For a while now I've wanted to blog about different diets. I decided the best way to do that was to immerse myself in them first and write about them after. This is diet #3. Check out my blog for past evaluations.

I want to start by saying that I'm not doing any diet to lose weight. So you won't see any dramatic before and after pics here. My goal for these analysis is how do they make me feel physically and emotionally. My body goal is to feel healthy and strong. I do not weigh myself regularly nor do I take my body measurements. Any weight loss I experience is not a good indicator of how much you may lose on each diet. Weight loss is extremely individual, based on your own metabolism, nutritional needs, lifestyle and activity level.

This is a lifestyle diet or fad diet. Some people say they thrive on an intermittent fasting diet and will do it every day. Other say it's better done in cycles, only a few days per week- more about that below.

Fasting is simply going without food for a set amount of time between meals. If you don't eat anything from your last meal in the evening (7pm) until you get up in the morning (7am) you would typically have fasted for 12 hrs without really noticing. That's why it's called Break-fast, it's the meal that breaks your overnight fast! ;)

Benefits of fasting include increased insulin sensitivity, increase cellular repair, improved digestion (because your stomach and intestines get a prolonged break), increased detoxification. Short term fasting may also increase your metabolism. The theory behind intermittent fasting is that consistency creates homeostasis, homeostasis means that everything stays the same. So when you eat the same thing every day or do the same workout every day, your body get used to it and adapts to it. In order to lose weight or change your metabolism, you need to change your routine and trick the body so it doesn't have time to adapt. With intermittent fasting you have periods of not eating- which triggers fat burning but may lower the metabolism, with periods of eating well which boosts the metabolism and prevent the body from entering starvation mode. When intermittent fasting is cycled on alternate days you may improve your results even more.

In intermittent fasting you choose a set method of fasting. For some its 16 hours daily, others do 24 hours several times a week, or several days in a row. For this diet evaluation I chose the 16 hour daily fast. That means for 16 hours of the day and night, I can have only water, tea or coffee. And for 8 hours in the day I can eat my meals as needed.

The Diet: Basically eat a well balanced diet only during the set eating times, I chose 8 hour window for eating, 16 hours fasting each day. With this diet there are no restrictions on the foods you can or can't have. Of course the better you eat, the better your results. Some people eat only 2 larger meals per day on the 8/16 diet. I chose to eat 3 smaller meals and tried to space them 3 hours apart- so that my stomach had enough time for digestion between meals.

Difficultly- low. I found it quite easy to do. I was hungry in the mornings and evenings. I also found it a little tricky to eat all my meals in 8 hours when I was in the office all day. It took at bit more work scheduling and planning ahead so I could eat something satisfying but quick between appointments. People who do not have flexible schedules may find this challenging.

Duration: 10 days- I could have continued longer but I was eager to start the next diet evaluation.

What I ate: I could eat what I wanted during the 8 hours. I still ate fairly clean; I know I feel best on when I eat a whole foods diet, low dairy, gluten free and fairly low carb. Some days I had salad or soups, some I had a tuna sandwich with sprouts and pickles. I ate fruit when I wanted it, and enjoyed a slice of gluten free bread and some rice or gf pasta when I wanted. I also enjoyed a couple gluten free gingerbread cookies I found at the back of the freezer left over from Christmas!

Pros: The time restriction helped me curb my tendency to snack in the evenings, so that was definitely a positive. I loved the variety, and that I could eat supper with my family. I could eat what I wanted, no restrictions on foods made me very happy.

Cons: I found I drank more coffee on this diet. I'd have a cup before my morning work out and a cup later so I had something satisfying to sip on before it was time to eat. This is more coffee than my body likes, and I had to work harder to stay hydrated and combat the caffeine crash.

Modifications: The only modifications I made was that I did have a small snack late at night after dance class.

Energy level: Good. I had lower energy in the mornings before I ate, but that's pretty standard for me. I did find it harder to have the stamina I needed for my cardio work outs after the first week. My mood was good through this and I once again had an enjoyable relationship with food.

Cost: Low, no more than your normal diet, perhaps less if you are only eating 2 meals per day instead of 3.

Weight loss: not overly noticeable.

Recommended for: Most healthy people can do the 8/16 intermittent fasting.

Not recommended if you are underweight, have an eating disorder, pregnant or breastfeeding, try to conceive. You need to be healthy to fast. Unwanted side effects can include headache, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and can pass fairly quickly. You should stop fasting if you experience heart palpitations, prolonged dizziness or nausea, and physical or mental weakness.

Bottom line: Pretty easy, enjoyable to eat what I wanted, helped me be more aware of how much I like to snack in the evenings.

I'm not good at following rules, I'd rather make my own. So here's the Changes I would make: I normally cycle intermittent fasting 1-2 days per week on the mornings I work from home. It works well with my natural rhythm as I'm generally not very hungry in the mornings and it doesn't interfere with my mental work.

I'm not a big fan of water fasting for more than 24 hours. Some people do this well, but as a general rule I don't recommend it.

In the spirit of full disclosure I want to include my constants: I drink 1 cup of organic coffee each morning as well as greens powder in water with 1 tbsp AVC and 1 cup of lemon water. I take my homeopathic remedies as needed. I did not take any extra supplements with this diet. I strive to do cardio 3-5 days per week, and weight or resistance training 4-6 days per week. These are just my normal routine and I did not change these for this diet. I did not weigh myself regularly nor did I take measurements. Any weight loss I experienced is not a good indicator of how much you may lose on each diet. Weight loss is extremely individual, based on your own metabolism, nutritional needs, lifestyle and activity level.

Next up: Ketogenic Diet

I hope you have found this information helpful. My goal is to share information to educate and empower people to take control of their own health. Please contact Lisa for more information. I would love to help you experience Better Health Naturally!

The information provided here is for educational purposes only. For treatment please seek a qualified health care provider.