Intermittent fasting versus Three Meals Per Day. Which works best?

Intermittent fasting versus Three Meals Per Day. Which works best?

And which one can I sustain?

Do I need to fast for fast weight-loss results?

I have a ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe so’ answer to this question! But do bear with me. Over thirty years of supporting clients to lose weight I have met all iterations of the fast. From 5/2 to 16/8, to 12/12, they all produce results and give structure to how we eat. I could sell any one of them to you if I put my mind to it, on the merits of the particular fast and the discipline it relies on. I am, however, slow to recommend fasting as a way of life and a fail-safe route to weight-loss. Yes fasting works. But does it stick? This is the real question. No, it tends not to, in my experience. So is it a solution? Well, if only life were that simple!

We have been fasting for Millenia. Why are we overweight then?

Pretty much all cultures include some version of fasting in their history and even currently. There are many iterations. You have Ramadan, you have Lent, you have Yom Kippur, amongst many others. Many fasts are one day per week or per season, others involve weeks of restrictions and yet others are consistently restrictive. You’ll notice, however, that populations who engage in fasting for cultural or religious reasons tend, quite often, to have the same weight-loss challenges as the general population does. Why? Because our environment (in the Western World) is designed to prompt us to eat poorly and not move enough. It’s, sadly, that simple. So, fasting does not account for weight-loss unless you actively reduce your intake of calories during the non-fasting hours/days/weeks. This seems so obvious, but I often find that when adhering to a strict regime of restrictive fasting there are ‘cheat’ days allowed and to be honest, these can result in unhealthy food choices and reinforced emotional confusion when it comes to eating. To eat is not to cheat. Let’s be clear on that. You are meant to eat. It’s a survival instinct.
 

Should fasting be something I consider?

This is a resounding ‘yes’ for me. Of course consider it. But be mindful of how it can have a small place in the scheme of your overall health plan. It is not an answer in its own right, necessarily, to all that ails you. Often, when clients of mine are in a state of chaotic eating, such as after Christmas, or as a result of a reaction to severe restrictive eating that stopped working for them, I introduce them to a three-day fast to begin their new relationship with food and a healthier way of eating. This is not starvation and it does not suit everyone. But I find that having soups, teas and water only for three days can re-set their emotional ‘need’ for sugary foods as well as re-calibrate their appetite for nourishing food and sense of satiety when eating again. This can produce endless dividends, from digestive ease and bowel regularity to loss of sugar cravings, to an appetite for wholesome, one-ingredient foods again. Fasting can be quite corrective in my experience. Our body tends to respond very well to it, as long as starting from a place of good health.

How should I incorporate fasting into my new way of eating for best results?

I have found that when we restrict too much and apply too many rules to our eating that it generally back-fires, goes wrong and deflates our discipline at some point. So I’m no great fan of restriction as a result. Instead. I find that if you plan, every day, to eat three meals (not five, not two, not none) you are significantly less at risk of falling off the bandwagon and considerably more likely to get consistent weight-loss and health improvement results. Fast overnight every night (this is hardly ground-breaking stuff) by having a cut-off point for calories after dinner every evening.Many of us tend to sneak calories past our lips, often not planning to or acknowledging that we have, most evenings, from crackers and a glass of wine, to left-over chocolate to whatever is in the fridge.

So how about this?

Try to switch up your eating, so starkly, for three days, that you essentially shock your metabolism, your emotions and your digestive system into submission. Yes, fast, for a day, two or even three (with soups, water & teas) to kick-start your new relationship with food, but back it up with an understanding of what’s going on and a vision for long-term healthy eating.

Understand that you are aiming to give your body some down-time, to digest, rest and repair, daily. What it does in the immediate is it stops triggering the release of insulin, among many other hormones, to stabilize blood glucose and use it for energy expenditure, along with the tri-glycerides (fats) in your blood stream. Rather than constantly increasing the load, you begin to ease it, use it and deplete it. In the longer-term, you are setting yourself up to have a consistent intake of calories from fats, carbohydrate and protein to feed your body adequately over the course of your planned three meals every day, not trigger storage of excess calories. You also enjoy the enormous bonus that is finding ease around hunger and fullness again. These are significant effects, that severe restriction does not provide.
 

What works best?

In my experience, when you eat three meals a day and you adhere to a repetitive structure, say breakfast at 8.30am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6pm then you are automatically fasting, pretty much every day, for fourteen hours. So we could call this a 10/14 fast. Now, what’s different here, is that this is hugely sustainable, it’s not aspirational, impossible to stick to or even all that restrictive. Yes, it depends on some discipline, but only initially. It does not result in crazy hunger pangs that lead you to the fridge at eleven at night or three in the afternoon, an unhealthy relationships with particular foods or overall dietary misery.
Instead, it helps to level-load your blood glucose, meaning that you eliminate sugar-cravings entirely, over time, which benefits both body and soul. It allows for rest and repair at night, every night, with the immediate bonus that you wake up nice and hungry each morning. This is when oatmeal, eggs, or fruit, yoghurt and seeds begin to look very attractive indeed. You can do better than a sugary cereal or danish. You begin to value the nourishment you get from fibre-filled carbs, quality fats and top-notch proteins. You feel well. Your system has regularised. Elimination as well as appetite are now predictable. You’re setting yourself up for success from the get-go.
Now, this, is my kind of dietary plan!