Break Bad Eating Habits With Intermittent Fasting
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by JC of JCD Fitness.
When discussing eating habits, especially within the fitness population, the subject is often a very touchy one. To many, eating is much more than some task we must perform in order to survive and merely function, while for a select few, it’s nothing more than simply supplying energy needs.
For those of you who’ve no idea who I am, when I first discovered this health and fitness stuff, I was a mess. I followed all the old school dogma of eating clean and very frequently (often 6-8 meals per day). I was obsessed with every minute detail about eating healthy but I was completely missing the forest for the trees. After months of following strict, rigorous diet guidelines, I would go on week-long binges only to feel like a complete failure afterward. Needless to say, I was tired of the everlasting cycle, so I sought answers. I found my cure in the form of Intermittent Fasting (IF).
Nowadays, I am not too concerned with my food choices as long as they fit in with my current training and aesthetic goals. I basically eat when hungry while focusing on fresh, whole foods along with some junk throughout the week.
False Hunger Cues
As creatures of habit, we often get used to a certain schedule, especially regarding our dietary habits. Now these habits can be deemed good or bad depending on your perception, beliefs, and goals. For the readers in America (and those outside of America who know how fat we are), I think we can all agree that the western diet is pretty crappy in terms of food selection and caloric density when compared to a diet full of fresh, unprocessed food.
I’ve found that those who are overweight and unhappy about it often have some pretty foul eating habits. When I say foul, I’m referring to their food selection and frequency of their intake. Their intake is normally high(er) calorie foods and they often eat as a result of false hunger cues: these cues being TV commercials, soft drink ads, co-workers bringing in donuts, etc.
There are no more “I’m truly hungry so I am going to eat now” thoughts. It’s usually “oh, that pizza looks really good right now; do they deliver?” despite just getting done with lunch 2 hours ago.
This is a HUGE problem and we need to fix it.
Relearn What Hunger Feels Like
So how does one actually relearn what hunger feels like? You just don’t eat for a while; seriously. If you want to know what hunger feels like, I encourage you to go on a 24-hour fast. I guarantee that by the time it’s over, you will be hungry. You might feel starved even though in the real sense of the word, this is hardly the case. You simply aren’t used to not eating.
Hunger pangs are largely controlled by hormones in the body (ghrelin, letpin and others). So when one is used to eating multiple times during the day and are on a constant sugar rush, hunger pangs will be at an all time high. This is a good thing, however.
In order to change our bad eating habits, we must relearn what hunger feels like. Once we do this we will need to be reminded of what it’s like to feel full.
Make Yourself Feel Full
Being full possesses a plethora of meanings to many people. For some who eat slowly, it’s the immediate second their brain receives the full signal. They will stop eating, even if their plate has remains of food energy to be consumed. Thank goodness for refrigeration.
For others who eat very fast (like my former self), it’s after that 5th plate of food when I should’ve clearly stopped at 2 plates. However, I ate so fast that the hunger feeling didn’t manifest until I was on my 5th helping. Consequently, by this time, I need a couch to pass out on to cope with my bloated and miserable self.
We need to find a happy medium. If you’re an athlete or very active weekend warrior, our energy demands are higher than the average desk job employee. So our food choices may be slightly different or higher in kcal energy than someone who is not very active. The principles still apply though. But what are the principles?
Principles to Feel Full
When relearning what it’s like to feel full, there are a few ways I like to go about it. I stick with whole foods and I eat only 2-4 meals per day depending on my training. On days I’m really active, I eat more often and on the days I am sedentary, 2-3 meals will usually suffice.
Here are a few ideas to keep in mind when satiety is your sole focus.
- Eat protein at every meal. It’s the most satiating nutrient and will help preserve lean muscle mass.
- Eat lots of fibrous veggies. They are very low in calories and provide a lot of bulk for your diet, not to mention all the vitamins, minerals and fiber they possess.
- Eat more fat. Fat is satiating but also very easy to overeat on. I recommend nut butters, cooking lightly with butter and consuming semi-fatty cuts of red meat.
- Instead of processed carbohydrates, focus on fruit. The water and fiber content of fruit will leave you feeling full much longer than some cereal or bread.
