My Top 5 Benefits Of Fasting

March 31, 2009 · Filed Under Fasting For Weight Loss 
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A few days ago I wrote a post on fasting for weight loss (it was a journal of my first-ever 48 hour fast) so I decided today that I should let you know that there a lot more benefits of fasting that you probably don’t know.

But you should, and NEED to know!the benefits of fasting

And although there are a lot more benefits of fasting that I’m not listing here, these are the top 5 reasons why I personally fast:

  1. Easy Calorie Reduction – If I fast twice a week, I can literally go off my diet and still lose weight. Although I don’t recommend you eat unhealthy just because you can, it’s an awesome feeling to be able to eat a bowl of ice cream, have a few beers, or go out for a good meal at a restaurant without feeling guilty. When I was back in the days of needing to eat “perfectly” I felt guilty every single time I’d eat anything that wasn’t what I was supposed to be eating.

  2. Human Growth Hormone – Human growth hormone is an incredibly powerful hormone in your body. It helps you build muscle (it’s essentially a natural steroid that your body makes), burn more fat, and some studies are even showing that during times of high output of human growth hormone, the cells in your body actually slow down the aging process.
  3. Higher Energy – One of the best benefits of fasting that I’ve noticed and personally love is that I’m always 100% full of energy. Even though I’m still young and already have a good amount of energy, I used to take afternoon naps probably at least 3-4 times per week. Since I started fasting, I literally haven’t taken one and have so much energy it’s ridiculous. I frequently work 60-80 hour weeks and have absolutely no problem with it (I’m getting married in September 2009 – and weddings are expensive!)
  4. Better Digestion – Another benefit of fasting is that your digestion will improve almost instantly. You see when you eat 6 meals per day, your body never really gets a chance to recoup. But when you fast and your body doesn’t have to worry about digesting food, it can do other important things. You know like…heal your body – something it never gets a chance to do properly when you’re always full of food!
  5. More Body Awareness – I’m very much into personal development so this is a benefit of fasting that you might not care about, but either way – it’s pretty cool. After a few fasts you’ll suddenly start to notice your body’s sensations more often and be able to control them much easier than you used to. To be honest it’s kind of weird how it happens. For example, do you hate the “hunger” sensation? I used to as well, but I’ve literally learned to embrace it. Instead of it being a negative feeling, I’ve turned it completely neutral and being hungry doesn’t bother me whatsoever these days. Essentially what I’m saying is that fasting gives you FREEDOM over food. It takes you out of the handcuffs and lets you control the intake of food instead of the other way around. It’s kind of hard to understand unless you actually go through the feeling yourself.

So that’s it!

Those are my top 5 benefits of fasting. There are definitely more, such as more vivid dreams (I love dreaming and mine are much more vivid since I started fasting) – but those would be my 5 favorites.

So what are you top 5 benefits of fasting for you?

I’d love to hear them!

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Here Are A Few Related Posts To Check Out

  1. 5 Reasons You Need To Start Fasting For Fat Loss Today
  2. Journal Of My First 48 Hour Fast For Weight Loss
  3. The TRUTH About The Pre-Workout Meal
  4. Post-Workout Meal Woes: When, How Much, And What Should You Eat?
  5. Why I Love Eating Disguisting Food

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3 Comments

  1. Jenny DiDonatoNo Gravatar, March 31, 2009:

    Jeremy, very interesting findings on this – I’ve always found it intriguing.  Have you found that fasting has the same affects on the body as carb cycles (high, low, no days) in regards to elevated HGH and energy?

    [Reply]

    Jeremy Reeves (admin)No Gravatar Reply:
    March 31st, 2009 at 10:54 am

    @Jenny DiDonato,

    Hey Jenny,

    Well as far as HGH goes – the more carbs you have in your system, the more insulin, and the less HGH, which I’m sure you already know.

    With low/no carbs I think fasting elevates it a bit more because if you’re having low/no carbs then you’re increasing protein and getting food…and your HGH really start to spike up around hour 12 or so and peak around hour 18-24.

    As far as energy levels go, I personally believe (and this is something a lot of bodybuilders would disagree with) that carbs don’t give us all the energy we feel. When I’m fasting, I’m just as energetic as I ever was.

    When working out during a fast, you’ll notice that your energy is absolutely fine up until 35-45 minutes into the workout, then it starts to drop. I’ve broken many of my own personal records during a 24 hour fasted workout. And my workouts are always <45 minutes anyway, so for me it’s perfect.

    But like anything, everybody is different and everybody’s body responds differently. I do fasting more for a health benefit and b/c it’s honestly 10x easier for me to say no to food for 24 hours than it is to say no to a bag of chips. I believe that happens because you’re already telling yourself no to everything for 24 hours, instead of excluding certain things all the time.

    Anyway I hope this answers your question and if not, feel free to comment back!

    Jeremy

    [Reply]

  2. HealthnuttNo Gravatar, March 31, 2009:

    Good information. Didn’t know that about the Growth Hormones. I would also add that theenergy comes after mayb 5 days because of the detoxing period and drink lots of water. Thanks for a great article.

    [Reply]

    Jeremy Reeves (admin)No Gravatar Reply:
    March 31st, 2009 at 10:58 am

    @Healthnutt,

    Yea I think that increased Growth Hormone is one of the best aspects of fasting. And yes I believe it comes from the detoxing as well (the energy)!

    [Reply]

  3. charlieNo Gravatar, March 31, 2009:

    Hi Jeremy, can you explain this paragraph a little more please? “With low/no carbs I think fasting elevates it a bit more because if you’re having low/no carbs then you’re increasing protein and getting food…and your HGH really start to spike up around hour 12 or so and peak around hour 18-24.”
    Thanks, Charlie

    [Reply]

    Jeremy Reeves (admin)No Gravatar Reply:
    March 31st, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    @charlie,

    Hey Charlie,

    Ok well the reason our HGH elevates so high while fasting is b/c your body doesn’t have any food coming in. I’m not exactly sure WHY it elevates like that (there are dozens of different explanations that could be possible), but studies show that it does in fact happen.

    As far as it peaking around hour 12, I mean that it starts getting very high about 12 hours or so after not having any calories in your body.

    Your HGH levels in your body fluctuates throughout the day no matter if you have food or not. However, when fasting it simply hits higher peaks for longer periods and more often, and the low peaks are higher than if you have food.

    Does that make sense?

    Jeremy

    [Reply]

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