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Dr. Frye speaks about the benefits of medical cannabis
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Today’s Sharing
an excerpt from the blog of Dr. Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Why Intermittent Fasting May Make You Healthier
Our ancestors didn’t have access to food 24/7 the way most of us do today. And they certainly didn’t have as many food choices or access to all of the processed food out there now. In medieval times in Europe, the morning meal for most people consisted of ale and bread. Later, they would eat whatever they brought in from the fields, usually around 2 pm. This was called “dinner.” Some people would also grab a light meal at the end of the day. But, the last meal of the day (what most of us call dinner now) was not a formal or large meal, and was often skipped.
Today, most of us are on autopilot when it comes to eating three meals so that when we skip meals (or eat foods that we think should be eaten at a different time of day, such as pasta for breakfast or eggs for dinner), we often feel guilty. But, our bodies were actually designed for intermittent periods of fasting, and many modern diets are coming back to this. The reason why is that intermittent fasting helps to lower your insulin levels.
Excess insulin is the final common pathway that has led to the obesity epidemic. So anything you can do to lower insulin levels naturally is very healthy for your body. Breakfast means to “break the fast.” A 12-hour fast is a very easy way to lower insulin levels. Because it takes 12 hours of not eating for the body to clear its stores of glycogen (stored sugar) in the liver. It’s easy to go without food for 12 hours if you do it overnight.
It is high insulin that drives cellular inflammation as well. So, that is the key point of the benefits of fasting. But, there are other benefits, such as an increase in growth hormone.