Intermittent Fasting Cheat Sheet

The Intermittent Fasting Cheat Sheet

The Intermittent

FASTING Ch� Shet Shet M

By Yuri Elkaim

Elkaim Group International, Inc.

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Intermittent fasting is arguably the least expensive and most powerful healing method we can incorporate into our lives.

Every religion has an element o asting—whether it’s 30 days o Ramadan or a one day Yum Kippur ast. Our ancient ancestors were deinitely on to something. We humans have been asting since we irst walked the earth. Our paleolithic ancestors didn’t have the luxury o 24/7 convenience stores, a Starbucks on every corner, or even rerigerators to store their ood.

Thus, they ate what was reshly available. But sometimes they couldn’t ind anything to eat, and their bodies evolved to be able to unction without ood or extended periods o time. Today, we still have this same biology — we haven’t evolved at all.

And, i anything, asting rom time to time is more “natural” and healthier than constantly eating 3–4 (or more) meals per day. I’ll show you proo urther below. below. First, let’s answer the most common questions about asting and then I’ll show you the 3 main ways do intermittent asting properly.


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1. What is Intermittent Fasting? Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and not eating. It’s not a diet that says “eat this, not that”, but rather you don’t eat any food for a certain length of time — usually 16–24 hours.

There are a number o different types o intermittent asting (highlighted below), but they all serve the same purpose — to allow your body time without ood to spend more o its energy on internal healing and repair—something that cannot happen when you’re constantly in a ed state. 4



2. Who is Intermittent Fasting For? Intermittent fasting is really meant for anyone who is serious about improving their health and losing weight without overhauling their diet.

It’s also or those who want that extra edge to burning at while maintaining their muscle (shouldn’t we all?). It’s completely sae to do (when done properly based on how I’ll show you in a second) and provides enormous beneits so it’s really just a matter o committing to it, trying it out, and seeing i it’s something you want to do regularly.


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3. What Are Some of Its Benefits? There are literally dozens of benefits! If you’re wondering how to do intermittent fasting to get the most bang for your buck, check out some of these incredible benefits — all backed by science, including:

• Increased Lie Expectancy (1) • Improved Hormone Proile(2,3) • Faster Weight Loss. (4,5) And much more!

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4. Why Is It Effective? A 2014 review of the literature showed intermittent fasting’s powers come from its impact on adaptive cellular responses that reduce oxidative damage and inflammation, optimize energy metabolism, and improve cellular production.

The review showed that in rodents, intermittent asting was able to protect against diabetes, cancers, heart disease and neurodegeneration, while in humans it helps reduce obesity, hypertension, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. (6) An earlier study conducted in 2005 published in the Journal o Nutritional Biochemistry revealed that the beneicial effects o intermittent asting result rom at least two mechanisms: reduced oxidative damage and increased cellular stress resistance. (7) Basically, that means that it helps your body deal with stress, which includes being able to better cope with asting (which is a orm o stress) itsel.

Fasting also triggers the process o autophagy, which breaks down and recycles dysunctional proteins and cellular debris. (8)

the house — a process you’d hope would be taking place in your body on a requent basis.

This is similar to taking out the trash and cleaning up around

Hopeully, this gives you a better understanding o how intermittent works its magic inside your body.


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5. Why Does Intermittent Fasting Help to Burn Fat? In case you’re interested in the science, here are the “physiological” ways intermittent fasting helps you burn fat faster:

• Increased uncoupling protein-3 mRNA (important or the production o energy inside the cell) • Increased norepinephrine and epinephrine levels, which increases at breakdown • Increased glucagon levels, which breaks down at • Increased growth hormone levels, which preserves muscle mass and thus a healthy metabolic rate which in turn burns more at • Increased activation o hormone sensitive lipase

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Basically, not eating tells your body to rely more heavily on its at stores. This is a similar phenomenon experienced with consistent exercise training. Basically, your body becomes “smarter” and understands that, in order to maintain blood sugar and spare muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrates) or potential immediate use, it’s better off relying on at, which naturally provides more energy (9 calories per gram) versus carbohydrates or protein (4 calories per gram each).


6. What Should I Eat After My Intermittent Fast? One of the most important steps in learning how to do intermittent fasting is figuring out how to ease back into eating.

