The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles by Terry Wahls M.D. & Eve Adamson

Author:Terry Wahls M.D. & Eve Adamson [Wahls M.D., Terry]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2014-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

Part Seven: Eat Just Twice a Day and Fast Every Night for at Least Twelve Hours

Your mitochondria will thrive if you eat just twice a day and fast every evening for twelve to sixteen hours between your evening meal and your morning meal. Daily fasting, like the long fasting associated with winter, leads to increased efficiency in your mitochondria and encourages your cells to produce more mitochondria per cell.7 Our bodies are primed to expect long periods of nutritional ketosis—every winter, in fact!

Although fasting is controversial and I don’t recommend long fasting ­periods (you are not a hibernating bear), there is some evidence that caloric restriction or intermittent fasting reverses age-related decline in animal models and may also reverse progressive brain disorders. This likely occurs through improved efficiency in the mitochondria, the increase in the number of mitochondria in each cell, and the additional nerve growth hormones generated by fasting, which stimulate brain cell growth and additional brain cell connections.8 You can achieve this effect by fasting every other day, but you don’t have to go that far. Instead, just fast twelve to sixteen hours every day, which can be overnight while you are sleeping.

Eating only twice a day is not that difficult once you adjust to Wahls Paleo Plus, because nutritional ketosis diets tend to suppress the appetite (whereas high-carb diets tend to stimulate the appetite). When blood sugar is kept very stable, you will likely find that you are hungry only when your body genuinely needs food, and that is probably only twice per day for most people who adhere strictly to Wahls Paleo Plus.

It is helpful to extend the time between your meals at this level of the diet, because when your body isn’t digesting, it can focus its energy on healing, eliminating toxins, and recalibrating your biochemistry in line with your new level of nutrition. It is very important to go at least twelve hours between dinner and breakfast so your body can accomplish this important work. If you find it uncomfortable to eat only twice a day, go ahead and keep having three meals until you feel ready to make this change. If you do eat three meals, try making one of your three meals a smoothie only, which is easier for your body to digest quickly. This is also a good way to pack in a good portion of your vegetables and fruit. (Don’t forget to add full-fat coconut milk!)

Note: I would prefer you completely eliminate alcohol at this stage, or at least reserve it for special occasions only. If you do have a drink, choose a low-carb drink like vodka or very dry wine. The main reason to minimize alcohol is that your body will metabolize the calories in the alcohol first, before any other energy sources, including fat. Also, your liver has to work hard to process alcohol, and you don’t want to tax your liver needlessly when you are trying to heal.

The longer you stick with Wahls Paleo Plus, the easier it gets.

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