Burn Fat By Skipping Breakfast: How Intermittent Fasting can help you lose!

I hope everyone is continuing with their New Year Resolutions!  – I say this because about this time is when everyone starts to fall off the wagon.  If you're already off to a good start on a healthy fitness plan or healthy eating, and you're looking for ways to take it to the next level, then you might want to consider a form of fasting called Scheduled Eating, or intermittent fasting.

In essence this fitness-enhancing strategy looks at the timing of meals, as well as when NOT to eat. This isn't one of those fad plans, where you eat just one or two things for several days in a row.

In fact, the longest time I’d ever expect you to abstain from food is 14-18 hours (basically getting in the habit of skipping breakfast).

I realize that many of us (especially myself) have long heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Believe me, telling someone to skip breakfast is a major shift from my typical recommendations of healthy eating.

But as many of you know- I am always learning and willing to change my own opinions on nutrition should sound science support it.

That said, following the implementation of our weight loss system, I’ve spent a great deal of time studying Obesity, weight loss and catching up on the volumes of literature that exist with respect to human metabolism.  Based on the results that I’ve seen not only with my family members and patients, I’m confident to share a few suggestions!

First of all, I believe that fasting is not something you should undertake without any thought. You need to pay attention to your body, your energy levels, and how it makes you feel in general—especially if you're diabetic or hypoglycemic.

Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss

One of the mechanisms that make fasting so effective for weight loss is the fact that it provokes the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), which is a fat-burning hormone.  It also plays an important role in muscle building. Fasting also increases catecholamines, which increases resting energy expenditure, while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel. Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.

Hence, if like millions of people, your goal is to shed excess fat, fasting can be both effective and beneficial for improving many disease markers.

Intermittent Fasting for Athletes

A 2008 study that evaluated the effect of fasting during the Muslim observance of Ramadan found it had a positive effect on body mass and other health markers in trained athletes. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19164831)

While athletes are certainly concerned with shedding excess fat, another overriding concern is the optimization of muscle growth. For this, you need protein. As a general guideline, you'll want to consume a high quality protein 30-60 minutes after finishing your workout.  If you have not done so, ask for a free sample of our new protein meal replacement!

Here’s my new strategy: I typically delay my breakfast until 11 or 12 and workout around 10:15 AM. Since my last meal is typically around 8 PM, I will fast for about 13-17 hours before I eat my first meal. The fact that you are sleeping during most of this time makes it relatively painless and easy to do.

Avoid grain carbs!  Although popular, “carb loading” is a mistake, particularly for people engaged in intense strength training, as you will burn carb fuel very quickly and then “hit the wall.” So careful when starting your day with muffins, bagels, or pancakes. This type of breakfast typically ignites a vicious cycle of hunger and snacking on even more carbs. And the more you continue eating these carb snacks, the more insulin resistant you become.

Remember:  Grains spike Insulin levels.  Insulin converts sugar to fat.  More Insulin gives rise to more fat and if you always have insulin, you become insulin resistant (or Weight Loss Resistant).

According to Ori Hofmekler, author of The Warrior Diet, you can quite literally re-design your physique using a combination of under-eating and exercise. However this really only works well once your metabolism has become proficient at burning fat.

That’s what is so cool about our Dream Drops Weight Loss Program – it helps to turn the body from being a sugar burner, into a fat burner!

Intermittent Fasting for General Health and Longevity

Fasting is historically common-place as it has been a part of spiritual practice for millennia. But modern science has confirmed there are many good reasons for fasting, including:

• Normalizing your insulin sensitivity
• Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as “the hunger hormone”
• Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process
• Lowering triglyceride levels
• Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage

Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body… This is important because the fewer fat cells a body has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or diabetes.

Even more remarkable, it’s been determined that fasting triggers a dramatic rise in HGH—1,300 %in women, and an astounding 2,000 % in men!

HGH, commonly referred to as “the fitness hormone” plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness and longevity, including promotion of muscle growth, and boosting fat loss by revving up your metabolism. The fact that it helps build muscle while simultaneously promoting fat loss explains why HGH helps you lose weight without sacrificing muscle mass, and why even athletes can benefit from the practice (as long as they don't overtrain and are careful about their nutrition).

The Bottom Line

I understand it can get confusing at times, trying to determine when and what to eat in order to optimize your health. Unfortunately, besides a few basic principles that will apply to virtually everyone, such as strictly limiting consumption of sugars (particularly fructose) and grains, the rest is really a matter of figuring out what works for your individual biochemistry. This requires some trial and error.

Personally, I skip breakfast and exercise in a fasting state whenever I've gained a few pounds and want to get them off. I find this works well for me. While I'm not eating breakfast, I don't really eliminate that meal entirely; rather I'm simply delaying it until noon or later, in order to reap the metabolic rewards of exercise combined with calorie restriction.

