A Reidly Lifestyle

Is Intermittent Fasting and Paleo a Good Match?

No more food As most people know, the standard conventional wisdom is that the more frequently a person eats during the course of a day, the more they will bolster their metabolism. Trainers and diet gurus everywhere say that “six meals a day” is the sweet spot for a fast metabolism.

Another school of thought says that whenever you have food in your belly, your body will utilize that as a source of energy, and never need to tap into existing fat stores. So, the more time that a person spends with no food in their stomach, the more opportunity they have to release fat from storage, and use it to fuel their body. Enter, Intermittent Fasting or “IF” for short. Sounds neat, doesn’t it? So what is IF?

Intermittent Fasting, often shortened to I.F. is the process of fasting on a semi regular basis. The traditional approach to using intermittent fasting would be to to take a day off from eating every 48 hours. Simply explained this would mean you eat as normal on Thursday and then not eat on Friday but resume eating as normal on the Saturday, before again fasting on the Sunday. In this way the Intermittent Fasting schedule is restricting calories over the week by having periods where you are not consuming food.” – Retireddieter.com

Martin Berkhan’s version of intermittent fasting called “Leangains”, goes something like this:

The Leangains protocol consists of two phases; 16 hours of fasting, followed by 8 hours of feeding. During this period, three meals are usually eaten. Depending on the day, the composition of those meals varies; on workout days, carbs are prioritized before fat, while on rest days fat intake is higher. Protein remains fairly high on all days. That’s a very basic and general description of the protocol I employ; of course, variables change depending on goals, gender, age, body fat and activity levels, but it would be hard to describe it in greater detail without drifting off too far.”

IF has many benefits. Obviously there is the all important weight-loss, or more accurately fat-loss, but there are several other great reasons that IF should be part of your weekly routine:

Intermittent Fasting Is Natural
From an evolutionary stand point, our ancestors fasted when food was scarce or if they returned from a failed hunting trip. So it’s very possible that our bodies are actually designed to fast occasionally. There are many health benefits to intermittent fasting that suggests this, such as:
▪ Slows down aging
▪ Reduces oxidative stress
▪ Lowers insulin levels
▪ Reduces the risk of various diseases such as diabetes and alzheimer’s
Cycled fasting to lose weight and to improve your health is not a new concept. There have been many human and animal studies on intermittent fasting during the last 18 years. Animal studies began as early as 1943. There was a recent article (2007) by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that explained a lot of these benefits, it was a summary review of 44 different studies.” – getthisripped.com

I’ve been asked many times if intermittent fasting and Paleo is a good match, and I think that the answer is a resounding “yes”. Most of the guidelines on IF are not concerned with food quality or macronutrients, so if people have success with losing weight, while eating a standard American diet, imagine how effective IF would be when combined with a Paleo Template style of eating. I also think that IF coupled with very-low-carb Paleo would serve to totally obliterate body-fat, like a fat blasting nuclear missile!. Give it a go, and let me know how it works for you!

If you found this article useful, please click the ‘LIKE’ button below to share on Facebook. We also invite you to leave comments, and join the Paleo Diet News discussion!

Go to www.undergroundnutritionist.com, and download my 30-Day UN-Challenge eBook now……It’s a step-by-step guide to your personal health revolution.

Barry Cripps is a Paleo-based Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, who operates out of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

For more information please visit: www.undergroundnutritionist.com

ChakaKhanian // Natural Hair Style Icon

Where do you live?
C: Let see if you all can figure it out by these lyrics-
‘Take me to another place / Take me to another land / Make me forget all that hurts me / Let me understand your plan’
(It’s Tennessee :) I am a pharmacist… right now.

Why did you go natural?
C: My hair just didn’t ‘act right’ with a relaxer. Seriously, I thought if my main style was a bun with a relaxer, why continue to get one? Plus, my hair would never stay straight- it would frizz. It was very frustrating for me as a relaxed chica.

This is my second time going natural so to make a long story short, the first time I transitioned for 1 year and 4 months. I was going to hold on to length no matter what! The second time I only transitioned for 5 months and I did the big chop. BEST.THING.EVER!

Going natural really caused me to step back an evaluate what I was doing to my body internally and externally. I know that sounds like a cliche and I know most naturals hate being defined by their hair, but I can truly say going natural helped me transition to being natural in other ways. I can’t say for sure that others correlate my natural hair to being a clean eater or not, but I know when I give into my cravings for junk food, people say ‘I didn’t think YOU ate that way!!’

How would you describe your hair?
C: Can I be honest? My hair is…interesting. I have 5 different textures of hair , the thickness in each section has its own behavior. My hair appears thick, but only with certain styles. I have to tease, shake, drop and roll with my hair to get it to look full sometimes.

What’s your regimen?
C: Thanks to indirect heat damage, i.e. sitting under the dryer to get my freshly shampooed hair dry enough for bed, I had to change my regimen. It is as follows:

I have been pre-pooing with Carol’s Daughter Khoret Amen Hair Smoothie…until it runs out. I prefer to use Olive You! Deep Condtioner by MyHoneyChild.

I wash/condition with Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Oil products. To shampoo, I dilute a capful of the Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Oil shampoo in a spray bottle. I shake the mixture then apply to soaking wet hair. I do this because although the shampoo is full of great ingredients, I don’t like the ‘squeaky clean’ feel it gives my hair. I don’t follow this technique with the conditioner, though. I apply a generous amount to freshly shampooed hair and then I section my hair and comb with a wide toothed comb.

So far, I have trimmed my hair once this year and clipped the ends just recently.

My mainstay hair products include Kinky Curly’s Knot Today (for the hair strands), My Asha’s Heavenly Hair Pudding (for the hair strands), and Nature’s Blessing Pomade (for the scalp).

To freshen bed head, I use a herbal tea mixture of blue malva, horsetail and lavender. I make it by using a coffee maker. To keep this mixture longer, I pour 1/8 of vitamin e oil and 1/4 of Elasta QP’s H2 leave in conditioner in the herbal tea mixture and shake it well.

I started back using Elasta QP’s Breakage Control Serum due to the indirect heat damage I’ve suffered.

How do you retain length and moisture in your hair?
C: My regimen above is how I retain both length and moisture. Since winter’s approaching, I will be keeping my hair up and ends protected mainly because the winter makes my hair hard when I wear it loose!

What mistakes have you made with your hair that you’ve learned from?
C: The main mistake I’ve made with my hair includes sitting up under a hair dryer (indirect heat) to dry my washed hair so I can go to bed. When I compare my hair to the first time I went natural until now, I can truly tell that my hair was so much thicker and healthier previously than now. I am going to start back using my microfiber towels!

What’s the best/most effective thing you do for your hair?
C: Sleeping with a satin bonnet AND pillowcase.

Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
C: Girl yes! Check me out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChakaKhanian
http://public.fotki.com/Bublnbrnsuga