What Does a Dietician Say About Fasting?
Are you looking for a way to lose weight, reset your immune system or lower blood sugar? Then fasting may be an option for you. KTBS 3 health reporter Linnea Allen talked with registered dietician Julie Hartley to get an in-depth look at fasting and the benefits it provides.
Linnea Allen – “So, Julie, what exactly is fasting?”
Julie Hartley – “Fasting is defined really as a period of time, and that can be pre-determined. It can go as short as 13 hours or as long as days without food and without calories. And it’s important to make that distinction, because a lot of people think that they’re fasting when they’re drinking coffee with creamer, or maybe they have just a little bit of wine at night. And those calories will be breaking a fast. You can. Herbal tea, water’s the best, some people can drink black coffee without creamer in it.”
Allen – “So why does it help? What’s good about fasting?”
Hartley – “There are so many incredible benefits about fasting. Once we go about 13, really closer to 15, hours without food, our body makes a switch to a method called autophagy. And what this does is it helps repair cells, it helps regulate hormones like insulin, and growth hormone. It increases fat burning, increases energy, it’s anti-aging, and it also helps you sleep better. It does all this while it also down-regulates hunger hormones, and so you’re really not hungry. So you can see why so many performance athletes and even people struggling with other chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, and autoimmune diseases are really finding success with fasting.”
Excerpted from KTBS3
