Intermittent Fasting and Low-Carb Diet – A Powerful Combo


If you're obese or severely overweight, I believe the first thing that you should do is to cut back on your overall sugar and grain consumption. I highly recommend keeping your total sugar or fructose intake below 25 grams a day, or as little as 15 grams a day if you have any health problems related to insulin and leptin resistance, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease, until your insulin-leptin sensitivity has been restored.
Fructose is particularly troublesome, as it triggers a key enzyme, fructokinase, which in turn activates another enzyme that causes your cells to accumulate fat. This is especially true if you are overweight, but far less of an issue if you aren't. Likewise, grains also break down into sugar in your body, thereby promoting insulin and leptin resistance just like other sugars, which in turn promotes obesity and makes losing weight a real struggle.
After getting rid of sugar in your diet, you can take your weight loss efforts further by practicing intermittent fasting and exercising in a fasted state. The simplest way to get started is to skip breakfast, make lunch the first meal of your day, and have your dinner no later than 7PM or at least three hours before you hit the sack. I typically suggest sticking to this type of eating schedule, however for those who have schedules that do not allow this, eating breakfast and skipping dinner is an acceptable alternative.
The general rule is to limit your eating to a specific and narrow window of time each day (about six to eight hours), instead of eating every two to three hours all throughout the day. By providing ample amount of time in fasting, your body empties its glycogen stores, which rarely happens when you're eating three times a day, and turns on its natural fat-burning mode.
Warning: I strongly advise against fasting without your doctor's consent if you are hypoglycemic, living with chronic stress, have cortisol dysregulation, or have an existing medical condition. Pregnant women or nursing mothers are also not good candidates for any type of fasting, as babies need generous amounts of nutrients before and after birth.

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