A look at five day-to-day mistakes that you might be making while fasting
The benefits of circadian fasting are endless. A regular schedule of circadian fasting will improve energy, help with fat loss, balance insulin levels and more. It can even turn on genes that make your body more resilient and improve your overall metabolism. But if you are making regular mistakes while circadian fasting, it can actually hurt your metabolism. Here, we give you five mistakes to avoid while circadian fasting.
1. Rushing the results
With anything you are doing hormonally or metabolically, you can’t expect results quickly. If you try to rush, you will be too aggressive and end up with a hormone imbalance, which comes with numerous other health concerns. It’s best to go slowly and take your time when circadian fasting. Start with 12 hours of circadian fasting, which begins in the evening, and slowly work your way up to longer fasts.
2. Not timing meals correctly
We know that circadian rhythms matter. Our bodies metabolize meals differently depending on the time. Eating a meal at midnight is not processed the same as a meal eaten at 8:00 AM. There are metabolic genes that naturally get turned off at night so that they can repair and renew. Melatonin binds to your pancreas so that insulin production is also turned down at night. Don’t eat meals close to bedtime or late at night. While eating late at night and fasting until mid-afternoon is a common schedule for some, it’s not ideal. Move up your dinner and breakfast so that you are more in line with your natural circadian rhythm.
3. Not choosing nutrition wisely
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When you are in the midst of your eating window, watch what you eat. Don’t eat junk food and expect the best results from your intermittent fasting program. Choose high-fiber foods that feed the gut-bacteria. The colon is where the gut bacteria lives and they eat fiber from plants and process it into compounds called short-chain fatty acids, which balances hormones and boosts the immune system. If you are having your last meal at 6:00 PM, make sure it’s full of plants and plant fiber so that it will keep you full and improve your gut health throughout the day.
4. Not sleeping enough
Sleep loss inhibits your immune system, gut and brain health. If you are getting less than six hours of sleep at night, you will not see results. Eighty percent of our genes are responsive to when we sleep and wake up, so it’s crucial to prioritize your sleep.
5. Not focusing on your mental wellbeing
A healthy body can't exist if you don’t make peace with your heart and mind. Putting your mental wellbeing at the top of your list is essential to seeing results from circadian fasting.
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