- Eat slowly. There is no rush.
Incorporating Intermittent Fasting
If it weren’t for intermittent fasting, I’d probably still be a neurotic basket case when it comes to my nutritional protocol. There are multiple ways to go about fasting so feel free to choose the one that will fit your schedule and temperance.
First, we have the (up to) 24 hour fast in which you eat nothing and drink only water, tea, coffee, etc. for the entire fast. You stop feeding at one meal and then eat nothing all the way up until that same time again the following day. This approach is best practiced only 1-2 times per week. Always allow 2-3 days of feeding in between your fasts.
Or you have another option made popular by Martin Berkhan. This method consists of a 16 hour fast every single day. For most people’s schedules, it’s ideal to fast up until about 2-4 p.m. and then eat your allotment of calories in an 8 hour window. Once you are done eating, you fast throughout the following morning/afternoon and do it all over again. This is my preferred method of fasting as it fits well with my training and academic schedule.
After The Fast (Feeding Time)
Now if you want to drastically change your eating habits, you must learn some self control. You will definitely feel hungry and may have a headache or what not because you are simply not used to going this long without food. Some self-discipline will come in handy at this point. Remember to focus on whole, natural foods as they tend to fill you up faster than processed, sugary junk.
Remember to eat slow enough to allow the full signal to reach your brain in a timely manner instead of stuffing yourself silly, only to feel miserable and regretful shortly after breaking your fast. There is no excuse to go on an all-out binge here.
You will want to keep track of your calories just like you would on any other diet. Fasting does not present you with a wondrous cure to eat whatever you want and magically attain the body of your dreams. Self-control needs to be a focal point here.
However, the beauty of IF makes our diets simple and allows us to remember what it’s actually like to feel satiated and recognize real hunger cues as opposed to the false ones.
Nothing has to be set in stone. If IF doesn’t fit with your schedule, there is no need to force fasting for the long term. It will only take a few weeks of IFing to relearn hunger cues and to get oneself back on track. Once you regain a firm grip on eating out of necessity as opposed to other reasons, you can resume your normal schedule and eat when you feel hungry, not when someone brings in a pizza or when you hear the donut commercial on your way to work.
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When you’re trying to lose weight and get in shape, you have to get back to basics. Great set of reminders here.
Dude, I guess for curing your insane habits… fasting is quite the tool. Though I have to say, I still don’t see the point in fasting, at all. I’ve barely had the need for it. Nor have I ever preached it to advanced athletes nor average Joe’s… all have seen results from eating.
But I will say, it’s a good way to seriously cut down your weekly caloric intake if you want to get shredded.
JC Reply:
Heh, yes. Eating is good too!
However, if you’ve never struggled with eating before then you cannot understand I suppose.
Fasting is not the cure-all for everyone but it’s damn effective for helping one get a grip on their eating habits. It worked for me.
Mike OD Reply:
I look at short periods of fasting is just an additional “tool” for the toolbox of all things health and fitness. The main benefits coming from the improvements it can make to the glucose metabolism (lower insulin) and other possible health benefits (improved cell recycling/repair, improved digestive cleanup, etc).
Some may just need the condensed eating window structure to reduce calorie load once in a while as well. IF can also help to put back some purpose into many people’s “mindless” eating habits, as most just eat whatever they get their hands on all day (which is never anything good). No focus on quality, just quantity…which may work fine for an active person/athlete who is young (with no metabolic issues) and burns it all up…but for the average sedentary middle aged office worker, probably not going to turn out for the best.
IF may not always be for everyone as people have caloric intake needs (such as athletes) and that must factor into the equation (including stress levels). Many of the health benefits may not also be “needed” until one starts getting older (over 30-35) and their natural processes start to slow down.
All in all….I just like not thinking I “have” to eat all day (been there, done that…hated it) and then just go how I feel. I seem to have more energy and mental clarity as well. Also it has help to reset my “natural cravings” and make me want to eat more “real” foods…especially fatty ones like sardines, real butter, whole eggs, bison burgers (my new fix from Trader Joes)…instead of junk food/sugar.
