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How Intermittent Fasting Can Make You More Productive
And make you a lot healthier in the process
Since I began attempting to lose weight back in 2015, I have always been looking for ways to get healthier. I lost my desired amount of weight but got addicted to the process of getting healthier and continued searching for ways to do so. I gained the experience of seeing what healthy habits could lead to and was not complacent staying where I was.
In spring 2019, I stumbled upon an interesting eating habit that had a ton of health benefits: intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting is the practice of eating within a certain period of time and being strict with those time windows. A popular practice is 16:8, which equates to 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating.
Fasting is not as difficult as it sounds. There’s a good chance you inadvertently practice here and there, especially on busy days.
The eating habits of the average modern human are actually not normal compared to our natural predecessors. The United States government began promoting the importance of breakfast and lunch in the 1920s and 30s, but those meals are not our only shot at sustained energy throughout the day.
Our eating habits are more cultural than biological.
When European settlers moved to North America, they set the three-meals-a-day standard, which went against the “uncivilized” practice of the Native Americas: eating when their bodies were showing signs of hunger.
As time went on and the Industrial Revolution happened, meals were blocked around the 9–5 work schedule: breakfast before work, lunch in the middle of the day, and dinner soon after the workday ended.
Intermittent fasting’s care package of health benefits
The overarching benefit of intermittent fasting is that it makes our body’s processes more efficient. One is through insulin.
The only way for sugar to enter out bloodstream is through insulin. When we don’t eat, our fat cells release their stored sugar to be used as energy. This allows us to burn fat. On top of that, the releasing of excess blood sugar from our fat cells can help…
