Podcast > Episodes

episode #7

What I Have Learned From Fasting

May 12, 2021 in Podcast

Intro

When I first started fasting I never thought I could learn so many things about such a simple thing. Most people think of fasting and they think of starvation which is completely false. Fasting is a voluntary abstinence of food done for many different reasons. For me, I like to find ways to challenge myself because I know I will become stronger in the long run. I am blessed in so many ways and can get a meal whenever I want. This is not true for everybody. 1. One of the big lessons I learned was that your body/brain does not have to feed itself all day to have energy. Marketers want you to believe that but the body is meant to have periods of nothing. Periods of nothing can allow your body to heal itself and learn to use it’s own stored resources such as fat for energy. 2. Hunger is all in the mind. Often when people think they’re hungry, they’re not experiencing true physiological (body) hunger, but rather psychological (head) hunger. The better you know the difference between the two, the better you understand your body’s signals because cravings come and go. 3. Fasting gives you flexibility – I look at it like this – Instead of relying on the clock for when to eat you rely on your own body clock or intuition. So your life doesn’t revolve around eating like most people, it gives you this freedom from food. Don’t get me wrong…I do enjoy eating but I have learned to appreciate my meals that much more because I don’t have one every 2 hours. 4. Put More time into meals – Let’s say you have one meal in a day…you make sure that you put good, high quality food during that time period because you don’t take it for granted. As opposed to snacking all day you end up mindless eating and eating more junk. 5. Another great benefit is it gives you time to do other more productive things…yes eating can be a nice social thing but a lot of times it takes time and get’s you tired especially if you are eating unhealthy items. Having more time in the morning to go for a walk, read or meditate is a lot more beneficial for your health than scarfing down breakfast. 6. Traveling is a lot easier whether by plane or car. Who likes to eat while traveling? Usually it’s fast food or airplane food! Not needing to eat while on a road trip will save you from junk and you don’t have to stop every hour for a snack. So I think the main thing I realized from fasting is that the benefits go way beyond losing weight or inches.

