Natural Body Cycles
You’ve heard that breakfast is the most important part of the day, but why is that? Our natural Body Cycles. The body is in the Elimination Stage from 4AM-12PM every day, meaning it’s still trying to digest food you ate prior, still eliminating, cleansing and releasing toxins. This is why fasting from the time you wake up until noon is advantageous, especially if you’re trying to lose weight. If you do decide to eat during this cycle, it’s best to have fresh juice or fruit since high water content foods require minimal digestion. This is why they call it break-fast.
Our bodies are designed to fast
There have been many studies done on the benefits of intermittent fasting, many that show it leads to longer life and better health. Most people aren’t aware of the amount of energy it takes to digest the food we eat, especially heavy carbohydrate foods. It takes 15-30% of our calories just to run our digestive systems, so it’s no wonder some meals bring on fatigue–your body is working overtime.
Not eating breakfast can actually give you energy
If we know that digesting food uses as much as 30% of our energy, why not keep that energy and use it to work out before work or just have more energy to work with? If we allow our body to take a small break from digesting, it will use your fat stores for energy instead. As we eat throughout the day, our blood sugar goes up and down like a roller coaster. Without this rise and fall, you’re setting your day up for more energy, increased brain function, and more energy in general.
Other benefits to intermittent fasting
Numerous studies show that cycling between periods of eating and fasting have powerful benefits for the body and brain.
Here are a few of the changes that occur during fasting:
- Insulin levels drop significantly, facilitating fat burning
- Cellular repair occurs, breaking down dysfunctional proteins that may provide protection against several diseases, including cancer and alzheimer’s
- Metabolic rate in the body increases by 3.6-14% leading to more calories burned, while reducing the amount of food you eat
- Inflammation is reduced, enhancing the body’s resistance to oxidative stress
- Clearer skin and acne prevention