When you inish your ast you need to pretend that your ast never happened. No compensation, no reward, no special way o eating, and no all-out binges. The minute you decide to stop asting, simply wipe the ast rom your memory, and eat the exact way you would normally eat at that speciic time o the day (while eating responsibly o course). I you end your ast at dinnertime, have dinner. I you end your ast at 4:00pm and you don’t typically have dinner until 6:00 or 7:00pm, then have a light snack … but nothing larger than you would normally have at that time.

There is no magic way to end your ast. The absolute best thing you can do is simply pretend your ast never happened and begin eating in the exact way you would normally eat at that speciic time o day. One thing I have noticed though with many clients is that they tend to “crave” healthier oods at the end o their ast. As a result, they end up choosing a green smoothie or a healthy snack instead o devouring a large pizza (as you might think would happen afer not eating anything all day).


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7. Is Intermittent Fasting Bad for My Blood Sugar? The truth about having low blood sugar is that it is not nearly as common as we are often led to believe. But obviously check with your doctor if you're uncertain.

For the vast majority o the healthy population, we are easily able to maintain healthy blood sugars that are neither too-high nor too-low in a whole range o different situations, including asting and intense exercise. In research examining the effects o a 24 hour ast, it was ound that asting did not cause blood sugar levels to dip below 3.5 mmol/Liter, meaning that during the entire 24 ast, blood sugar slowly lowered itsel, but remained at normal non-hypoglycemic levels. (10)

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8. Can I Exercise When Intermittent Fasting? I absolutely encourage you to practice as many different types of exercise as possible. Just like nutrition, I think variety is the key to exercise and both yoga and mountain biking are excellent examples of exercises that complement intermittent fasting.

As long as you are doing some orm o resistance training at least two or three times a week you will not lose muscle since intermittent asting actually increases growth hormone, which helps preserve muscle. One thing you may notice is i you work out on day in which you’re asting, your energy levels may be a little lower. That’s because the workout will be tapping into lowered glycogen reserves, which means you may atigue sooner than on a traditional “eating” day. However, exercising, especially or short durations at high intensity, in a asted state is a secret weapon I would strongly encourage you to explore as it will accelerate at loss tremendously (more on that below).


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9. Why Do I Get Hungry When Intermittent Fasting? Well, you’re not eating any food so naturally your stomach might experience the odd growl here and there.

Additionally, your hunger hormone ghrelin responds to a lack o ood in the stomach, which will naturally have it iring on all cylinders, making your brain think you’re starving. Hunger pangs usually dissipate afer your irst 2–3 asts as your body adjusts. 12



10. Why Do I Get a Headache When Intermittent Fasting? First of all, not everyone does.

But there has been a lot o research on Ramadan asting and headaches. (11) It seems that women are particularly susceptible to headaches while asting. This is not due to dehydration and may actually be similar to withdrawal symptoms, similar to the headaches you experience when you quit drinking coffee cold-turkey. From my experience, i you experience headaches they do tend to go away afer your irst couple o asts. I needed, you can treat your headache as you normally would when not asting. Just remember to drink lots o water and get some resh air during your ast (and in general).


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11. Can I Drink When Intermittent Fasting? Yes you can but make sure there are no calories.

That also doesn’t mean drinking diet soda is ok, because it’s not. Just drink water or herbal tea.

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Some people tell you that black coffee is ok to drink during a ast but I wouldn’t advise that. Yes, the caffeine in the coffee will skyrocket your epinephrine which can assist with at loss, but since I don’t advise drinking coffee in general, you’re better off without it, especially when its caffeine isn’t buffered by ood.


Instead, ocus on drinking plenty o water and/or any herbal teas that you enjoy without the use o milk, sugar, or sweeteners. Remember, this is a day o “rest” or your body so that means no calories o any kind.


12. Can I Still Take My Supplements When Intermittent Fasting? You can but I would give your body a break for the day. So if you’re taking multivitamins, fish oil, probiotics, etc … just take a day off from supplementation.

This may also help prevent your body rom developing sensitivities to commonly consumed supplements and ingredients that can occur with continued consumption o literally any ood product. Elkaim Group International, Inc.

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13. How Often Should I Do Intermittent Fasting? This really depends on the type you're using but if you're following my 1-day fast, then once per week is plenty. Some people choose to do TWO 24-hour fasts per week and have seen great results doing so, but I would say that's the maximum.

