Diving deeper into Fasting and Carbohydrates

Part 1: Cool facts about fasting and Carbohydrates

So fasting is used as a strategy to target fat stores quicker when your insulin levels are down. Meaning that while you fasted for 12 hours if you combine it with Cardio or HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) in theory you are going to tap on them fat stores quicker because your insulin levels will be really low, that is how people use the Fasting, they fast then they do their Cardio-HIIT on an empty stomach using it as a fat burning strategy. Pls keep in mind is that HIIT is not strength training ( what we do at Your Daily Dose)

With or without the carbs nothing will change, maximally after 8–12 hours your insulin levels will get down no matter what you have eaten, so do not listen to the Keto fanatics who go around telling you to keep the carbs low, because they confuse water retention with weight losing most of the times.

To truly supercharge your metabolism-Macro Nutrients are your friend- you need all 3: proteins, carbs and fats. Carbs feed your every cell on your body, help you relax, repair, they increase your Serotonin the hormone of happiness and Leptin helping you sleep better, also they make your brain function properly. You don’t need to be on a low carb diet to use IF, because no matter what your insulin levels will drop after you fast and if you do the cardio you will tap on them fat stores. That’s how human body was created and is intended to work. Even if you didn’t fast you would just have maintained a calorie deficit diet you would have lost fat, it’s all about the calorie in versus the calories out. Fasting may give you an advantage of burning more fat if you use it wisely working out ( remember, this is Cardio or HIIT) on an empty stomach that’s it, that’s why it’s not a diet but rather a smart strategy.

Part 2:FOLLOWING YOUR YDD MEAL PLAN: Eat well and don’t be hungry!

Body-fat is made by the ingestion of food of any sort - in excess of daily requirements. Any time you eat - no matter what the food in (fat, protein or carbohydrate), insulin is released to carry the glucose to the cells - any energy in excess is then stored as fat, by the insulin. Of the three food groups carbohydrate stimulates the release of insulin to the greatest extent - in other words increases the chance of you storing fat. People have designed a measure for how much insulin is released - the *Glycemic Index. A slice of white bread stimulates the glycemic index almost twice as much as a teaspoon of white sugar. Carbohydrates are an essential part of our diets, but not all carbohydrate foods are equal. The Glycemic Index (GI) is a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels. Carbohydrates with a low GI value (55 or less) are more slowly digested, absorbed and metabolized and cause a lower and slower rise in blood glucose and, therefore usually, insulin levels.

But don’t be misguided by that - bread is “starch” so digested as straight glucose - sugar is a disaccharide - one molecule of glucose, one of fructose - and fructose does not immediately raise blood sugar levels (it does, but only after first being processed by the liver - which takes quite some time). Using Intermittent fasting just controls the volume of food energy (Calories), in a way that “tricks” your metabolism into thinking that it is not a famine, just a day with less (but always some), food. As a result it initially burns more fat. If you go on to a savage food /calorie restriction, (which are all these yo-yo diets) the body adjusts its fat burning downward - in a way, sort of rationing the energy available - the exact opposite of what most people want.( a slower metabolism or BMR is the result) Put another way - the body hits the panic button, and actually rations the amount of energy it extracts from your fat cells.

So fuel well for your day and your planned activities. I’m all for trying cardio or a quick HIIT workout in a fasted state.

Please do remember however that in strength training or sport you need your carbohydrates as fuel to make sure you get the most out of your workout, play and eventual recovery so enjoy those allotted carbs in your meal plan and keep on killing it!