By Shelly Fulks
Intermittent fasting is when you alternate between set periods of eating and not eating throughout your day. Typically, it means you’ll fast for 14-16 hours per day and eat throughout 8-10 hours each day. Most recommend eating lunch and dinner while skipping breakfast.
Skipping breakfast may sound daunting, but never fear! Coffee is still allowed! Ancient + Brave is a great brand that makes products specifically for intermittent fasting, and their coffee is a perfect way to make sure you are getting the nutrients and energy you need to start out your day.
Intermittent fasting is a great way to lose fat and build muscle by ensuring that your body makes the most of each meal you eat. Your body takes about 3-5 hours to digest and process each meal you eat. During this period, your insulin levels are high, and it is challenging to burn fat at this point. Then your body enters the postabsorptive state throughout the following 8-12 hours. Only after those 12 hours have ended do we enter into the fasted state.
During the fasting state, our bodies burn fat faster. However, because we typically do not go 12 hours without eating, our bodies are unable to enter this state and burn that fat.
There are other benefits to intermittent fasting too. You only have to plan 2 meals each day, so you can save time and money, and you continue to eat what you want each day just within a certain hour range.
Of course, transitioning from eating every few hours to just two meals a day can be quite the jump. Adding in MCT oil is a great way to ensure you’re getting healthy fats. You want to start out with small amounts (1/2 of a teaspoon) and increase with an additional half teaspoon each week up until you can have a tablespoon. MCT oil works quickly and is used for instant energy so it can allow you to make the most of both the times you are fasting and feasting. You will typically be able to feel the effects within 15-30 minutes.
This means as you adjust to eating fewer meals, you can take a half teaspoon of MCT oil to satisfy your hunger. The healthy fats mean that it will not bring your body out of fasting either. Adding it to a post-fast meal also makes the body’s fat burning phase last a bit longer.
Although intermittent fasting is an adjustment, it is a great way to get rid of the body’s fats that shows results.