You may have heard the term Intermittent Fasting (IMF) which is also called Time-Shifted Eating. In case you haven’t heard of it or are not clear about it let me give you a quick explanation of what it is and the power that is being discovered in eating this way.
IMF is when you reduce the number of hours when you are eating food so that you are fasting 12 to 14 hours a day with no food. This means that you might have your first meal at lunchtime at 12 noon and the second meal before 8 pm. You’re basically looking to eat within a time window of 8 hours which means you’re fasting for 14 hours.
I’ve actually been practicing eating this way for around 9 months now and I find it very easy to do.
So, that’s how it works and now for the more important stuff. What researchers at Harvard, John Hopkins and other top universities have discovered is that eating the IMF way affects a process called brain shrinkage since you lose 5% of your neurons every decade after age 40.
IMF can stop and even reverse this process.
What the researchers are discovering is that there is a substance called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) that is responsible for stimulating the creation of new neurons in your brain. What IMF does is trigger more of the BDNFs to be created. One study even reported that IMF boosted BDNF production by up to 50%.
The research is also showing that IMF is increasing the size of your hippocampus which is where memories are stored. This can improve mental sharpness and may even ward off Alzheimer’s and dementia!
If you can’t do it every day, even doing it a few days of the week will help. You can also set your eating times to match your schedule. While I eat at noon and before 8 pm, you could eat at 8 am and 4 pm or any 8-hour period that works for you.
If you decide to do IMF, let me know what your results are.
(Reported The Alzheimer’s Solution, bottomlineinc.com)
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