Intermittent Fasting and Active Aging

Where I come from, it’s pretty common and polite to ask people we’re meeting for the first time, especially if they’re older, “Hi, how are you? Have you eaten?”

Was surprised when this lady, well into her 80s and still running her own business replied, “No, I had breakfast, so I’m not gonna have lunch. If I didn’t have breakfast, then I’ll have lunch…”

“Don’t eat too much,” she said to me solemnly, “not good.”

Fact is, unless we have labour- intensive jobs and we move around a lot like our agricultural forebears, we hardly expend all that food energy we’re taking in.

Then, what happens is, we end up storing these unused portions as fat.

I’m not sure where you’re at, at the moment.

But maybe you can’t wrap your head around this notion that eating staples like rice, noodles/pasta, breads could be wreaking havoc in your health, you’ve eaten them your whole life!

But could it be precisely because you’ve eaten them your whole life, you need to consider cutting back on, at least, your usual portion of carbs?

Surely, you’re not as active as you were in your youth. Worse, if you’re past 30 – your metabolism would have slowed, considerably.

Point is, so many variables have shifted but you’re still eating the same serving size?

The fact of the matter is, “Weight gain is not a normal function of aging.” says Cynthia Thurlow at TEDx Greenville.

While it’s possible to still enjoy your favourite foods, you could consider doing smaller portions.

Another way to keep your weight down naturally, is to work with how our bodies are designed.

According to Andreas Moritz, author of Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation, our digestion starts to slow from 8pm. Perhaps that’s a good time to stop eating?

Also, I don’t know if you’ve experienced this before but are there times when you just don’t feel like eating in the morning? But you do anyway because it’s habitual?

The next time you don’t feel like eating in the morning, try listening to your body – it’s okay to skip breakfast!

In fact,  it’s healthful to introduce these regular periods of rest from food or what’s known as intermittent fasting.

Of course,  there are different ways to go about it but 16:8 works best for me! I fast from 8pm to noon the next day (16 hours) everyday and I have an 8-hour eating window before I fast from 8pm to 12pm again, and it goes on, and on.

During a fast, our bodies have time to fully digest all that we’ve eaten the day before. They also are able to “clean house” – repair or destroy rogue cells, and regenerate new ones.

Consequently, if we keep plying our bodies with so much food,  high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and excess belly fat – collectively known as metabolic syndrome, could result.

And having one or more of these symptoms, could potentially cause a slippery slide down to diabetes, stroke or heart disease. So pay attention, listen to your body. It’s always wise to err on the side of caution, and heed these warning signals to cut back on your carbs – possibly halve it and then halve it again till you can halve it no more.

One final tip to sum it all, I heard this from a flourishing 93- year-old when sharing his secret to active aging, “Eat less, move more.”

Love,
Lynette Tan

P.S. Follow me on social @lovelynettetan

About lovelynettetan

Lynette Tan is Mrs Singapore Universe 2016 and she believes in being beautiful and healthy, naturally. Her mantra? You're most beautiful, when you're You!

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