Aloha Ku Crew,
I believe nutrition can comes like the seasons. Well, if you live in Hawaii there isn’t much seasons but you get the point.
Just think of what happens during the holidays. We have more family and friends gatherings which brings a bit too frequent enjoyment of food and beverages. Not going to say it’s a bad thing but it’s what happens, and it tends to make us a little softer around the midline with jolly cheeks.
Then once the new year comes, we go into the mode of weight loss. We eat less. We train more. Nutrition seasons.
Recently, my nutrition has been stagnant. I haven’t been thinking of what I’m eating or how much. I’m just eating. But with the workload of running a business, coaching people on the daily, squeezing whatever training I can get in, spending time with family, and making sure I have the energy to do all of that, I noticed that my energy levels are low.
Not just my energy levels but also my strength and performance. Not a good thing for Daniel.
So I looked at all the things going on and rather than trying to change everything at once, I’m going to focus on one thing that I know I have control of – nutrition.
Nutrition is vital and can improve all areas, I believe. With proper nutrition you have more energy, digestion is better, sleep improves, enhances performance, aids in fat loss, and more. Like they say, “You can’t run from a shitty diet.”
This is where Intermittent Fasting (IF) finds its way back into my life.
IF simply consists of a duration of fasting and a window of eating. The most popular breakdown is 16 hour fast with 8 hour eating window. I am between 16-18 hour fast with a 6-8 hour eating window.
For example an IF day of 16:8 would look like this:
8PM -12PM: Fasting, drink black coffee in the morning and water.
12PM-8PM: Eating Window, eat daily calories or meal within this time frame
Here are some benefits of IF:
- Helps decrease insulin resistance which aids to facilitate fat burning
- Human growth hormone increases to also facilitate in fat burning and muscle building
- Body begins to repair cells and get rid of bad cells
- Has been shown to increase your metabolic rate
- Can help fight inflammation
- Increases levels of a brain hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which low levels have been found to create depression and other brain problems
and more.
Now am I saying that this is the best nutritional protocol? No. Not at all. It’s just one of them that I feel will fit what I need where I am now.
You see how much times there is “I” being used.
Who Do I Think IF is For?
I believe IF is a great protocol for someone who isn’t a big breakfast eater or finds themselves having majority of their busy times at work in the morning and not wanting to worry about getting a full breakfast.
Or maybe you find yourself functioning better without breakfast in the morning. Remember, breakfast is just that. Break – fast. So the first meal of the day, be it at 7am or 1pm, is still considered your breakfast.
Besides that – I wanted to share with you a little bit of where I am now with the nutrition and if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comment section below.
Don’t forget to check out to IF Cheat Sheet too.
A hui hou. Keep it Ku,
