Intermittent Fasting? Should I be doing that?
Intermittent Fasting or "IF" as you will see it in many of the ketogenic facebook groups is in my opinion a favorite of those who like to eat a lot at one time. So, if you are someone that eating small meals or snacks every few hours throughout the day annoys you, then IF may be perfect for you and a great supplement to your Keto journey!
The key to IF is timing. You only eat during about an 8 hr period during the day. Whenever you decide to eat your first thing...your last item should be entering your mouth less than 8 hrs later.
An example of this would be.... wake at 7 am. Have a coffee or tea (with minimal ingredients - some ketoers say a BPC is OK and will not break your "fast" while others say it should only be coffee or tea plain) - eat lunch at 12 noon. eat dinner at 6 pm. have 1 snack at 745. sleep from 9 pm to 7 am. Repeat.
You would only be consuming high fat, moderate protein, low carb foods during your 8 hr window to eat. Because you wait to eat in the AM - through lunchtime your body is burning more fat for energy and in time your body learns to be "less hungry".
Some of the benefits of IF are said to be:
- mental clarity
- energy and less fatigue
- ketosis maintenance
- control hunger
-improved muscle synthesis (workouts will show progress faster)
-increased cell turnover (fat burn)
When I started ketogenic dieting, I honestly sort of fell into this and did not even realize I was doing it. You may see 16/8 referenced often as well. This is the 16 hr of no food and then 8 hr stuffing your face. Note that just because you are practicing IF does NOT mean you do not have to stick to you macros. You do! You may just feel like you're getting to eat more by pushing all 1400 calories (or whatever your macro is) into an 8 hour restricted time zone.
I personally drank BPC in the mornings and tested myself for ketosis every other day. I still tested within the ketosis range (See how I test Here ) it was just on the LOWER range. Anywhere between 0.5 - 3.0 is "ketosis" with blood testing. I was testing around 0.5 - 0.8 when drinking my BPC. According to Dr. Eric Berg you can drink coffee, tea, water, & broth during your morning and stay in a "fasting" state. He also says that often people drinking a BPC can get knocked out of ketosis - high butter or sweetener accounts for this.
If you would like more information here is Dr. Berg explaining intermittent fasting as well as Ruled.Me going through what IF is and some benefits.
Overall, it is NOT required for ketosis it is simply a method that some say will help you enter ketosis faster & stay there.
I would recommend Ultima water enhancers if you are going to practice this so that the electrolytes and supplements can help with keto flu-like symptoms! I hope this quick explanation has helped someone!
- The Ketosis Mom
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- Jennifer @KetosisMom
