Intermittent Fasting over Age 40 : The Complete Guide

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Hormone modulation/Libido

two 20 hour fasts - more GH response

During Fast

salt

catecholamines too high too long, adrenal fatigue, allocate caffeine to morning, have it in morning to catecholamines aren't constantly elevated

working out in fasted state

Eating during window:

prebiotic fibers (resetting gut biome)

Avoid Grains

higher protein intake

Switching proteins out, get diverse meals

Saturated fats

Additional Supps

men should take boron

iodine in through seaweed

saw palmetto

CoQ10 (foods that boost it)

Diet Breaks

1 full week off after 6-8 weeks "diet breaks" bring calories back up to maintenance

Insulin Sensitivity

When you fast for an extended period of time, the fat deposits that have accumulated over time become the fuel that cells need to operate. As a result, the size of the excess fat droplet gets smaller over time.

As the size of the lipid droplet in muscle and liver cells decrease, those cells become more responsive to insulin. In other words, by reducing the size of the fat droplet, insulin becomes more powerful

Study - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Nonobese subjects (8 men and 8 women) fasted every other day for 22 d

Subjects lost 2.5 +/- 0.5% of their initial body weight and 4 +/- 1% of their initial fat mass

Glucose and ghrelin did not change significantly from baseline with alternate-day fasting, whereas fasting insulin decreased 57 +/- 4%

Triiodothyronine (T3) is a thyroid hormone that plays vital roles in the body's metabolic rate, heart and digestive functions, muscle control, brain development - it affects almost every physiological process in the body

Thyroxine (T4) is the main hormone secreted into the bloodstream by the thyroid gland. It plays vital roles in digestion, heart and muscle function, brain development and maintenance of bones

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (also known as thyrotropin or TSH) is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine (T4), and then triiodothyronine (T3) which stimulates the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body

Length of fasting should be based off the effects of GH and cortisol

Growth Hormone

HGH deficiency in adults typically leads to higher levels of body fat, lower lean body mass and decreased bone mass (osteopenia)

HGH only lasts a few minutes in the bloodstream - it goes to the liver for metabolism, where it is converted into a number of other growth factors, the most important of which is Insulin Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF1)

Study - Growth Hormone & IGF Research

24 h of fasting led to an increase in levels of basal free GH, mean free GH, mean total GH whilst GHBP levels remained similar in 7 female and 4 male normal-weight subjects

Concluded that a 24-hour fast leads to parallel increases in free and total GH levels whilst having no change in GHBP levels or the fraction of free GH

The protein-retaining effects of growth hormone during fasting involve inhibition of muscle-protein breakdown

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that GH may be a principal mediator of protein conservation during fasting and to assess the underlying mechanisms

During Fast

Lowering insulin rids the body of excess salt and water. Insulin causes salt and water retention in the kidney

Have Majority of Caffeine in the Morning

Elevated catecholamines + caffeine = adrenal burnout

Work Out Fasted

The Journal of Physiology

Exercise in the fasted state facilitates fibre type-specific intramyocellular lipid breakdown and stimulates glycogen resynthesis in humans

Eating Window

Higher Protein Intake

Published in International Journal of Obesity, researchers looked at protein intake and lean body mass preservation during energy intake restriction in overweight older adults