IF is just a tool in the end….and everyone is of course free to use it however it best fits into their lifestyle…or even not at all.
FJ - No BS Fitness Blog Reply:
I had a lady email me, and wanted to be E-Trained. She INSISTED that she wanted to do fasting. After some analysis I’m like you don’t need that shit… if you did I’d suggest it for you. Here, let me help you EAT, delicious food, and get results.
She would have none of it. Heh, So much for that.
It’s when they take fasting as such gospel that I’m like… “ya fool… it’s just a tool”.
JC Reply:
Sure, some people treat IF in the same rigid sense as eating 6x per day.
As you said, it’s just a tool.
I must say that IF did help reset my hunger signals. When I first started following a Paleo diet, I was ravenous. I think it was because my body was crying out for nutrition. After a while, I was still hungry all the time, but I could tell that I didn’t need all of that food. I ended up trying IF and it worked! Now, I’m hungry when I truly want to eat.
It is common for people to use food as an anesthetic, which can temporarily take them away from uncomfortable feelings. If you are feeding an ‘emotional hunger’ however, no amount of food will ever be enough to satisfy you. It’s important to look at what’s going on at a core level. Usually this is to do with ‘limiting beliefs’, find out what those beliefs are, shift them and put some new ones in that serve the individual better.
Julie Mann Habitfixer
[...] Varying types of intermittent fasting (IF) and their benefits. I really enjoy the concept of re-teaching your body what true hunger feels like [...]
I’m interested in trying IF, but I’m concerned because I’m a type 2 diabetic. I had been controlling this strictly with diet and doing fine, but I’ve slacked over the last 6-12 months and need to get it back in line.
The sooner people get out the “eat every 2-3 hours” scaremongering the quicker their health will improve. Our bodies have a smart way of telling us when to eat called hunger, once we start listening to it amazing things happen. Really good post will definitely be checking out JCD Fitness more!
Mike OD Reply:
That gravatar image always makes me chuckle. Love it!
Great post JC, thanks for sharing it with us! People “know” to eat healthy, but they don’t. There is a serious disconnect between food and people…and IF is a great way to help rewire that. The more people hear about IF, the better off they may actually become from food-relationship point of view!
JC Reply:
absolutely. I get emails pretty frequently from those with bad relationships with food. I usually have them read my ebook, in which I talk about how I got over my fears with clean/dirty eating. Then I also tell them about how I used IF to control kcals and rid myself of the dogma that is eating frequently, clean, blah blah blah.
thanks a lot for the opportunity to post here.
I practice IF. I eat once a day, allowing nearly 24 hours before the next meal (b/c it takes time to prep and eat). I am curious, why do you say “This approach is best practiced only 1-2 times per week”?
JC Reply:
I simply meant “this approach” as in the approach I outlined to rid yourself of bad eating habits. If one is going to use it to break some bad eating habits and then return to a normal eating schedule, I’d do it this way.
I’m not saying that everyone who chooses to fast has to do it this way forever. I understand some people like yourself follow the warrior diet, some do the 16-8 plan that Martin popularized and then some do the EatStopEat thing where they fast 1-2 times per week for 24 hours.
this is just a suggestion if you have had issues with food and want to break some bad habits.
cheers and beers
Michael Warner Reply:
That was FAST. Thanks for the reply.
I guess I was just curious why you recommended Martin’s 16 hour window over Ori’s 24 hour. I am considering changing to the 16 hour window, so I wanted to know if your rec that is was best to do a couple times a week was health related, just because its harder to do, or perhaps there are performance or results related reasons. I love your blog, and respect your opinion, so I was interested in your reasoning.
Thanks.
JC Reply:
No sweat on the fast reply. I have alerts and happened to be at one of the school computers.
I am not a big fan of the 24 hour fast (Ori’s way) for a few reasons but the main one is the amount of food I’d have to eat in one meal is just not doable( for me anyway).
I walk around campus all day long and if I’m eating to gain, I need to eat about 3300-3500 kcals a day. that would be a boatload of food in one sitting and there’s just no way I could put up with that kind of misery. Hell, even 2000 kcals would be uncomfortable. Not to mention aiming for 200-250g protein. That would be hell in itself.
