I am so hungry

A few months ago I came across intermittent fasting. I had fasted before for a week with my church and found that it was difficult but worth it both spiritually but also for my health. As expected from not eating food and just drinking clear liquids for seven days I lost weight. What I didn’t expect was the energy levels I had. My skin and hair was clearer and I had higher levels of energy. I know that my body basically had a seven day cleanse during that time and any “toxins” were filtered out but it made me realize that this type of eating schedule could really benefit me.

So what is intermittent fasting?

1. Intermittent fasting works like this:
   1. at certain times say 8pm to 12pm the next day you don’t eat anything, the rest of the time there are no restrictions, obviously remembering that eating healthy will just optimize your results
   2. going back to the primordial human’s way if life, food wasn’t always available like it is now days. We are so used to eating whatever and whenever we want that our bodies don’t ever get a break to regenerate.
   3. breaking eating habits by not always eating at predetermined times (skipping a meal or not eating for a 24hr period) helps your body to burn fat again and not rely on a constant food source. Your body gets to detox in a natural way.
   4. when you start intermittent fasting you will start to notice that binge eating doesn’t happen during the day and you actually aren’t as hungry. Fat gets burned and the sugar depots are emptied. You actually start to feel better, more awake and more active.

When I saw that there were so many benefits to this intermittent fasting I wanted to give it a try. Now this fasting can be for anyone who wants to try it but I will say talk with your doctor first. I found this great app that lets you do some schedules for free or you can sign up for a coach to guide you. Really all I had to do was pick a schedule for the week and press start. The app kept track of when I was to fast and when I was to eat. The added benefit was it sent me reminders. For those out there that are busy like I am this was great!
That first week I tried the new fasting schedule I was HUNGRY! That was the week my husband decided to try out his new tri tip recIpe on the first night that I was scheduled to fast during the dinner hour. That dinner smelled so good, he had steak and potatoes and salad. The kids looked at me weird, my stomach grumbled a lot but I made it through. The few days after that was fasting through until after the lunch hour which was a bit easier since I was at work and am always busy there. I noticed though that when I was eating the food tasted better, I didn’t eat as much of it because I just wasn’t as hungry and I didn’t want to eat all the time like I had done before.

Fast forward a few months, I am still doing intermittent fasting and it is still hard but it is so worth it. If my body could talk I really think it would thank me. Here are a few things I have notice on my journey so far:

• Heartburn and indigestion have lessened dramatically
• Energy levels are up
• Small meals tend to equal to big meals
• My skin and hair are healthier
• I go to the bathroom on a more regular schedule
• I actually don’t get ”hangry”
• Food is for nourishment and not to something used alongside emotions
• I don’t have to think about calorie counting
• The desire to eating snack foods just isn’t there
• I actually want to be healthier

I love that I can teach my kids that being healthy doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be super model skinny or skinny at all. When I tried to force my body to get down to a weight that I had in my head as a “skinny weight” I would get to that weight stay there for about a month and then I would slowly crawl back up. How many people go through this? I mean it is difficult enough nowadays to do just about anything without being criticized and yet people criticize themselves all the time because of unrealistic expectations they put on themselves. I am healthy I am strong, I allow that I will make mistakes but I also know it’s not the end of the world. My kids see this in me each and every day and I hope they will know that they can also be healthy, strong, and not expect to be perfect.

I hope that if you want to try intermittent fasting that you do. I hope that you see the results that I have seen. I hope that you don’t give up even if you feeling like you are starving. Most importantly I hope that you see that you are with it. Whatever you do in life to get healthy, or strong, I hope you see that you are human, you will make mistakes but these are just road bumps they are not the end of the road.Give yourself grace, and a nice little pep talk, grab a friend who will do this journey with you and keep going. Until next time:

To become a butterfly you must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar

Winnie the Pooh