Steady and Slow for Successful Fast

Contributor: Lori Bush

Riddle me this: if food is the body’s source of fuel, how do we keep energy levels up when fasting? 

The answer is all about consuming foods with a low glycemic load for a slow and steady supply of glucose released into the blood and fed to our cells.  

DOWN THE HATCH … AND THEN WHAT?

Let’s pretend we’re a carbohydrate. Go with me on this for a moment.  

We’re part of some form of food; we could be simple or we could be complex. (See, we really are like carbohydrates.) As we move through the digestive system, we get broken into sugar to enter the bloodstream. As blood sugar levels increase, the pancreas produces the hormone insulin that prompts the cells throughout the body to absorb the sugar for energy or storage. And then blood sugar levels fall. Are you with me so far?

When the sugar in the blood moves into the cells, enter another hormone, glucagon, that signals the liver to start releasing stored sugar.  It’s the interplay of insulin and glucagon that ensure cells in the body and especially the brain have a steady supply of fuel.

Here’s where the glycemic load comes in. Blood sugar levels play an important role in how energized we feel. If you’re a complex carbohydrate, the breakdown and release of sugar into the bloodstream takes place at a slow rate for a steady release of sugars into the blood and ultimately into the cells. However, if you are a simple carbohydrate, there is a blast of sugar into the bloodstream and insulin levels go into over-drive to move that sugar into the cells causing a rapid dive in blood sugar levels and a crash in energy. 

FUEL YOUR FAST TO GO THE DISTANCE

So the trick to keeping energy levels up during both a fasting window and an eating window is to keep blood sugar levels for peaking and plummeting and we do this by fueling with food that has a low glycemic load.  Simple sugars are the enemy. Protein and complex carbohydrates, especially from fiber-rich vegetables and grains and protein, are our friends. We can also benefit from a little bit of healthy fat brought into the mix.  

Fastify was created to be a convenient, delicious, clean source of plant-based, high fiber complex carbohydrates and protein with absolutely no added sugar. Culinary-inspired savory smoothies may also be heated as a soup and are ideally portioned to keep energy steady and cravings under control. 

EATING ON PURPOSE

If you’ve been afraid to try intermittent fasting because you think it will be too difficult and you’re afraid of the crash, you may just be surprised at how easy it can be and how great it can make you look and feel. 

Some say you are what you eat. We say you are HOW you eat. Intermittent fasters eat with intention and feel so good about it!