Our first five benefits of fasting are lifestyle improvements.
1. The first of five lifestyle benefits of fasting is fat loss.
Fat loss is typically one of the first lifestyle benefits of fasting that comes to mind. And it certainly is possible to burn a lot of fat from fasting.
In my previous article found here, I did a three week fast where I lost 12kg. But as I found the longer fasts don’t work too well with my active lifestyle.
Luckily we can get many of the benefits fasting from much shorter fasts.
Many factors determine how quickly the body goes into a fasted state but it is usually in 8-12 hours, and then burning fat afterwards. This can be done daily. And the longer the fasted state the more fat can be burnt.
Fat loss is just one factor, and not the only reason fasting will always be part of my life. Another contributing benefit is practising self-control & willpower.
2. The second lifestyle benefit of fasting is self-control and willpower exercise.
When fasting, we are in control of what we do and don’t eat. If the only thing available is unhealthy, we can skip it. Hunger exists, but we have greater control over the need to satisfy the urges. We can keep our money in our pocket and await a better opportunity to eat healthier.
3. The third benefit is money savings.
Money savings isn’t something normally associated with fasting, but looking for convenient, healthy and cheap food is not an easy task, especially while out and about.
But guess what, fat stores meet all of those criteria.
It’s convenient, as it’s always available; it’s healthy, that is what fat is designed for; and it’s essentially free, we already have it.
We can even double-dip on the benefit and use the saved money to buy better quality food, at a more appropriate time. Speaking of precious time, we get more of it.
4. The forth is time savings.
Cooking, eating, and cleaning up after meals, several times per day is time-consuming. With time being so valuable for everyone, this is a great benefit often overlooked.
Extra time could certainly be beneficial in many situations.
It’s even possible to plan a fast for an expected busy time. There is an added benefit of this when fasting concentration improves.
5. The final lifestyle benefit is concentration power.
During fasting, we become more focused. This makes sense as prehistorically if food wasn’t available, then we need to think about how to get some. It’s unlikely we would have survived as a species if every time we skipped a meal our brains slowed down.
Interesting but want more?
While these may be interesting, the real magic happens when we start looking inside our bodies.
