From
re-energizing your weight loss progress to giving your immune system a
much-needed boost, a well-timed mini-fast can do wonders for your dieting
efforts. And in the Bone Broth Diet, a twice-a-week
mini-fast (in which you consume 500 calories-worth of bone broth) makes the
difference when it comes to losing serious weight and inches off your
waistline.
Here's
the primary thing to understand about fasting: It works because it stresses
your body. (This is similar to making your muscles stronger by stressing them
during a workout.) Now, you may think of stress as a bad thing—and that’s true
for chronic stress. But a quick dose of stress is like Mother Nature's
energy drink. It revs up your cells' defenses and healing mechanisms, and it
sends your body's fat-burning machinery into overdrive.
Here's
what happens when you do a mini-fast, whether you're on the Bone
Broth Diet, or not:
1.Your
insulin levels plummet.
Insulin puts on pounds. In fact, insulin is the biggest driver of excess weight. The bottom line is, excess insulin lays down fat. When your insulin levels are chronically high, your cells react by becoming insulin resistant. This means that when insulin knocks on the door of a cell and asks to escort glucose in, the cell is likely to slam the door in its face. This forces your body to reroute that glucose to your liver, where it gets transformed into fat. When your insulin levels drop on your mini-fasting days, your cells will rapidly start becoming more sensitive to insulin. Rather than barring the door to it, they'll welcome it in, along with its package of glucose—so that glucose will get burned as fuel rather than wind up on your waistline.
2. You
burn more existing body fat.
To get rid of fat, you need to break fatty acids out of your fat stores and get them into your bloodstream. This is called lipolysis, and it depends on glucagon—a hormone whose job is the opposite of insulin's. While insulin escorts glucose out of the bloodstream, glucagon ushers it back in. When you fast, here's what happens: Within hours, your glucose levels start to drop, and your body realizes that it needs to mobilize its fuel reserves. In response, it churns out large amounts of glucagon. Rising levels of glucagon cause your body to start releasing fatty acids into your bloodstream so they can be transported to your cells for burning. The result: Fat, and in particular belly fat (which is easily mobilized), melts away.
3. You clean up your cells.
When you
fast, you trigger a process called autophagy. Think of this as "taking out
the trash." It means that your body is cleaning out old, worn-out
cells. Ramping up autophagy is one of the fastest ways to slim down and
de-age your body. By breaking down old, damaged cells, autophagy speeds up your
metabolism at the same time it reduces your risk of cancer and other diseases
of aging. And by recycling the usable parts of old cells and using them to
build new, healthy cells, it rejuvenates you from head to toe. In fact, research shows that fasting even makes your
brain younger by increasing neuronal autophagy.
4. You
lower inflammation.
Anything that increases inflammation puts on weight and makes you look older, and anything that reduces inflammation takes off weight and makes you look younger. And fasting fights inflammation at its roots. Recently, researchers at Yale reported that fasting makes your body release a compound called beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB. BHB inhibits one part of a set of proteins called the inflammasome—and when you inhibit the inflammasome, you knock out inflammation. That translates into easier weight loss, as well as a healthier body and even healthier skin.
5. You
beef up your levels of BDNF.
Intermittent fasting increases your levels of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein improves your insulin sensitivity, accelerating weight loss—and as a bonus, it helps you think more clearly and brightens your mood.
6. Your levels of human growth hormone (HGH) surge.
During a
24-hour fast, HGH increases an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly
2,000 percent in men. This hormone helps you burn fat faster and sculpts lean
muscle. It also promotes healthy skin, thus reducing wrinkles.
7. You even increase your life span!
Studies show that fasting animals live longer. They're also less prone to cancer, heart disease, and other age-linked diseases. How powerful an anti-aging effect can fasting have? In a 2015 study, 26 researchers tested the effects of a "fast-mimicking diet" designed to create the same changes as fasting (for instance, low glucose levels and high levels of ketone bodies—which also occur on my diet). They asked their study subjects to follow the diet for 5 days a month for 3 months. The result: Compared with people who ate a standard diet, the people on the fast-mimicking diet showed reductions in risk factors linked to diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. Improvements included weight loss, reduced markers of inflammation, and lower blood glucose. That's pretty amazing for just a few days of fasting each month!
Adapted from Dr.
Kellyann's Bone Broth Diet
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