Intermittent Fasting:

IF is enduring a non eating window interspersed between an eating window. Some of the popular windows are 16-8 (16 hours fasting-8 hours feasting), 14-10, 12-12.

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This is not a fad. This is as old a system as it gets. This is how our physiology got evolved thousands of years back. The Caveman, whose genes we carry, never had a Fridge! The typical eating cycle was similar to a Lion's today.

A Caveman's hunger & eating cycle:

Felt hungry --> Hunted --> failed --> Hunted again --> caught a wild animal --> ate
The human physiology got developed around this process.

IF in some ways, like exercise, is just a simulation of the caveman's lifestyle.

All the modern lifestyle diseases have emerged because of the deviation from the Caveman's lifestyle. Hence, this is what I always practice - a combination of sleep, exercise and right eating (including fasting) gives us a simulation of that Caveman's lifestyle.

(4/13)

https://twitter.com/flaneur_a/status/1219219236913967106

Back to Intermittent Fasting...there is probably no one size fits all solution. You do what suits you. This is what I generally do:

Eating window - 11:00 am to 8 pm
Fasting Window - 8 pm to 11:00 am

(6/13)

Dinner @ 8 pm
Last sip of water @ 9:30 pm
Sleep by 11.00 pm
First sip of water at 10.30 am
First morsel of food at 11.00 am
Protein heavy meals till 4:00 pm
Lighter meals post 4 pm. Lightest meal at 8 pm
Almost no sugar, minimum packaged food.

What are the advantages?
There are innumerable advantages. Different advantages come at different stages of fasting. Hence, even if you find it difficult to fast for more than 12 hours, it makes sense to stretch every once in a while beyond 12 hours, to get a bouquet of benefits.

Here are some obvious ones:
It resets our digestion & related systems...like restoring a phone to factory settings. One by one, it resets all the internal systems.

(9/13)

It's a bit like the Cash Conversion Cycle for a small business. a company with a small conversion cycle can buy inventory, sell it, and receive cash from customers in less time. A good business, keeps these cycles small for quick & efficient churning of business cycle.

By the time I sleep, I've fully digested my food & water. Metabolically expensive digestive system is switched off, leaving open bandwidth for the body for other things - reinforcing my muscles, curing inflammations and sorting out my emotions & decisions.

(11/13)

Boosting Immunity, kills weak cancer prone cells, heals inflammation, cures bloating & flatulence, visceral fat loss, crush your cravings.... A lot of these benefits are listed in this thread. https://twitter.com/flaneur_a/status/1135942761507483649

Lastly, it is very easy to do IF. I am the last one to endure hunger. I often suffer from being Hangry (hungry + angry). If I can do it, anyone can. All you need is to avoid eating three hours on both side of sleep. It's that simple!

(End) https://twitter.com/flaneur_a/status/1212411591066415105