interesting piece I got in email from one of the CST bodyweight coaches.
“I’m sitting in the Newark airport waiting for a connecting flight
to take me down to Tampa. I’ll be spending a couple days sharing
ideas with Craig Ballantyne and a few other world class fitness
pros.
It was through just such a melding of minds that I became good
friends with Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat. And it’s him that
gave me the idea to “travel fast.” No, I’m not referring to your
speed of travel. I’m talking about using intermittent fasting as a
nutrition strategy for when you’re on the road.
I’m a bit peckish right now, but I chose to fast from breakfast
this morning until tomorrow morning. And the advantages far
outweigh the slight tickle of hunger.
-Heck of a lot cheaper than buying airport food
-Don’t have to drag food around with me
-Don’t feel that greasy, heavy, bloated feeling from eating junk
And aside from the fringe benefits of travel fasting, there are a
whole slew of beneficial effects associated with regular
intermittent fasting. Some of them are…
-Increased growth hormone production
-Caloric restriction (if you do it right)
-A well earned break for your digestive system
-Facilitated lipolysis (release of fatty acids for fuel in your body)
-Detox (your body stores toxins in fat…)
Those are just a few of the reasons I regularly use IF. But if you
want more in-depth discussion on why it’s so great, you should turn
to the guy who introduced me to it and check out Brad’s book
***
FASTING TIP: There’s much more psychological friction than actual
physical discomfort when you decide to stop eating for 24 hours.
We’re conditioned to expect food at very specific intervals.
And we’ve been trained to think that we’re in big trouble if we
miss a meal. But there is NO scientific evidence that short term
fasting has any negative effects on metabolism.
So when you get a bit panicked about being hungry, just take a
mental step back and realize that you have no idea what REAL hunger
is. All you’re feeling is that pre-conditioned idea that you need
to eat–now.
Take a deep breath, exhale and let your body relax. Just releasing
the stress of wanting to eat will help the hunger pangs disappear.
Oh, and stay busy. Idle hands make hungry tummies…
OK, boarding call…
Cheers,
Adam
PS I’ve also been experimenting with a cool twist on fasting that
my friend and colleague Joel Marion taught me. He’s an evil genius.
It’s tough–certainly not for everyone–but the results have been
really interesting.
PPS If you want to check out Eat Stop Eat, I’d highly recommend it.
I was engrossed by it even though I didn’t even intend to try
fasting back then. I read the whole thing in one shot. The link is
below.
Eat Stop Eat <———– Best information available on intermittent fasting
