I tried intermittent fasting last weekend! It was a big deal for me. My close friends and family know that ‘Yoga and fasting’ do not go together. Markus, my husband, knows this well too. There is a nervousness that overcomes me when hunger sets in. Markus knows the signals and does well by heeding them. In the beginning he didn’t pay much attention to my hunger and learned by error. I can get ‘hangry’- angry and hungry. Not good.

I am not diabetic, and a high metabolic rate is a possibility, but not confirmed. My ‘hangryness’ has improved. I worked on it with my functional medicine doctor. I can now stretch my hunger longer without getting nervous. I wrote about this in a past article. The way I overcame it was to reduce my carbohydrate to protein intake. And it has helped. This also helped me lower my natural insulin levels. So overall I was heading in the right direction.

So, why intermittent fasting?

Because of my inability to withstand hunger for long periods, fasting never featured in my to-do list. I remember growing up, my parents would fast regularly. Either once a month or on certain days based on the lunar cycle. I admired them but didn’t try it for myself. I was not vested emotionally (nor mentally). My parents did not force it on us, and I remember my mother telling me, ‘you will fast when you are ready’.

And ready came last Sunday.

We eat at home 6 days a week and go out for date night once a week (one meal). We don’t do take-outs besides the odd pizza or noodles. In the recent past, the one time out has led to some form of gut upset. Not food poisoning but just a discomfort of sorts. A close friend’s thoughts on this was that our gut was rejecting outside food because of our ‘clean’ eating 6 times a week. An interesting insight. Food for thought! That, one meal a week could throw our gut into disarray was worth considering.

I have a strong gut, so I was quite bewildered. That’s when I realised it was time. The ‘ready’ my mother was talking about had come. I was emotionally vested to heal my gut. And the universe seemed to be steering me in the same direction because as I opened my YouTube feed, there was a video by Dr. Eric Berg on intermittent fasting. Spooky.

Intermittent fasting has many benefits. I knew that our gut health directly affected our overall health and more, but I had no idea it also helped keep diseases like dementia at bay. Dr. Berg has interesting research based information, and his videos are worth a watch. He is anti-carbohydrates, and I am not fully bought into this. He has a weight loss focus and my aim is not weight loss it’s wellbeing. But like everything on the internet, you choose how you want to work with the content. I chose intermittent fasting and as I was feeling a little guilty for ‘harming’ my gut, I found the corresponding courage to fast.

Intermittent fasting requires a minimum of 16 hours of fasting. I fasted for 18 hours only because I waited for my hunger pangs to kick in (something that Dr. Berg recommends also). It could have been partially delayed because my gut was still rebalancing itself. I must say I felt good. I kept my meals light that day and progressed to fast another 15 hours that night. I felt so light the next morning.

I now know I can train my brain (thoughts) and body (emotions) for fasting. I quickly realised that fasting using thought alone was not enough. To get some skin in the game requires emotional investment too. And here’s something else I am discovering, the less I eat, the less food my body needs! For now.

On Friday morning, during our yearly blood test with my functional medicine doctor, intermittent fasting came up as a remedy for lowering visceral fat, high blood pressure, improving gut health, nutrients absorption, regulating natural insulin levels, and more. Amazing.

It seems like the answer to our future may lie in our gut. I want to make intermittent fasting our (Markus and my) way of life. Our way to future-proof our health.  Markus will have no problem with this. I may be the one who falters. I need to consciously engage with my emotions to fulfil my quest. I shall keep you posted!

In the meantime, I wish you good gut health.

As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com