Intermittent Fasting | How To Lose Fat, Gain Muscle and Feel Fantastic

If you want to know the secret to losing fat, gaining muscle and feeling fantastic then look no further than intermittent fasting. The science behind intermittent fasting tells us that it’s not just what you eat but WHEN you eat as well.

For thousands of years different cultures, such as the Essenes, have only eaten at specific times of the day for optimal health, which is known as intermittent fasting.

Now intermittent fasting is one of the latest crazes amongst bodybuilders and athletes. This is because it allows you to lose a lot of fat whilst keeping strong because it’s a process that allows you to maintain, or even build, muscle.

To understand how intermittent fasting benefits us first it’s good to understand the different functions of our digestive system throughout the day. Basically, there are three 8-hour periods: one for detoxification, one for digestion and one for nutrition assimilation.

Eating only during the digestion period is the key to intermittent fasting. I would even say that if you didn’t change your diet, but just ate within the ‘digestion period’, you would already deeply and radically improve your health, but obviously having a healthy whole food diet takes you next level of optimal eating.

Let’s take a look at these three eight-hour periods

Intermittent Fasting Period 1 – Detoxification: 4am to 12noon

This is the optimal time for your body to be in detoxification. Yep, no eating, and I know you might be thinking this is tough, but I wake up early. I see clients, do stretching and strength training and all kinds of things without eating during this time. You will be okay!!

Your body stores all the essential amino acids and everything that you need to keep functioning. When you go to bed at night and wake up in the morning your body has burnt through most of its glucose stores and switches to a fat burning mode called ketosis.

This process of ketosis is where you maximize fat loss and you augment your muscles. Your body goes into a process called autophagy or autolysis where it eliminates weakened proteins and replaces them. It’s like a renovation for your organs, your muscles and for your body! This is because when you do eat again your muscular tissue and your organs are first in line for that nutrition coming in.

So during this time stick to water. Water with lemon is ok, or some teas but do your best not to use any sweetener (otherwise you put yourself back into the glucose mode and you want to continue to burn fat in the morning and eliminate excess protein).

To aid your body in this detoxification period here’s what to focus on:

Defecation. It’s good to poo when you wake up in the morning and the best way to stimulate this is drinking a litre of water and going for at least a 30-45 minute walk. If this doesn’t help you have a bowel movement then you might want to do an enema.

Urination. Drinking a lot of water helps flush the body. You may like to add some lemon or cranberry juice occasionally if you have urinary issues to get the urinary system flowing.

Perspiration. Exercise to the point of sweat or use a sauna. Sweating and moving the body helps the lymphatic system move out wastes. To facilitate the excretion through sweat, open up your pores on your skin. To do this I use a homemade mix of bicarbonate soda and vodka known as Guasha. Alternatively, you can use a dry skin brush all over your body.

Respiration. Breathing helps you take in a lot of oxygen which alkalises your body. I have a great breathing exercise, called Seven Rounds Of Seven, that will get you balanced. If you’re exercising, take some time to consciously breathe really deeply with pauses in between. Doing this for even five minutes whilst exercising means you’ll be pushing the lymphatic system and blowing out a lot of acidity.

Intermittent Fasting Period 2 – Appropriation: 12noon to 8pm

This is when the body wants to be in a situation of appropriation or taking in. Digestion during this time is optimal. Many long-lived brilliant cultures have always only begun eating when the Sun is highest in the sky.

I recommend the first meal at midday should be fresh fruit and really eat with all your senses. Focus your attention on how beautiful the fruit smells and how amazing it tastes. It’s an orgasmic experience! It’s hydrating, it gets the whole digestive system lubricated and it’s fantastic.

After fruit, you can move onto something a little denser for lunch. For example, some Essene bread with avocado, tomato and sprouts. However, I do recommend keeping it raw until dinner which then can be more protein based or complex carbohydrates like lentils, sprouted grain breads, rice, avocado, and big salads.

If you’re still eating meat try cutting down the portion size and increase the serving of vegetables and salads instead. Trust me you’re going to feel better.

I use to make omelettes that were like 10 eggs in this fat omelette and I use to love it. Then I met Chef Cynthia Louise, she would make a huge omelette with only 2 eggs but would throw in loads of broccoli and greens to bulk it up and I’d feel great. This is what you can do to get started to optimize your lifestyle.

Having some cooked food like vegetable soup for an early dinner is also ok as it helps soften the digestive process and winds you down for the day so you can go to bed and sleep well at night.

I’ve gotta add here that Pulse Raw Food is a beautiful option to either replace lunch or snack on. I recommend a bag every day. That along with intermittent fasting and you’re absolutely winning!

Intermittent Fasting Period 3 – Assimilation: 8pm to 4am

This is when the body wants to assimilate nutrients. If you’re still eating into the night, the energy that should be spent on processing and receiving nutrition is used for digestion instead. Don’t do that yourself, allow yourself to receive that nutrition in the way you should. I actually say you shouldn’t eat after 6 or 7 o’clock as it takes a couple of hours for that food to move out of your stomach and into the small intestine.

Next Level Intermittent Fasting

There is something I’ve been exploring and experimenting with for the last couple weeks. It’s only eating one hour a day, it’s called 23:1. In that one hour, I start with fresh fruit and I go right into typically my complex carbohydrates (Essene bread, avocado, tempeh maybe a salad) then onto some denser foods or sometimes even cooked food.

The main thing here is that I’m only having one meal a day within a one hour period and going a full 23 hours before eating again. I’ve had amazing breakthroughs with it.

There is a massive amount of science supporting longevity through the processes such as this intermittent or cyclic fasting and caloric restriction. It’s the best way to maximise lifespan and feel optimal in your health and energy.

That’s why I’ve started an awesome 5 day retreat program here in Bali called Praxis. Check it out now. It’s all about putting into practice the science and art of intermittent fasting. I team up with the very awesome Chef Cynthia Louise who shows you how to make the most mouthwatering food on the planet, whilst I give you the experience of how the intermittent lifestyle can work for you. It’s epic!

An important thing to realise is that it doesn’t matter how clean your diet is, your body still needs to eliminate things and it needs time to do that. Start off with not eating until noon and then not after about six or seven o’clock.

I know you guys are gonna rock, you’re going to become superhumans and feel amazing and lose all that fat you don’t want on your body. You’ll be trim, your muscles are going to start expanding and growing, you’re going to have more energy and feel awesome. I love what eating optimally can do for us!

Have a great day,

Thanks for reading!