How Intermittent Fasting Can Improve Your Spiritual Resiliency

 

How Intermittent Fasting Can Improve Your Spiritual Resiliency

Would you look at that SDC is posting! Yes, I admit it has been a while since I posted. Trying to finish up my degree of two classes every term, and then adding on top of it full time work I have had my hands full. I also have picked up some fitness hobbies again and have been easing back into my triathlon training. With that includes open water swimming on a somewhat weekly basis. Doing that led to me being inclined to go snorkeling, and next year I’ll take diving lessons, god willing.

For those who are familiar with SDC and the types of discussion I have this will be little bit different. For those new I appreciate your time in willingness to read or listen to what I have to say. I want to talk about spiritual resiliency, and more specifically how fasting can be applied. For those who know me, they know that I have done intermittent fasting for several years. Lately I have been asked by friends and family about how they can start intermittent fasting. Which leads us to this discussion, How Intermittent Fasting Can Improve Your Spiritual Resiliency.

Disclaimer: The topic of today deals with health and fitness. While I will use some scientific papers, and anecdotal experiences this is not be construed as medical advice or recommendations. Before starting a new health or fitness routine speak with your doctor. Additionally, this post contains no paid for promotion, and are strictly my recommendations. If any of the companies do not wish me to mention email me and I will promptly remove them from this.

Spiritual Resiliency

Spirituality is widely interrupted, while often implying religion, it can also be separated from faith (Psychology Today, n.d.). Recently, I heard a military Chaplin described Spiritual Resiliency as the driving force behind a person. While we often assume that spiritual implies religion, one can be spiritual without being religious. While many may disagree the two while assumed to be intrinsically tied, they are not.

Spirituality is an important factor that needs to be maintained within ourselves. However, in an increasing secular world this domain of well being is often overlooked. I argue that with the increase of mental health struggles this is an invaluable tool. Spirituality leads to ritualism, which can than lead to something such as cult, to more formal religions. If something is religious in nature it doesn’t mean that it cannot be of value to us as individuals. One outward mechanism of spirituality in practice is fasting, which in many religions around the world is integral to each sect.

Religious Fasting

From Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism, Hinduism, and many more all have specific fasts. Arguably, Buddhism came to be from Siddhartha Gautama fasting experience in which he reaches enlightenment known as nirvana. In Islam fasting is one of the five pillars of faith, during the month of Ramadan some 2 billion practicing Muslims worldwide fast the whole month. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints likewise perform monthly fasts of forgoing to meals and donating the money to welfare assistance.

From dawn to dusk a Muslim completes a dry fast which excludes food and water for the allotted time. Jesus Christ of the Christian and Islamic gospels also started his 3-year ministry after 40-day fast. From the texts we can assume it was strictly a no food fast. So, with all these individuals around the world from various faiths which practice fasting is there any tangible benefit from it?

Health Benefits

More Doctors are becoming aware of the many benefits that fasting has to offer. I have had a family member recently ask about it as their doctor told them to do it. While it doesn’t seem very logical in passing there are many positive benefits that Intermittent Fasting has to offer such as resetting circadian rhythm, ketogenic, cardiovascular health, blood pressure, diabetes, recovery, and longevity (Dong et al., 2020). One thing that is very detrimental to your health is disruption to your sleep schedule. Disruptive sleeping can disturb circadian clock rhythm as well metabolic related cancers (Mindikoglu et al., 2020). Time restricting feeding was shown in animal studies as a non-drug induced way for resetting the circadian clock rhythm.

When you start to forgo eating your body essentially has “free time” to catch up on “routine maintenance” if you will. When your body is constantly expending energy to digest food every few hours it can get around to those other “chores.” One thing prolonged fasting does very well is allow your body to enter a ketogenic state.

“Intermittent fasting induces a ketogenic state, as evidenced by the rise in β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) levels in overweight individual who fast.[8] After 6–8 hours of fasting, ketone levels become detectable, which signals a switch from fat storage to fat utilization with decrease in lowdensity lipoproteins (LDL) and increase in high-density lipoproteins (HDL) levels.17,18” (Dong et al., 2020, p. 3).

Ketosis is when your body doesn’t have a source of carbohydrates. In the need to keep fueling cells the body switches to a fat burning mechanism. Which is why the Keto diet focuses on a very fat dense moderate protein, and very low carbohydrate macronutrient meals. Harvard Health (2020) explains that for your body to start entering the ketosis state you need to consume less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day (p. 1).

While you may shoot for exactly 50 grams you may find that it may be still too many carbohydrates. If you really want to know your tolerance, I recommend getting a testing kit and experimenting for yourself, pee strips will work just fine (blood is more accurate). Some studies suggest that the brain may prefer ketones over glucose for energy. Which for those who due the ketogenic diet refers to it as the “Keto-High.” Many anecdotally report a euphoria, focus, clarity, non-delayed thoughts, etc.

