Exploring Intermittent Fasting in Morecambe: A Guide to Success
Many have tried intermittent fasting as a way to manage their weight or support healthy insulin and cholesterol levels. But most don’t stick with it long enough to see real benefits. This trend is true even in places like Morecambe, where the sea breeze might tempt you towards hearty local eateries.
The good news is that there’s more than one way to succeed at intermittent fasting—and the efforts are worth it. Keep these do’s and don’ts in mind as you incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
First off, let’s make sure we understand what intermittent fasting is. Put simply, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between eating and fasting each day. The idea is to go longer periods of time (say, 16 hours, a lot of which take place while you’re sleeping) without eating. This allows your body to tap into stored fat for energy and supports healthy blood sugar levels.
Effective Tips for Intermittent Fasting
Do:
Start slow. You wouldn’t jump straight from couch potato to marathon runner. The same principle applies to intermittent fasting. Start with small, more achievable goals like not snacking after dinner or delaying breakfast by an hour. Gradually work toward a longer fasting period as your body adjusts.
Pick the intermittent fasting schedule that works for you. Many find the best results with the 16:8 method, which means fasting for 16 hours between dinner and your first meal the next day. For example, you would eat all your meals between noon and 8 p.m., and then fast until noon the next day.
Feel free to adjust your fast start and end times to suit your lifestyle. If you need to eat earlier in the day, try starting your fast at 5 or 6 p.m. If a 16-hour fast isn’t feasible, cut back to 12 or 14 hours. The trick is to find a fasting length that is doable long term, whether you’re in bustling Morecambe or anywhere else.
Drink lots of water. It’s good to give our bodies breaks from food, but not from water. Staying hydrated helps our bodies function better and can help stave off cravings. Plus, drinking plenty of water keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
Eat wholesome meals. However long your eating window lasts, make sure to fill it with fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, lean protein, and fiber. Fueling your body with nutritious foods helps you get the necessary nutrients and makes it easier to go longer periods without food. Avoid high-sugar and simple carbohydrate foods like white bread and pasta, as they can leave you feeling hungry soon after and lead to cravings at inconvenient times.
Keep an intermittent fasting journal. When you’re first getting started, track the foods you eat, the different schedules you’ve tried, and how you feel each day. This will help you determine what is and isn’t working so you can build a long-term plan customized to your needs.
Don’ts:
Binge during your eating window. Just because you fasted for 16 hours doesn’t mean you get a free pass to eat all the things for eight hours straight. The food you eat still matters, even though you’re consuming it in smaller amounts of time. Focus on wholesome foods and try to avoid high-calorie foods that aren’t filling.
Avoid swinging to the other extreme, too— not eating enough. Intermittent fasting isn’t a diet but a time-based eating pattern that allows our bodies to tap into stored fat for energy. Eating too little can throw off this balance.
Give up too soon. To start seeing the benefits of intermittent fasting, you’ll need to stick with it for at least 30 days. Once your body is used to its new time-based eating schedule, that’s when you’ll really start to see results. If you’re finding it too hard, try fasting for a shorter amount of time rather than giving up altogether. Over time, you might even find it easier to increase your fasting window.
Expect perfection. You don’t have to be perfect at intermittent fasting to succeed. A bad day will not diminish any progress you’ve made. Interruptions are a regular part of life, whether it’s a late-night dinner with friends or a special event. The key is to aim for consistency rather than perfection.
When Willpower Isn’t Enough
When it comes down to it, willpower alone may not be enough to succeed at intermittent fasting long term. But with a little help, intermittent fasting becomes much more doable. Two Unicity products—Unimate and Balance—work together to help you extend the time between dinner and your first meal the following day.
Unimate is a yerba mate drink that contains up to 10 times the amount of chlorogenic acid (the feel-good, “get-up-and-go” component) found in a premium cup of coffee. It helps boost mood and supports mental stamina, focus, and motivation. It also helps you fend off cravings and reenergize between meals.
Balance is a pre-meal drink with a patented fiber matrix that includes bioactive plant compounds, polysaccharides, and micronutrients. The fiber matrix is designed to help ease some of the impact that excess carbohydrates and cholesterol can have, and the soluble fibers help curb your appetite.
We call these two products combined with intermittent fasting the Feel Great program because, well, people feel great when they stick to this method. Learn more about Feel Great and see how it can help you get the most out of intermittent fasting, without making you work harder for it.