If eating causes us to store fat, when do we use the fat, and what is its purpose?
The purpose of fat is to save up for a rainy day when there is no food available, so we don't die if we have to skip a meal. Problem: when was the last time you skipped a meal?
The body never wastes anything. It is always on. If you are always eating, your body is always storing. Every time you binge eat, your body stores. You cannot "fudge" on your diet or program and expect your body to not notice. It notices. It uses every single drop of whatever you put in it. It has to. It has no alternative. You are the master and your body is absolutely obedient.
Fasting is the ancient solution to the modern day problem of never having a rainy day. If you simply choose to fast intermittently, you are choosing to give your body a rest from all the packing things away in various places in your fat storing freezer, and begin to unpack the freezer.
If you live in America and you have a standard of living that allows you to eat every day, you don't miss meals. Why would you? Wouldn't that be unhealthy? Turns out fasting is actually one of the healthiest things you can do for an overstocked body!!
Fasting is how the fat is used. So, ultimately, fasting is how we use the food we've already eaten. So we have two food supplies always within reach. The food we buy at the store and put in our mouths, and the food we have already stored away in our bodies. Fasting is how we switch to the food supply that we have already processed in our body. It is how we can finally begin to use up the fat stores. Body fat is food for the future.
So we can eat food by mouth, or we can eat fat by body!! Either way is nourishing to a human body. Intermittent fasting is how we switch food sources and begin to use up the fat that is stored. What a realization!!
I've been following the McDougall Program since the middle of January 2016. It is now near the end of September 2017 and I have been struggling with all the same issues I struggled with when I was doing low carb. I started off well, but somewhere alone the line I began, once more, to put on weight. Of course it was because I was not following the plan perfectly. Same old, same old. I've also talked about fasting before and it worked but I did not stick to that either.
Most recently I had some major involuntary changes occur in my life. My brother, Forest, died suddenly of a heart attack in November. His wife, Becky, my friend for nearly 60 years, died two weeks later to the day. He had been her caregiver and without him, her whole world fell apart in an instant. Even though her death was shocking, I was not surprised. They had been together for 60 years, since they were teenagers, and they could not stand to be apart.
Then a few months later, my close friend whom I saw two or three times a week suddenly got married to a man she had met one week before and moved to another state. When she left I wondered if my Bible study class would remain active. It did not. The other two students had to take jobs to support themselves better and our class disappeared.
I began binge eating and watching TV. I cut out attending the prayer group, too. because I just wanted to spend time alone. I could not bring myself to go swimming so I just stayed home. Through it all I remained vegan, but I had trouble staying on the weight loss track. Veganism does not guarantee slimness. There are fat vegans. I am one.
I am just now beginning to wake up again from my cocoon. I was worried that I would not be able to halt the weight gain. I began to pray that the Lord would help me, because I could not help myself.
Then I watched a weekly youtube video of a woman I admire. She used to weight over 400 lbs but has gotten herself down to about 150 by eating whole food plant based low fat vegan and following Chef AJ's progam... but she mentioned that she had also used intermittent fasting twice a week and I had not been aware that she had also been doing that. With the two together she lost about 3 lbs a week.
This revelation got me thinking so I looked on youtube for some motivation to fast and I found Jason Fung MD. As I listened to him teaching I noticed that along with fasting he was talking ketogenic and low carb, but I listened anyway. Then I heard him say (not sure which video, I watched a few) that a WFPB or vegan diet along with fasting would work, too. The particular diet did not matter as much as the fasting did. He advocates eating whole food and cutting back on processed food, simply because this is healthier.
It was kind of a relief to hear. In a nut shell, he says that the culprit in diabetes and obesity is excess insulin (and not me). It made no sense to him to add insulin to an insulin resistant diabetic's protocol because that only made them fatter and did not actually help their real problem which is excess insulin. He shares how he came to his conclusion and started using intermittent fasting with his patients and began to finally have success in helping them. He just made so much sense as he talked that I decided to try it out and see if I could do an intermittent fast for three days, as a kick start for me.
So, on Sunday I did my first fast. I got up and skipped breakfast. No problem, I rarely eat breakfast. I began keeping a water bottle handy and kept drinking from it every so often throughout the day. I did my normal activities and every once in a while I would look at the clock to see what time it was. I had decided that I would wait to eat until midnight, and then go to bed at my usual time of 5 a.m. The last hour from 11 to 12 was tough, but I decided to not fold and I went until midnight. Then I cooked up a pot of vegetables and oatmeal and had three large bowls. I then had a small bowl of frozen cherries, watched some videos, played some games and then went to bed. I had completed my 19 hour fast.
The next morning (today) when I woke up, I wondered if I would be able to do it again. I was happy to discover that it was actually easier on day two than on day one. Today I went for a swim and drank water, but did not seem to need as much water today. I waited until midnight and made a big pot of tomato vegetable soup. I had three bowls and put the last bowl in the fridge because I just did not have any room in my belly. That completed a 20 hour fast.
I am hoping I will be able to do it again tomorrow. I think I will, but I will hold off my judgment until I have the opportunity to try. After that I will decide how to go forward from there.
The ideas I expressed about switching the food source came to me as I listened to Jason Fung talking again in another video. I also bought his book (kindle version) and read most of it. It is well written and easy to read. I recommend it if you are interested. (Just follow the links.)
Anyway. That's where I am today: Grateful to God for leading me to this.
May you be blessed,
Marcia
