Malik Johnson - The Secrets to Intermittent Fasting: How You Can Stay Healthy, Slow Down the Aging Process, and Have a Lot of Energy

The Secrets to Intermittent Fasting: How You Can Stay Healthy, Slow Down the Aging Process, and Have a Lot of Energy

By Malik Johnson

Copyright 2016 WE CANT BE BEAT LLC

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: An Introduction To Intermittent Fasting:

Are you like millions of people out there whove tried numerous diets and wellness plans, from low-calorie, to low-fat and high-carb, from extreme calorie restriction, to eating 6 frequent meals, and found that despite all of the promises and the supposed evidence, each one was just as ineffective as the last?

Like many people, youre probably sick of all the hype. The last thing you want to put your time and energy into is yet another diet! If so, thats great, because what Im about to share with you is not a diet. Its not some brand new invention of the fitness world and its not another new health fad based on crazy, unfounded claims. Instead, its a secret to weight loss, health, youth, vitality, and longevity that is rooted in ancient knowledge of the way our bodies heal, repair, and rejuvenate themselves.

This secret was known and used by the great figures of the past, from the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, to the warriors of Sparta and beyond. Its called intermittent fasting, and it will totally revolutionize the way you live, look, feel, and think!

While it has long been forgotten, it has recently been rediscovered and is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to burn fat, boost your mind, heal your body, fight depression, and give yourself the gift of longevity.

First things first: What exactly is intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting (or IF) is basically a term for a way to lose weight, improve your health, mind, mood, and longevity, by regularly cycling between periods of fasting and periods of non-fasting (often called feeding). People often confuse intermittent fasting with calorie restriction diets but while IF gives you all of the health and weight loss benefits of calorie restriction, it does so without saddling you with the enormous cravings, crippling fatigue, and constant calorie counting that are part of the calorie restriction way of eating.

Another thing that sets IF apart from other nutrition plans is that is quite simply NOT a diet at all. Diets are tough to stick to, physically, mentally, and emotionally grueling, and very often quite boring, limited, and restrictive. IF is the exact oppositewhile you have to dramatically cut your caloric intake, its only for a very short period of time. The rest of the time, you can really eat as you normally do, without worrying about measuring grams, calories, and portions. IF is different because it is a natural way of living for the human body. Weve always gone through periods of abundant food supply, often followed by times where food was scarcer, so our bodies are already pros at cycling between fasting and eating. Occasionally going extended periods without taking in any calories is not only an ability that our bodies were made with, it turns out its also a fantastic mechanism for achieving everything from weight loss to a longer life.

Fasting Is Not Unfamiliar Territory: Did you know that youre already a seasoned faster? You may not realize it but every time you head to bed, youre practicing intermittent fasting, simply by going to sleep!

Every minute from the last meal you eat at night all the way up until your first meal of the next day makes up a long stretch of time in which you are not eatingbasically this is your fasting period. The stretch of time from your first meal all the way up until the last meal you eat that day makes up your feeding period. This is a perfect example of the principles of intermittent fasting. So if you usually eat your dinner at about 9 PM and you dont eat anything else until breakfast at about 9 AM, youre actually completing a pretty impressive 12 hour fast, without even thinking about it. So, as you can you see, intermittent fasting is not some radical, unknown new diet. Its actually the way we as a species have always lived. The only difference is that now science is finally catching up. Clinical research has proved that IF is not simply something you should do when food or the opportunity to eat isnt available, but rather a vital part of maintaining health and keeping physically, mentally, and emotionally fit and sound.

While people have fasted for thousands of years in an effort to rebalance their bodies and reinvigorate themselves, new studies are showing us that intermittent fasting may be the cure to many of the ills that come with our hectic, over-fed, under-nourished, and unhealthy modern lifestyle.

We now have tons of data backing up what ancient fasters always knew: aside from sleep, fasting may be the single most important, most revitalizing, most intensely repairing activity you can do for your body and mind.

Why Fast? The Almost-Too-Good-To Be-True Benefits of Intermittent Fasting:

When IF is carried out properly, it can do a myriad of truly amazing things for literally every part of you. When we talk about what fasting intermittently helps you to achieve, it really sounds like everyones body and brain wish-list. IFs benefits include lowering and controlling your blood sugar levels, helping you to lose weight, lowering your cholesterol, giving you boundless energy, pumping up your brains powers, and even extending the length of your life!

With effects like these, its no wonder that IF has become one of the most popular eating movements recently, and as more and more people see real results, often losing stubborn weight theyve been carrying around for years or totally reversing lifelong chronic diseases, its set to become even more popular.

While this book goes in-depth to show you just how IF can totally change the way you look, feel, and function in later chapters, lets take a moment right now to look at some of the astonishing effects that IF can have on your body, mind and life:

IF helps you burn body fat and lose serious weight:

This is probably intermittent fastings most well-known benefit and since a large portion of the droves of people rushing to try this way of eating are doing so in order to achieve weight loss, its a good thing that IF has been proven to be an exceptional way to burn fat and regulate hormones while gaining muscle. And surprisingly, it works far better than simply restricting calories!

IF changes the way your bodys cells, hormones, and genes function:

Who knew that missing a meal could do so much good? Every time someone practicing IF doesnt eat for an extended period, a couple of really interesting things start to happen: including cell repair, the balancing of hormone levels, such as insulin, and the activation of protective gene mechanisms that help you to become and stay healthy for longer. The body basically uses the opportunity to go about making necessary fixes and recalibrating itself.

IF can fend off type 2 diabetes, drastically improve insulin sensitivity, and reduce insulin resistance:

This critical property of intermittent fasting could be the cure to one of the most deadly chronic diseases in the world. Type 2 diabetes has become far too common and because researchers now believe that the cause may be found in the way we ramp up our blood sugar levels by taking in calories beyond our bodies actual physiological needs, fasting may prove to be a much better way to eliminate diabetes than medication and other conventional therapies.

IF can super-charge your brain:

Yes, this is true. In many cultures around the world, restricting the amount of food you take in while studying has always been considered an important method to power up the brain cells and improve memory, and we now know that is EXACTLY what intermittent fasting does. Weve always known that what you do to your body is what you do to your brain. Animal studies have shown us that if you want to get back your ability to learn, remember, and even regulate your moods, IF really is the way to go.