There’s a common belief is that you need breakfast to optimize that morning exercise performance. Some people do need their breakfast! BUT usually to the contrary as the “need” is actually more a habitual practice.
You can, however, reap some amazing health benefits by exercising when your body is in a fasted state. And here I’m talking about Intermittent Fasting and NOT Water Fasting!
One good reason why I like Dr. Mercola is his constant experimentation and adapting. He himself embraces cross disciplines.
This applies to the combination of both exercise and fasting together
By “fasting,” I DO NOT mean an extended fast of say 4 to 5 days which we term as a Water Fast. For that, one must practice care on the amount of exercise and stress that is applied to the body, bearing in mind adequate hydration coupled with care on toxin removal.
But if you’re in the habit of eating breakfast before exercising in the morning, you may want to reconsider the order in which you start your day. As there are significant benefits to exercise in a fasting state.
This fasting is intermittent and may have only consisted of some 10 hours to 12 hours at the time of actual exercise!
As Mercola points out and I comment:
- The timing of breakfast impacts our physical response to exercise. If we forgo breakfast and instead attend the gym.
- Then exercising in a fasting state improves glucose and insulin parameters. This lowers the risk of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.
- Skipping breakfast before exercise helps curb food intake for the remainder of the day. It seems overall energy deficit of about 400 calories.
- Aerobic training in a ‘fasting’ state lowers both total body weight as well as the body’s fat percentage.
- Whilst exercising in a fed state decreases total weight only.
- Exercise under these circumstances may also boost the release of growth hormone and testosterone production.
- Helps prevent depression and optimize tissue regeneration.
- This has also been shown to be particularly helpful for fat loss.
- It essentially forces your body to shed fat.
- The reason for this is because your body’s fat-burning processes are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).
- Our SNS is activated by exercise and lack of food.
- The combination of fasting and exercising allows the ‘expression’ of our genes.
- maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP kinases) forcing breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.
Ori Hofmekler author of ‘The Exercise Mistake Which Makes You Age Faster’ points out that, combined exercise and fasting, will “trigger a mechanism that recycles and rejuvenates your brain and muscle tissues.”
Morning Exercise provides the perfect body environment for results
In other words:
Also Exercise with Fasting state rejuvenates our Brain.
The mechanism he refers to is the triggering expression of genes and growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs).
BDNF controls neurogenesis, signaling your brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, while MRFs are instrumental in muscle development and regeneration.
Fasted exercise may actually help keep your brain, neuromotor and muscle fibers biologically young. Mind you, we are not even talking about extended water fasts which do accomplish this in addition to Stem Cells rejuvenation! Intense Benefit Of Exercise Whilst Fasting Incredible!