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14. Why Do I Get Cold When Intermittent Fasting? Fasting increases the blood flow to your body fat (the process is called adipose tissue blood flow). (12)

So when you are asting, more blood is travelling to your body at, presumably to help move it to your muscles where it can be burned as a uel. Due to this increased travel to your body at, vasoconstriction occurs in your ingertips and sometimes toes to compensate.


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15. Will Intermittent Fasting Slow Down My Metabolism? In spite of all the fat burning benefits I’ve already mentioned, you might still be wondering whether or not intermittent fasting will slow your metabolism to a halt.

Afer all, you’ve probably been told that you have to eat every 2–3 hours or your metabolism will shut down and you’ll store at. Thankully, that couldn’t be more untrue. In a 2000 study published in the American Journal o Clinical Nutrition, subjects went through 4 days o asting to determine the impact on their resting energy expenditure, which is the amount o energy your body needs to carry out all o its basic unctions when you’re resting. The indings would surprise most people: or the irst 3 days, the subjects all saw their resting energy expenditure (metabolism) increase! (13) In another study by a different group o researchers, people 18

who even asted every other day (alternate day asting) or 22 days had no decrease in their resting metabolic rate.

The bottom line is that ood, or the lack thereo (at least in the short term), has virtually nothing to do with your metabolism.

In addition, people who were on very-low-calorie diets and on a resistance exercise program (i.e., lifing weights) did not see a decrease in resting metabolic rate, and these people were eating only 800 calories a day or 12 weeks! (14)

In act, your metabolism is much more closely tied to your body weight, and speciically your muscle mass. I your body at (and thus your lean mass) goes up or down, so does your metabolism.

In still more studies, there was no change in the metabolic rate o people who skipped breakast, or people who ate two meals a day compared to seven meals per day. (15)


Bringing a ew o these studies to your attention has hopeully shown you that short-term asting can provide incredible beneits without worrying about it sabotaging your metabolism. There’s nothing to be scared o, and hopeully, I’ve eased any misconceptions you’ve had about how to do intermittent asting and its impact on your metabolism.


16. Is Intermittent Fasting Safe for Women? This is the biggest area of controversy when it comes to how to do intermittent fasting.

Those who caution women against intermittent asting state that studies show that it negatively impacts ertility. And that’s true. Unortunately, what most o these people ail to realize is that ALL o these studies use “alternate day” asting protocols where women are literally eating nothing every other day! No wonder their hormones get messed up and have ertility issues. Remember, I’m advising a 1-day ast — once per week — which is much, much saer and I’ve yet to see any negative effects in the thousands o women that I’ve helped with intermittent asting. There is some research that looked at the effect o short-

term asting on the menstrual cycle o women. These research studies ound that despite the metabolic changes that occur during asting, even asts as long as 72 hours do not seem to have an effect on the menstrual cycle o normal cycling women. (16) Interestingly, even longer asts have been shown to have little impact on the menstrual cycle o normal weight women. There is research, however, to suggest that longer asts (72 hours) can affect the menstrual cycle o exceptionally lean women (body at levels well below 20%). (17,18) Overall, there’s a lot o research (even some o the “alternate day” studies) that show intermittent asting to

be sae, healthy, and effective at burning at in women o all shapes and sizes. But again, we’re not going crazy with this and only asting or no longer than 24 hours. Nonetheless, i you’re a woman and still unsure whether or not intermittent asting is right or you, then my advice would be to inch yoursel into it so that you’re asting or 8–10 hours at a time. Then gradually increase that length o time as you see it.


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17. Is intermittent fasting safe if a person has hypothyroid? In general you should be fine if your fast is no longer than 24 hours. Here’s what you should know: since the circadian rhythm is affected by both food and light exposure, lifestyle practices can enhance natural circadian rhythms. These practices should optimize the circadian cycle:

Light entrainment: Get daytime sun exposure, and sleep in a totally darkened room. Daytime eeding: Eat during daylight hours, so that ood rhythms and light rhythms are in synch. Intermittent asting: Concentrate ood intake during an 8-hour window during daylight hours, preerably the afernoon. A 16-hour ast leading to lower blood sugar and insulin levels, and the more intense hormonal response to ood that results rom concentration o daily calories into a short 8-hour time window, will accentuate the diurnal rhythm.

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Adequate carb intake: this will be taken care o on other days where you’re eating plenty o healthy carbs.