Ketosis also occurs with those who fast prolonged times of 16 plus hours of fasting. While intermittent fasting can be done with any diet mixing it with a ketogenic diet is like a wrestling tag team event. I personally have done a variety of various diets like vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, omnivore, standard American diet, carnivore, keto, and most recently the human appropriate diet. Intermittent fasting in nearly all those diets is what I ended up doing.

I find myself more full or satiated, and on top of that its simpler eating everything all within a few hours. Not to mention your bowel movements become more regular and consistent. Intermittent fasting does play a role in many good health benefits and increases your bodies reliance on utilizing fat for fuel decreasing your body fat range. There are other new and well documented benefits such as possible cancer prevention, mental health, and treating type 2 diabetes.

Possible Cancer Prevention. While there are not a lot of studies on the subject, and those which had findings need to be studied further, to grow the body evidence. It looks optimistically that fasting can also be preventive of cancer cell development. One study found that fasting was “associated with an anticancer serum proteome response and upregulated several key regulatory proteins that play a key role in tumor suppression, DNA repair, insulin signaling, glucose, and lipid metabolism, circadian clock, cytoskeletal remodeling, immune system, and cognitive function” (Mindikoglu et al., 2020, p. 2). The effects were only notable after four weeks of strict adherence to the fasting protocols, the study recommended further research into the topic.

            Mental Health. Depression can lead to a variety of physical and mental health effects on the human body such as overall feels, thoughts, and behaviors (Koo & Kim, 2020). “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 350 million individuals have depressive symptoms across the world” (Koo & Kim, 2020, p. 1). Over 10% of adult Korean women were more likely to attempt suicide, have ideation, drug, and alcohol abuse (Koo & Kim, 2020).

One study by Koo & Kim (2020) looked at how fitness, exercise, and stretching could play a role in treatment of depression and like symptoms (p. 1).

 

“Flexibility exercise played an important role in reducing and preventing stress and suicidal ideation in Korean adult women with depressive disorder. However, strength exercise and walking did not have significant effects on stress and suicidal ideation in Korean adult women with depressive disorder” (Koo & Kim, 2020, p. 9).

            Diabetes. “Type 2 diabetes afflicts 34.2 million people in the United States and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality” (Albosta & Bakke, 2021, pp. 11-12). Treatments around Type 2 Diabetes are centered around prevention. One way is looking for markers of Insulin Resistance as its strongly correlated to the onset of Type 2 Diabetes and starting a nutritional regimen to hopefully decrease the symptoms from fully developing.

16 studies showed that Intermittent Fasting is a tolerable treatment for Type 2 Diabetes, as well lowering body mass index scores, body fat percentages, and “significant reductions in fasting insulin levels” (− 44%; p < 0.05; Albosta & Bakke, 2021, p. 9). However, fasting may not be appropriate in some cases such as pregnancy, advanced age, immunodeficiency, hypoglycemic, or eating disorders, again speak to your doctor about your needs. .

Fasting Protocols

Fasting a long time makes eating that much more rewarding, but the question is how long should you fast for? Well, this is where some terminology is important to understand. First, is the fasting window which means how long you are going with out food or water. Second is the eating or feeding window for how long you must eat until you are fast again. There are various times, as well nicknames for fast. When you read a protocol the first set of digits is time without food, and the second digit behind the colon is the eating window.

16:8 is known as the Coffee Fast or Beginners fast. We all know someone who doesn’t eat anything in the morning, may have a coffee or energy drink before they eat something around 11 or 12 that day. For people experimenting with fasting this will be the easiest one to achieve.

18:6 this fasting protocol is just a step up and by far the most common fast tracked on the Zero app. The two hours does make a difference, and you can notice it about a week into the protocol. I find this protocol more flexible to my needs and allows me a window to enjoy lunch and dinner for friends, and family. If you work out in the afternoon this fast is probably best, and I would recommend having the feeding window start after your workouts normally end.

20:4 I heard this protocol referred to as the Warrior fast. This fast also coincides with a time like Ramadan fasting. You can space out one meal with a few snacks or just two meals one at the beginning and one at the end.

23:1 This is the One Meal A Day or OMAD fast, it takes a while to get used to. Once you are adapted and used to the time frame its nice. One downside is it’s not very lenient for social events.  

36 I’m not aware of if this has a nickname other than 36. I would not go beyond 36 hours in length in fasting for food or water restriction. From some studies that are available, and my own experience this is where you see a point of diminishing returns. The one benefit to this is complete reset to your microbial gut. Your bowl movements will become disrupted, and you may experience diarrhea and keto flu symptoms. Again, I can’t stress this enough that you should be very cognizant of your electrolyte and fluid consumption.

Water Fasts. Besides Ramadan style fasting for the exclusion of water for a period of 23 or less hours going without water is fine. There are those who tend to take this to the more extreme and go several days without water. I recommend against anything past 23 hours of a water fast. Water is crucial in the way your body functions and regulates itself.

Pro Tips

Hydration is key to make it through the fast, you will also learn that you probably don’t drink enough water. If you feel yourself caving into the urge to eat, get some xylitol-based gum or try a sparkling sugar free water like La Cruix. If you absolutely can’t stand the hunger, try some bone broth to tied you over. While it will bring you out of the fast its still not a solid food and easier on your body to break down, plus its more hydration. I would also recommend easing into the eating window with the bone broth.

