7 Surprising Benefits I Have Found after Fasting for 2+ Years
I still remember the day I made the decision to start fasting. I told myself to try it out for a month and see how I feel. The next thing I knew, I had been fasting for a little over 2 years now.
I did struggle in the beginning but now fasting for 20–22 hours feels almost as natural as eating does. Along the way, I picked up a few things and found that fasting has a lot more benefits than just what you can find with a quick google.
Just for completion and to name a few. The benefits of fasting are :
- Regulates blood sugar
- Fights obesity by managing calorie intake
- Fights fatty liver
- Helps us live longer (fasting activates our survival genes)
- Good gut health
- Regulates our insulin production
- and more.
Another google search and you would also be able to dive a little deeper into each individual benefit of fasting. It is definitely worth reading up on if you are interested.
I have found discovering more benefits of fasting to be a good motivation when you are just starting out with fasting.
But as I have preached to my friends and family and now onto you, fasting is a lifestyle change. It isn’t a diet. It is sustainable and much better for you in the long term.
So, with all the common and more popular benefits of fasting already out there. I thought I write something that shows the other lesser-known and surprising benefits I have found.
Let’s get into it.
Saving Money
This is the most obvious fact about fasting but one that is rarely mentioned. Fasting saves you money. How much, depends on how much you usually spend on meals in the first place.
To me, fasting doesn’t really save me that much money because I used to make my meals in batches at home but this is a nice cherry on top of the other benefits that fasting already provides.
Saving Time
Because you skip meals during the day. You now have an extra 1–3 hours a day to do anything else.
I personally use it to write articles or take walks. Doesn’t sound like much but having an extra hour or two every day has been what allowed me to get more done in the day.
If you time it right, they are also one of the best distraction-free periods because everyone else is busy eating.
Saving time and money aren’t the main reasons anyone should be fasting but they are nice little additions.
Consistent Energy Throughout the day (No more afternoon slumps)
When you eat a meal, your body produces insulin to digest the incoming food. This spike in insulin is normally what makes us feel sleepy. Like how after you had a heavy lunch, nothing in the world can pry open those eyelids of yours.
Fasting means you skip past this. It means that you don’t experience the spikes in insulin which also means you don’t feel sleepy throughout the day. No spikes also mean more consistent energy throughout the day. I find myself able to work and focus longer periods
Heightened Caffeine effect
Because most of us have coffee with milk/ breakfast or have it after lunch, the effects of caffeine usually take a while to kick in. Food also affects our caffeine absorption rate.
Coffee on an empty stomach bypasses all of this. Thus, it takes less amount of caffeine to produce the same desired effect. Which is crucial for keeping that caffeine reliance in check.
I used to drink 2–3 cups of coffee a day and sometimes find myself craving more. However, I now drink only 1 cup and it seems to be able to get me through the entire day.
I don’t strictly adhere to this, I still do indulge myself and drink 2 cups on some days. But the point is that my caffeine intake has been reduced because its potency has increased.
I hated being reliant on caffeine. So when I first noticed that I no longer needed to drink the 2nd cup, it was a very pleasant surprise. To know that fasting also helps regulate my caffeine addiction is something that I don’t think I could give up.
Energy Boost when Breaking Fasts
As the day passes, you are mostly to have spent some energy and willpower making you tired at the end of it. If you do morning to evening fasts as I do, you end up breaking your fast around 5–6 pm.
This timing lines up really well with my energy and mood because breaking your fast gives you a boost of energy. This has been greatly helpful on stressed-out days and long workdays.
That energy boost helps carry me through the evenings after work. It means I have more energy to do the things I am normally too tired to do. It’s especially when I have to socialize with friends after work.
Prevents Decision Fatigue
Fasting means you don’t eat as many meals as you normally do. This also means you make fewer decisions in the day. If you are like me, I hate deciding what to eat for lunch/dinner. Fasting simply removes that option for me.
Sometimes it’s a great feeling to look forward to a meal but when I am working, eating lunch sometimes feels like a chore. It feels like I am eating just for the sake of eating.
So not having to make that decision is a great thing.
It Is a Small Win Every day
Some days end better than others and it’s nice to know that no matter how badly the day went, I can be proud of myself for fasting. Fasting is sometimes the small win that I use to make myself feel better at the end of a bad day.
Final Thoughts
Yes, there is a lot of scientific benefits to fasting. But there are a lot of mental and quality of life benefits that fasting offers too.
I hope that this article brings to light some of them because fasting is more than just about your weight loss or your health, it can also greatly alter your daily wellbeing too.
Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: This is by no means health advice. I am just writing about what I have experience in the last 2+ years. Please do your own research and consult your doctors if you plan to try out fasting.