0 (1s): Hello and welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn I'm a certified health coach or trainer and author in this podcast is for middle-aged men and women are looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back into what it once was a 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. 1 (32s): Hello, Brian Gryn hello and welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast this week. I'm going to talk about What I Have Learned From Fasting and I've been Fasting over five years, and I never thought that I can learn so many things about such a simple task. Most people think of Fasting. They think of starvation, which is completely false. Fasting is a voluntary absence of food done for many different reasons. And for me, you know, I just like ways to find ways to challenge myself. And because I know in the long run, I'm going to be stronger. And so I'm blessed in so many ways and blessed that I could get a meal whenever I want, and this is not true for everybody. 1 (1m 15s): And so I think this was a great thing for me to start and help with my clients. It's a tool in the toolbox to use it. Doesn't have to be done all the time, but once you learn how to utilize it in your life, it can really be used as a great advantage. And I'm going to walk through some of the things that I found have been really beneficial for me. You know, one of the big lessons that I learned right away, it was, you know, the body and the brain does not have to feed itself all day to have energy. I think, you know, I, as I was growing up, I thought I always needed to eat every like 30 minutes to fuel my brain, to have the energy. You know, Marketers want you to believe that, but the body is meant to have periods of nothing. 1 (1m 59s): And that's actually a period of time where the body can heal itself and also learn to use its own stored resources, such as fat for energy. And this was something I never really knew growing up. Second thing I learned is hunger is really all on the mind. You know, for the most part, you think you're hungry, but you're really not. You're not experiencing true physiological hunger, but rather your feet, your feeling more of a physiological head, Hunger, it's all in the mine. You get sort of programmed to eat at certain times, but you know, the better you understand this and, and sort of differentiate between the two, the better you can sort of understand your own body's signals because you'll start to learn that you have these cravings, but they come and go and they go, they don't get bigger and bigger and bigger, like you think, Oh, if you fast for a day and then towards the 20th, are you going to get more hungry? 1 (2m 55s): It's not true. There was Hunger waves, come and go. So this is something that you learn over time. And, and that was one of another big lesson that I learned that Hunger is all in the mind. Third Fasting gives you flexibility. And this is such a great tool to have because we're all busy. We all have lives, whether it's the kids or work or whatever it is. And it just allows you to sort of, it frees you up instead of relying on the clock for when to eat, you rely on your own body clock, your own intuition. So your life doesn't sort of evolve or revolve around eating. Like for most people, it sort of gives you this freedom that, you know, I'm going to eat when I want to eat, not when the clock tells me to eat. 1 (3m 35s): So, you know, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy eating, but I've learned to really appreciate my meals. And this happens much more when you're only having maybe one or two meals a day, which has comes into my next point, which is, you know, when you're only having a meal or two a day, it really makes you sort of conscientiously have high quality food during that time period, because you almost don't take it for granted. I mean, think about it. If you were eating every 15, 30 minutes throughout the day, you're going to end up snacking on mindless things, mindless eating and eating more junk. But if you're only having a meal a day while you're going to really think about, well, what do I want to have for that meal to make it most nutrient dense and get the most energy out of it for the rest of the time. 1 (4m 20s): So it really makes you sort of put more time to have quality meals. Another great benefit is, you know, it just, you can be more productive doing other things. I think you start to realize that food can take up a lot of time and the days go by fast. So yeah, eating can be a nice social thing. And I, and it's great for that, but you know, you have days where you want to get up and do stuff you don't have to worry about, Oh, I need to get up and make breakfast in the morning. You can get up. And I don't know, meditate, go for a walk, maybe read and do things that are a lot more beneficial than maybe just scarfing down some heavy breakfast. That's gonna sort of way you down for the rest of the day. 1 (5m 1s): So it, it, it is a great benefit in the sense that you can be more productive doing other things now. And other one is Traveling this, I found I'm not traveling a ton right now, but when I was traveling, you know, you don't have to sort of think about when am I going to eat here? What, what am I going to do it? You know, I don't want to eat on a plane. You know, if I'm on a road trip, you know, do you have to stop it like fast food, you know, every two hours. And you know, so when you're traveling, it just gives you again, that flexibility that you don't have to rely on necessarily junk food. Because a lot of times that's when we do eat are worst, is when we were on road trips or on airplanes. So, you know, those are great times to do a fast. So those are the ones that came into my head and I'll review them really quick. 1 (5m 46s): First one was, you know, one of the big lessons was the body brain connection and that, you know, your body's meant to have periods of, of no food. And that's how you can sort of heal your gut and rely on fat for energy. Secondly, Hunger is all in the mind, thirdly, fast and gives you that flexibility. And like I mentioned before, you can be more productive next time. You know, a big one for me is Having, you know, putting more time at the quality meals. You know, you start to, if you have one meal a day or two meals a day, you're really going to put more time into that meal. Another great benefit is Traveling like I mentioned. So those were the big things that came to my head. 1 (6m 27s): Obviously I have leaned out a bit from Fasting, but that wasn't the main reason I got into it. And I've been able to help a lot of people use it as a tool in their toolbox just to have in there, whether they want to maybe lean out a little bit or maybe they want more mental acuity. So anyways, those are the big benefits that I've learned from Fasting. And hopefully you can get some things from that and apply it to your life. Well, they're you have it. Thanks for listening to this show. I really do appreciate it. I know there's hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and you have chosen the listen to mine, put a link on the show notes for the 21 day Fasting challenge, which is gonna sort of ease you into the Fasting process. Also teach you on what to eat when to eat. 1 (7m 8s): And it'll talk about pushing back breakfast in our every day, which will help make it a lot easier to start. So if you fear it, this is a great challenge to sort of get started and make it a lifestyle change, and also feel free to obviously subscribe, rate and review the podcast and perhaps share it with a friend that would be greatly appreciated. So till next time, thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. Have a great day. 0 (7m 34s): Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there, and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian Gryn dot com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.

wanna talk to brian?

Schedule a free 15 min consultation
SCHEDULE TODAY