If you are on a non-meat diet, which I personally recommend against. I advise doing a vegetable broth instead. One thing that intermittent fasting and keto have in common is flu like symptoms, known as the Keto-Flu. A simple fix is adding an electrolyte to your diet, which again a bone broth is natures electrolyte drink. If it doesn’t go away, then you probably should contact your doctor as it might be a cold or virus, or something entirely (see disclaimer).

Zero App

I have used this app since it launched in beta testing and has been very great to use. As you see I’m still using it as its super helpful in reminders, as well a reward seeing how long you have gone without food. The new version of the app does have a lot more features that didn’t exist when I first got it. Its very user friendly, and you can navigate very easily through its four primary screens. It now has loads of additional features such as weight management, correlation, glucose tracking, etc. Some features are available only through the pro version, which for the price is not bad. I don’t have the pro version since I’m not interested in the additional metrics.

Retrieved from, “My Zero App,” October 10, 2021.

Kinobody

If you search anything fitness related you are bound to come across Kinobody. Kinobody is Greg O’Gallagher’s Intermittent Fasting Minimalist program. At first, I was put off by his personality, and how almost anything I was doing had his ad played or in the background banner of a web page. Then after I sabotaged myself by dirty bulking I caved and said, screw it. Kinobody is why I started intermittent fasting. To my astonishment it worked as I was consistently losing weight, and slowly gaining strength.

I have purchased all his programs minus personal coaching, and the newer movie star program. Each one of his programs pairs a fasting protocol window to a specific regimen of calisthenics, weight training, and low intensity training. I was able improve my personal best weight lifts, and as Greg says, “Melt off the fat.” The key benefit to the minimalist weight training routine is you will be more satiated, and less likely to end up overeating your daily caloric intake. I recommend his programs as well his energy drink mix KinoOctane.

Meal Planning.

You can meal plan on this way of eating and do just fine. Or you can just wing it, but you may see slower return in benefits of the fasting protocols. Meal planning offers some benefits, such as weight loss from meal planning. While some derogatorily refer to meal planning as just strategic left-over foods, it’s much more than that. If you don’t feel like trying the fasting, I would recommend giving meal planning a try. I think the hardest part is sticking to the meal plan, and not eating something you didn’t prepare. While it does take time getting used it can become a money saver as well.

If you want to know the Kinobody macronutrient ratios or meals, I advise you check out the programs. I personally run a high fat-oriented ratio of 45% Fat, 30% protein, and 25% carbohydrates. I feel fuller with this ratio group and less ravenous at the end of my fasting window. Something else you can do is do carb-cycling where you have days of low carbohydrates and then days of high carbohydrates. For low carbohydrates you should stick below  20% range, but this is where knowing your body comes into play.

Conclusion

As I discussed there are many benefits, and methods to go about fasting. The study of the subject is growing in the medical and research communities, and I personally see a fasting specialist certification coming soon. As you fast you can see how it drives you to a mindfulness of the present moment and having gratitude for the food and water you do get. For many religions fasting is integral part of worship and becoming better than who you previously were. You also gain a greater self-discipline in abstaining from food and water. You can also feel a renewed vigor and determination that can carry over into other aspects of your life. If you noticed your spiritual resiliency improved by fasting I would like to hear about it.

Recommended Sources

Kinobody – https://www.youtube.com/c/Kinobody

Zero – https://www.zerofasting.com/

Dr. Ken Berry – https://www.youtube.com/c/KenDBerryMD

Dr. Eric Berg - https://www.youtube.com/user/drericberg123

Dr. Paul Saladino - https://carnivoremd.com/

References

Albosta, M., & Bakke, J. (2021). Intermittent fasting: Is there a role in the treatment of diabetes? A review of the literature and guide for primary care physicians. Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40842-020-00116-1

Dong, T. A., Sandesara, P. B., Dhindsa, D. S., Mehta, A., Arneson, L. C., Dollar, A. L., Taub, P. R., & Sperling, L. S. (2020). Intermittent fasting: A heart healthy dietary pattern? The American Journal of Medicine, 133(8), 901–907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.03.030

Fan, S. (2013, October 1). The fat-fueled brain: Unnatural or advantageous? Scientific American Blog Network. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-fat-fueled-brain-unnatural-or-advantageous/

Harvard Health. (2020, August 31). Should you try the keto diet? https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/should-you-try-the-keto-diet

Koo, K. M., & Kim, K. (2020). Effects of physical activity on the stress and suicidal ideation in Korean adult women with depressive disorder. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), 3502. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103502

Mindikoglu, A. L., Abdulsada, M. M., Jain, A., Jalal, P. K., Devaraj, S., Wilhelm, Z. R., Opekun, A. R., & Jung, S. Y. (2020). Intermittent fasting from dawn to sunset for four consecutive weeks induces anticancer serum proteome response and improves metabolic syndrome. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73767-w

Psychology Today. (n.d.). Spirituality. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/spirituality