Metabolism Reboot
I enjoy the good food that is prepared around the holidays. The problem I have is I love cookies! Once I start letting myself eat the sugar snacks it is really hard to stop and get back on track…
Enjoy,
David Proctor
Urban Farmer/Rancher
Body Reset With Fasting
by David Proctor
January 10, 2024
Urban Farm Lifestyle Magazine Published Weekly
Fasting can be used as a tool to lower insulin levels in your body.
It is basically a reboot of the body, allowing the body to get to its normal state of operation.
I have written about some of the ways to get healthy and stay healthy.
Eating sugar is not one of them.
As a matter of fact, I find it very hard to stop eating sweets once I start.
The only way I have found to get off of that train wreck pattern is to go on a short fast.
Even if I haven’t gotten on the sugar train of eating, I will try to periodically pick a day that I fast.
Generally, when I do this, I will eat a light meal on Saturday, not eat at all on Sunday, and then break the fast on Monday.
I do drink coffee and drink water but eat no food.
If you have ever tried this, it seems at first like it is not possible to go without eating.
This is all in your head, and maybe a little from your gut.
That is good though, with some willpower and perseverance, it is not that hard to do and the results are really worth it.
A fast will reset your stomach and brain as to your eating desires and cravings.
I generally do not fast to lose weight but to stop gaining weight.
That may seem strange, but the goal is to change eating habits and desires.
Sort of like going cold turkey.
It seems like, at least in my case, that sugar has a very strong pull on me once I have started eating it.
Fasting will break the desire to want more.
Some have gone on extended fasting for weight loss or maybe religious reasons.
I have not done that and can not rely on any experience or a desire to do that.
Fasting for my purpose is to get the body to consume calorie intake from fat, not sugar.
Our brain functions better when using fat energy than it does from sugar or carbohydrate energy.
This starts getting complicated since their are different types of sugars and carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are a huge part of what our food has become.
We are consuming more and more all the time in our diet.
This is one of the main causes of obesity.
Yes, I realize that there are countries whose main substance is starch and they have a lower incidence of ill health effects than the USA.
But these countries are not consuming the vast amounts of sugar we do.
With that being said, this is not a simple topic and this is only a high-level view.
We have many things that need to be worked on regarding diet in our society.
You have to start somewhere, and this is my starting point, not an endpoint.
We have been told how our agriculture machine is feeding the world.
This is probably a very true statement, but what are we producing that is feeding the world?
If you stop to think about what our agriculture is producing, by far; soybeans, wheat, and corn.
All the ingredients needed to produce processed foods.
And the sad thing about this is that we have produced so much, we are trying to find ways to eliminate the excess production.
We have so much corn we turn it into ethanol and mix it with gas for our cars.
With milk, we have so much, that we have to turn it into cheese.
You can only eat so much cheese so what do you do with it, push the food “staple” called pizza.
If we would only stop subsidizing overproduction.
We are not helping the family farm; we are putting them out of business by this practice and institutionalizing the industrial farm.
So, what does this tirade over our current agriculture paradigm have to do with fasting?
Fasting is the process of helping us get back to ground zero with our bodies.
Our body will switch over to burning fat instead of sugar.
This will help us to regain healthy homeostasis.
We need healthy nutrient-dense food to keep our bodies and minds healthy.
This is what agriculture needs to produce!
If you are like me, you will not blow away if you do not eat after supper until the next day at lunch.
This does not have to be done every day, reset your body after the weekend, the first of the week.
Remember that the word breakfast is from breaking fast.
I am talking about a twelve to sixteen-hour fast.
Make the first meal lunch.
Let lunch consist of some of the “Genius Foods” (see Quick Tip below).
This will not only help our minds and bodies but will help send a message with our dollars that we are not supporting the unhealthy food that is being sold on the grocery shelves.
I have found that sugar can cause a whole host of problems in the human body, such as inflammation, higher blood pressure, weight gain, and fatty liver disease, sugar intake can lead to obesity and the list goes on.
This does not happen by just eating a little bit of sugar, but our diets have huge amounts of added sugar that we don’t even realize we are consuming.
The bottom line is we, or at least myself, tend to overindulge in sweet items, especially around the holidays.
My suggestion to you, if you have experienced this yourself, is to try a short fast.
Be tough, you can do it.
I don’t think any of us will blow away if we don’t eat for a day.
Start your New Year off right with a reset to your body.
Check It Out!
Quick Tip
1. Eggs
2. Dark leafy greens
3. Dark Chocolate
4. Coffee
5. Green tea
6. Extra-virgin olive oil
7. Broccoli Sprouts
8. Blueberries
9. Tumeric
10. Fatty fish
11. Water
Bibliography:
Max Lugavere. “11 Powerful Nootropic (Memory Enhancing) Foods.” Max Lugavere, Max Lugavere, 11 Jan 2024, www.maxlugavere.com/blog/11-powerful-nootropic-memory-enhancing-foods.
“Sugar Aches & Inflammation | Nutritional Weight & Wellness.” Nutritional Weight and Wellness. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan 2024.
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Labeling & Nutrition – Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label.” U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, n.d. Web. 11 Jan 2024.
Lugavere, Max, and Paul Grewal. Genius Foods Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life. Harper Wave, 11 Jan 2024.
“Fasting.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting.
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