Fasting Doesn’t Work [Without These 4 Things]

 Intermittent fasting is the practice of consuming your daily calories during a shortened eating

window.

Doing this helps you stabilize blood sugar levels and naturally reduce your calorie intake,

leading to more efficient weight loss.

The challenge is that to get the benefits, you have to train your body to comfortably

go for long periods without food.

That is not a small obstacle, given today's 24/7 access to highly appetizing foods.

But anyone can achieve it with the right approach.

This video shares four things that must be in place for fasting to work for you.

[Intro Music]

Food and food reminders in the form of commercials and ads surround us at all hours of the day

and night.

This constant barrage has made an impact, and science shows that more than half of adults

eat for 15 hours or longer every day.

This continual grazing from sunup to sundown keeps insulin levels high, which is a state

that promotes fat storage and blocks fat burning.

And ironically, the more frequently you start eating, the hungrier you will be throughout

the day because

even a few bites of food will activate the parts of your brain that drive hunger, making

you want to keep eating.

The paradox is that the more you practice intermittent fasting, the easier it gets to

control hunger because fasting reduces hunger signals and stabilizes blood sugar levels,

reducing the blood sugar crashes that make you feel that you must eat something immediately.

The trick is getting there - right?

getting to that point of automatic hunger control while you fast.

To achieve that, the work starts during your eating window.

I mentioned that the mere act of eating stimulates your appetite.

But some foods are more likely to crank up your cravings than others.

By omitting them during your eating window, you make fasting much easier and need to rely

on willpower much less.

"Craving triggers" are foods that light up your brain chemistry in an area referred to

as the pleasure center.

This is the part of your brain associated with addictive substances like drugs.

But tasty, highly palatable foods cause a similar release of the feel-good chemical

dopamine in this area of the brain.

Did you ever eat a piece of stale chocolate and think, "This doesn't taste good," yet

go on to eat the entire chocolate bar?

That was a craving trigger of the worst kind because

you did not get the pleasurable taste, but your brain got the message that this feels

good, keep eating it.

To prevent getting caught in this predicament, avoid foods that are refined, especially those

that combine refined carbohydrates (or sugar) with fat and salt, which is a highly addictive

combination of ingredients.

The unfortunate reality is that you cannot eat these foods during your eating window

and expect your brain to forget about them when you decide it is time to fast.

Your brain likes them, so it will ask you to keep eating them.

To be specific, craving triggers include potato chips or any other chip in that grocery store

aisle, cookies, cakes, candies, muffins, pastries, pancakes with syrup, bread, sweetened energy

bars, pasta, and sugary soda, juice, or tea.

And that's just a few; 60 percent of the calories we consume are made up of these ultra-processed

foods.

Research suggests that receptors in the pleasure center of the brain down-regulate when they

are repetitively exposed to these junk foods and drinks.

That is not good because it intensifies cravings.

And that explains why fasting does not work when you eat these foods during your eating

window.

At least it does not work without a tremendous amount of willpower.

Now, knowing that so much of the food supply has this appetite-stimulating effect feels

like a lot to be up against.

But you can eliminate these problematic foods with relative ease by cooking at home.

Within a week of eating whole-food, home-cooked meals, you will feel in control of hunger

so you can fast comfortably.

With the elimination of refined carbs and a growing sense of comfort with fasting, your

blood sugar and insulin levels stabilize.

This is an effect you want because it frees you from

blood sugar crashes that drive cravings and also puts your body in a state that allows

fat release from fat cells.

However, insulin also influences hydration through its action on the kidneys, causing

your kidneys to flush out water and electrolytes when insulin is low.

There is a type of fasting called dry fasting, which restricts both food and water.

This is practiced by people who fast during Ramadan, and you are starting to see it showing

up in the research.

Recent studies point toward health benefits, which creates intriguing headlines that can

overshadow potential consequences, primarily dehydration.

There are many reasons why it is important to stay hydrated during your fasting period.

From a discomfort standpoint, dehydration can mimic hunger and cause headaches, fatigue,

and muscle cramps, making you very uncomfortable.

Proper hydration is a two-step process.

You need to drink more water and replace lost electrolytes like sodium, magnesium, and potassium.

Sea salt and certain foods help you replenish these electrolytes, or you can supplement

your diet with electrolytes.

I use LMNT daily to replenish electrolytes.

LMNT is the sponsor of today's video.

It does not contain sugar or artificial ingredients, and I drink it during my eating or fasting

windows.