18. Is fasting not a good idea if you have adrenal fatigue? It will depend on the individual but if you’ve got full blown AF you may want to do a shorter fast and have something small throughout the day to stabilize your blood sugar.


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3 Ways To Do Intermittent Fasting Here, I’ll explain how to do intermittent fasting through three different methods and I’ll tell you which one I employ on a weekly basis in addition to being a prominent feature in The All-Day Fat Burning Diet.

Option #1:

Alternate Day Intermittent Fasting

Alternate day intermittent asting is basically asting every other day or a 24-hour period. For instance, you would eat normally on Monday, ast Tuesday, eat Wednesday, ast Thursday, eat Friday, ast Saturday, and so on. This style o intermittent asting is the most popular orm used in research studies, but rom what I have seen it isn’t very popular in the real world. I’ve never tried alternate day asting mysel and I don’t plan to do so. In my eyes, it’s a bit excessive and many o the negative effects seen in some women while asting tend to be related to this type o asting. 22


And it makes sense since you’re not eating hal the time, which is not advisable, especially or women or whom carbs and caloric intake are important or hormones and ertility. I this is the irst method you try as you igure out how to do intermittent asting, my ear is that it will be too difficult or you and you’ll give it up altogether. The truth is, it’s just not sustainable or most people unless you enjoy eeling miserable 50% o your lie. As a result, I think you’re better off using either (or a combination) o the ollowing two intermittent asting methods.


Option #2:

16/8 Daily Fasting

With this type o intermittent asting you ast or 16 hours and eat during the remaining 8. The asted phase should last through the night and during the morning hours. Ideally, the ast should then be broken at noon or shortly thereafer i you wake up at 6–7am like most people. Afernoons and evenings are usually spent in the ed state. To be quite honest, even though I only do a committed ast once per week, I probably do 16/8 ast — inadvertently — 2–3 times per week mostly because I don’t eel like eating anything until about lunch time. It doesn’t matter when you start your 8-hour eating period. You can start at 8am and stop at 4pm. Or you start at 2pm and stop at 10pm. Do whatever works or you. Based on my schedule, I tend to eat around 1pm and 5pm most days.


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Option #3:

The 1-Day Fast

As the name implies, this is a 1-day ast — typically 18–24 hours in length. I initially learned about it rom my good buddy, Brad Pilon, and have adopted it ever since. It’s also the type o intermittent asting that I recommend in The All-Day Fat Burning Diet. Here, instead o asting every day or every other day, you simply ast once per week. I’ve ound this to be most realistic and sustainable or most people.

Don’t beat yoursel up. I you’ve asted 14, 17, 20, or however many hours, just be happy with the act that you’ve given your body a “breather” to do some much needed cleansing and healing. Please remember as well that your irst 1-day ast will likely be a challenge, especially i you’re used to eating all the time. However, it will also be one o the most rewarding experiences you go through as you’ll a lot about why you eat.

To make it easy on yoursel, simply start your ast afer dinner so that by the time you wake up the next morning you’ve already completed about 12 hours o your ast. Then, i you can make it on water and/or herbal tea until mid-afernoon or early evening, you’re golden. Having coached thousands o people through this process, let me say that being hard on yoursel or not making it the ull 24 hours is not a good idea.

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A lot o times you’ll recognize that you’re not hungry but rather anxious, bored, or in a “conditioned” situation (like working at your desk) where you would normally be snacking on ood. This awareness alone is worth doing a 1-day ast. Whichever type o intermittent asting you choose, the additional beneit it provides you is a little more lexibility with your diet. You don’t need to be a ood nazi and nitpick every single thing you eat as a weekly ast can help clean up some o the junk. But also don’t use that as a hall pass to eat whatever you want at your other meals throughout the week. Whether you’re a man or woman, the beneits o asting are simply too numerous to ignore. So how do you get started? Well, here’s an excerpt rom my book The All-Day Fat Burning Diet, in which a 1-day ast plays a prominent role in helping you get and stay lean.


“I’m very aware that the mere mention o the term asting terriies many people, conjuring up images o intense suffering and starvation. They picture themselves waking up in the morning and starting their 24hour timer, anxiously counting down the milliseconds until they can have the irst bite o their post-ast meal. Others can’t even athom the idea o going a ull day without ood. It really doesn’t have to be so awul, and there’s an approach that actually makes it quite doable. In act, it’s what I do. It’s a bit o a cheat, but it doesn’t lessen the beneits o your ast, so I say give it a go. The day beore your 1-Day Fast is your 1-Day Feast. On that day, about 3 hours afer you’ve enjoyed the last bite o your last meal or the day, start the timer on your 1-Day Fast.

