Intermittent Fasting - Part 6
Intermittent Fasting - Longer Fasting
This is longer fasting that can be done weekly, monthly, or alternate-day fasting. Technically, this includes full week to month-long fasts, but those aren’t very common in the Intermittent Fasting world, so here we’ll talk about 24 – 36 hour fasts.
I don’t recommend any of these fasting techniques for menstruating women due to its possible detrimental effects on their hormones.
24 Hour Fast – 1 – 2x per week
This is very simple. Once or twice a week you fast for 24 hours. The fast is usually dinnertime-to-dinnertime, which means you don’t ever go a full day without eating. You could also go breakfast-to-breakfast or lunch-to-lunch, it’s really flexible.
Best for: Men who are a generally healthy weight but would like to lower body fat %
Alternate Day Fasting
Eat for 12 hours, fast for 36 hours
An example of this method:
Monday – eat from 8am – 8pm
Tuesday – fast
Wednesday – eat from 8am – 8pm
Thursday – fast
Best for:
Men with high blood sugar and 100+lbs of excess weight.
Longer than 36-hour fasts
These have been popular in the alternative health world for decades but there isn’t a lot of research. Dr. Jason Fung (IF proponent and M.D.) highly recommends 7-10 day fasts for his diabetic patients, but that needs to be done with clinical supervision.
If you choose to do a longer fast, be careful, and make sure you’re eating a nutrient-dense diet beforehand to prevent deficiencies.
What you can eat & drink during your fasting days:
Water
BCAA if you’re exercising
Coffee with cream or fat (“bulletproof” coffee)
Bone broth
Herbal tea
That’s it! You’ve made it to the end! If you have any questions, be sure to send them to me here: our private Facebook Group or the Ask Lisa page :)