It comes in these convenient packets, but you do not have to use an entire stick at

once or even per day.

How much you use daily depends on your diet and lifestyle.

Fasting, eating a low-carb or keto diet, sweating, and avoiding processed foods are things that

lower our intake of electrolytes or cause them to be flushed out of the body.

So, the degree to which you do these things is what determines how much you need to replenish.

And with LMNT, you can control the flavor by simply changing the electrolyte-to-water

ratio.

In the Summer months, I am active, and I drink multiple glasses of water with a couple of

taps of LMNT added to each glass.

It is enjoyable because it adds flavor to plain water, and it keeps me hydrated without

all of the dodgy ingredients.

If you would like to try LMNT, the company is offering my viewers a free sample pack

with any order, so you can try eight of their flavors.

To get yours, go to drinklmnt.com/drbecky.

I will provide a link to the offer in the description area below this video.

Being mindful of hydration will make fasting more enjoyable.

Water is part of that equation.

But, if you are bored with plain water, a trick worth trying is to drink unsweetened

carbonated water.

These bubbly waters are available in different forms, including club soda, seltzer, and sparkling

or mineral water.

They have a more substantial feel to them than plain water, that you may find satisfying

as you progress through your fast.

Carbonated water will help you stay hydrated.

It is fine to drink during your fast because it is simply water that contains dissolved

carbon dioxide gas, which causes the bubbles to form.

It comes in cans or bottles from your local grocery store.

We actually make our own at home, which takes less than 15 seconds, using a sparkling water

maker we bought off of Amazon.

If you are having trouble letting go of cravings for soda, either regular or diet, try carbonated

water.

You will still get that fun effervescent fizz, and that may help you step away from your

soda habit.

For many of us, deciding to lose weight or improve our health has a trigger.

Something catches our attention, and we mentally declare that NOW is the time to act.

There is nothing wrong with that mindset, and it can be a great motivator.

However, it can also cause us to attempt a giant leap into fasting that can backfire,

leading to a binge.

To bring fasting up to the level you want for weight loss and health benefits, you have

to exercise your fasting muscle.

It is no different than physical muscle.

If you have not been to the gym for a while,

you must start slowly to build your strength.

Gaining comfort with fasting works in the same way.

I recommend starting with a short fast and then adding hours as you progress through

the following weeks.

By doing this, you work with your body instead of against it.

You want your body to be your ally because it has hormones on its side that can quickly

overtake willpower.

Start with a 12-hour fast and work up from there.

Tonight, stop eating after dinner and note the time.

You can then break your fast after 12 hours have passed.

Many of you will find that you can make it 12 hours easily, and in a few days, you can

lengthen your fast to 14 hours, 16 hours, or longer without hunger overwhelming you.

Of course, even with the right diet, proper hydration, and a workup period, that does

not mean hunger will not present itself during your fast.

Hunger is a fickle thing.

It will rise and fall throughout your day based on hormone and blood sugar levels as

well as environmental cues.

The clock on the wall says noon; you think about lunch.

You smell french fries, and out of the blue, you could really go for some fries.

Because of its come-and-go nature, you can expect to experience peaks of hunger during

your fasting hours, but you can also count on them to lessen.

So, a great trick for understanding your hunger pattern is to take 10-minute timeouts.

For example, when you experience hunger, look at the clock and tell yourself that you will

wait and decide whether or not to break your fast when 10 minutes have passed.

The beauty of this trick is that most of us are easily distracted.

By declaring to yourself that you will pick up this eating topic later, your brain naturally

moves on to something else.

Because hunger naturally ebbs and flows, you will often feel under control when that time

has passed, or, like I usually experience, a half hour or more goes by before you even

remember the deal you made with yourself, making it easy to continue fasting.

Practicing intermittent fasting is a great way to accelerate weight loss or get your

weight loss plan back on track.

However, thinking about going without food for 16 or more hours can be intimidating.

The keys to getting fasting to work for you are eliminating the refined foods that trigger

cravings, staying hydrated with water and electrolytes, starting with short fasts, giving

your body time to adapt to your new eating pattern, and understanding that hunger is

a fickle thing.

There are many external cues in our world that remind us to eat.

It is up to us to determine if we really need to feed that hunger.

The 10-minute timeout exercise will help you make that determination.

I hope this video helps you utilize fasting as part of your healthy routine.

Thanks to LMNT for sponsoring this video and making it possible for me to continue bringing

you free content.

Thanks for watching, and have a great rest of your day.