MY WIFE'S RESPONSE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING

Intermittent fasting focuses solely on when you eat vs. what you eat. It is no surprise that this can seem like an ideal way to get some of the weight loss results you’re looking for. Compared to other ‘fad diets’ out there, IF (Intermittent Fasting) can seem like a more attainable system to stick to, because you can still eat all the same things that you’re already eating you simply just need to time it all correctly. IF currently is one of the more popular trends in the health and wellness world and for more than just weight loss. People are using it as a way to improve their health in other ways as well as create some simplicity in their days. Some studies say that it’s amazing for you and may even help you live longer. However, other studies have the complete opposite opinion and say that IF is not something that should be experimented with for any duration of time.

Weight loss, from my research, is the most common reason that people are considering trying IF. Because you eat less and obviously have a decrease in your calorie intake, weight loss is often a by-product of IF. It’s said that IF can also change your hormone levels to facilitate, even more, even faster weight loss too! We will touch more on the effects IF has on your hormones in a bit, but it’s important to know that maybe (just maybe) messing with your hormones isn’t always a great idea!

Depending on who you ask (or which web page you click on after a quick Google search) you may discover that IF is done by fasting for a certain number of hours, or you may find that it's done by fasting for an entire day, a few days a week. The three most common approaches to IF are:

TWICE A WEEK METHOD: Eating your regular amount of food five days out of the week and choose two days of your week to limit your intake to somewhere between 500 and 800 calories.

TIME RESTRICTION METHOD: Breaking your day into two time blocks, one where you’re fasting and one where you’re allowed to eat. Typically people are trying to lengthen the time they fast the longer they stick to this method. The fasting time starts at night so that a large chunk of the ‘fast’ is spent sleeping. Most often people start with fourteen or sixteen-hour fasts, which means that if you’re getting seven hours of sleep a night, you don’t eat anything for the first seven hours of being awake.

ALTERNATING DAYS METHOD: Repeating the patterns of fasting one day and back to a healthy diet the next. On your fasting days, you’re to stick to somewhere between 500 and 800 calories, and on non-fasting days you’re to stick to a healthy diet (not one where you just eat whatever you want).

The idea in all of these methods is that when your body is in a fasting state, your fat cells release stored sugar which your body then uses for energy. One of the ideas behind IF is that as you use this stored energy, your weight may go down.

May go down but may not. May also go down in a really short period of time and can send your body into shock- therefore really not allowing you and your body to create any real long-term, sustainable results that are a benefit to you and your health.

I know for a fact that my wife Lucy (founder and CEO here at Dunnebells) strongly disagrees with IF especially for women and because it’s a touchy subject that is often understood - I wanted to get her thoughts. There are handfuls of people who stand by IF and truly do feel better since adopting IF into their lifestyle. Many people have been fasting for years and they absolutely love the way that it makes their body feel, and guess what? We’re happy for them! If they feel great, there is no reason why they should stop what they’re doing just because we aren’t into it. Typically, men are able to physically benefit from IF, and guess what? Science does say that there are benefits to IF moreso for men than for women. Overall, my wife did have a lot of really good points about women and IF however when it comes down to it, she stands by her opinion on IF for two main reasons.

REASON #1 LUCY DOESN’T LOVE INTERMITTENT FASTING

Hormonally, it can be a nightmare. The hormones that are responsible for regulating key functions in women, like ovulation, metabolism, and even mood, are incredibly sensitive to our energy intake. Science proves that IF can alter your hormones but I think it’s important to question if that really is a good thing, or not? Do your hormones need to be altered? Can they take it? Will there be unwanted side effects that you have yet to consider?

I’ve listened to Lucy explain this a handful of times, and I’ve done my own research, but I have to admit that without really knowing what they’re talking about (because I’m a regular person who is not educated in genes, science, hormones, cells, reproduction, etc) I’m finding that its a bit exhausting trying to put all the facts into a simple paragraph that could possibly make sense to the average person without a background in health, nutrition, science, or hormones.

What I will say though is this - it seems that IF has a real impact on women and their hormones and it is, more often then not, negative. And honestly? As a woman, I feel like this is kind of a big deal. The more I learn about my hormones and realize that they’re not just the things that send me a whopping headache and cramps from hell every twenty-one days, the more I realize that I need to do everything I can in my power to make sure that I’m taking care of them as much as I do every other system in my body.

FloLiving explains it pretty well when they say “Because women’s bodies are biologically built for fertility and reproduction going extended periods without food could tell the body that now isn’t a good time for reproduction. You might be thinking So what? I don’t want to get pregnant now or maybe ever. But fertility isn’t the only problem. Women need to consider that estrogen and progesterone do more in the body than simply get us pregnant. Estrogen helps us with metabolism, weight loss, mood, anxiety and stress, energy, bone density, and cognitive function, to name just a few. If you’re a woman, intermittent fasting can disrupt estrogen balance and throw a wrench in all these essential physiological processes.” READ MORE FROM FLOLIVING HERE

The idea of using IF as a way to lose weight and get “healthier” for me sort of makes me cringe because isn’t there a lot more to being healthy than simply losing weight? Sure, weight loss can be important, but when you look at your body as a whole instead of just one factor (weight), there is a whole lot more to putting your health at the forefront.

