What’s The Deal With Fasting?

Intermittent fasting. Water fasting. Time restricted eating. Juice cleanses. Many of us have heard about these things, often knocking them as fads or extreme ways of living. However, there seems to be a lot of buzz lately about the benefits of fasting. So what does the science say? Well, you're in the right place.

After hearing about the evidence behind time restricted feeding or intermittent fasting on Dr. Rhonda Patrick's podcast and elsewhere, Aaron decided to try it out for himself. Alongside a regular sauna routine combined with an overall healthy, whole foods plant-based diet, he has seen profound benefits. From sleep quality to endurance gains, we've both felt the positive effects of eating our food within a 9 or 10 hour window during the day. But how does this actually work? What's happening metabolically and physiologically to stimulate these effects? In true TFF What's The Deal fashion, we set off to find out.

It's been quite some time since we recorded a WTD episode, and that's due to the immense amount of research and time it requires. With Aaron's new kid on the block, changing jobs and moving, along with Jackson's travel and school schedule, we simply didn't have a ton of time to focus on this. But it's definitely worth the wait; we covered everything from how fasting can potentially prevent disease at the cellular level, to how we feel it should be implemented in a practical fashion in everyday life. We zoom in to zoom out, and discuss this through an objective and evidence-based approach, so we hope you learn something new! It's a bit of a longer episode, so hang in there, take a break if needed, and enjoy.

-Jackson and Aaron

Show Notes

Studies/resources referenced:

Found My Fitness (Dr. Rhonda Patrick): https://www.foundmyfitness.com/

Dr. Ray Cronise: http://hypothermics.com/home/

382 Day Fast:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/pdf/postmedj00315-0056.pdf

Intermittent Fasting Meta Analysis:

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634?url_ver=Z39.88-2003𝔯_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org𝔯_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&

Circadian Biology:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12015613?dopt=Abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3946160/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5388543/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20228939?dopt=Abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19255424?dopt=Abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23899596?