I have been an intermittent faster for 3 years now. I’ve also recently implemented monthly extended fasts (72 hours +). With fasting, in general, I have seen incredible benefits. My initial interest in fasting was largely aesthetic; I wanted to better manage my weight. Today, my desire to fast is solely for longevity.
What does longevity mean?
One of my intellectual heros is a doctor by the name of Peter Attia. Peter eats, sleeps, and breathes one thing: longevity. One thing he has concluded is that fasting—or restricted feeding windows—helps prolong life.
How restrictive feeding windows can work to prolong life
Fasting has been practiced for millennia for various religious reasons. However, at one point in our evolution, the ability to go for days without food was essential for survival. Depending on body weight and composition of the person, the ketone bodies (that are released from burned fat storages) can allow the majority of human beings to survive 30 or more days without food. This isn’t unique to humans; mammals evolved to endure long periods of time without food.
So where’s the benefit?
The benefits of clinical fasting have only been studied recently. Applying a calculated amount of stress to your body may have a role in adaptive cellular responses that can extend longevity by reprogramming metabolic and stress responses. According to this 2015 study, fasting may reduce oxidative damage and inflammation, optimize energy metabolism, and bolster cellular protection.
In humans, fasting has the potential to delay aging and help prevent and treat diseases while minimizing the side effects caused by chronic eating.
Eating is exhausting
Digestion is quite a process—even if it is automatic. With three meals a day, your body never stops working at breaking down food. This can have a drastic wearing down effect on your cells and DNA; almost like running a car in 5th gear all of the time.
eating throughout the day, and therefore digesting throughout the day, is like running a car in 5th gear all the time
I have tried all sorts of fasts—intermittent, extended, dry, wet. After 2 years I have concluded I will always be a faster.
Some of the benefits include,
- Improved digestive and immune systems
- Improved blood sugar and decrease diabetes and cardiovascular risk
- Weight loss
- Decreased inflammation
- Improved blood pressure, triglycerides and cholesterol levels
- Enhanced brain function and health
- Increased HGH levels (growth hormone)
- Delayed aging
- Reduced cancer risk and has been known to aid cancer treatment
- Boost overall health and assist with healing of various ailments
- Improved heart health
- Improved mental health
So why does doing exactly what we’ve always been told NOT to do make us healthier?
The answer is found largely in our evolution. As previously mentioned, dietary restriction, caloric restriction, and time restrictions were all the norm for thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of years.
I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense: we haven’t always had unlimited choice in food variety; we certainly haven’t had unlimited food; and perhaps the most misconceived piece of the holy trinity, we have not had access to food at any given moment.
Fast forward to the last two hundred years of human history—a mere blink in comparison to the time it took to craft our genetic makeup—and we’re doing everything in a totally opposite fashion.
We’ve out progressed our evolution
Dr. Attia discusses metabolic switching as a “preferential shift” from the use of glucose as a fuel source to fatty acids and ketone bodies. When we run out of glucose, our body switches to the next available fuel source—fat! When we burn fat we release ketones, which then act as a substitute fuel source. Ketones are an important fuel source AND also act as signalling molecules that affect how we age and our overall health.
Ketones are signalling molecules
When your body sees ketones, it thinks “uh oh, no food!” This can be a great thing for many reasons. The biggest, in my opinion, is a process called “autophagy.”
Autophagy can prevent cancer
Autophagy is a recycling and cleanup process that rids your body of damaged cells and proteins. The body begins to shed itself of all of its old and deficient cells; this is like taking rust off of a car. These “older cells” are the same cells that often mutate into cancer cells. Dr. Attia and Dr. Dominic D’Agostino believe that fasting may be one of the most effective ways of ridding your body of all pre-cancer cells. In other words, fasting is one of the best ways to prevent cancer!
It is important to note that the benefits of fasting vary according to how long you fast. I have employed monthly extended fasts of three days or more (which I discuss in detail here); I also intermittent fast daily (in various windows like 16:8, 18:6, one meal a day (OMAD). This may seem radical to someone unfamiliar with fasting. But trust me, it doesn’t take long for your body to adjust to the new feeding windows.
Your genetic code has been hard wired for this kind of behaviour.
Fasting is perfect for the professional
Besides the health benefits, there are some practical professional benefits: for example, I largely don’t worry about breakfast or lunch. I am able to start my day without a hitch. No decision fatigue. No lethargy. I get up and go.
Contrary to what most think, I don’t even start to hit my mental peak until around hour 16 to 18 without food. This is when your body stops using glucose and switches to the ketone bodies. You start burning a more efficient fuel, and in turn, you start to think more efficiently. Ketones pass through the blood brain barrier better than our usual fuel source, glucose. That can be 1-3 pm depending on my last feed.
The jury is still out on the overall benefits of fasting. I don’t need scientific validation to determine that I feel better. I’m convinced by how I feel. But there are a number of resources out there that go over this in detail.
A great place to start if you’re interested in fasting is Peter Attia’s podcast, The Drive. Dr. Attia doesn’t discuss fasting exclusively, but it definitely makes up a lot of his content (and for good reason).
For a look at multi day fasts and their benefits, click here.
Happy fasting everyone.
Al holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Arts Double Major in Linguistics & Political Studies from the University of Manitoba. He is currently working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Al has a passion for language, meditation, health, travelling, business and tech. Al is one of the co-founders of ThoughtNotion. You can connect with him on his personal site or on LinkedIn.
