I Got Used to Fasting for 16 Hours a Day, and You Can Too!
Intermittent fasting isn’t easy. We may have evolved to eat only episodically and to do without food for long stretches, but imposing this on ourselves is another matter. All around us, people are constantly eating, snacking, tasting, sipping, gobbling. When our 8-hour window for eating closes, it is like being marooned in another world. So, why do it?
The potential benefits suggested by some research are valuable—gradual weight loss, improved blood sugar regulation, sharpened cognitive function, better sleep, and even longer life. In my case, the genetically generated cysts in my kidneys may actually start shrinking instead of growing to the point that I’ll have to go on dialysis.
For the past 11 months, I have started eating every morning at 7:00 am and have stopped eating or drinking anything except water or tea with no calories by 3:00 pm. For the first few months, it was tough. I had been told that my body would adapt, but it seemed at first mine was refusing to become habituated to what felt like a spartan existence.
Excerpted from Psychology Today