Plus, I’d have to resort to a bunch of sugary junk and other foods low on micronutrients to make the kcal requirements. Just not worth it to me when I’d rather be eating bananas, apples, dairy, lean beef, etc, to get quality kcals. Sure, I eat some cereal and chocolate and other junk for enjoyment and variety but I wouldn’t want to make my diet nothing but that in order to fast for 23 hours.
Love it, thanks.
You are dead on. Its why I am considering changing (and I have been doing once a day like Ori recommends for…wow, 6 years). I eat about 2500-3000 (depending on if I surf), and do it with natural foods. 3 cups brown rice and lots of meat and fat and vegetables, but lord does it make a problem to 1) get that much when I am out with friends and 2) to digest it then want to go out later. You apparently didn’t need 6 years to figure that out, so I salute you. Its just a pain in the &ss and sometimes I just sign looking down at a salad bowl of food. Sometimes of course, its easy and I am hungry still. The human body is an amazing thing.
Thanks again.
JC Reply:
Good god, I cannot imagine stuffing myself with 3000 kcals worth of brown rice and meat. It would have to be loaded with butter and the meat would have to be pork steak or something else really fatty. There is just no way I could keep it up long term.
I don’t practice IF as strict as I used to. Honestly, I hate eating in the morning but I do because I train after class ends(11-12) and I don’t care for training fasted too much. When I trained in the afternoon, I had worked with Martin for a little while and he helped me tweak a few things. I ended up with a 6-8 hour eating window(depending on the day) and I still remember almost puking after my 2nd meal sometimes.
no. fun.
thanks for the commentary. good luck to you!
Hey JC, I found it helpful to drink hot water with lemon and cayenne pepper after a fast with my meal. I found that it helps me feel fuller and less likely to binge during this time. I don’t have any clue why but it works
Great post!
Anna
JC Reply:
weird. I’ve told friends who had problems with late night eating to drink a about 1/4 gallon of warm water and eat a ton of steamed broccoli. Not too tasty but worked like a charm.
[...] Intermittent Fasting [...]
My only suggestions are to give it a try, give yourself time to adjust, and truly make it INTERMITTENT.
When I first started it was harder getting through a fast. Sometimes I got a stomach ache after several hours, sometimes a headache, sometimes I felt really cold, etc. Now all of these are extremely rare, and less severe. I often don’t even realize that 24 hours has gone by.
Realize that you need to keep hydrated when fasting. Most people get the majority of their daily water needs in food without realizing it. If you stop the food and don’t add more water to drink you will get dehydrated. That can cause the headaches, body aches, nausea etc. that I experienced early on.
Lastly, experiment with different fast durations. I have found that I like 24 hour fasts the best. However, I still do 16 hour fasts and I mix up both the frequency and duration as it suits me. That’s why it’s called Intermittent! I almost never eat from 6pm to the following day at noon. However if I am truly hungry, or my schedule dictates it I will eat earlier in the morning and not think twice about it. Just experiment and don’t obsess over it. There is no right answer, just whatever works for you on any given day.
[...] On the nutritional front, I have been getting back to basics after a wake up call with my scale last weekend. I found this great blog post from the Fitness Spotlight blog: Break Bad Eating Habits With Intermittent Fasting. [...]
[...] “Break Bad Eating Habits with Intermittent Fasting” February 27, 2010 walteranderson Leave a comment Go to comments “Break Bad Eating Habits with Intermittent Fasting” by Fitness Spotlight [...]
IF changed my life, no kidding. IF was key to battling those last few pounds of fat when I was going for sub double-digit body fat. But even more importantly, out of that particular goal came a refreshingly new way to live my life. For the first time, my life didn’t revolve around food. If you are struggling with losing weight, food addictions, hunger, etc IF will help you in all those areas. And you’ll feel WORLDS bettter.
JC Reply:
Preach it, brother.
Hi JC and all readers,
I love posts on fasting because it spreads the word on the web! It’s amazing how few people know that fasting is a good thing. Mention it to most and they think ‘eating disorder’!
