Skipping Breakfast is A-OK: The Low-Down on Intermittent Fasting!

So often when I speak to my patients about their eating regimens, they'll profess, with a rather guilty expression, that they don't like to eat breakfast. And ya know what I say?! Good, don't eat breakfast if you don't want to! We've been brainwashed for so many years to think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, as we now know, the earth is round, NOT flat! That is to say, science and knowledge naturally evolve, and it behooves us to make space in our thought process to accommodate these new lines of thinking.

So what is intermittent fasting? Option 1: you eat during an 8 hour period of the day, and fast for the remaining 16. This is easiest if you skip breakfast, as you've already been fasting while sleeping. So, that means you'll eat from hours of 12-8, 11-7, 1-9, your call! Option 2: you fast every other day. (Note: it is encouraged that you still eat a healthy diet low in carbs and sugar, high in whole foods - and you are discouraged from binge eating.)

Why would you try intermittent fasting? How can you benefit from it? 1) Weight loss, specifically around the abdomen - where fat is the most dangerous. 2) Increased cardiovascular health and lower blood pressure. 3) Improved glucose regulation and stabilization - great for type 2 diabetics. 4) Improved memory and cognition. 5) Improvements in overall GI health! 6) Nerve protection - great for diseases in which there is degeneration of the nerves (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, etc.). 7) Decrease in certain kind of cancers. 8) Increased life span