What is fasting?

By now you've certainly heard about fasting and I'm sure it conjures up some images in your mind - good and bad. And you may ask yourself:

What is Fasting - really?

Fasting has MANY benefits.

You’ve already learned about why you fast - with all of the amazing benefits you get from fasting. Now you will learn what it is.

https://zenstrength.fitness/benefits-fasting/

https://zenstrength.fitness/benefits-fasting/

Put simply,

“Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.”

So, what, then, qualifies as a fast?

You may have heard this debate before…

You may hear that fasting means that you can only drink water.

You may hear that it’s okay to drink tea or coffee while fasting.

And you may hear that sleeping doesn’t count as fasting.

Or that your fasting time doesn’t officially start until you finish digesting your food.

What do you think?

For simplicity, you can stick to this definition of fasting:

“Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.”

That means that you are fasting just as soon as you stop eating.

Sure, it may be nice to count your fast after you finish digesting your food. But that would be too difficult to know and measure. That is, how do you know when your food is digested? And what does that mean, anyway?

(It takes on average about 4 hours to digest a meal in your stomach...but longer to then go through your entire GI tract.)

Your definition of “fasting”

So, yes, technically by this definition, unless you are eating non-stop, you are fasting more often than not.

But I would say that you’re not really fasting unless you are getting the benefits of a fast. That is, it doesn’t really count as a fast until you’ve digested your food to the point where your body is able to do its own clean-up.

From ”Fasting” - to “The Fasted State”

This is what can be referred to as “the fasted state” - and it generally happens more than 4 hours after your meal. This is when the magic of fasting really starts to kick in. Your body shifts back over to burning fat for fuel and all of your metabolic functions can now focus more on “taking out the trash” so to speak - by cleaning your body at a cellular level.

It’s important to remember that too often people keep eating without giving their bodies time to rest and digest. (When you sign up for my fasting program, you learn what it takes to have the control to give your body that much-needed rest from food.)

Take a look at the definition of fasting again:

“Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.”

Fasting is not starving

And remember that, as you learned in the last update, fasting is NOT starving. Fasting is voluntary.

https://zenstrength.fitness/does-fasting-mean-youre-starving/

https://zenstrength.fitness/does-fasting-mean-youre-starving/

To illustrate, you can look at some examples of fasting…

If you stop eating at 8pm at night and then eat breakfast at 8am, you have fasted for 12 hours.

Pretty simple, right?

Although tracking the time is important, remember that it’s more important to actually get the benefits of fasting.

Not all fasting is created equal

Although you will see great benefits from fasting alone, you need to keep in mind that what you eat and how much you eat still does matter.

I want to make this point clear because I see too many people who practice some form of intermittent fasting and see it as a “free pass” to eat whatever they want, with little regard to the damage they might be doing with the kinds of things they’re putting into their bodies.

Case in point... We had a student in the past fasting program who ate McDonald’s and Oreo cookies - and still saw his weight and blood pressure drop while incorporating fasting in his diet.

So, although he saw some positive benefits following the fasting protocol, just think what he could have done by skipping the junk food.

It’s up to you - and the choice is yours. You’re in control of just how far you take your healthy habits during this journey.

Do you want to give fasting a try?

Join the Free Fasting Challenge.

You'll have a chance to practice fasting with the free fasting challenge that starts on SUNDAY, December 29th. This is a "choose your own adventure" type of fast...

The challenge runs 3 days and it's up to you to decide HOW you fast and for HOW LONG. If you're new to fasting, I would recommend starting with a "minimum effective dose" of 13 hours.

Click the link and join the Free Fasting Challenge NOW:

https://www.vimify.com/j8smv

It is a challenge; and it's a competition. You'll get points for completing tasks (by sharing your experience) and, if you have the most points, you'll win a prize!

What is Intermittent Fasting?

This term is used without really understanding what it means...and this is something you'll learn in the next update. Stay tuned...

What does FASTING mean to you?

Leave a comment - or a question - below...

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