know more about TRF and various functions the body can access when given the opportunity, let’s dive into some of the mechanics and practical aspects of water fasting.

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Please note, this is for educational purposes only. Fasting should be practiced under the supervision of a medical professional and after consulting with your preferred licensed medical providers (especially for 24 hour fasts!) While fasting is generally recognized as safe, it is not suitable for everyone, particularly those who are pregnant, nursing, or have a history with disordered eating.

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‍How to get started
For most individuals, using a 12-13 hour fast and 11-12 hour feeding window is a great baseline. This may look like only eating between the hours of 7 AM and 7 PM or 8AM-7PM. Depending on what your goals are and what your body needs, various fasting lengths may be beneficial. A common question is to wonder how often to use fasting, for those excited about fasting, try utilizing a 13-17 hour fasting window daily and a 24 hour water fast monthly. Building up to longer fasts will provide the best experience. As you go into fasting, know that it will be challenging and that your fuel during fasts is information. Dr. Mindy Pelz and Dr. Jason Fung are two easily accessible experts with a ton of resources on the topic of water fasting. If you’re experiencing chronic health issues, I encourage you to learn more about water fasting and what research is available for your specific concerns. You also don’t need to dive into fasts alone, schedule a free consultation with us HERE. Fasting can be simple. For most of our clients, changing this one thing results in significant changes. If it's not working for you, don't be alarmed, There's a TON of nuance. Historically TRF research was all done on men and they had exciting results, however when women dove into fasting they had results for awhile, but then they started noting undesired symptoms from fasting. After research was conducted specifically on women, we learned that the 24 hour hormonal cycle of men worked seamlessly with fasting, however women needed variance in their fasting and specific times of the month when they weren’t fasting to support their hormonal cycle, which is about 28 days. I know this can be confusing but you don’t have to figure it out alone, reach out and let’s figure out what serves your body best!

‍Fasting Tips
‍Prioritizing your diet beforehand will be an exceptionally valuable strategy in supporting yourself and your experience during your fasts. Choose unprocessed, whole foods. A good rule of thumb is to go for meal options that have one ingredient. Think: Rice, chicken, broccoli. Using the plate method with your whole food diet is a supportive strategy. Aim for ½ your plate to be veggies, ¼ protein and ¼ nature’s carbs (carbs in their whole state, think potato over pasta). Additionally, utilize a high protein diet. Check out this blog for more protein tips! Bear in mind that prioritizing water intake is necessary when using a high protein diet and water fasting.

‍What can you have during a fast?
During your water fast, lean into your water intake. Utilizing electrolytes will support your electrolyte balance and your fasting experience. Use electrolytes without sweeteners or flavorings as the artificial additives can be harmful to your gut biome and sweeteners can take you out of a fasted state. LMNT, Liquid I.V., and Hydrate are three easy electrolytes to find that have plain options available.

‍These won’t break your fast: ‍

- plain water
- plain carbonated water
- plain tea
- black coffee
- plain electrolytes or a pinch of high quality salt in your water

‍When you break your fast
‍Break your fast with bone broth to support gut healing and repair. Bone broth has glycine which helps tighten the fibers of the intestinal wall to reduce and prevent food particles leaking into your bloodstream. Most grocery stores have bone broth, you can also get local bone broth from Fat Butcher in Lawrenceville. Most enjoy bone broth warm and some like to cut it with water for ideal consistency.

30 minutes after having your bone broth, have a food rich in probiotics, such as Sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kefir, water kefir, or high quality yogurt that has “live cultures” on the label. This will introduce good bacteria into your gut. Additionally, have some healthy fats, prebiotics, and protein. An example meal may be half an avocado with Sauerkraut, Chia seeds, steamed vegetables, flaxseed oil, and lentils or chicken.

Anecdotally, I have been a vegetarian since I was 11 years old. However, the research of the benefits of bone broth is so compelling that not only do I recommend bone broth to my clients, but I also have used bone broth myself, which was the first non vegetarian product I’ve intentionally had since switching to a vegetarian diet over 20 years ago.

For longer fasts know that you can use “fasted snacks” to help manage your hunger:A fasted snack is a small amount of high quality fat that helps satiate and balance your blood sugar, but doesn’t have carbs to take you out of your fasted state and doesn’t have protein to take you out of autophagy (around 17 hrs). These are ideally used as a “crutch” to help extend your fast. Examples of fasted snacks are half an avocado, 2 tablespoons of plain nut butter, 1 tablespoon of seed oil, 1 tablespoon of MCT oil, OR a quarter cup of grass fed cream.

When you first start learning about fasting all this information can feel overwhelming, but I hope it’s sparked curiosity in you as well! Dive into the linked resources, contact us for a free nutrition consult, talk to your healthcare providers. Do what serves you best so you can feel your best!