This article is about sharing my experience.
I feel it's important to say out loud things that we might not read or hear about at all the trendy news websites.
I hear about intermittent fasting and it's benefits a lot for the past few years, and i think i want to share my not-so-good experience with it just to give another point of view and to emphasize that we are all different and not all of the health trends out there will fit you, and yes, you shouldn't be stressed about it.
I am a health advocate, i (used to) LOVE everything about new health trends and usually i'll even try them myself.
You see, sometimes i am an impulsive kind of a person. Not about everything, but when i see health stuff and i hear about it more and more i most likely to try it. I mean, there are evidences that shows it works, so maybe it will work for me? Worth trying.
Being impulsive is not a bad thing, it's something i love about myself.
Sometimes it's more beneficial and sometimes less but in general - that's me (and maybe also some of you that are reading this) and that's what makes me - me. and it helps me to TRY some new things.
Just like when i tried Intermittent Fasting.
This is how i did it-
There are 'rules' for Intermittent Fasting (you can find it online), it is definitely NOT for everyone.
I went through all of those rules (and so many articles about it) and i remember i thought to myself that it looks like it's for me.
It was two and a half years ago, 2018, when dor joined me to 'piece of nature', and we started to spend (much) more time together. I'm really lucky that Dor is going with flow with me and is willing to try all my new crazy ideas and experiments.
So i talked with him about it, showed him the researches and what the science have to say about it and because we were spending so much time together we saw it as an opportunity to support each other through it.
And we started.
WHAT IS INTERMETTING FASTING?
According to healthline: "Intermittent Fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.
It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.
In this respect, it’s not a diet in the conventional sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern.
Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week.
These are the most popular methods:
The 16/8 method: Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 diet: With this methods, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days."
We thought the best way for us was to follow the 16/8 method, create a window of eating between 12:00-20:00 and skip breakfast.
We did this experiment for a MONTH!
We though a whole month is a good time to figure out if it's good for us as it takes a while for our body to adjust for changes and really create an habit.
It's super natural that things won't feel like they are right for us when starting something new, so it's important to give it a little time and a chance to sink into our lives.
"Give yourself time to digest experiences so you can think and have a clear conclusions on how it affects your body and soul"
After a month i decided to stop it immediately.
At start, i didn't know exactly why i didn't want to do it anymore when i finished that month, but i felt like my body is communicating with me, or maybe it's more accurate to say screaming at me to stop.
It just didn't feel right.
Dor continued a little more, and if i remember right, after a week he was doing it by himself he also stopped.
It's important to say, whatever i'm writing here, is more than two years after we experimented with it - which means we had a LOT time to think about it and there are lots of things we realized long time after.
Give yourself time to digest experiences so you can think and have a clear conclusions on how it affects your body and soul!
"When we eat so much food in so little time, even when not hungry and then starving ourselves and ignoring the hunger signs - it holds inside ONE big problems as i see it - Ignoring our bodies."
The one big result of the intermittent fasting and how it affected me (and i can also say that Dor agreed) was
Overeating - and what do i mean about that?
When i was depriving food from my body for the fasting period i was unconsciously putting my body in a starvation mode, and even though i KNEW i was not starving, i knew i was doing it for health reasons, i wasn't acting like that.
Everyday on 12:00 i was SO hungry i found myself eating too much, too fast!
The idea of intermittent fasting is to skip breakfast and eat regularly all of the other meals, not pushing all the three (or more) meals into those 8 hours.
When we eat so much food in so little time, even when not hungry and then starving ourselves and ignoring the hunger signs - it holds inside ONE big problems as i see it - Ignoring our bodies.
Ignoring my body eventually caused me to get into a starvation mode and overeating whenever i was 'allowed' and eventually live under constant STRESS (fight or flight, anyone?).
I will say it again before i continue - It might work for some! and that's amazing!
But it sure didn't work for me.
After that month i didn't felt good at all, my energy levels weren't at its best, and not only did I not lose weight but I also gained weight (but let's leave that behind cause i just know it's a gentle subject and 1- it's not about the weight 2- that's how MY body reacted, it doesn't mean you will react the same)
When I look back on it today, I realize how far it is from me.
My body cried out for reconnection.
My body screamed for attention.
And this experience, instead of bringing me closer (as I thought it might do) actually made me distance my SELF.
Made me ignorant.
Disconnection.
The thing i'm recently working on so hard.
Listen.
Connect.
See what she's asking from me.
That experience was the exact opposite.
I didn't know at the time why it didn't work for me. All of these understanding came long-time after.
My realizations from this, that definitely brought me closer to my beliefs and truth:
We react differently to experiences.
Don't believe all the health trend that are out there (and there are so many) BUT it's also important to TRY new things to get to know yourself better. Just be aware.
ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.
The one HUGE benefit i got from this was - it STRENGTHENED my believes.
Strengthened my realisations that drove me closer to myself.
To who i am today.
And yes, i am grateful for anything that made me realising the best thing in my life and that's -
I am holding my truth.
My body and soul are ONE and i just need to pay attention to what she have to say to me.
I know best what is right for me.
Just before we finish, i want to say that this article is not meant to drive you to do or don't do anything.
Just bringing up my point of view and experience of it.
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and experiences down here on the comments!
Xxx