Intermittent Fasting: Meal Plans and Schedules

Intermittent Fasting: Meal Plans and Schedules

I love intermittent fasts. I have found them to be physically healing, emotionally cleansing, and spiritually uplifting. As the body experiences a shift in its attachment to food, the mind and heart experience something similar in relation to their attachments to ideas, feelings, people, and experiences.

Intermittent fasting refers to eating plans and dietary protocols that cycle between periods of fasting (no food or some food) and periods of non-fasting. There are a variety of intermittent fasting diets, along with several types of intermittent diet meal plans.

The benefits of intermittent fasting include lowering insulin levels, reducing inflammation, improving brain health, possible weight loss, and helping you feel more hopeful and prayerful. Overall, intermittent fasting has shown promising results in broad trials involving mice and a few limited human trials.

To learn more about intermittent fasting, check out my other article about the benefits, trends, spirituality, and dangers.

“Fasting is the first principle of medicine; fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself.”

                                  ~Rumi

Intermittent Fasting Diets

In general, intermittent fasting can include fasting one to two days per week on alternating days. During these days, you eat either no food at all or 25 percent of your regular caloric intake.

On reduced calorie days, men consume 500 to 600 calories, while women consume 400 to 500 calories. Rather than strictly focusing on male vs. female intake, you might consider your body type, regular diet, and personal preferences before committing to a specific number of calories.

On non-fasting days, the most successful intermittent fasters eat normally and never binge. Some of the more courageous fasters eat only during limited windows throughout each day and might reduce their carbs. For all fasts, it’s important to stay hydrated, which includes drinking water and non-caloric, non-alcoholic beverages like unsweetened coffee and tea.

Here are a few types of intermittent fasting diet plans to consider:

Simple and Painless Fast

The most cautious fast consists of no food restrictions, fasting one day per week, with only one meal on that day, and with a calorie intake at the 25 percent level (400 to 600 calories). On the other six days, eat normally.

5/2 Moderate Fast

The 5/2 fast consists of no food restrictions for two days per week, while reducing calorie intake to 25 percent, between 500 to 600 calories. On the other five days, you would eat normally.

Consistent Fasting

One of the most aggressive ways to intermittent fast is to adhere to your usual diet from 8 am to 3 pm, with fasting during the remaining hours of the day. On some days you might want a cheeseburger at 8 pm, but you can’t have one.

Alternate-Day Fast

This intermittent fast might be one of the most difficult. Eating normally on one day and then fasting the next day. To get the most benefit, you would continue this cycle somewhere between 8 and 16 weeks. Each fasting day can include 500 to 600 calories or no calories at all. In either case, be sure to drink plenty of water.

Alternate-day fasting can help you lose weight, and help lower your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Krista Varady created a version of this diet which she calls, “The Every Other Day Diet.”

While restrictive, this diet tends to hold people’s attention longer than most. The length of time that seems to produce the most benefits is 12 weeks, which is also the number of weeks that most human trials aim to achieve.

6/1 Fast

The 6/1 Fast is a simple fast where you eat nothing for one 24 hour period each week, starting with any meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner). During this time, doctors recommend that you drink plenty of water. Low-sugared coffee, tea, and other non-caloric and non-alcoholic beverages are permitted.

Keto Derivative

A form of The Keto Diet includes an aspect of intermittent fasting that some people find helpful and effective. During every meal, eat your vegetables first and then eat your protein, with meals to be completed between 11 am to 6 pm, with intermittent fasting hours from 6 pm to 11 am. Refrain from heavy carbs like bread, pasta, and rice. Keep in mind that drastic reductions in carbs can make you feel a little foggy.

The Master Cleanse: Lemon Juice & Cayenne Pepper Fast

This popular fasting practice has been around since the 1940s, created by the controversial figure, Stanley Burroughs. Stanley wrote The Master Cleanse in the 1940s but the 1970s revision inspired a popular cleanse movement, which continues to this day. Fans of this cleanse include Beyoncé, Jared Leto, Denzel Washington, and Angelina Jolie.

The Master Cleanse consists of drinking only water mixed with a half-teaspoon of lemon juice and a hint of cayenne pepper five to eight times per day, for five to ten days.

While this fast is not recommended for everyone — and it’s not a cure-all or intermittent fast — you might consider this idea when creating your own hybrid intermittent fast/diet.

One hybrid idea might be to drink this formula from 3 pm to 8 am and eat two calorie-restricted meals during the hours of 8 am to 3 pm.

The Warrior Diet

This intermittent fasting diet has some passionate followers. It involves fasting during the day and then eating a huge meal at night.

Popularized by fitness expert Ori Hofmekler, the dieter consumes small portions of raw fruits and raw vegetables during the day, then eats a high-calorie meal before 8 pm. In short, you fast all day (limited to fresh fruits and vegetables), and then you have a power-feast in the evening, finishing your banquet within a 4-hour eating window.

There are several challenges with this type of fasting. Depending on your body and metabolism, eating in the evening can extinguish the benefits of intermittent fasting. It might:

  • Negatively impact your sleeping and dreaming patterns
  • Alter hormone function
  • Increase inflammation
  • Impair blood sugar regulation
  • Create weight gain
  • Elevate triglycerides and cholesterol


Circadian Rhythm or 16/8 Fasting

When it comes to losing weight, there are healthy and unhealthy paths. The Circadian Rhythm or 16/8 Fasting is when you eat solely during an 8-10 hour window each day. The rest of the time you refrain from meals and caloric beverages, but you can drink non-caloric, non-alcoholic drinks, including low-sugar coffee and tea.