Short term, you might see results. Long term, arguably, it seems that you might run into problems that honestly outweigh the minimal benefits that you could receive. It's no wonder that Lucy is against IF for hormonal reasons and her passion for this ties into the idea of long-term results. Her whole company, Dunnebells, is based on the idea that we should be learning about and implementing practices that are sustainable long term. She has dedicated the last five years of her life to her mission of helping women all over the world develop a healthy relationship with food and exercise in a way that allows them to exist in the world confidently without thinking they need to rely on quick fixes, fad diets, rapid weight loss or countless hours in the gym. 

IF has the ability to give you results short term. However, long term it is her belief that it's only going to cause more harm than it could offer benefits. For women especially, she wants you to know that IF can cause damage to you in ways that you’re unable to see. Rapid weight loss via IF has the ability to cloud your vision for what's happening inside of your body, which is where all the magic really is - inside of you.

Hormones are extremely important to all people, let's admit it. Women, in this case, need to be particularly mindful of their hormones because irreversible damage may occur.

REASON #2 LUCY DOESN’T LOVE INTERMITTENT FASTING

As someone who suffered, and eventually overcomes a binge eating disorder, it is obvious to Lucy that IF could be a massive trigger to disordered eating. Even researching IF can cause a trigger for some people because the whole thing is based upon GOOD and BAD times to eat. Strict calculations of time between meals, counting down minutes until you can finally eat something, and making sure you eat one last time before you head into a fast because you know you’re going to be going a long time without food - are all behaviors that can be triggering to people who have an eating disorder, have had an eating disorder, and even people who have not.

If you really want to learn about food, how food can fuel you, how to develop a good relationship with food, and how to not abuse food - then IF doesn’t seem like a great place to begin. Its whole existence sits on the idea of a structure and schedule that is extremely unnatural to most folks. Here at Dunnebells, you’ll know this if you’ve been around for a while, we have adopted the mentality that if you’re hungry, then you should eat something. Walking hand in hand with women as they explore what this means to them is part of our mission. Diving into IF goes against what we preach - because if you’re fasting and you feel hungry, guess what? You’ve got to wait…and from experience, this isn’t good. The waiting and essentially ignoring the hunger cues your body is giving you can have a lasting impact on you, your weight, and your health - both physical and mental.

As it usually does, one thing can lead to another, and there are so many cases of people who start with a simple one-day fast, or time interval fasting that slowly leads to an eating disorder. It seems that IF (as a trend) has become popular for all the wrong reasons.

On this topic specifically, I wanted to share something I found from Eating Disorder HOPE.

 “Some experts say that intermittent fasting by definition is an unhealthy eating behavior because it involves restricting how much you eat, skipping meals, and being rigid about how you eat food.

“If you’re narrowing the timeframe in which you’re allowed to eat and completely ignoring your hunger cues outside of that timeframe, it could be an unsafe approach, especially for those in eating disorder recovery,” Samantha DeCaro, Psy.D., assistant clinical director at The Renfrew Center of Philadelphia, told Livestrong.

And what many people don’t realize when starting an intermittent fasting schedule is that it can also take time for their body to adjust, so the urge to overeat at the end of a fasting period can be tough to overcome. If a person gets stuck in a cycle of fasting and overeating, this can lead to a condition known as binge-eating disorder.

This is a serious condition that can make you feel like you don’t have any control of how much you eat. People who struggle with binge-eating disorder often eat when they aren’t hungry or continue to eat even if they feel uncomfortably full. After they finish eating, they are typically overwhelmed with guilt, shame, or disgust”.

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In conclusion, I think it's best to say it again - these are simply our opinions. My wife is educated on the topic and her opinions do come from a place of knowledge - however in the end you need to be the one that decides what's best for you. 

**If you or someone you know may be at risk of an eating disorder, know that its okay to ask for help. This is not something you can do alone, nor should you have to **

Intermittent Fasting, like most other things, isn’t GREAT for everyone but it's also not BAD for everyone either. 

A resource that I think would be extremely helpful for you if you’re looking to educate yourself on the matter would be found by clicking HERE. Precision Nutrition lays out (in a way that I simply could not) scientific information about Intermittent Fasting and the effects it has on women that might clear up some of your unanswered questions. 

As always, I’m going to put my wife on the spot and let you know that if you have any questions at all following this blog and the additional resources I have provided, please e-mail Lucy directly at hello@dunnebells.com. There is also the possibility of Lucy going LIVE in our FREE Facebook Group –CLICK HERE TO JOIN– to discuss everything Intermittent Fasting, so if that would be of interest to you, we will see you there, and maybe together we can convince her to spend some time further explaining it.

Please understand that our opinions and any advice are general and don’t take into account any personal circumstances you may, or someone you know may be going through. I always recommend talking in-depth with a professional if you have any burning questions or concerns, and that professional could be our CEO, Lucy Dunne. You can reach her via e-mail hello@dunnebells.com or via DM either on FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM.

And just an FYI - the topic for this blog post actually came from one of you! If there is something you’d like us to discuss further, we’re always taking recommendations!