Jennifer Anniston - INTERMITTENT FASTING FOR WOMEN OVER 50: The Ultimate Guide to Accelerate Weight Loss, Reset your Metabolism, Increase your Energy and Detox your Body

When we hear about fasting, our imagination leads us to a moment of deprivation, which we imagine involuntarily, and which causes damage to our health, physical and mental. Fasting immediately makes us think of hunger. And hunger stimulates in us terrible memories that we want to forget. But fasting does not mean we have to suffer hunger. Hunger and fasting, you will discover by reading, are not synonyms or travel together. On the contrary. In my experience, the calorie-controlled diet reduces ingested food and causes an annoying sense of hunger. Fasting does not. The reason? Reducing calorie intake over a period of time of at least 14 hours reduces insulin and consequently the sense of hunger and the desire for sugar and complex foods. Try to believe.

According to some studies that I carried out before writing this book, the intake of food is directly related to the increase in insulin and consequently the storage of fat, in the liver, in the form of glycogen, and in what we call fat rolls, through fat cells.

So fasting can break this pattern by reducing insulin production and allowing our metabolism to burn fat, even fat that is not immediately available.

Prestigious scientific journals have reported several studies according to which, beyond the restriction of calories, intermittent fasting acts positively at a metabolic level and stabilizes blood glucose levels. It promotes the increase of growth hormone that promotes fat burning activity and the increase of lean muscle mass. It also activates serotonin, which improves resistance to stress and are involved in the processes that cause cellular aging and, therefore, promote longevity. Finally, studies in 2017 have shown that intermittent fasting also promotes the well-being of the microbiota, according to Dr. Mark Mattson of the National Institute on Aging-Neuroscience, intermittent fasting causes a slight biological stress that pushes the body to reactivate its cellular defences against molecular damage. Metabolic changes in the body when fasting for many hours stimulate autophagy, the cellular mechanism of selective removal of damaged components, i.e. a natural cleansing of damaged cells in the body. Finally, numerous studies have shown that periods of fasting reduce the risk of heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke.

If you are considering starting an intermittent fast, in this book you will find the different types and all the benefits but also the risks. Intermittent fasting as mentioned above is a dietary pattern that alternates between periods of fasting and periods of not fasting, during which you return to a normal, obviously healthy, and balanced diet. Intermittent fasting can be applied in various ways. There are five most commonly practiced and known intermittent fasts: the daily 16 out of 8 fasting regimes is perhaps the best known together with 'The Fast Diet', i.e. the weekly 5 out of 2 regimes. Then there are 'Eat Stop Eat' which follows a precise pattern of free days and fasting days, and 'Alternate-Day Fasting' which provides free days and fasting days with dietary variables. Finally, 'Warrior Diet' with one full meal daily and small snacks.

As for me, I was tired of continuously gaining weight. As the years went by, I found myself with a few extra pounds without having done anything special. My body was simply changing, but I wasn't changing my habits. The consequences on my active life and on my appearance you can imagine. So, I tried several diets that were not easy and very prohibitive, but after the first results, I couldn't maintain those habits in the long run. Moreover, the dietary restrictions that have always characterized every diet forced me to make sacrifices that I could never tolerate in the long run. I'm not saying that diets are wrong, but since I discovered intermittent fasting, I realized what was the right solution for me to stay fit and "lighten" my body from a decidedly disproportionate dietary intake in everyday life.

I am a healthy and slightly overweight subject, but I did not take this practice, as old as the world, lightly. Don't do it either and understand if intermittent fasting is the right thing for you.

But why start this practice OVER 50 years old?

Because your body undergoes many changes after the age of 50: first of all, your metabolism changes, it becomes lower, joint pain increases, muscle mass is reduced and insomnia problems increase.

Your body, despite the fact that you are still young, is no longer what it was when you were 20 years old. The intermittent fasting helps you to keep away the various diseases of women over 50 years of age, diabetes, heart attacks and other metabolic disorders and at the same time helps you stay young not only inside.

The biggest nightmare of women over 50 in menopause is the fat on the belly. Intermittent fasting helps reduce excess fat in the belly this reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome and consequently reduces heart attacks and diabetes. In addition, other studies have shown that periods of fasting produce a hormone in the body that affects bone minerals such as calcium and phosphate. And this is a great help in fighting arthritis problems. Not to mention the benefits on your mental health. It can benefit your mood allowing you to feel good while eating healthy without making too many sacrifices which is a healthy way to fight and prevent depression.