Fitness expert and early promoter of intermittent fasting, Martin Berkhan called this diet, “The Leangains Protocol.”

Intermittent Meal Plan Example

For this example, we’ll focus on the 5/2 Intermittent Fast, which consists of two fasting days per week, each allowing 25 percent of your regular caloric intake (400 to 600 calories). When doing this fast, consider having an eating window from 8am to 6pm.

In addition to possibly losing addition weight, you’ll have more food options if you avoid pieces of bread, rice, and pasta during your fast.

When fasting with limited calories, a hidden gem is hemp seeds. My favorite brand is Manitoba Harvest. Their Hemp Hearts are delicious and provide more protein than meat.  

Here is an example of an Under-600 calorie meal schedule:

 

Breakfast: 250 Calories

  • 1/4 cup of oatmeal
  • 8 oz Green smoothie with apples, spinach, and kale
  • One hard-boiled egg or a one-egg Tex-Mex scramble with a pinch of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and salsa

 

Lunch/Dinner – 300 Calories (Pick One)

  • One small baked potato with one tablespoon of sour cream
  • 2 cups roasted vegetables with two tablespoons of hemp seeds
  • 1/2 avocado on toast with one tablespoon of crushed peanuts or sesame seeds
  • Chicken, Vegetable and Bean soup with 3 oz of chicken, 1/4 cup of red beans, 1/2 cup of chopped veggies. You can swap the chicken for 3 oz of beef or buffalo, a moderate portion of tofu or 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds.

 

Between Meals – Under 60 calories (limited to one of these items, once per day)

  • 2 cups of cooked microwave popcorn
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • Three whole grain pretzel sticks
  • 14 almonds
  • One apple (baked)
  • 1/4 cup low-sugar ice cream
  • 1/4-1/2 banana

 

Anytime

  • Water with 1/2 tsp of lemon juice and a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper. This drink is my favorite, especially during the fasting hours of 6 pm and 8 am or 6 pm and 11 am.

Intermittent Fasting Benefits

While intermittent fasting is not a cure-all, and the data is based mainly on scientific trials focused on mice, many people agree that intermittent fasting does wonders.

Many say that it can:

  • Ease depression and increase vitality
  • Improve memory
  • Reduce inflammation and weight gain
  • Remove damaged brain cells and generates new ones
  • Help reduce attachment to emotional and psychological luggage.
  • Improve your experience when praying and meditating

 

In general, even a little fasting here and there is shown to have positive effects. If you have gut issues or adrenal fatigue, proceed with caution. To be safe, ask your doctor or certified nutritionist before you begin fasting.

In all fasting, be careful about “starvation mode,” when your body starts to conserve energy by reducing the number of calories it burns. Starvation mode is something to avoid. It can cause your body to stop losing weight, and it will most often make you feel depressed, angry, lost, confused or worse. It might also have other negative effects.

Just in case, notify a few friends before you fast. Texting a friend is quick and easy, “Hey, I’m fasting. If I die, I buried a treasure under a tree. The map is in my fridge. It’s all yours!”



Holistic Dentistry Can Help Reverse Cavities

Holistic Dentistry Can Help Reverse Cavities

Going to the dentist is a chore that almost no one looks forward to; it’s painful, expensive, and no matter what, you’ll probably be told you’re not flossing enough. Some dentists might tell you that your issues are a matter of genetics, but that’s probably not true. This led one dentist to the realization that the intrinsic problem is not a matter of legacy, but instead a matter of diet, realizing a way to reverse cavities simply by adjusting what one eats.

How to Get Rid of Cavities

We all know processed sugar and sweets are prime contributors to cavities, but there are also vitamins and nutrients that, when deficient in our diet, can lead to tooth decay. Calcium and Vitamin D are two of these nutrients we know are responsible for strong bones and healthy teeth. But what most don’t realize is that these vitamins can be neutralized by phytic acid in the digestive process. Phytic acid and phytates act as a storage mechanism of phosphorous in plants, but when consumed by humans they aren’t broken down, instead binding with other nutrients that neutralize them in the process.

So where do phytates come from? Grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and in lesser quantities, vegetables. But aren’t these types of food essential sources of certain nutrients themselves? Well, yes, and the answer is complicated; phytates are also known to have antioxidant properties, and their binding effect can be good for people who consume an overabundance of minerals like iron.

The big takeaway is that an overabundance of phytates in your diet can lead to weaker teeth and more cavities if not balanced with an abundance of specific nutrients. And our diets are packed with foods that contain these phytates. With the average western diet containing copious amounts of processed sugars, grains, and vegetable oil, it’s no wonder the dental industry is booming.

From a young age, we’ve been exposed to this type of diet, with the food pyramid’s foundation consisting of bread, cereals, and wheat. Although sugar is the smallest segment of the pyramid, it has found its way into almost all of the food we eat. At the same time, meat and dairy are also small segments on the pyramid, but according to research based on a diet optimized for healthy teeth, these food groups should be your foundation.

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