Health Archives

How to Start Fasting: The 4-Week Transition Period

Are you considering adopting intermittent fasting (IF) as a lifestyle? What are some things you should keep in mind when beginning your transition to the IF feeding schedule? Transitioning to intermittent fasting (IF) is a big step, especially if you’re used to following the standard three-meal feeding approach. According to Gin Stephens, the author of Fast. Feast. Repeat., the key to successfully transitioning to the IF lifestyle is to adapt your body to the IF feeding over a four-week period. Keep reading to learn how to start fasting by committing to a four-week adaptation period.

What Are the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting?

How does fasting induce fat loss? What are the benefits of intermittent fasting apart from weight loss? In the fasted state, your body converts your fat stores into ketones, a fat-based energy source. Put another way, you burn your fat as fuel (a state called ketosis). In addition to fat loss, intermittent fasting has other health benefits. Keep reading to learn about the health benefits of intermittent fasting.

The Science Behind Fasting and Weight Loss

How does fasting promote weight loss? What is the mechanism behind the weight loss effect of fasting? Your body has a powerful built-in fat-burning mechanism that’s activated by fasting. However, weight loss isn’t immediate once you start fasting. Since our bodies are used to overeating, we need to teach them to access our fat stores again. When you start fasting, your body won’t yet know how to burn fat and will instead slow your metabolism to save energy until you can eat again. Here’s a look at the science behind fasting and weight loss.

The Connection of Mind and Body in Medicine

Why is the connection of mind and body important in the medical field? Why does modern medicine separate mind from body? The Western medicine treats the mind and the body as separate domains (mind-body dualism). According to Dr. Gabor Maté, the author of When the Body Says No, this mindset is holding modern medicine back because the mind can cause disease to the body. Here’s why the mind-body connection shouldn’t be overlooked when diagnosing and treating illness.

The Best Intermittent Fasting Schedules: TRE and ADF

What is the best intermittent fasting schedule? How should you time your fasts for maximum effectiveness? There are many things to factor in when deciding on which fasting schedule suits you best: your lifestyle, work schedule, how long you can go without food, etc. As a starting point, you may want to begin with time-restricted eating (TRE) and move to a more advanced alternate-day fasting (ADF) schedule once your body has acclimated to extended periods of not eating. Here’s how to time your fasting cycles using the TRE and the ADF approaches.

The Causes of Chronic Stress: It Starts in Childhood

What are the main causes of chronic stress? How can childhood stress lead to diseases later in life? Does personality play a role in development of physical disease? In his book When the Body Says No, Dr. Gabor Maté says that there is a link between chronic stress and physical illness. According to Maté, chronic stress often stems from childhood, meaning that one’s parental nurturing, childhood development, and even personality may contribute to development of certain illnesses later in life. Learn about the ultimate cause of chronic stress, according to Dr. Gabor Maté.

Gin Stephens: Clean Fast Guidelines

What is a clean fast? What foods do you need to avoid on a clean fast? To fast cleanly means to eat nothing that hinders the insulin-curbing and fat-burning effects of fasting. Depending on your health and fitness goals (fat-burning, muscle building, or general health), you may have more or less leeway in terms of what you can eat. In this article, we’ll explain the “clean fast”—Gin Stephens’s approach to fasting—and her “delay, don’t deny” approach to feasting.

The 3 Long-Lasting Effects of Childhood Trauma

How can childhood trauma affect a person later in life? What mental health problems can arise? For children who suffer abuse, trauma’s impact on the developing brain tends to create long-term issues. In their book What Happened to You?, Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey mention three broad ways that childhood trauma can impact people in the long-term: 1) mental and physical health issues, 2) flashbacks and triggers, and 3) unrecognized behavioral patterns. Keep reading to learn more about the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma.

Stress-Related Illnesses: How the Mind Affects the Body

What is a stress-related illness? Can stress really make a person physically sick? Although science treats the mind and the body as separate entities, there’s a strong connection between stress and illness. Dr. Gabor Maté discusses this connection in his book When the Body Says No, explaining the links between peoples’ life histories, psychological profiles, and specific diseases. Here’s a look at some of the stress-related illnesses.

Why Dieting Doesn’t Work in the Long Term

Do any diets actually work? Why does food- or calorie-restrictive dieting not work in the long term? According to Gin Stephens, the author of Fast. Feast. Repeat., dieting for weight loss doesn’t work in the long term. However, decades of contradictory advice about how and what to eat for weight loss has created immense confusion, a tangle that she calls “diet brain”: When you no longer have any clue how to eat “properly.” Here’s why dieting doesn’t work in the long term, according to Stephens.