Fasting Diets

Fasting diets are the newest fad in weight loss, but are they really new?  Fasting dates back centuries in the long tradition of religious fasting. Many religious groups have periods of fasting in their rituals including Muslims who fast from dawn until dusk during the month of Ramadan, and Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus who traditionally fast on designated days of the week or year. While recent interest in fasting is for weight loss, many of the studies on fasting focus on longevity and disease prevention. Researchers have know that when you restrict food intake, you can extend life span and it seems to enhance the ability to counteract the disease process.  Fasting is defined by eating no or very little food for periods ranging from 12 hours to three weeks. Below are a few different examples: Intermittent fasts Eating no food or cutting back on calorie intake (50 calories per day) only intermittently (like the 5:2 diet) Time-restricted feeding Consuming calories only for a four to six hour window each day (skipping breakfast and only eating luch or early supper) Periodic fasts An extreme approach, typically last several days or longer. These diets involve drinking only calorie-free fluids or very few calories for long stretches to get the body into full fasting mode. Fasting-mimicking diet a plant-based diet that

»

;

Natural Sedatives in your diet

We all know the tryptophan and Thanksgiving turkey connection, but overloading on turkey is not the only natural way to help promote sleep.  Tryptophan is an amino acid that the body uses in the processes of making vitamin B3 and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep. It can’t be produced by our bodies, so we need to get it through our diet. From which foods, exactly? Turkey, of course, but also other meats, chocolate, bananas, mangoes, dairy products, eggs, chickpeas, peanuts, and a slew of other foods.  Before you call the doctor and ask for an Ambien or Restoril for insomnia, consider adding these foods that promote natural sleeping to your diet.  Natural sedatives offer a more restful sleep and don’t effect our circadian rhythm. (sleep/awake cycle) as sleeping pills.  In addition to tryptophan, magnesium, calcium and Vitamin B help aid in production of turning serotonin into melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone found naturally in the body. As the sun sets, your body produces more melatonin and when you rise in the morning, melatonin levels taper off to allow you to wake up. Some people take melatonin to adjust the body’s internal clock. It is used for jet lag, for adjusting sleep-wake cycles in people whose daily work schedule changes, and for helping blind people establish a day and night cycle. 

»

;