I you’re anything like me, you might not eel hungry in the morning. There’s a good chance this will happen considering how much you stuffed yoursel the day beore. So much or breakast. I you can make it to lunch on a ew glasses o water, then you’ve just knocked out 14 hours o your ast. And i you can make it to at least 4pm, that’s 18 hours. You’re really on ire at this point. Maybe you can have a cup o peppermint tea as a reward. Afer all, this is when the massive health beneits rom your short-term ast really start to kick in. For example, i you had a big dinner around 7pm, your body would be in a “semi-asted” state by the time 10pm rolls around. Consider that the kickoff o your ast. Hit the sack and sleep or 7 to 8 hours. By the time you wake up, you’ve completed one-third o your day’s ast without batting an eyelash, literally.

At this point, i you really can’t take it, you can have a smoothie or smaller meal to break your ast. However, i you really want to win, power through to dinner without taking a bite. Once you reach 10pm, you’ve made it. You’ve successully completed your ast and you can go to bed dreaming about breakast.


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I you can’t wait until morning to eat, I recommend a small high-protein meal or, better yet, a protein shake with a ew carbs about an hour beore you go to sleep. That way, you provide essential proteins to your muscles, while keeping your tummy satisied until morning. The 1-Day Fast isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either, and when you stay ocused on the beneits, it becomes a lot more doable. Can you do this? I bet you can.

What makes it all a whole lot easier is simply making the decision to do it. Most people have a tough time without ood because they’re constantly thinking about what they’ll eat next. In the middle o a stressul day, that just eels like too much to handle, as the satisaction that comes rom a delicious meal — even one that’s not good or you — helps people soothe their blues away. When that ood isn’t there, they start panicking.

When you consciously make the decision that tomorrow will be a ast day, you activate a new mechanism inside yoursel. You’re orced to let your innards recharge while you relect on the bad eating habits with which you’ve been sel-medicating. Fasting is such a proound tool or deep change. No wonder people have been turning to it or centuries.” There you go. That’s all you need to start intermittent fasting.

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19. How to Do Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss? Similar to what I described above, the easiest way to do intermittent fasting for weight loss is to simply do it just once per week.

Although a lot o the research on asting has used “alternate day” asting where you basically don’t eat every other day (which is crazy i you ask me), you can still see noticeable at loss results with just a single day o asting each week. So inish dinner and start your ast thereafer. Then, i you can make it through to the next day’s dinner you’re golden. Remember, when your body is in a asted state is starts to rely more on its at stores or uel. Thus, it helps you become a at burner instead o sugar burner who is constantly craving ood. It’s a very reeing process. Here’s another strategy you can use to speed your weight loss while intermittent asting:


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At any point o your day, do 5–10 minutes o high intensity interval training to increase your body’s release o catecholamines. These are your ightor-light hormones— speciically, epinephrine and norepinephrine—released by the adrenal glands in response to stress like high intensity training. One o the roles o these hormones is to break down stored at in your body into ree atty acids that can then be converted into energy. This intense exercise also depletes your glycogen stores much more readily. As glycogen is depleted, your body must rely urther on burning at or energy. You do not get this catecholamine response with low-intensity exercise. (I the word intensity scares you, don’t be alarmed. You’ll only be doing 5 to 10-second bouts interspersed with nice and easy recovery.)

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And i you want to take your at burning to the next level, then afer you inish your intervals, spend 30 minutes or more going or a nice easy walk or bike ride to burn up those ree atty acids (rom broken-down at) that have looded into your bloodstream. Post-workout is when your body, since it’s recovering, really relies on those ats or uel. For instance, a 2008 study showed that even though carbohydrates were the predominant uel source during the actual workout, or more than 3 hours aferwards, ats became the main contributor to energy. (9)


Basically, the most at was burned post-workout. But again, workout intensity sets the stage or this to happen. So, to really take advantage o this at-burning window, I strongly recommend ollowing your high intensity intervals with 30 minutes (or more) o low-intensity cardio like walking. This will help shuttle those ree atty acids loating around in your bloodstream into your muscles to be burned as uel.

Intermittent Fasting Cheat Sheet

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