Also remember that fasting does not mean abstaining from ALL food for extended periods of time, but rather a dramatic reduction of calorie intake at regular intervals—whether you opt for a 16, 20, or 24 hour fast once or twice a week, or fasting every other day, or simply delaying certain meals, such as skipping breakfast and exercising on an empty stomach. As always, listen to your body, and go slow; work your way up to full day fasts if your normal schedule.

4 Must-Do Mindfulness Exercises To Boost Your Body Image & Life

In How to Train a Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulness, Jan Chozen Bays, M.D., writes “Just as an untamed elephant can do damage, trampling crops and injuring people, so the untamed, capricious mind can cause harm to us and those around us.”

All day we can let our minds run with mean thoughts eventually becoming one big, clenched ball of self-criticism, anxiety, tension and negativity.  Can you relate?  I hope not :)  This is one of the reasons mindfulness can be so helpful as a coping strategy – and way of life. We don’t have to live in negativity. We don’t have to criticize ourselves.

Dr. Chozen defines mindfulness as, “Mindfulness is deliberately paying full attention to what is happening around you—in your body, heart and mind. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgment.”  Here are four of my favorite exercises from Bays’s book that’ll not only help to boost your body image but also improve your mood and life.

1. Appreciate your hands.

A few times a day, watch your hands as though they belonged to a stranger. To remind yourself to do this, you can write “Watch Me” on the back of your hand, wear a ring that you normally don’t.  Not only do they nourish you with food, but they’re also the vehicles of creation. With your hands, you can cook, paint, draw and write, among other things. You can also hug and touch and thereby support others and show them love.

2. Try a media fast.

Try not taking in any media for one day or better one week! This includes avoiding everything from social media to iPods to TV to newspapers to books. We’re constantly plugged into so many types of media. So many things grab for our attention on an hourly basis, making it hard to be mindful. A barrage of bad news and vivid images of violence, weather disasters and suffering also affects us deeply.  A media fast is a great way to combat our culture of thinness, too. We’re exposed to so many ads per day, unrealistic images and shame-inducing headlines that it’s healthy to take a break.  Replace media time with taking a walk in silence or meditating :)

3. Look with loving eyes.

Our usual way of looking at life isn’t loving. It’s either neutral or negative.  This makes me think of how we zero in on our perceived body flaws. We zero in on our cellulite, pockets of fat and bloated belly, and forget to appreciate ourselves as whole beautiful beings.  Instead, try to look at life with loving eyes.  When people try looking at the world with loving eyes, they report a shift in how they see objects and other people.

4. Look deeply into food.

Being mindful when we’re eating is so important. It helps us to listen to our body’s cues and savor our food.  When you eat, take a moment to look into the food or drink as if you could see backward, into its history. Use the power of imagination to see where it comes from and how many people might have been involved in bringing it to your plate, such as the people who planted and harvested the food, the grocers and the family members who cooked it.   The next time you’re eating, take a moment and reflect on how you’re feeling at that moment—are you hungry, stressed, eating for life or eating for pleasure!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 c. cocoa
• 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 c. xylitol
• 2 level tsp. stevia powder
• 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
• 3 large free range eggs
• 1/2 c. gluten-free flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 c. water

Directions

• Blend all ingredients together.
• Grease pan with coconut oil
• Bake for 40 min. at 350 degrees.
• Allow to cool for 10-15 mins.

Avocado Bison Burgers

Ingredients

• 2 lb. ground 100% grass-fed bison meat
• 2/3 cup finely diced shallots
• 1/2 cup sliced scallions
• 2 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 garlic clove, minced
• 4 tsp. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried thyme)
• Salt and pepper
• 4 large pieces of iceberg lettuce
• 1 whole avocado cut into large pieces
• 1 large tomato cut into slices

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together.

2. Form into 4 half lb. patties or 8 sliders.

3. Chill in refrigerator for about 10-20 minutes to firm up.

4. Grill over high heat until cooked through to medium.

5. Serve hot on an Ezekiel bread or gluten free bun topped with lettuce, avocado and tomato slice

Like Lobotomies and bloodletting, Vaccinations are just another crazy medical procedure…and years from now, peeps will eventually realize it.

I personally will never and have never vaccinated my children and they're super healthy. I get asked all the time “Should I vaccinate”…my opinion is “No”…but the 1st question that comes to mind is “How Healthy are you and your family?”…do you eat clean, exercise daily (get genetically congruent equivalents of movement) and get adjusted regularly (have a strong functioning nervous system), if so- then NO, you don't need a vaccination.  But if you fail to do these things, then you are exposed to so much stress because you are not living the way you were designed to live.

Is universal flu vaccination in babies and children saving lives? See http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_13.pdf page 32 to confirm the 2003 data on this graphic.

Note the naysayers who claim we are trying to “mislead” with our “agenda” – is just entertaining.

I will not make the decision for you and your family to vaccinate, but I am not afraid to give you truth.  You don't have to like it, just live it :)