Its an awesome tool that is increadibly flexible and will fit any lifestyle. It takes time to become good at it too. I never struggle to complete the time that I set myself (it’s good to have a busy day job to take your mind off food) but I do need to strengthen my post fast tactics. It is a risky time where you can undo your hard work but you must just eat a normal healthy meal of a normal portion size and not go ‘buffet crazy’. JC, you have covered this point really nicely here! Thank you for putting IF into the limelight!
One key point is to ensure that those people in your everyday life who will know that you are fasting (i.e. partners/family) must understand it fully, so take time to explain. If they say that you are in shape already, tell them it isn’t just about keeping trim – there are other health benefits e.g. insulin control. Many people will give up on fasting if they don’t have the social support – we need to spread the word!
Fasting definitely forms the bedrock of my ‘Rule Free’ Fitness lifestyle. I have put a few tips into a post I wrote about our relationship with food which JC touches upon at the top of this article. Feel free to check it out http://www.lmdfitness.com/nutrition/food-body-fuel-life-joy/
hey JCD, i’ve always been interested in this IF trend. it certainly takes a lot of self-control to fast and control yourself from taking the first bite. this is a great article!
My first question for you is, if i’m feeling low in energy and extremely lethargic and sleepy, do i still continue with the fast or should i break it? i’ve heard that it takes some time to get used to a fast for people who eat a lot of sugar (glucose) in processed carbs
Also, it doesn’t make a hoard-load of difference if i eat loads of carbs does it? i can eat up to 60% carbs, mostly from unprocessed rice, though i do eat white rice occasionally.
oh, i’m skinny fat with a lower belly pooch and my goal is fat loss.
Thanks a lot
JC Reply:
Hey Clement. It will take a few days to get used to fasting. I would recommend pushing through the lethargy if you can. Your body is used to a certain feeding schedule, and you will have to adapt to the fasting period.
As long as you are meeting your protein requirements and overall kcal requirements, the rest of your diet will not make much difference.
If your goal is fat loss, eat less and move more. seriously.
Ha – simple but effective “eat less and move more”. That hits it on the head JC.
Fasting is so effective for fat loss/maintaining your ideal weight because it means you eat less. Simple as that.
Completed a 16 hour fast today. Usually once or twice a week I’ll do that and I find it fits better with my lifestyle than the 24 hours fast. The end of the fast ties in nicely with a late lunch at work
Has anyone tried fasting?…
Have you tried fasting as a form of a diet? I have tried the Master Cleanse (which is a 7 day program) a few times, and I could never make it past a specific point. (About Day 4 into the fast, I need REAL FOOD!!!). Fasting is quite a chore if you’re n…
[...] Breaking Bad Habits with IF [...]
[...] Break bad eat habits with intermittent fasting [...]
[...] a more acute level, I have been using an approach called intermittent fasting, where I incorporate 8, 12, or sometimes 24 hours of fasting. While I am not 100% sold on the [...]
[...] Break Bad Eating Habits With Intermittent Fasting – Fitness Spotlight : Fitness Spotlight [...]
Hi,
I was wondering how IF affects exercise performance and the body’s ability to gain muscle. I feel obligated to have a postworkout snack (even if I’m not hungry), and now I am second guessing this idea. I have been using IF one day a week and it has been great, but I can usually only do it if my college athletic team has no scheduled practice or lift. I was wondering your thoughts on this issue. I’m newly subscribed.
Thanks!!
JC Reply:
Well you can still gain muscle whilst following an IF eating schedule. it just depends on how you go about it.
I still think it’s of utmost importance to have some food post workout if your goal is to gain muscle. Even if that;s not your explicit goal, recovery will be accelerated and I’m sure you feel this is necessary due to your paricipation in athletics.
[...] http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2010/02/25/break-bad-eating-habits/ [...]
[...] Break Bad Eating Habits With Intermittent Fasting – Fitness Spotlight : Fitness Spotlight [...]
[...] is a great way to break some bad eating habits. If you’ve gotten yourself into a rut with continual snacking, I’d recommend you give fasting [...]
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